from 1953 to 1972 see wxii tv . for the former wsjs fm see wtqr . wsjs city winston salem north carolina broadcast area piedmont triad branding am 600 wsjs slogan the triad s news radio frequency 600 khz first air date april 17 1930 format news talk and sports power 5 000 watts class b facility id 58391 callsign meaning winston salem journal sentinel named for the city s two daily papers the winston salem journal and the twin city sentinel affiliations cbs radio news cbs sports radio westwood one owner curtis media group webcast listen live website wsjs.com wsjs 600 khz is a commercial am radio station licensed to winston salem north carolina and broadcasting to the greensboro winston salem high point media market . it airs a news talk and sports radio format with national news supplied by cbs radio news . wsjs is owned by the curtis media group and its slogan is the triad s news radio where triad refers to the piedmont triad . the station has a news sharing relationship with the piedmont triad s nbc tv network affiliate wxii tv channel 12 . both wxii tv and wsjs were co owned until 1972 and both stations used to share the same wsjs call letters . wsjs has studios and offices on west fifth street and its transmitter is near robinhood road both in winston salem . the station operates at 5 000 watts day & night . contents 1 history 1.1 1920s 1960s 1.2 1970s 1.3 1980s 1.4 1990s 1.5 2000s 1.6 2010s 2 references 3 external links history edit 1920s 1960s edit in 1929 citation needed entrepreneur and radio engineer doug lee began talking with owen moon publisher of the two winston salem newspapers the winston salem journal and the twin city sentinel . the call letters refer to the newspapers winston salem journal plus sentinel . 1 wsjs signed on the air on april 17 1930 holy thursday . three days later the station aired live coverage of the easter sunrise service from god s acre in old salem . that broadcast has continued every year since and is believed to be the longest continuously airing special program in radio history . 1 with wsjs owned by the two local newspapers the original studios were in the papers newsroom in downtown winston salem . 2 the transmitter was also in that building . the antenna was a long wire suspended from two towers one on the journal building and the other on the roof of the carolina theater building . citation needed in 1933 wsjs became a cbs radio network affiliate moving to nbc radio in 1940 . gordon gray bought the newspapers and the radio station in 1937 and harold essex of chicago became the manager . together they made wsjs as important to the area as the newspapers increasing the station s power and moving wsjs from 1310 to 600 khz . in 1941 an fm station wmit was added near mount mitchell . 3 the radio center studios building at 419 spruce street was built for the stations in 1942 . 4 later wsjs fm which became wtqr began in winston salem in 1947 . 2 wsjs added a tv station in 1953 . wsjs tv was co located with wsjs am for a number of years . the newspapers were sold to media general in 1968 but longtime publisher gordon gray formed triangle broadcasting to hold onto the wsjs stations . gray also acquired the cable franchise for winston salem summit cable . when the fcc ruled that one person could not own a television station and a cable system in the same market gray sold off wsjs tv ; it is now wxii tv . wally williams hosted carolina in the morning from 1954 to 1979 . the show included the good word for the day and a daily devotional . williams had started as an announcer on the tv station where he continued to do the weather . when he retired winston salem mayor wayne corpening declared may 31 wally williams day . wayne willard did the news during most of williams years on the station and also served as the station s news director . 5 george lee joined wsjs radio in 1968 . george lee bowermaster among his characters were blue the bionic dog and magnolia sweetbreath . when signing off he would tell people to drive carefully so that the life you save may be mine . myself i would rather be a little late than be the late george lee . he and tom chambers would tell punch lines to jokes on the air just the punch lines because the jokes themselves were dirty . before wsjs he was on wair and he was one of the good guys on wtob . 1970s edit in 1976 lee became program director of wsjs and wtqr . george brown was program director in 1979 and at least as late as 1982 lee left radio in 1982 but his career included roles in several movies and tv shows and he was the narrator of beyond the wheel a program about nascar on the speed channel . 6 7 in 1979 glenn scott moved from wxii to wsjs to replace williams as morning host a position he held for almost 30 years . for the last few years he did the show from his home in horse shoe near hendersonville after moving closer to his children . he almost considered retiring but changed his mind when the station made arrangements for the remote broadcasts . 8 9 1980s edit in 1982 former wtob news anchor smith patterson joined the station and in 1983 was made full time by then station manager roger stockton . patterson then joined glenn scott on the morning show for the rest of scott s tenure 1984 2007 . patterson was with the station doing the morning news with jr snider and also hosting the 5 a.m. early morning news with smith patterson until march 2012 . in 1988 bob costner became wsjs news director a position he would hold for nearly 20 years . 