By Amanda Raymond
amanda.raymond@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY – WSAT, a local radio station previously only available on the 1280 AM channel, can now be enjoyed on FM.

WSAT can now be heard on 103.3 FM. It is a simulcast of the AM channel, but Buddy Poole, station manager and host of the morning show, said it will be better quality on the FM channel.

“This is certainly a big step for us to add FM,” Poole said.

Poole said the station hopes to draw a younger audience with the new FM channel. The station plays the greatest hits of the ’60s and ’70s and Poole said the station’s usual audience falls in the 30-65 age range.

“We’ve had a very strong audience,” he said, adding that he hopes to add to it.

The station has a focus on local news, with David Whisenant, a reporter who is also on WBTV, reading local news stories and Al Conklin, a meteorologist who is also on WBTV, doing the weather. Howard Platt, who worked for WSTP before the station went off the air in August, will continue doing sports.

New listeners can submit their names to the Birthday Calendar and look forward to hearing it on the air or submit their loved ones’ names who have recently passed away for the obituary segment.

Some of the artists the station plays include the Temptations, the Supremes, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, Brenda Lee and B.J. Thomas.

Sports coverage includes Catawba College football and basketball, Rowan County American Legion baseball, the Carolina Panthers games, the Super Bowl, the North Carolina Tar Heels games and the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

The station announces the job bulletin from the Employment Security Commission. It also broadcasts a segment called “Senior Moment,” a one-minute feature from Rufty-Holmes Senior Center that gives senior citizens information about events or current offerings.

The new FM channel is sure to also increase exposure for local merchants who advertise on the station.

“We’re here to serve the local merchants,” Poole said.

The station is owned by the Catawba College Foundation and continues to be a place where students can find internships.

It took about three months to get the FM station up and running, Poole said, and they are still in a testing period to make sure all the technical aspects of the station are done correctly.

Poole said the station works hard to broadcast the news that matters to Salisbury and Rowan County. The new FM channel, with its stronger signal, will hopefully give the station a wider reach.

Visit 1280wsat.com for more information on the station. The station is also available to listen to through the Tunein Radio App.

Contact reporter Amanda Raymond at 704-797-4222.