WPLW is a hot adult contemporary radio station, licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, which serves the Triangle region, including Durham and Chapel Hill. Its studios are located in Raleigh, and the transmitter is co-located at the WPTF transmitter site in Cary. WPLW's programming is also carried on two translator stations in Raleigh, W225DF and W262CZ. From mid-November through December, Star 92.9 plays Christmas music for the holiday season.
History
WLLE played James Brown, Little Richard, The O'Jays, and Earth Wind & Fire, and it could be heard as far away as Walkertown and Wallace-Rose Hill. Its DJs included Oscar "Daddy O on the Radio" Alexander, Sweet Bob Rogers, Chester “CD” Davis, J. Willie Moore, Big Bill Haywood, Prince Ike Behind the Mike, Jimmy Johnson of JJ’s House Party, and Brother James Thomas. Ray "Dr. Jocko" Henderson, who later became well known in Detroit, was popular with both black and white listeners in the 1960s. He is credited with helping Raleigh get through difficult times during integration of the schools and the death of Martin Luther King Jr. His style came from Douglas "Jocko" Henderson of Philadelphia and Durham's Dr. Jive of WSRC. WLLE was the first radio station in the state to interview Coretta Scott King and the first black radio station to interview a grand dragon of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Wallace LaCrosse Hankin bought WLLE in 1966. WLLE became the station for Raleigh's black community, and it was the second most popular AM station. In the early 1990s, "Let's Talk", hosted by Frank Roberts, aired five nights each week and dealt with the problems of blacks. In 1997, WLLE was purchased by Mortenson Broadcasting of Kentucky, who changed its call letters to WRDT and began airing religious talk. Two years later, the station was picked up by Curtis Media and the call letters were changed once again to WDTF, continuing on with the religious talk format and adding inspirational music to the mix. In 2003, the station changed its format to current general talk and call letters to WDNZ to match its one-time simulcast partner, Durham-based WDNC. The station continued to air much of the same programs as WDNC, save for mornings and sports broadcasts featuring the Carolina Mudcats, even though both stations had aired Charlotte Bobcats games briefly. All that changed in late 2005 when WDNC broke off the simulcast to become an all-sports station with an entirely separate staff, LMAed by McClatchey Broadcasting, owners of WRBZ, 850 AM. The general talk format continued on WDNZ after that point, with the calls changing to WDOXin September 2006. The call letters were a reference to its moniker "Home of the Docs", as it aired programming featuring Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Dr. Joy Browne. In addition, WDOX was also home to local and regional programming such as and . On weekends, the station offered "Million Dollar Music", featuring musical favorites dating back to the 1950s that were no longer played on most oldies formats. The music segments were hosted by longtime Triangle area radio personalities Pat Patterson and Maury O'Dell. In May 2010, the station changed its call letters to WQDR and its format to classic country to go along with sister station WQDR-FM, which plays contemporary and hit country music. WQDR went off the air beginning April 16, 2011, when its transmitter off South Saunders Street near downtown Raleigh was badly damaged by a tornado. Following numerous delays in securing a new transmitter site, the station eventually returned to the airwaves on February 22, 2012, transmitting from one of the towers of sister station's WPTF transmitter site in Cary. At that time, the station began to air an all-comedy format under the moniker "Funny 570", and its call letters were changed to WFNL, which stood for We're Fun 'N' Laughs. The station initially served as the Triangle affiliate for Premiere Radio Networks' 24/7 Comedy radio network, until it was discontinued on August 3, 2014. At that point WFNL switched to the "Today's Comedy" network feed. Beginning with the 2015 season, WFNL broadcast East Carolina University Pirates football games and the weekly coaches show. The station inherited this package from sister station WPTK, which had recently changed formats. In May 2017, WFNL ended its comedy programming, and began simulcasting full-time the News/Talk programming of co-owned WPTF in Raleigh. On November 15, 2017, the station returned to the call letters WQDR and a classic country format, "Just Right Country", featuring songs "from the sixties to the nineties and beyond". On June 4, 2019, WQDR flipped to hot adult contemporary, branded as "Star 92.9". Also timed with the new format, the station took call signWPLW from its sister hit music station, now WPLW-FM. Star 92.9 is the Triangle affiliate of The Bob and Sheri Show.
57WLLE.net
In September 2018, Gary Antwon Williams, a former WLLE employee, started the Internet radio service 57WLLE.net, with soul and R&B from the 70s, 80s and 90s, recalling the WLLE of the past. Plans call for community affairs programming.
