W253BG (98.5 FM) is an alternative rock radio station located in Arial, South Carolina area.
Although licensed as a broadcast translator prohibited from carrying its own programming, it broadcasts under a legal loophole allowed by the Federal Communications Commission, by simulcasting on HD Radio channel 2 of WJMZ FM 107.3, allowing such stations to sidestep the restriction on translators, as well as regulations regarding the excessive concentration of media ownership by a single company in a given media market.
98.5 FM began broadcasting in March 2007 in Arial, re-broadcasting WHRZ-LP in Spartanburg, which carries a Christian Contemporary format.
In June 2012, an application was filed to move the station to Paris Mountain in Greenville, with a downgrade from 250 to 200 watts, however allowing the station to cover Greenville County, as well as portions of neighboring Pickens and Spartanburg counties with a solid signal.
Shortly after noon, after playing a montage of sound clips, the true format was launched as X-98.5, "The Upstate's New Rock Alternative."