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| Broadcast area | Research Triangle |
| Frequency | 105.1MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | G105 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Top 40 (CHR) |
| Subchannels | HD2:Classic Hip-Hop (95.3 The Beat) |
| Affiliations | Premiere Networks |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WNCB,WRDU,WTKK,W237BZ | |
| History | |
First air date | February 29, 1948; 77 years ago (1948-02-29) |
Former call signs | WDNC-FM (1948–1974) |
Call sign meaning | "Durham'sCountry Giant" (previous format) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 53597 |
| Class | C1 |
| ERP | 73,000watts |
| HAAT | 339 meters (1,112 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 35°42′50.6″N78°49′3″W / 35.714056°N 78.81750°W /35.714056; -78.81750 |
| Translators | |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast |
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| Website | g105 |
WDCG (105.1FM) is acommercialradio stationlicensed toDurham, North Carolina, and serving theResearch Triangleradio market. It airs aTop 40 (CHR)format and is owned byiHeartMedia with studios on Smoketree Court in Raleigh's Highwoods Office Park.[2] WDCG carries severalnationally syndicated programs on weekdays:The Fred Show fromWKSC-FMChicago, hosted by Christopher "Fred" Frederick, in morningdrive time, andOn Air with Ryan Seacrest in early afternoons.
WDCG has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 73,000watts. Thetransmitter andtower are off Ten-Ten Road inApex.[3] WDCG broadcasts in theHD Radio format.[4] The HD2subchannel playsclassic hip-hop as "95.3 The Beat." It feeds twoFM translators at 95.1 and 95.3 MHz.
The stationsigned on the air on February 29, 1948.[5] Its originalcall sign was WDNC-FM, thesister station toWDNC on theAM band. Both were owned byDurham Morning Herald and The Durham Sun and wereaffiliates of theCBS Radio Network. The two stations largelysimulcast their programming until the late 1960s. The FM station's debut coincided with the AM station's power increase and frequency shift from 1490 to 620kilohertz.
In 1953, the Herald-Sun group joinedWTIK owners Floyd Fletcher and Harmon Duncan in securing a license to operate a television station in Durham, which would eventually becomeWTVD Channel 11 the following year. WDNC-FM transmitted from an antenna located atop one of AM 620's three towers on Shocoree Drive in western Durham just offInterstate 85. (The old 105.1 FM antenna was visible on the easternmost tower until the site was razed in late 2017.)
In the late 1960s, the FCC was encouraging AM-FM combos to offer separate programming. Around 1968, WDNC-FM began broadcasting anautomatedeasy listening andmiddle of the road (MOR) format inFM stereo.[6] In 1974, management decided to offer automatedcountry music on the station. It changed its call letters to WDCG to stand for "Durham's Country Giant." WDCG later switched toalbum rock music in the late 1970s.
As FM Top 40 stations were increasing in popularity and young people were moving to the FM dial for their music, management decided to make a change. WDCG became a Top 40 station in Fall 1981. A year later, the station boosted its power to 100,000 watts and moved to the former WRDU-TV (nowWRDC) tower atTerrell's Mountain in southern Orange County. This allowed WDCG to put a city grade signal intoRaleigh andChapel Hill, as well as a 60 dbu signal intoGreensboro,High Point andWinston-Salem, where the station even beat the local Top 40 stations from 60 miles away. WDCG, originally licensed to Durham, was the first station in the Research Triangle to obtain a dualcity of license for station identification in 1982. It began identifying itself as "WDCG--Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill".
With minimal promotional money for advertising and give aways, WDCG grew every six months in theArbitron ratings. Starting in the Fall of 1981, it went from a 1.8 - 4.5 - 9.0 - 9.8 - 11.1 - 14.5 by the Spring of 1984.
