WSTP
| City | Salisbury, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1490 kHz |
| First air date | 1939 |
| Format | Silent |
| Power | 1,000 watts |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 74075 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°41′18″N 80°29′44″W / 35.68833°N 80.49556°W |
| Callsign meaning | W Salisbury Times and Post |
| Owner | William Marc Graham (2B Productions, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WSAT |
WSTP (1490 AM) was a radio station licensed to and serving the area of Salisbury, North Carolina, USA.
WSTP signed on New Year's Eve 1939 from the Yadkin Hotel ballroom. Its letters stood for "Salisbury Times and Post", the town's morning and afternoon newspapers. The Hurley Family who owned the Post were also part owners of WSTP. The station aired the Rose Bowl in 1940. Salisbury eventually became the state's smallest town with two radio stations and a daily newspaper.
Mae, Nancy and Nell Kendrick were called "The Three Little Sisters" and "The Singing Sisters" in the 1940s, when they worked for WSTP at a time when it was above the Meroney Theatre.
On November 22, 1963 and for several days after that, WSTP switched to all classical music, commercial-free, with breaks for news.
Tom Harrell and Mary Ann Lanningham owned WSTP from 1956 to July 1, 1995, and Harrell served as general manager. He hired Bill Henderson, morning host from 1963 to 1975. During his tenure, WSTP-FM became WRDX and began airing its own programming. Harrell hired over 200 people over the years, many of them high school and college students, and he said a lot of those who started their careers at WSTP stayed in radio or a related field
Also during the early to mid 1970's WSTP put out a weekly "top 40 type list" which was available at local retailers and record shops. The station was known as the "Top 40 Rock of The Piedmont" and then, during the disco era, "15 Fever". David Whisenant once played disco music while people learned to dance right in the studio.
WSTP personalities who went on to become famous were Cincinnati Reds voice Marty Brennaman, Bob Rathbun and Helen Little.
Doug Rice, president and general manager and a co-anchor for Performance Racing Network, joined WSTP in 1977, working a variety of on-air jobs and eventually becoming morning host and program director. He also served as play-by-play announcer for Catawba College football for nearly a decade, and color analyst for Howard Platt for Catawba basketball. Sports coverage also included the Washington Redskins, high school sports and American Legion baseball. Other programming included election coverage, parades, daily obituaries, and church services. Liz Tennant, whose parents designed the station's building, did the farm reports.
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