WZTK "La Ley 101.1" FM) is a Spanish language radio station in Burlington, North Carolina. It serves the Triad and Triangle areas, which includes cities such as Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Durham, and Fayetteville. In addition the signal goes well north of Danville, Virginia. The outlet, which is owned by Curtis Media Group, claims to have the largest FM radio signal in all of North Carolina, operating with an ERP of 100 kw. The reason for that FM radio signal claim comes from Curtis Media, due to the population covered by the station's signal. The transmitter is located on Bass Mountain in the Cane Creek Mountains in Alamance County.

History [link]

WBBB-FM signed on at 101.3 in the late 1940s as a sister station to WBBB in Burlington, North Carolina. After moving to 101.1, the station became easy listening WNCB. Starting in 1978, WPCM was "Country 101" radio station.^[2]

During the 1990s, the station paired up with WKIX in Goldsboro, North Carolina and targeted listeners in the Raleigh market.^[3] At one point, the call letters were changed to WKXU.^[1] For a time, this station played classic country.^[4]

The station changed to a news/talk format under the WZTK call letters on July 6, 2004. The first live voices heard on "FM Talk 101.1" were those of Brad Krantz and Britt Whitmire, who remained with the station for the format's duration. Previously, the station had been country, calling itself Kix 101.1. WZTK's sister AM station WPCM (920 kilohertz), previously known as WBBB, simulcasted the FM's talk programming until summer 2005, when it went back to its beach/oldies format.

ABC News Radio broadcasted on the hour 24/7. Listeners heard a variety of talk shows including Michael Savage, Alan Colmes, as well as financial advice from Clark Howard, and local/state issues. FM Talk 101.1 was not a 24 hour news/talk station; in fact, it offered smooth jazz weekends. WZTK was once an affiliate of Jones Radio Networks's Smooth Jazz satellite-delivered format until the format was discontinued on September 30, 2008. It continued to air on WZTK without announcers, with music provided by Jones Radio/Dial Global.

The station was also an affiliate of the Carolina Panthers Radio Network and carried Wake Forest University football & men's basketball.

Smooth Jazz has enjoyed success as a part-time offering in North Carolina, it also was once a full-time format on 2 Raleigh stations under the "Wind" moniker (WNNL from 1989-1996 and WKIX-FM from 1996-2001). WMAG in Greensboro and WBAV in Charlotte also use the smooth jazz format on Sundays.

On February 14, 2007, WZTK's parent company, Curtis Media Group, closed a purchase of WSJS, WMFR, and WSJS's simulcast partner WSML. This gave Curtis a monopoly on news/talk in the Triad (and for all practical purposes, in the Triangle, as well) until WPTI and WRDU switched to the format in January 2010. Both WMFR and WSML joined newly-acquired WCOG to form Triad Sports Radio later that year.

On March 12, 2012, Curtis Media Group announced it would end the News/Talk format after 8 years. Brad and Britt, Neil Boortz, and Clark Howard all moved to WSJS and WPTK, while Alan Colmes, Michael Savage, and Allan Handelman were displaced entirely.^[5][6]

At midnight, March 13, after the 2nd hour of The Alan Colmes Show, the station flipped to a simulcast of WWPL. This was a placeholder move as Curtis Media Group prepared a new format that they promise will have more community service and long-term profitability.^[7][8] WZTK launched its new format in Spanish on April 3 by simulcasting WYMY, this time as La Ley 96.9 & 101.1 FM.^[9][10]

References [link]

External links [link]

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WZTK
• Radio-Locator information on WZTK
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WZTK