WHZT

WHZT

City of license	Seneca, South Carolina
Broadcast area	Greenville/Spartanburg & The Upstate
Branding	The New Hot 98.1
Slogan	Carolina's #1 Hit Music Station
Frequency	98.1 (MHz)
Translator(s)	94.1 W231BA (Spartanburg)
Repeaters	107.3-2 WJMZ-HD2 (Anderson)
First air date	June 6th, 1953
Format	Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	304 meters
Class	C0
Facility ID	5971
Transmitter coordinates	34°41′15.00″N 82°59′13.00″W
Callsign meaning	"HoT" (The Z substitutes for the O)
Former callsigns	WBFM (1953-) WPEK (?-2001)
Owner	Cox Radio
Sister stations	WJMZ-FM, W249CB
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	hot981.com

WHZT is a Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio station licensed to Seneca, South Carolina and serves the Upstate South Carolina region. The Cox Radio outlet is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast at 98.1 MHz with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 93 kW. The station goes by the name Hot 98.1 and its current slogan is "Carolina's #1 Hit Music Station."

History

98.1 signed on the air June 6, 1953 as WBFM. The station was an adult standards outlet airing some of the same programming as sister AM WSNW in Seneca, South Carolina. The station continued with the same format until the mid-90s, even after a power increase to 100,000 watts. The station played oldies for a while and then Triple-A.

Prior to its flip to Rhythmic Top 40 in the spring of 2001, WHZT's previous format was Sports Talk as WPEK ("98.1 The Peak"). But in the week prior to the flip it stunted, and in the process kept listeners guessing, with a Modern AC format as "Q98". On April 1, 2001 Q98 became The New Hot 98-1. The first song was "Party Up" by DMX and continued with 10,000 songs in a row commercial free.Since then Hot 98.1 has done well with its Rhythmic format, which also serves as 'companion' to its Adult R&B sister WJMZ, who had been the R&B/Hip-Hop outlet in the region before seguing into their current direction in 2002. Its main competitor is Entercom Communications' WFBC-FM, carrying a top 40 format.

In September 2007, 98.1 "re-launched" with a promotion called "Pay Your Bills" after being "dead" for several days prior, the dead term referring to being "dead serious about giving away free money." This was met with much fanfare on the air as they also launched a freshened image with new voice talent and jingles, the first change of its kind since the station's 2001 launch. The re-launch paid off as WHZT rocketed to the number one position in their highly competitive target demographic, according to the Fall 2007 Arbitron survey. On March 18, 2008 the station announced that "Pay Your Bills" would be returning.

Signal and translator

98.1 WHZT can be heard as far south and west as the northeastern suburbs of the Atlanta metro area, and as far east as the Spartanburg area. In parts of, and specifically east of the Spartanburg area, it becomes more difficult to receive WHZT due to interference from neighboring 97.9 WPEG in Charlotte. The station had a construction permit in 2006 to move its signal to an antenna closer to the metro in nearby Anderson, but it was never attempted. To improve its Spartanburg coverage, WHZT began operating a translator in late 2009, which is located on the tower for WOLT:

Translators of WHZT-FM

Call sign	MHz	City of license	Power (W)	Class	Additional Information
W231BA	94.1	Spartanburg, South Carolina	250	D	FCC

On-air lineup

• 6:00AM–10:00AM Murph Dawg & CJ
• 10:00AM–3:00PM SupaDave
• 3:00PM–7:00PM Marino
• 7:00PM–12:00AM Tone Hollywood

Weekends

Saturday:

• 10:00AM – 2:00PM Marino/Tone
• 2:00PM – 6:00PM Ant Dizzle
• 6:00PM – 10:00PM Gabe

Sunday:

• 10:00AM – 2:00PM Gabe
• 2:00PM – 7:00PM Ant Dizzle
• 7:00PM – 12:00AM Stevi

Mixers

• DJ Skizzle
• DJ Gabe
• DJ Sha
• DJ Supa Dave

Former On Air Staff

Fisher, Taylor Scott, Cap N Lou, JT/Justin Daly, Anna, Kacie, Kristen, Jet Black, Jay Styles, Brandy, Johnny D, Shorty

External links

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