WPCO (South Carolina)
WPCO (1230 AM, "94.9 The Palm") was a radio station in Columbia, South Carolina. Last owned by Alpha Media, it broadcast an adult album alternative (AAA) format. Its studios were on Pineview Road in Columbia, with a transmitter tower located near Bicentennial Park along the Congaree River in downtown Columbia. It was also heard on FM translator W235CH at 94.9 MHz, using the translator's dial position as its moniker, "94.9 The Palm." (South Carolina is known as the Palmetto State.) After going silent in January 2022, WPCO's license was cancelled and deleted by the FCC on January 5, 2023. The AAA programming, no longer heard on the AM station, continues on the FM translator, 94.9 W235CH, now rebroadcasting co-owned 93.5 WARQ-HD4. History The station signed on the air on January 1, 1947. Its original call sign was WNOK and it featured programing from the Mutual Broadcasting System. In the early 1950s, WNOK had added a UHF TV station on Channel 67, eventually changing to Channel 19 by the early 1960s. (WNOK-TV was sold by 1977, becoming WLTX.) Also, an FM station on 104.7 was added in 1958, which is where WNOK's call letters reside today. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, WNOK programmed various music genres known then as "Block Programming." In the end, Top 40 won out and, by the mid-1960s, it was full-time Top 40. However, after making little headway against WCOS, it tried "The Now Sound" in 1967, a mix of MOR and light rock/pop. It also affiliated with CBS during that time. In late 1970, it returned to Top 40 and briefly gave WCOS a good run for its money. In 1980, the station changed to country and disco formats under the call letters of WXAP. Neither format lasted more than six months and the WNOK call letters were reclaimed at the end of the year. The station eventually simulcasted parts of WNOK-FM's Top 40 (now known as CHR) format, although much of the remaining broadcast day was still automated under Adult Contemporary and CHR formats. By the fall of 1985, the automation was finally done away with and WNOK was simulcasting full-time with the FM. In the fall of 1987, WNOK dropped the simulcast, becoming an AOR/Classic rock hybrid as "Rock 1230". However, FM station WMFX signed on shortly afterwards with a similar format, taking away the station's potential audience. In September 1988, the station became "Oldies 1230" under the WODE call letters featuring an oldies format. Unfortunately, FM WPRH became WOMG in the spring of 1989 with a similar format, again taking away much of the station's audience. In the fall of that year, Price Broadcasting, then-owners of longtime urban contemporary outlet WOIC 1320 AM announced that they were dropping the call letters and format for a simulcast of sister FM, WOMG. In order to prevent any public outcry, arrangements were made with WODE to move the WOIC call letters, format, and staff over to 1230 AM. WOIC spent much of the 1990s