WSOC shares its call sign with previously co-owned WSOC-TV, Charlotte's ABC network affiliate.

(Because WMIT moved to Black Mountain, North Carolina, in the 1960s, WSOC-FM can claim it is now Charlotte's oldest FM station.)

The FM station mostly simulcast programming from sister station AM 1240 WSOC, an NBC Radio Network affiliate, carrying its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio".

During the 1960s, WSOC-FM received FCC permission to increase power to its current 100,000 watts, expanding coverage with a good radio to Winston-Salem, Asheboro and Spartanburg.

[6] In 1977, despite a consultant's view that country would never be a viable FM format, Bell moved forward with his plans to take WSOC-FM off an automated system and go with live DJs from morning to night.

Call, who thought he was auditioning for a spot on WSOC's AM station, decided to take the job even though he had no knowledge or appreciation for country music.

Bill Ellis, who started at WSOC as a copywriter in 1975, was given helicopter traffic duties and served as the station's mid-day announcer.

[citation needed] Country music was evolving, and its popularity grew as the result of the movie Urban Cowboy.

Program director Paul Johnson said Ellis would likely not have replaced Dollar anytime soon, so if he wanted to be a morning host, he had to go elsewhere.

[10] In Fall 1989, Dollar returned to the #1 position after WRFX's John Boy and Billy replaced him in the summer, a ratings period during which urban contemporary-formatted WPEG became number one.

When he returned from vacation, on his 44th birthday, he learned he had been moved to middays, replaced in the morning by Paul Schadt and Cindy O'Day.

Program director Paul Johnson said the change would attract younger listeners with "a more contemporary face" and "energy, entertainment and fun".

[17] Music director Rick McCracken, who also worked overnights, took Dollar's slot temporarily and later returned to late nights.

Dean had hosted "The Nite Shift" from Los Angeles on the Blair Garner "After Midnight Entertainment" network, and he had also worked in San Francisco and Detroit.

[18] WSOC-FM would gain four sister stations (WBAV-FM, WBAV-AM, WNKS and WPEG) in December 1996 from Evergreen Media, as part of a multi-market swap.

WSOC was still number two in Charlotte, and hoping to stay that way, when the station added Big Paul and "Aunt Eloise" of WTQR in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Kevin O'Neal became program director and WSOC-FM brought back its outside-of-morning-drive policy of playing 12 songs in a row, without commercials.

It hired top Columbia, South Carolina personality Jeff Roper as morning host with Blake remaining as sidekick.

[23] Roper's Morning Show was named 2003 Country Music Association Broadcast Personality of the Year (large markets) in 2003.

On February 24, 2009, the Academy of Country Music announced that WSOC-FM had won the award for "Major Market Radio Station of the Year".