WHNC (890 AM) is a radio station in Henderson, North Carolina, United States, broadcasting a gospel music format. It is owned by The Paradise Network and simulcasts WCBQ (1340 AM) in Oxford.
History On May 17, 1944, the Henderson Radio Corporation applied for authority to build a new 250-watt, daytime-only radio station on 890 kHz in Henderson, North Carolina. (Guide to reading History Cards) The firm had been incorporated by S. S. Stevenson and T. W. McCracken of Henderson and Nathan Frank of Roanoke Rapids. A construction permit was awarded on December 12, and WHNC began broadcasting on June 5 with programming from the Mutual Broadcasting System. Its transmitter site was located two miles north of town. Some of the original equipment was transported to North Carolina and the original studio on William Street from a defunct radio station in Arizona. In 1948, the company received a construction permit to build a companion FM station, WHNC-FM.
A new studio was built in 1952, burned in a January 1956 fire that destroyed the transmitter, and reopened three months later. Frank became the sole owner in 1953 and sold WHNC-AM-FM in 1971 to the Beasley Broadcast Group. Beasley sold WHNC and the FM, then renamed WXNC, to Rigel, Inc. in 1978; a minority stake in the new ownership was held by the stations' general manager. WXNC was sold off in 1981 to the Bible Broadcasting Network and became WYFL. Rigel sold WHNC in 1994 to the Woodlief family, owner of WCBQ (1340 AM) in nearby Oxford. At the time, WHNC—which had been airing an automated oldies format—began simulcasting WCBQ on a full-time basis and shut down its local operation.
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