WYRD (AM)


WYRD, known on-air as "ESPN Upstate", is a sports-formatted radio station in the Greenville-Spartanburg area of Upstate South Carolina. The Entercom Communications outlet is licensed by the FCC to Greenville, South Carolina, and broadcasts at 1330 kHz with power of 5 kW unlimited non-directional daytime and 3-way directional at night. The programming is simultaneously broadcast on WORD 950 AM Spartanburg, and . Its studios and transmitter are located in Greenville.
Until their change in format from talk to sports on February 24, 2014, News Radio WORD carried Russ and Lisa, Mike Gallagher, Coast to Coast AM, Rush Limbaugh, Kim Komando, Lars Larson, Dave Ramsey, Sean Hannity and Bob McLain.

History

On December 9, 1932, The Federal Radio Commission approved transferring the license for WFBC from Virgil V. Evans to the Greensville News-Piedmont Company. At the time, WFBC operated on 1200 kHz with 50 watts of power. On January 8, 1935, the Federal Communications Commission approved increasing the station's power to 5,000 watts.
Years later, WFBC was known for its top-40 format. The call letters continue to be used by WFBC-FM. WYRD-FM airs a talk format that was once simulcast on WORD-AM and WYRD-AM.
WYRD-AM and its associated FM translator signals became "ESPN Upstate" in February 2014. The station began with ESPN Radio programming, except during the 4 pm - 7 pm slot, which was hosted locally by Greenville-Spartanburg radio veteran Greg McKinney. Later in 2014, McKinney's show "The Huddle" moved to 1 pm - 4 pm, and Mark Sturgis took over the 4 pm - 7 pm slot. McKinney retired from the station in January 2019, and the 1 pm - 4 pm show was taken over by Marc Ryan. Sturgis has had extended absences from the station for health reasons and a variety of substitute hosts have filled in.