WXST

Infobox Radio station
name = WXST


city = Hollywood, South Carolina
area = Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry
branding = "Star 99.7"
slogan = "R&B and Old Skool"
airdate = July 15th, 1988
frequency = 99.7 FM
format = Urban Adult Contemporary
haat =
erp = 70,000 watts
class = C1
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns =
owner = Apex Broadcasting
sister_stations =
webcast =
website = http://www.star997.com/
affiliations =

WXST (99.7 FM, "Star 99.7") is a Gold-based Urban Adult Contemporary radio station located in Charleston, South Carolina, but licensed by the FCC to the town of Hollywood, South Carolina. The station broadcasts with a ERP of 70 kW.

History

99.7 signed on the air July 15th, 1988 as WHTK. The station at the time was licensed to Port Royal, with studios located near the town of Bluffton under the ownership of Barnicle Broadcasting. WHTK featured a CHR format targeting nearby Hilton Head and Savannah. Although ratings were very good in its home market of Hilton Head/Beaufort, SC, the station faced stiff competition from competitor WZAT-FM in the Savannah market as well as a weak signal in that area. WHTK played a major role during Hurricane Hugo in 1989 as it was one of the few radio stations that was able to stay on the air for most of the storm and broadcast information to the Lowcountry.

In January 1993, the station dropped its CHR format for Country under the new call letters of WNCK as "K99.7". This lasted less than a year before the station changed formats again to Adult Standards as WLOW moved down the dial from 106.9 to 99.7.

WLOW eventually moved back to 106.9 within a years time and 99.7 once again became WNCK with a Talk format. It eventually gave way to a Contemporary Christian format before going dark in May, 1995.

By the Summer of 1995, the station was sold to Baker Broadcasting, who changed the format to a syndicated Beach Music format under the WHBZ call letters as "The Breeze", paring it with WWBZ in McClellanville, South Carolina and adding WLXC in Columbia, South Carolina in early 1996.

By 2001, Baker Broadcasting sold WHBZ to Apex Broadcasting, which dropped the simulcast with WWBZ and flipped the station to a simulcast with WSIS. Then it briefly had an All-Comedy format, then a brief satellite-fed Classic rock format with local shows on the weekend. The station became Smooth Jazz under the WJZX call letters.

During this time, the station made a long-planned move into the Charleston radio market by changing its city of license to Hollywood and moving its tower to Mount Pleasant, which was completed in 2003.

When the move was completed, the station flipped again to Adult Urban Contemporary as WXST, adopting the "Star 99.7" handle.

The station is owned by Apex Broadcasting.

Call Letter History

Prior to this, the WXST call letters were first assigned to a station licensed to Loudon, Tennessee, beginning May 24th, 1991. It remained until they were dropped on March 16th, 1998 for WESK. Then, WXST was assigned to a station in Delaware, Ohio beginning June 26th, 1998. They remained until they were dropped on April 23th, 2001 for WJHT, only to be reacquired on May 16th, 2001. WXST/Delaware was dropped completely for WODB July 27th, 2001. [Federal Communications Commission]

References

External links

* [http://www.star997.com/ Star 99.7's official website]
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* [http://www.star1079.com/ Star 107.9 - America's First 80s Radio Station]