at the top of the hour, bottom of the hour or at 55 past the hour. Switch to country and other formats WKIX changed format to country in the summer of 1981, featuring such personalities as Joe Wade Formicola (who had come from KENR in Houston) and Jay Butler (who later went to WQDR-FM, where he stayed for many years as morning personality). WKIX became the first significant country station in the Raleigh market, but with competitive pressures it changed to an "oldies" format in 1986. From 1990 to 1995, the format was satellite adult standards with some talk shows and sports programming. The call sign changed to WYLT in 1994 when the FM station, also owned by Alchemy Communications, traded letters with the AM. 850 the Buzz The station went all-talk in 1995 as WRBZ, for its "850 The Buzz" branding, but gradually added more sports programming before becoming an all-sports radio station in April 1998. The launch of talk in 1995 was led by syndicated personality Don Imus, who remained on the air for several years. For six years, The Buzz was an ESPN Radio affiliate. When ESPN insisted that The Buzz carry its shows instead of local programming, The Buzz changed to Fox Sports Radio effective August 1, 2005. Unlike sister station WDNC, which relied more on network programming from ESPN, WRBZ's lineup consisted almost entirely of locally produced sports talk local programming from morning hosts Adam Gold, Joe Ovies and Tony Rigsbee; David Glenn; and Morgan Patrick (the Sports Pig). Jim Rome's weekday afternoon show and network programming from Fox Sports Radio on weekend afternoons and daily overnights rounded out the lineup. Sunday mornings [1993-2008] the station aired another local show, Computers 2K Now w/ Amnon Nissan. Until October 2008, WRBZ aired The Herd with Colin Cowherd, from ESPN; both WDNC and WRBZ dropped ESPN programming because the network wanted a stronger commitment than McClatchey was willing to provide. The Don Imus morning show aired on WRBZ from the time the station switched to sports until the Rutgers University controversy that caused CBS to drop his show. Don Curtis of Curtis Media had planned to buy WRBZ from Alchemy Communications early in 2005 but was prevented by FCC rules from owning any more stations. His son-in-law Billy McClatchey bought the station instead. WRBZ celebrated 10 years in the sports radio format on April 10, 2008, with