1946 – 2026
The voice of the Piedmont Triad — and beyond
On the old Wake Forest College campus, students Alva "Al" Parris and Henry "Randy" Randall began illegal 5-watt radio broadcasts from a room rented from the College Librarian. A seed was planted.
With $200 raised by students, WAKE received an FCC license and officially took to the air on April 19 — broadcasting five hours a day as "the voice of Wake Forest College." Within a month, the station adopted the call letters WFDD, honoring the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Wake Forest College relocated to Winston-Salem, and WFDD followed — settling into the newly constructed Reynolda Hall.
Dr. Julian Burroughs, a former student station manager, returned to WFDD as its first non-student Station Manager — serving as faculty adviser until 1981.
The FCC granted WFDD an educational, non-commercial FM license at 10 watts, broadcasting through an antenna atop Reynolda Hall.
WFDD became Winston-Salem's first FM stereo station, expanding to 36,000 watts and broadcasting 365 days a year. Reception reports arrived from as far as Burlington, Asheboro, and even Chatham, Virginia.
WFDD became a charter member of National Public Radio — the first NPR station in North Carolina, and the only one between Richmond, Virginia, and Tallahassee, Florida.
WFDD carried NPR's inaugural transmission — a live Senate hearing on the Vietnam War — on April 20. Two weeks later, on May 3, NPR's All Things Considered premiered, and WFDD was there live.
WFDD expanded broadcasts to 18 hours per day and grew its staff to five full-time employees.
Listeners pledged $35,000 during WFDD's very first fund drive — proof that the community believed in public radio.
To make room for NPR's new Morning Edition, WFDD retired its student-produced morning program, Renaissance — marking a shift toward national public radio programming.
Deaconlight, the beloved late-night music program born as Deaconlight Serenade in 1946, aired its final broadcast on December 27 — ending 35 years of student-driven programming. That same year, Pat Crawford became WFDD's first full-time General Manager.
Under new General Manager Cleve Callison, WFDD's transmission power was increased to 100,000 watts — reaching more listeners than ever before.
On May 5, a powerful storm toppled WFDD's Miller Street tower, causing $56,000 in damage. The station went silent briefly, then returned at 50 watts — slowly climbing back to 20,000 watts by year's end.
Funded by a listener-supported Tower and Studio Fund, WFDD moved into the historic ca. 1890 Weatherly House — renovated to include state-of-the-art production and broadcast facilities.
WFDD shifted to a News & Information format, adding several nationally distributed programs including The Diane Rehm Show, which quickly became a listener favorite.
WFDD expanded into HD radio, simultaneously delivering News/Talk, Classical Music, and Folk programming across three digital channels — 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
WFDD launched its first BackPack Campaign with Second Harvest Food Bank: every gift to WFDD filled a backpack of food for a child facing hunger. The inaugural drive filled 300 backpacks. By 2019, that number had grown to 1,300 each December.
WFDD launched Radio Camp, a week-long summer day camp for middle schoolers, followed the next year by Radio 101 for high school students. By decade's end, these programs — housed under the Hive education initiative — were reaching more than 200 students annually.
Neal Charnoff joined WFDD as Morning Edition host. His friendly delivery and daily plea for turn signal usage quickly became a listener institution — eventually landing on bumper stickers and a listener-designed t-shirt.
A major newsroom expansion marked WFDD's decisive turn toward local journalism. The station adopted a beat structure and launched Carolina Curious, its listener-driven reporting feature.
WFDD shifted its event strategy inward — producing its own highly engaging experiences, from summer bar meetups and quarterly Book Club gatherings to Look Up and Listen and evenings with national talent. Smaller team, bigger creativity.
WFDD earned a National Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Innovation for a Community Conversation event on mental health care access — a topic chosen entirely by the community through open submissions and a public vote.
Over a single weekend, WFDD converted entirely to a remote operation — and never missed a beat. The team launched a bilingual COVID-19 blog and hub, and produced 500 more news stories that year than the year before.
Hurricane Helene devastated much of WFDD's High Country listening area and knocked out power to the Boone transmitter for [X] days. For many impacted communities, WFDD was the only source of news in the immediate aftermath. [Details about hardening efforts TK.]
A year of change and resolve. Robin Lambert joined as morning host as Neal Charnoff moved to All Things Considered. WFDD debuted Spring Fling, a celebration of local musicians. Federal funding for CPB was rescinded — and listeners responded with record-breaking support.