At this time, the station's studios were moved into the Herald-Sun's building at 138 East Chapel Hill Street, literally next door to the Washington Duke Hotel.

In 1952, WDNC's parent company, the Herald-Sun Newspapers, applied to build a TV station in Durham on the city's newly allotted VHF channel 11.

[3] In the late 1970s, Buddy Poole, a former employee of WTIK, hosted the "Country Lovin'" morning show and worked in sales.

[4] WDNC remained a CBS affiliate and the home of big band and popular standards until 1991, when their focus shifted towards more talk-based programming.

In 1997, Curtis Media Group took over the LMA from Capitol, replacing the news-centered schedule with more syndicated talk shows and paid programming until it bought the WDNC license from the Herald-Sun in 2000.

That arrangement lasted until November 1, 2005, when WDNC entered into yet another LMA, this time with McClatchey Broadcasting, then-owner of WRBZ "850 the Buzz", a more locally oriented sports talk station.

[5] From July 2006 to June 2007, WDNC was home to an afternoon talk show featuring former ECU football head coach Steve Logan, before moving on to take the offensive coordinator position at Boston College.

[6] Late in 2008, Don Imus returned to the Triangle for the first time since the incident involving the Rutgers women's basketball team.

WDNC was expected to change its handle to 620 the Buzz beginning in September 2009,[8][9] but the official changeover happened on November 2 with Adam Gold and Joe Ovies transferring their morning show over from WRBZ.

On April 25, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission issued a construction permit for Capitol Broadcasting to move WDNC's transmitter from the station's long-time West Durham location on Shocorree Drive to a diplex arrangement with WDUR 1490 AM, at the latter's transmitter site on Nixon Street in southeastern Durham.

On May 1, 2018, WDNC rebranded from "The Buzz" (which continued on WCMC-FM HD2 and the 96.5 and 99.3 translators) to "The Ticket" (which moved from WCLY, which flipped to adult album alternative).