By David Whisenant - bio l email
CHARLOTTE (WBTV) - It's hard to beat the excitement that radio announcers bring to racing, but in the Charlotte area, good luck finding it.
"We're in the heart of racing right here and it's just appalling to me that there is no local radio coverage of our races," said Concord Mayor Scott Padgett.
For years WSOC, FM 103 boomed NASCAR coverage across the Carolinas. WSOC FM is still listed as an MRN affiliate, but when WBTV asked WSOC on Wednesday if they planned on carrying any NASCAR races this season, they said "probably not."
1110 WBT for years has carried the Indy 500, but this year will carry this Sunday's Daytona 500, and they aren't ruling out the possibility that more races could be carried.
Racing's two big radio networks are actually located in Concord. The Motor Racing Network and at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Performance Racing Network.
Both networks desperately want a local station to commit to covering the sport, but station managers cite sagging ratings, plus TV and online coverage as reasons radio stations aren't making the commitment.
Concord's mayor, who is a long time race fan, wants to see if the sport can come back to the local airwaves.
"I'm going to make a few calls today to people in that business to see what I can do to support them," Padgett told WBTV.
Unless another station decides to carry the sport, after Sunday racing on the radio will be off the air in an area many consider the birthplace of NASCAR.
There are two big FM stations outside of Charlotte that Charlotte listeners may be able to pick up.
107.1 from South Carolina carries all the races, and 104.1 in the Triad can also be heard in some parts of the Charlotte area.
Several local AM stations in cities such as Hickory still carry live racing.
