History
On August 23, 1958, the station signed on as WKTC as a country music station. It was a daytimer station, required to go off the air at night. WKTC disc jockey Johnny Jacobs demonstrated that a person could live in a fallout shelter for a long period of time (which people during the Cold War feared they would have to do), spending a week there and contacting the station by phone.[2]
1310 AM became Charlotte's first full-time Christian radio station, WHVN, in August 1971 around the time George H. Buck Jr. bought the station.[3] As of 1980, about 65 percent of programming was "spoken word".[4] When the 1240 frequency became available early in the 80s, allowing 24-hour broadcasts, WHVN moved from 1310, which only allowed a daytime signal.
WGSP ("Great Sounds of the Past") returned to the air as one of Charlotte's first oldies stations, playing a wide variety of standard pop hits and "beach music." In 1985, with no other area stations playing classic rock this small AM station became one of the first in the country to shape a format around vintage rock and roll from the 1960s and 1970s. WGSP became the second most listened to AM station in the market. At its peak, the WGSP air staff included Program Director Paul Ingles, Rick Ballew, Fielding Spicer, David Appleford, Phil England and Darby James. After a couple of years of growth by WGSP, other FM stations in the region adopted the "Classic Rock" format and, with their better signals, WGSP lost audience and was sold to religious broadcasters.
WGSP became a gospel station[5][6] and this format continued until 2004, when the switch was made to the current format.[7] During 2006 and 2007, WGSP's programming aired on WGSP-FM, at 102.3 FM.[8][9] Programs included "La Voz del Immigrante" ("The Voice of the Immigrant").[10] WGSP has simulcast the La Tremenda Network with WXNC.
