Preserve the Historic WBT Transmitter Site: Where Carolina History Was Broadcast
The Issue
For more than a century, WBT-AM 1110 has been woven into the story of Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Carolinas.
Since first signing on in 1922, generations of listeners have turned to WBT for breaking news, severe weather, election coverage, sports, music, entertainment, and reassurance during times of crisis. Its legendary 50,000-watt signal reached across North Carolina, South Carolina, and much of the eastern United States, earning its reputation as one of America's great clear-channel radio stations.
Today, WBT continues serving listeners on 107.9 FM. This effort is not about bringing back the past or questioning that transition. It is about preserving the place where that history was made.
It is about preserving the place where nearly a century of Carolina history was broadcast.
The historic WBT transmitter site on Nations Ford Road is where countless voices informed, entertained, comforted, and connected generations of listeners. It is where major news stories were carried across the Carolinas. It is where emergency information reached families during hurricanes, winter storms, and other disasters. It is where one of America's oldest and most influential radio stations built its legacy.
Today, the future of that historic property is uncertain.
The transmitter site has been placed on the market for redevelopment. While no public decision has been announced regarding its future, one thing is certain: once places like this are gone, they can never truly be replaced.
Since this effort began, more than 1,000 supporters have signed this petition. Thousands more have followed the story through local, regional, and national media coverage. Most importantly, this effort has already accomplished its original goal: beginning a conversation. Representatives from Radio One and Beasley Media Group have agreed to meet to discuss preservation opportunities for the historic WBT AM transmitter site.
While that meeting does not guarantee any particular outcome, it demonstrates that respectful community engagement can open the door to meaningful conversations.
This petition is not an effort to stop the sale of the property or prevent future development. It does not seek to interfere with the rights of the current owner or any future owner.
Instead, we respectfully ask Radio One, Beasley Media Group, any future owner, Mecklenburg County, preservation organizations, elected officials, and community leaders to work together to identify meaningful ways to preserve, honor, or permanently commemorate the site's most historically significant features before irreversible changes are made.
Preservation Is Possible
Preservation does not have to mean stopping progress or preventing future development. Across North Carolina and throughout the country, historic buildings are successfully adapted for new uses while preserving the history and character that make them significant.
The historic WBT transmitter building could become a local historic landmark through Mecklenburg County's landmark designation process. Local landmark designation provides important protections for historically significant properties while also providing a 50 percent reduction in property taxes. Historic landmark buildings throughout North Carolina have found new life as restaurants, offices, retail businesses, museums, and community gathering places.
The property also appears to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. National Register designation can make substantial financial incentives available for rehabilitation projects, including historic tax credits that may offset up to 35 percent of qualified rehabilitation costs. Additional tax benefits may also be available to owners who commit to preserving historic properties.
The Mecklenburg County Historic Landmarks Commission also has funding available that may help facilitate the purchase of historically significant properties by qualified buyers interested in adaptively reusing them.
These preservation tools demonstrate that redevelopment and preservation are not competing goals. They can work together to create a successful future while preserving an important part of Charlotte's broadcasting history.
One organization has already expressed interest in helping preserve the site. The Charlotte Amateur Radio Club has publicly offered to assist in preserving the transmitter building and at least one tower. The club has suggested the building could become a working historic landmark while also serving as headquarters for its nonprofit public service organization, which provides emergency communications throughout the twelve-county Charlotte region. The organization has also expressed a willingness to assist with fundraising and long-term maintenance of the building.
This illustrates an important point: preserving the WBT transmitter site does not require returning it to its original use. The building can continue serving the public in new and meaningful ways while preserving the history that makes it significant.
A Vision for the Future
Supporters have shared dozens of thoughtful ideas for how this historic site could continue serving the community. While no single proposal has been selected, these ideas demonstrate that preservation can take many forms and that there is strong public interest in giving this remarkable place a meaningful future.
Opportunities could include:
- Preserving the historic 1932 transmitter building.
- Preserving one or more of the iconic Blaw-Knox towers, where feasible.
- Pursuing local historic landmark designation.
- Listing the property on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Incorporating the transmitter building into future redevelopment through adaptive reuse.
- Creating a museum or interpretive center celebrating the history of WBT and Carolina broadcasting.
- Restoring a historic broadcast studio with period equipment and interactive exhibits.
- Displaying transmitter equipment, control boards, photographs, recordings, and other broadcasting artifacts.
- Developing educational exhibits about broadcasting, engineering, severe weather coverage, emergency communications, and the role radio has played in serving the public.
- Offering guided tours of the transmitter building and Cold War-era fallout shelter, if feasible.
- Exploring interactive demonstrations that allow visitors to experience how broadcasting once connected communities across the Carolinas.
- Installing permanent historical markers or interpretive displays telling the story of WBT and the Nations Ford Road transmitter site.
- Thoroughly documenting the property through photographs, engineering records, oral histories, and archival materials before any significant changes occur.
Preservation should not simply remember the past.
It should inspire the future.
