WATA

Boone, North Carolina
Frequency	1450 kHz
Programming
Format	Local News Talk Information
Affiliations	IMG, North Carolina News Network, Westwood One
Ownership
Owner	Curtis Media Group
Sister stations	WWMY, WZJS, WMMY, WECR, WXIT
History
First air date	February 2, 1951
Call sign meaning	WATAuga County
Technical information
Facility ID	71068
Class	C
Power	1,000 watts unlimited
Transmitter coordinates	36°12′59.00″N 81°42′6.00″W / 36.2163889°N 81.7016667°W / 36.2163889; -81.7016667
Translator(s)	W243DH (96.5 MHz, Boone)
Links
Website	http://GoBlueRidge.net

WATA (1450 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Local News Talk Information format.^[1] Licensed to Boone, North Carolina, United States. The station is currently owned by Curtis Media Group of Raleigh, North Carolina and features predominantly locally produced programming, including Bill Fisher in the Morning, as well as Mike Kelly's Swap Shop, and many others.^[2]

History

In September 2003 Highland sold WATA, (along with WZJS 100.7FM) to Aisling Broadcasting (Jonathon Hoffman, managing member) for a price of $2.2 million.^[3] This added to Aisling's holdings in the High Country, as they had already purchased WECR, WECR-FM, WXIT (from Rondinaro Broadcasting) for $2.2 million in 2003,^[4] and WMMY(from Dale Hendrix) in 2004 for $1.58 million.^[5]

Aisling went into receivership and George Reed of Media Services Group was appointed to manage the stations until a buyer is found.^[6] Later in the year, Curtis Media Group purchased the stations.^[7]