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WPTF (680 AM; "NewsRadio 680") is a news and talk radio station serving the Triangle area of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The station is owned by Curtis Media Group. Its call letters date back to the former longtime owner of the station, Durham Life Insurance Company, whose motto was "We Protect The Family." Its studios are located in Raleigh, and the transmitter tower is in Cary, North Carolina. Programs on WPTF include local news blocks in morning drive, noon and afternoons, national talk shows like consumer anf family finances expert Clark Howard, psychologist Dr. Joy Browne, and the overnight political show ''Red Eye Radio''. In addition, the station also hosts local talk shows with Bill LuMaye and Tom Kearney.〔http://www.wptf.com/programming.asp, Retrieved on March 16, 2012.〕〔Danny Hooley, "WPTF-AM's Boston Diagnosed with Leukemia," ''The News and Observer'', October 12, 2006.〕 From 1977 to 1991, WPTF was sister station to WPTF-TV, the longtime NBC affiliate in the Triangle. That station is now WRDC, "MyRDC," an affiliate of MyNetworkTV.〔http://www.tv-signoffs.com/NC_raleigh.htm, Retrieved on 2008/04/22.〕 WPTF is one of the two most powerful AM radio stations in North Carolina, along with WBT in Charlotte. They both run at 50,000 watts with a non-directional signal in the daytime and a directional signal at night to protect other radio stations on their frequency. As a Class A station, WBT has more protections from other radio stations, while WPTF enjoys Class B status. Its daytime signal gives AM 680 at least grade B coverage as far west as Charlotte, as far east as Wilmington and as far north as the Roanoke suburbs. Its nighttime directional signal can be picked up well south into the Bahamas and other parts of the Caribbean and was supposedly heard in Venezuela at one time. However, it is somewhat spotty in parts of Virginia, only 50 miles north. It must avoid interfering with several 50,000 watt stations to the north, also on 680 kHz, including WRKO in Boston and CFTR in Toronto, as well as the dominant station on 680, KNBR San Francisco to the west, so WPTF's nighttime signal is stronger to the south. ==Early history== WPTF was originally called WFBQ, and was the second radio station in Raleigh (N. C. State had the first, WLAC, but it did not last), going on the air September 22, 1924 at 1190 AM, broadcasting at 50 watts. The station was owned and operated by the Wynne Radio Company, owned by William A. Wynne,〔 and the offices and broadcasting facilities were located in the Boone Building next to the Wake County Courthouse. After a year of successful operation, the station had its call letters changed to WRCO, for Wynne Radio Company.〔 On August 19, 1926 the station was authorized to increase its power to 100 watts. Being a more powerful station, they moved their operations to the Sir Walter Hotel. The following year the power was increased to 250 watts. They signed on the air each morning at sunrise and signed off the air at sunset each day. Early in 1927 the station requested from the government 500 watts of power. In June of that year they received word that their request would not be granted, however, they were given authority to move to 1380 on the dial, along with unlimited time on the air. In 1927, The Durham Life Insurance Company purchased WRCO outright from the Wynne Company and the station's call letters were altered to WPTF.〔 The new owners were given a permit to increase their power to 500 watts and to move to 720 on the dial. New equipment was purchased and the operations were moved to the basement of the old Durham Life building. Things moved rather rapidly for the new owners. On November 16, 1927, WPTF moved to 550 kilocycles, remaining there until November 1, 1928, when it changed to 680. In 1928, the station was granted another increase in power, this time to 1,000 watts, but was required to sign off at sunset. In the early 1930s, WPTF was a pioneer in educational radio, similar to educational TV many years later. Students in area schools that had radio were able to listen to a daily broadcast, with topics that included "Citizenship", "Science", "Social Studies" and "Art, Music and Literature". Although many attempts were made over the next several years, it wasn't until 1933 that the station increased its power to 5,000 watts. With this authority, WPTF purchased new equipment and moved to Cary, North Carolina, on US Highway 1. In June, 1940, WPTF was given authority to operate unlimited hours and a month later was granted a construction permit to install new transmitter equipment and increase its power to 50,000 watts. Almost a year later on a late spring evening, listeners heard these words from the announcer on duty: "Ladies and Gentlemen, there will be a few moments of silence while engineers switch from WPTF's 5,000 watts transmitter unit and begin operation for the first time with its new 50,000 watts transmitter." Thus, on May 24, 1941, WPTF began a new era in broadcasting. As of 1948, WPTF was an affiliate of NBC Radio. WPTF added an FM station that year, signing on at 94.5 in 1949 using the tallest of the AM station's three towers off N.C. Highway 54, near the present-day Interstate 40. WPTF-FM later moved to 94.7 and today is Country music station WQDR, still co-owned by Curtis Media. At the time, both stations operated from 410 South Salisbury street in Downtown Raleigh.〔 The tower used by WPTF-FM when it signed on is currently used by WKIX-FM. Bart Ritner went to work at WPTF in 1966, staying for 39 years. He hosted the morning show "Ask Your Neighbor", with people giving advice or recipes. His most popular show was "Open Line", an hour-long call-in-show started in 1966 and expanded to two hours in 1973. Don Curtis, whose company later bought the station called the show "one of the nation's first daily two-way talk programs". By the 1970s, the AM station offered a "full service format with news, talk, and adult contemporary music,"〔 and the FM was playing classical music before switching to album rock and the call letters WQDR-FM in 1973.〔 Ritner moved to news in 1980. He was the only reporter at a 1982 hostage incident at Central Prison, helping to negotiate and end the standoff. Ritner returned to "Open Line" in 1986 and moved it from evenings to afternoons.〔 Bob Kwesell, whose conservative views offended a number of listeners but attracted many newcomer and increased advertising, was dropped on November 17, 1986. WPTF-TV, a nine-year-old station previously called WRDU-TV when Durham Life bought it, joined the two radio stations at their Highwoods Boulevard studios on the north end of Raleigh. In 1991, Durham Life sold its broadcasting stations. Don Curtis, who bought all of WQDR, had a "controlling interest" in WPTF.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「WPTF」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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