The WBT transmitter building could once again become a place that serves the community—not as an operating radio station, but as a place where broadcasting history is preserved, where students discover the history of communications, where stories are collected and shared, and where future generations learn how radio helped shape the communities they call home.
Rather than placing history behind glass, the site could continue its legacy by educating, inspiring, and serving the public for generations to come.
This effort has earned public support from listeners, broadcasters, former employees, engineers, preservation advocates, historians, elected officials, and respected media professionals, including John Hancock, Sheri Lynch, Arroe Collins, Jack Anthony, Rollye James, Joe Greene, and many others who believe this place deserves recognition before it is lost.
Charlotte has lost too many historic places without preserving what made them meaningful.
The WBT transmitter site is not simply another old radio building.
Many transmitter sites have disappeared as broadcasting technology has evolved. Most were built to do one job, and when that job ended, the buildings were demolished or abandoned.
This site is different.
It remains one of the most complete surviving examples of a historic clear-channel broadcasting facility. The transmitter building, the iconic Blaw-Knox towers, and the Cold War-era fallout shelter together tell a much larger story—not only about broadcasting, but about public service, engineering, emergency preparedness, and Charlotte's place in American radio history.
The towers matter because they carried those broadcasts across much of the eastern United States.
The transmitter building matters because it served as the operational heart of WBT's powerful 50,000-watt signal for generations. From inside those walls, engineers kept one of America's great radio stations on the air as it informed, entertained, and served millions of listeners across the Carolinas and beyond.
The Cold War fallout shelter matters because it represents WBT's unique role as a station expected to remain on the air during times of national crisis. It was built to help ensure that critical news, weather information, and emergency messages could continue reaching the public when they were needed most.
Together, these features make the WBT transmitter site far more than a collection of towers and brick walls. They tell the story of a station that was designed to keep serving the public—even under extraordinary circumstances. Very few historic radio facilities still possess that combination of architectural, engineering, and emergency preparedness significance.
Most importantly, the people who worked there created the voices, stories, memories, and moments that became part of everyday life for generations of Carolinians.
Even if every part of the property cannot be preserved, future generations deserve the opportunity to understand what stood here, why it mattered, and the role it played in the history of Charlotte, the Carolinas, and American broadcasting.
Every generation inherits places that tell its story. Whether those places survive is determined by the choices we make today.
By signing this petition, you are not opposing progress.
You are simply asking that progress leave room for history.
Please sign and share this petition. Help preserve the place where nearly a century of Carolina history was broadcast—so future generations can experience its story, not simply read about it after it is gone.
1,146
The Issue
For more than a century, WBT-AM 1110 has been woven into the story of Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Carolinas.
Since first signing on in 1922, generations of listeners have turned to WBT for breaking news, severe weather, election coverage, sports, music, entertainment, and reassurance during times of crisis. Its legendary 50,000-watt signal reached across North Carolina, South Carolina, and much of the eastern United States, earning its reputation as one of America's great clear-channel radio stations.
Today, WBT continues serving listeners on 107.9 FM. This effort is not about bringing back the past or questioning that transition. It is about preserving the place where that history was made.
It is about preserving the place where nearly a century of Carolina history was broadcast.
The historic WBT transmitter site on Nations Ford Road is where countless voices informed, entertained, comforted, and connected generations of listeners. It is where major news stories were carried across the Carolinas. It is where emergency information reached families during hurricanes, winter storms, and other disasters. It is where one of America's oldest and most influential radio stations built its legacy.
Today, the future of that historic property is uncertain.
The transmitter site has been placed on the market for redevelopment. While no public decision has been announced regarding its future, one thing is certain: once places like this are gone, they can never truly be replaced.
Since this effort began, more than 1,000 supporters have signed this petition. Thousands more have followed the story through local, regional, and national media coverage. Most importantly, this effort has already accomplished its original goal: beginning a conversation. Representatives from Radio One and Beasley Media Group have agreed to meet to discuss preservation opportunities for the historic WBT AM transmitter site.
While that meeting does not guarantee any particular outcome, it demonstrates that respectful community engagement can open the door to meaningful conversations.
This petition is not an effort to stop the sale of the property or prevent future development. It does not seek to interfere with the rights of the current owner or any future owner.
Instead, we respectfully ask Radio One, Beasley Media Group, any future owner, Mecklenburg County, preservation organizations, elected officials, and community leaders to work together to identify meaningful ways to preserve, honor, or permanently commemorate the site's most historically significant features before irreversible changes are made.
Preservation Is Possible
Preservation does not have to mean stopping progress or preventing future development. Across North Carolina and throughout the country, historic buildings are successfully adapted for new uses while preserving the history and character that make them significant.
The historic WBT transmitter building could become a local historic landmark through Mecklenburg County's landmark designation process. Local landmark designation provides important protections for historically significant properties while also providing a 50 percent reduction in property taxes. Historic landmark buildings throughout North Carolina have found new life as restaurants, offices, retail businesses, museums, and community gathering places.
