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WPTF
City of license	Raleigh, North Carolina
Broadcast area	Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill
Branding	News/Talk 680 WPTF
Slogan	The Triangle's News and Information Station
Frequency	680 (kHz)
First air date	1924
Format	Talk radio
Power	50,000 watts
Class	B
Facility ID	21630
Transmitter Coordinates	35°47′38″N 78°45′41″W / 35.79389, -78.76139
Callsign meaning	We Protect The Family (named for the slogan of the station's original owners, Durham Life Insurance Company)
Owner	Curtis Media Group
Sister stations	WQDR, WBBB, WYMY, WWMY, WDOX, WCLY
Website	www.wptf.com

WPTF, News-Talk 680, is a general talk radio station serving the Triangle area of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The station is owned by Curtis Media Group. Its call letters date back to the former longtime owner of the station, Durham Life Insurance Company, whose motto was "We Protect The Family."

Programs on WPTF include national talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Clark Howard, Dr. Dean Edell, and Mark Levin, and programs such as Coast to Coast AM. In addition, the station also hosts local programming with Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Kearney, and afternoon host Bill LuMaye^[1][2].

WPTF is the former call sign of local TV channel 28, the longtime NBC affiliate in the Triangle. That station is now WRDC, "MyRDC," an affiliate of MyNetworkTV.^[3][4]

WPTF's 50,000-watt signal is non-directional during the day, but the nighttime directional signal is hard to hear 50 miles to the north in Virginia, while to the south WPTF can supposedly be picked up in Venezuela.^[5]

Early History

WPTF was originally called WFBQ, and was the second radio station in Raleigh (N. C. State had the first, WLAC, but it did not last), going on the air September 22, 1924 at 1190 AM, broadcasting at 50 watts. The station was owned and operated by the Wynne Radio Company, owned by William A. Wynne^[5], and the offices and broadcasting facilities were located in the Boone Building next to the Wake County Courthouse. After a year of successful operation^{[citation needed]}, the station had its call letters changed to WRCO, for Wynne Radio Company^[5]. On August 19, 1926 the station was authorized to increase its power to 100 watts. Being a more powerful station, they moved their operations to the Sir Walter Hotel. The following year the power was increased to 250 watts. They signed on the air each morning at sunrise and signed off the air at sunset each day. Early in 1927 the station requested from the government 500 watts of power. In June of that year they received word that their request would not be granted, however, they were given authority to move to 1380 on the dial, along with unlimited time on the air^{[citation needed]}.

In 1927, The Durham Life Insurance Company purchased WRCO outright from the Wynne Company and the station's call letters were altered to WPTF^[5]. The new owners were given a permit to increase their power to 500 watts and to move to 720 on the dial. New equipment was purchased and the operations were moved to the basement of the old Durham Life building.

Things moved rather rapidly for the new owners. On November 16, 1927, WPTF moved to 550 kilocycles, remaining there until November 1, 1928, when it changed to 680. In 1928, the station was granted another increase in power, this time to 1,000 watts, but was required to sign off at sunset.

Although many attempts were made over the next several years, it wasn't until 1933 that the station increased its power to 5,000 watts. With this authority, WPTF purchased new equipment and moved to Cary, North Carolina, on US Highway 1.

In June, 1940, WPTF was given authority to operate unlimited hours and a month later was granted a construction permit to install new transmitter equipment and increase its power to 50,000 watts.

Almost a year later on a late spring evening, listeners heard these words from the announcer on duty: "Ladies and Gentlemen, there will be a few moments of silence while engineers switch from WPTF's 5,000 watts transmitter unit and begin operation for the first time with its new 50,000 watts transmitter." Thus on May 24, 1941, WPTF began a new era in broadcasting.^{[citation needed]}

As of 1948, WPTF was an affiliate of NBC Radio. WPTF-FM signed on at 94.5 in 1949 using the tallest of the AM station's three towers off N.C. Highway 54, near the present-day Interstate 40. The FM station later moved to 94.7,. Both stations operated from 410 South Salisbury street in Downtown Raleigh^[5]. The tower used by WPTF-FM when it signed on is currently used by WWMY.^[3]

By the 1970s, the AM station offered a "full service format of adult contemporary, local/state news and neighborly talk," and the FM was playing classical music before switching to album rock and the call letters WQDR in 1972.^[6]

WPTF-TV, a nine-year-old station previously called WRDU-TV when Durham Life bought it, joined the two radio stations at their Highwoods Boulevard studios on the north end of Raleigh.

In 1991, Durham Life sold its broadcasting stations. Don Curtis, who bought all of WQDR, had a "controlling interest" in WPTF.^[5]

Recent Developments

WPTF had served as the flagship station for the NC State Wolfpack sports network for more than 40 years until Wolfpack Sports Marketing announced it had signed a ten-year deal to move its flagship to Capitol Broadcasting Company's WRAL-FM.^[7] NC State athletic officials cited their desire to be on an FM signal with a multi-year contract and the ability to collect more local advertising revenue, conditions that Curtis Media was unwilling to provide.^[8]

Jack Boston no longer hosts North Carolina Morning News (he died of leukemia on 22 Sep 2008), Scott Fitzgerald is now the morning host 5:30-9:00am.

As of September 15th of 2008, WPTF began <a href="http://www.wptf.com">streaming Rush Limbaugh</a> as well as the rest of their local and syndicated line up.

References

1. ^ http://www.wptf.com/programming.asp, Retrieved on 2008/04/22.
2. ^ Danny Hooley, "WPTF-AM's Boston Diagnosed with Leukemia," The News and Observer, October 12, 2006.
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.geocities.com/rdurw/wqdr.html, retrieved on 2008/04/22.
4. ^ http://www.tv-signoffs.com/NC_raleigh.htm, Retrieved on 2008/04/22.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f} http://www.geocities.com/rduhistory/wptf.html, Retrieved on 2008/04/22.
6. ^ http://www.geocities.com/rduhistory/_.html, Retrieved on 2008/04/22.
7. ^ http://www.gopack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9200&ATCLID=876362, Retrieved on 2008/04/22.
8. ^ http://northcarolinastate.scout.com/2/639158.html, Retrieved on 2008/04/22.

External links

• Streaming Rush Limbaugh
• WPTF history on RDU Radio Waves
• Recording of "WPTF: The First 50 Years" (1974)
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WPTF
• Radio Locator Information on WPTF
• WPTF is at coordinates 35°47′36″N 78°45′39″W / 35.793285, -78.760863 (WPTF)Coordinates: 35°47′36″N 78°45′39″W / 35.793285, -78.760863 (WPTF)

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