WKIX (850 kHz) is an AM radio station with an oldies format. Licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, the station serves the Research Triangle area. The station is owned by Curtis Media Group. Studios are located in Raleigh. History Early years WNAO signed on in 1947, owned by the News and Observer newspaper. As of 1948, WNAO was an ABC radio affiliate. WNAO-FM was added in 1949. Sir Walter Television purchased the stations from the newspaper effective February 13, 1953. The Raleigh-Durham market's first TV station, WNAO-TV, channel 28, signed on in 1953, but went off the air in 1957. The AM (10,000 watts at 850 kHz) and FM (35,000 watts at 96.1 MHz) radio stations were sold to an independent broadcaster, Ted Oberfelter, who changed the call letters to WKIX and WKIX-FM to avoid the association with the newspaper. WKIX, Channel 85 In 1958, Hugh Holder, a former CBS announcer, along with three partners bought the radio stations. Holder changed the format from easy listening to top 40, serving the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill market. Known as "WKIX, Channel 85", "The Giant of the South", and "The Mighty 850", the station was one of the most successful popular music outlets in the US from the late 1950s through the 1970s. It was home to many well-known personalities in North Carolina radio including Charlie Brown and Rick Dees. General Manager, Hal Vester, designed the unique format based on his former experience with Top 40 stations in Asheville, Greensboro, Charlotte, Wilmington, and Washington, DC. Chief Engineer, Larry Gardner (who later became CE of WCKY in Cincinnati) was responsible for many technical innovations that provided the distinctive WKIX sound. Following the Holder years, WKIX and WKIX-FM were owned by Belk Broadcasting, Southern Broadcasting, and Mann Media. Previously, the FM signal had mostly duplicated WKIX's programming, getting a boost from the rising popularity of FM and also providing improved full-time coverage of the entire Raleigh-Durham market. As FM became more dominant, the WKIX-FM call sign was changed to WYYD, power was increased to 100,000 watts, and the station was programmed separately as easy-listening. In the 1970s, the station had a strong news department, with such figures as John Tesh and Doug Limerick. The format was called "20/20" news, with a summary at 20 past the hour and a full newscast at 20 before the hour. This proved effective since most other stations had news