WHZT

WHZT

City of license	Williamston, South Carolina
Broadcast area	Greenville/Spartanburg & The Upstate
Branding	HOT 98.1
Slogan	Carolina's New #1 Hit Music Station
Frequency	98.1 (MHz)
Repeaters	107.3-2 WJMZ-HD2 (Anderson); W231BA (Spartanburg area)
First air date	June 6th, 1953
Format	Urban-leaning Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	304 meters
Class	C0
Facility ID	5971
Transmitter coordinates	34°41′15.00″N 82°59′13.00″W / 34.6875000°N 82.9869444°W / 34.6875000; -82.9869444
Callsign meaning	"HoT" (The Z substitutes for the O)
Former callsigns	WBFM (1953-) WPEK (?-2001)
Owner	Summit Media Corp
Sister stations	WJMZ-FM, W249CB
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	hot981.com

WHZT is an urban-leaning Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio station licensed to Williamston, South Carolina and serving the Upstate South Carolina region. The Summit Media Corp outlet is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast at 98.1 MHz with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts. The station goes by the name Hot 98.1 and its current slogan is "Carolina's #1 Hit Music Station."

History

98.1 signed on the air June 6, 1953 as WBFM. The station was an adult standards outlet airing some of the same programming as sister AM WSNW in Seneca, South Carolina. The station continued with the same format until the mid-90s, even after a power increase to 100,000 watts. The station played oldies for a while and then Triple-A.

Prior to its flip to Rhythmic Top 40 in the spring of 2001, WHZT's previous format was Sports Talk as WPEK ("98.1 The Peak"). But in the week prior to the flip it stunted, and in the process kept listeners guessing, with a Modern AC format as "Q98". On April 1, 2001 Q98 became The New Hot 98-1. The first song was "Party Up" by DMX and continued with 10,000 songs in a row commercial free.Since then Hot 98.1 has done well with its Rhythmic format, which also serves as 'companion' to its Adult R&B sister WJMZ, who had been the R&B/Hip-Hop outlet in the region before seguing into their current direction in 2002. Its main competitor is Entercom Communications' WFBC-FM, carrying a top 40 format.

In September 2007, 98.1 "re-launched" with a promotion called "Pay Your Bills" after being "dead" for several days prior, the dead term referring to being "dead serious about giving away free money." This was met with much fanfare on the air as they also launched a freshened image with new voice talent and jingles, the first change of its kind since the station's 2001 launch. The re-launch paid off as WHZT rocketed to the number one position in their highly competitive target demographic, according to the Fall 2007 Arbitron survey. On March 18, 2008 the station announced that "Pay Your Bills" would be returning.

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Signal and translator

98.1 WHZT can be heard as far south and west as the northeastern suburbs of the Atlanta metro area, and as far east as the Spartanburg area. In parts of, and specifically east of the Spartanburg area, it becomes more difficult to receive WHZT due to interference from neighboring 97.9 WPEG in Charlotte. The station had a construction permit in 2006 to move its signal to an antenna closer to the metro in nearby Anderson, but it was never attempted. To improve its Spartanburg coverage, a translator of Hot 98.1 was added at 94.1 FM (W231BA) in late 2009, located in eastern Spartanburg county on the WOLT tower. The Hot 98.1 programming is fed via WJMZ's HD2 signal.

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On-air lineup

6:00AM–10:00AM Tone Hollywood
10:00AM–2:00PM Mary K
2:00PM –7:00PM Supa Dave
7:00PM–12:00AM Shorty
12:00AM-5:00AM Ant Dizzle

Weekends

Saturday:

10:00AM –2:00PM ?
2:00PM – 6:00PM ?
6:00PM – 10:00PM Gabe

Sunday:

10:00AM – 2:00PM Gabe
2:00PM – 7:00PM Ant Dizzle
7:00PM – 12:00AM Stevi

Mixers

DJ Skizzle
DJ Gabe
DJ Sha
DJ Supa Dave

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Former on-air staff

Fisher, Taylor Scott, Murph Dawg, CJ, Cap N Lou, JT/Justin Daly, Anna, Kacie, Kristen, Reid, Jet Black, Jay Styles, Brandy, Johnny D, Marino, Eric Sean

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External links

v t e Radio stations in the Greenville-Spartanburg (Upstate South Carolina) market

By FM frequency	89.3 89.7 90.1 91.1 91.5 92.5 93.3 93.7 94.5 95.5 95.9 96.7 97.7 98.1 98.5 98.9 99.9 100.5 101.1 102.5 103.3 103.9 104.9 106.3 106.9 107.3

By AM frequency	660 800 910 950 1070 1230 1260 1280 1300 1330 1360 1400 1440 1490 1530 1540 1580

By callsign	W209CM W249CB W253BG WAIM WANS WASC WCCP WCKI WCSZ WDAB WELP WEPR WESC WFBC WGTK-FM WGVL WHZT WJMZ WKSF WLFJ WLFJ-FM WMIT WMXP-LP WMYI WOLI WOLI-FM WOLT WORD WPCI WPJF WPJM WPLS-LP WROO WROQ WSPA-FM WSPG WSSL-FM WTBI WTPT WYFG WYRD WYRD-FM

South Carolina radio markets Charleston Columbia Florence Greenville-Spartanburg Myrtle Beach Rock Hill Other South Carolina radio regions Hilton Head See also List of radio stations in South Carolina

v t e CHR / Top 40 radio stations in the state of South Carolina

By frequency	93.7 95.1 97.7 98.1 98.3 104.7

By callsign	WFBC WHHD WHZT WNOK WSSX WWXM

By city	Charleston Clearwater Columbia Garden City Greenville Williamston

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in South Carolina See also Contemporary Hit Radio Rhythmic KISS-FM MOVin Radio Disney

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Last modified on 19 June 2013, at 06:57