sports department, and was known as "News Plus 960, WERC". In 1981, the station launched an afternoon drive time sports call-in show hosted by future University of Alabama football announcer Eli Gold. Talk Radio Competing unsuccessfully against WSGN and WAPI as an adult contemporary station, WERC dropped music in May 1982. It flipped to a news-talk format, which continued until January 2011. The station was an early affiliate for the syndicated Rush Limbaugh Show. For much of the 1990s, the WERC line-up featured TC and John Ed as morning hosts, Paul Finebaum hosting a sports show in the afternoon, and Russ and Dee Fine hosting evenings. During a 1993 snowstorm that paralyzed the Birmingham area, WERC became the primary source of information and assistance for hundreds of thousands of residents that were stranded by the weather without power, in some cases, for weeks. In 1997, WERC was bought by Capstar Broadcasting. Capstar was later acquired by San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications. Active Rock WERC began to transition its talk format to the FM dial on July 6, 2009, when a new incarnation of WERC-FM replaced modern rock station WVVB ("The Vulcan") at 105.5 FM. 960 AM simulcast with 105.5 FM until January 7, 2011, when it began originating separate programming, simulcasting on a new FM translator, 103.1 W276BQ. After stunting with several formats, ranging from oldies to classic country to adult album alternative to urban contemporary, the station settled on a permanent format on January 13, 2011, reviving the "Vulcan" branding with an active rock format. In addition to broadcasting on 960 AM and 103.1 FM, "The Vulcan" also broadcast on WQEN-HD2 103.7. The transition was completed on February 15, 2011, when the WERC call sign was replaced with 105.5's former WVVB call letters. Return to Talk On June 23, 2011, WVVB returned to news/talk, simulcasting on both 105.9 FM and 960 AM. On July 14, 2011, WVVB changed its call letters back to WERC. In 2014, WERC's owner, Clear Channel Communications, became iHeartMedia, Inc. Other stations in the Birmingham market owned by iHeartMedia include WMJJ (96.5 FM), WDXB (102.5 FM), WQEN (103.7 FM), and WERC-FM (105.5 FM). iHeartMedia also programs W276BQ (103.1), a translator owned by Red Mountain Broadcasting, LLC. W276BQ rebroadcasts the programming of the HD2 channel of WQEN, branded as "103.1 The Vulcan." References External links FCC History Cards for WERC ERC (AM) News and talk radio