WTRU
Radio station in Kernersville, North Carolina
WTRU (830 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Kernersville, North Carolina, and serving the Piedmont Triad. It is owned by Truth Broadcasting and carries a Christian talk and teaching radio format. Truth Broadcasting is owned by Stuart Epperson, Jr., son of Stuart Epperson, founder of Salem Communications. The station is the flagship of the "Truth Network", which includes WDRU in the Research Triangle, WCRU in Charlotte, WLES in Richmond, Virginia, and KUTR in Salt Lake City.
By day, WTRU transmits with 50,000 watts, the maximum for AM stations in the U.S., but 830 AM is a clear-channel frequency reserved for Class A station WCCO in Minneapolis, so WTRU must reduce power at night to 10,000 watts to avoid interfering with WCCO's signal. WTRU programming is heard on three FM translator stations in the region (see below).
01History
From 1956 until 1992, the call letters WTRU were assigned to the now silenced AM 1600 in Muskegon Heights, Michigan.
The 830 AM dial position in the Piedmont Triad was first assigned to WWMO in Eden, North Carolina, which featured a Southern gospel and preaching format. In 1995, WWMO was purchased by HMW Communications. The call letters were changed to WETR, and the station moved to the old Color Tile building on High Point Road in Greensboro, North Carolina. WETR offered a mix of "entertainment radio" programming that included talk radio such as The Fabulous Sports Babe and The Dr. Laura Program as well as beach music.
New towers were built outside Walkertown, North Carolina, to improve coverage of the entire Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem market. In 1997, Hearst-Argyle Television, owner of area NBC affiliate WXII-TV, bought the station and changed the call letters to WXII, and a news radio format was used that included audio from some WXII-TV news broadcasts.
Truth Broadcasting bought the station in June 2000 and, after a few weeks of silence, returned it to the air with the current format and call letters.
02Translators
In addition to the main station on 830 AM, WTRU is relayed by three FM translators.
| Call sign | Frequency | City of license | FID | ERP (W) | HAAT | Class | FCC info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W249CN | 97.7 FM | Clemmons, North Carolina | 142855 | 250 watts | 73.9 m (242 ft) | D | LMS |
| W249BZ | 97.7 FM | Greensboro, North Carolina | 154301 | 25 watts | 51 m (167 ft) | D | LMS |
| W256DR | 99.1 FM | High Point, North Carolina | 202845 | 250 watts | 129 m (423 ft) | D | LMS |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “WTRU”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- WTRU logo.png by Unknown author, Fair use
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