BELMONT — A new Catholic radio station is on the air in Charlotte. Catholic Radio Charlotte, WCGC AM1270, is part of the Carolina Catholic Radio Network.
The station started broadcasting Jan. 31, said David Papandrea, who serves as a “media missionary” for EWTN in the area.
Headquartered at Belmont Abbey College, the station broadcasts 24 hours a day with a daytime signal that can reach an estimated 500,000 people from Hickory to Rock Hill, S.C., including Huntersville and Charlotte.
Carolina Catholic Radio Network broadcasts EWTN Global Catholic Radio and will carry local programming including local diocesan news updates starting in the next few weeks, Papandrea said.
The station is also streamed online and available to listen through an app.
Operating AM1270 is listener-funded, Papandrea said. The Carolina Catholic Radio Network was created in 2017, and the network also includes Belmont Abbey College’s WBAC-LPFM 101.5. A test station in Salisbury was on the air for nearly six months in 2017.
In the future, the Carolina Catholic Radio Network hopes to add more stations: Mooresville, Hickory, Statesville; Concord, I85-Corridor, Greensboro,High Point; Winston-Salem, Kernersville and Asheville/Hendersonville. That way the network could cover 80 percent of Catholics in the diocese and reach more than 4 million people.
— Kimberly Bender, online reporter
Learn more
At www.carolinacatholicradio.org: Stream the station, donate or learn about bringing a station to your area.