WDCG was operated as aloss leader for years by theDurham Herald-Sun. The owners predicted newspapers would someday be viewed on a computer screen. Even if WDCG wasn't earning much money, the newspaper could use a distribution system via WDCG's FMsubcarrier that the competing newspaper,The Raleigh News and Observer, did not have. The Durham Herald-Sun had never separated the financial books of 620 WDNC and 105.1 WDCG. The combined stations had only been profitable in two of the 10 years prior to 1983. By 1984, WDCG alone was billing just under $4 million. Over $60,000 a month was coming in from the Greensboro-High Point market, 60 miles away, where WDCG had a dedicated salesperson.
WDCG operated from the Herald-Sun building in Downtown Durham from its 1948 sign-on until 1992. At that point, WDNC and WDCG moved to larger studios and offices at Park Forty Plaza in southern Durham nearResearch Triangle Park. The new facilities included state-of-the-art computer-integration, including software-controlled transmitters and audio playback from hard disk.
In 1993, theHerald-Sun sold WDCG to Prizm Broadcasting, which had also purchased Vilcom's WZZU 93.9 (nowWNCB). In 2000, WDCG was acquired by Capstar, a forerunner to current owner iHeartMedia.[7] The new management moved WDCG and its sister stations into Smoketree Tower in Raleigh, now called the Highwoods Building.
In 2004, WDCG's FM class was slightly downgraded from aClass "C" to a Class "C-0". The change was to allow co-owned WSGL (nowWSTV) inRoanoke, Virginia, to improve its signal. No changes were necessary to WDCG's actual facilities in the short term.
In March 2005, the FCC approved the station's moving its antenna fromTerrells Mountain, west of Chapel Hill, to the formerWLFL-TV analog tower inApex, closer to Raleigh. This was done to provide better coverage of the market, including some eastern communities that had previously gotten spotty coverage. The change included a drop in power from 100,000 watts to 73,000 watts and another downgrade in class, this time to Class "C-1". On March 13, 2008, WDCG began broadcasting from the Apex site. The tower is 1,112 feet (339 meters), while the antenna system is 984 feet (300 meters).) The move increased the covered population inside the station's signal by more than 500,000 persons.
On April 3, 2023, Danny Meyers, host ofDanny Meyers and the G105 Morning Show, along with co-host and social media manager Meghan Lamontagne, were let go from the station due to iHeartRadio's round of layoffs.[8] Meyers had joined G105 as part of the wake up program known as the "Showgram" in February 2020. Lamontagne joined the morning show in July 2022 after former co-host Ashleyh Yemia left.[9][10] Days later, co-host and executive producer Ben Harris also announced viaInstagram that he had been dropped. The morning show's final episode had aired on March 31, 2023.[11]
Meyers soon began hosting afternoons alongside Meghan Lane atWRMF inWest Palm Beach.[12] Harris later became part ofThe Jade Alexander Show in mornings atWFLCMiami and Lamontagne began hosting the midday slot atWRAL-FM, succeeding Diane Ramsey.[13][14] On May 1, 2023, iHeartMedia announced that syndicated wake-up programThe Fred Show hosted by Chris "Fred" Frederick ofWKSC-FMChicago would become G105's new morningdrive time show.[15]
On November 16, 2012, analternative rock format, marketed as "95X," debuted on WDCG'sdigital subchannelWDCG-HD2. Programming from the HD2 subchannel feedsFM translator stationW237BZ at 95.3 MHz inClayton, North Carolina. A second translator, W236CA at 95.1 MHz, in Durham, began simulcasting in late 2015.[16] On January 9, 2018, 95X rebranded as "Alt 95.3".[17]
On November 11, 2021, at 10 am, WDCG-HD2/W236CA/W237BZ dropped the alternative format and began playingChristmas music as "Christmas 95.3".[18] On the day after Christmas, December 26, at 12:00 am, the station flipped toclassic hip-hop, branded as "95.3 The Beat." The first song on "The Beat" was "Party Up (Up in Here)" byDMX.[19]
WDCG had carriedThe Rockin' America Top 30 Countdown withScott Shannon in the 1980s.WDCG once carriedAmerican Top 40 withCasey Kasem in the early 80s. The current AT40 withRyan Seacrest is now heard weekends on the station.WDCG also carriedRick Dees'Weekly Top 40 from its inception in the early 1980s.