10 1990s edit newmarket media corp. sold wsjs and wtqr to radio equity partners of norwalk connecticut in a deal completed in april 1994 and worth in excess of 100 million as the connecticut company expanded into the southeast looking for the best stations possible . 11 after more than 20 years wake forest university stopped airing its football and basketball games on wsjs moving to the first of several stronger fm stations . 12 gene overby also wsjs sports director prior to his death in 1989 was play by play announcer for wake forest for 17 years . 13 14 in august 1998 wsml in graham north carolina formerly a gospel music station began airing the same programming as wsjs most of the time . the move was made to improve wsjs coverage in the eastern triad particularly at night when wsjs must adjust its signal to protect several clear channel stations on nearby frequencies . legendary greensboro dj dusty dunn joined the stations . 15 wsjs program director mike fenley began a talk show on wsml which aired in the late morning at the time wsjs was airing dr. laura . while wsjs aired rush limbaugh wsml had paul harvey and religious programming . wsjs aired unc football and basketball while wsml carried n.c. state sports . 16 dunn left wsjs wsml after a year because new station management wanted more of a focus on political talk . 17 wsml was the only area station airing the nhl carolina hurricanes early in the 1998 99 season . wsjs had the nfl carolina panthers and the nba charlotte hornets . 18 wsjs and wtqr were sold to clear channel communications in 1997 . 2000s edit when clear channel merged with amfm wsjs was sold to cbs radio then called infinity in 2000 . 19 the infinity purchase meant wsjs dropped paul harvey and added charles osgood and the dan rather report and that cbs newscasts replaced those from abc radio news . 20 wsjs carried the winston salem warthogs minor league baseball team for two seasons starting in 2003 . 21 wsjs dropped dr. laura late in 2003 replacing her with laura ingraham in the late morning slot ; ingraham had been on wsjs late at night . 22 beth ann mcbride was a producer and assistant continuity director in 2002 and 2003 and she became producer of the don and mike show before returning to wsjs in december 2005 as program director and afternoon host replacing fenley . 23 former wsjs logo reflecting its simulcast on wsml . it was used until july 2010 . on february 14 2007 wsjs along with its sister station wmfr and simulcast partner wsml was sold by cbs to raleigh based curtis media group . this move marries wsjs with fm news talk station wztk which covers both the triad and triangle as well as southern virginia and as far south as fayetteville . 24 25 this was the beginning of big changes at wsjs during 2007 . mcbride left her jobs as program director and host of the afternoon show the ride with mcbride . news director costner had already left the station for news 14 carolina late in 2006 . 26 ed skurka news director for clear channel s greensboro area stations became wsjs wmfr news anchor . 27 also in 2007 brian freeman became news and programming director as well as morning host replacing scott who announced his retirement may 14 . freeman had worked six years in miami and in dallas baltimore washington and philadelphia . smith patterson and j. r. snider remained a part of the show . 8 among freeman s changes was the addition of high school football games from outside forsyth county . only one game during the 2007 season was between two forsyth teams though some of the others were between a forsyth team and an out of county team . but freeman wanted wsjs to cover the entire area and the station had always had listeners in greensboro . 28 freeman left wsjs in december 2009 for sister station wptf in raleigh north carolina where he took over duties as program director and morning show host . curtis media group announced that wsjs wsml would no longer carry the rush limbaugh show after december 31 2009 . the program moved to talk radio rival fm 94.5 wpti owned by iheartmedia which also owns the firm that syndicates limbaugh premiere networks . 29 2010s edit the wsjs simulcast on wsml ended on july 15 2010 after wsml began carrying an all sports format in tandem with wmfr and wcog . 30 31 the station realigned its programming on march 13 2012 when a locally produced show hosted by brad krantz and britt whitmire and the syndicated neil boortz and clark howard shows moved to wsjs as well as sister station wptk in raleigh from wztk which changed formats . wsjs also increased its news coverage including the launch of an hour long noon newscast . 32 on march 4 2013 wsjs reunited with its former sister station wxii tv 12 in a news sharing agreement . because of the agreement wxii 12 news at 6 p.m. started simulcasting on wsjs on march 4 . the newscast is heard weeknights from 6 00 6 30 p.m. on wsjs followed by north carolina news network news . 33 on january 18 2016 wsjs added more sports programming . clark howard ends one hour earlier at noon while dave ramsey was dropped along with more with matt clark produced by the station s operations manager who was staying at wsjs . the raleigh based david glenn show was moving from delayed in the evenings to live in the early afternoon .