The property also appears to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. National Register designation can make substantial financial incentives available for rehabilitation projects, including historic tax credits that may offset up to 35 percent of qualified rehabilitation costs. Additional tax benefits may also be available to owners who commit to preserving historic properties.
The Mecklenburg County Historic Landmarks Commission also has funding available that may help facilitate the purchase of historically significant properties by qualified buyers interested in adaptively reusing them.
These preservation tools demonstrate that redevelopment and preservation are not competing goals. They can work together to create a successful future while preserving an important part of Charlotte's broadcasting history.
One organization has already expressed interest in helping preserve the site. The Charlotte Amateur Radio Club has publicly offered to assist in preserving the transmitter building and at least one tower. The club has suggested the building could become a working historic landmark while also serving as headquarters for its nonprofit public service organization, which provides emergency communications throughout the twelve-county Charlotte region. The organization has also expressed a willingness to assist with fundraising and long-term maintenance of the building.
This illustrates an important point: preserving the WBT transmitter site does not require returning it to its original use. The building can continue serving the public in new and meaningful ways while preserving the history that makes it significant.
A Vision for the Future
Supporters have shared dozens of thoughtful ideas for how this historic site could continue serving the community. While no single proposal has been selected, these ideas demonstrate that preservation can take many forms and that there is strong public interest in giving this remarkable place a meaningful future.
Opportunities could include:
- Preserving the historic 1932 transmitter building.
- Preserving one or more of the iconic Blaw-Knox towers, where feasible.
- Pursuing local historic landmark designation.
- Listing the property on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Incorporating the transmitter building into future redevelopment through adaptive reuse.
- Creating a museum or interpretive center celebrating the history of WBT and Carolina broadcasting.
- Restoring a historic broadcast studio with period equipment and interactive exhibits.
- Displaying transmitter equipment, control boards, photographs, recordings, and other broadcasting artifacts.
- Developing educational exhibits about broadcasting, engineering, severe weather coverage, emergency communications, and the role radio has played in serving the public.
- Offering guided tours of the transmitter building and Cold War-era fallout shelter, if feasible.
- Exploring interactive demonstrations that allow visitors to experience how broadcasting once connected communities across the Carolinas.
- Installing permanent historical markers or interpretive displays telling the story of WBT and the Nations Ford Road transmitter site.
- Thoroughly documenting the property through photographs, engineering records, oral histories, and archival materials before any significant changes occur.
Preservation should not simply remember the past.
It should inspire the future.
The WBT transmitter building could once again become a place that serves the community—not as an operating radio station, but as a place where broadcasting history is preserved, where students discover the history of communications, where stories are collected and shared, and where future generations learn how radio helped shape the communities they call home.
Rather than placing history behind glass, the site could continue its legacy by educating, inspiring, and serving the public for generations to come.
This effort has earned public support from listeners, broadcasters, former employees, engineers, preservation advocates, historians, elected officials, and respected media professionals, including John Hancock, Sheri Lynch, Arroe Collins, Jack Anthony, Rollye James, Joe Greene, and many others who believe this place deserves recognition before it is lost.
Charlotte has lost too many historic places without preserving what made them meaningful.
The WBT transmitter site is not simply another old radio building.
Many transmitter sites have disappeared as broadcasting technology has evolved. Most were built to do one job, and when that job ended, the buildings were demolished or abandoned.
This site is different.
It remains one of the most complete surviving examples of a historic clear-channel broadcasting facility. The transmitter building, the iconic Blaw-Knox towers, and the Cold War-era fallout shelter together tell a much larger story—not only about broadcasting, but about public service, engineering, emergency preparedness, and Charlotte's place in American radio history.
The towers matter because they carried those broadcasts across much of the eastern United States.
The transmitter building matters because it served as the operational heart of WBT's powerful 50,000-watt signal for generations. From inside those walls, engineers kept one of America's great radio stations on the air as it informed, entertained, and served millions of listeners across the Carolinas and beyond.
The Cold War fallout shelter matters because it represents WBT's unique role as a station expected to remain on the air during times of national crisis. It was built to help ensure that critical news, weather information, and emergency messages could continue reaching the public when they were needed most.
Together, these features make the WBT transmitter site far more than a collection of towers and brick walls. They tell the story of a station that was designed to keep serving the public—even under extraordinary circumstances. Very few historic radio facilities still possess that combination of architectural, engineering, and emergency preparedness significance.
Most importantly, the people who worked there created the voices, stories, memories, and moments that became part of everyday life for generations of Carolinians.
Even if every part of the property cannot be preserved, future generations deserve the opportunity to understand what stood here, why it mattered, and the role it played in the history of Charlotte, the Carolinas, and American broadcasting.
Every generation inherits places that tell its story. Whether those places survive is determined by the choices we make today.
By signing this petition, you are not opposing progress.
You are simply asking that progress leave room for history.
Please sign and share this petition. Help preserve the place where nearly a century of Carolina history was broadcast—so future generations can experience its story, not simply read about it after it is gone.
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Petition created on July 1, 2026