Untouched Abandoned 90's Country Radio Station - Everything Left Behind (WFMC) 

7:05 That is a "cart" short for cartridge. They were played on a "cart machine" which was a player. They mostly contained commercials, but also could have music on them. It is NOT and 8 trac.

Leaves me feeling sad. So many people, mostly young people, spent important periods of their life in those rooms. Working in those studios. Aspirations, dreams, success and failure all tied to those files, carts, consoles. All the laughter, complaints, insecurity, love lives, 15 day pay periods, remote broadcasts. So many of us trying our hand at the entertainment business only to find out in the end it was only the money business.

I worked there briefly in 1986 after I left WGBR. WFMC was owned and run by Bob Wooten, who was also a former 'GBR alumnus. The place was a strange mixture of old and cutting edge even then. It started broadcasting in AM Stereo before WGBR did, a point of pride for Wooten, but was also only a daytimer. Ol' Bob tried to do too much; GM, sales, even on-air (he was pretty awful) everything but engineering to cut costs wherever he could. It's sad to see the old building in such a state now

The location is actually still an active broadcast radio station, WGBR 1150 and WFMC 730 still transmits on the towers, there are several FM Signals there too, 92.3 (Religious) 92.7 (Hip Hop), 98.3 (WGBR) 105.7 (WFMC). The building was abandoned after hurricane Floyd came thru the area in 1999 and flooded the studio building, they moved the transmitters & other required equipment to the shipping container on stilts behind the building. FCC records are not the greatest, most likely the original WGBR site was damaged during the hurricane and they moved to the WFMC site, added a tower and have been broadcasting from there since 2004

It appears the station is still on the air and probably operates remotely to the transmitter room on the back. It isn’t all that unusual for old equipment to be left at the transmitter site, with the thought being it could be redeployed in an emergency. But 20 years of exposure to the elements has taken its toll. Looks like they took anything considered of value. BTW those are not 8 Track tapes, those are cartridge tapes used in the broadcast industry, usually 2 or 3 tracks (one track is for cue tones). They’re easy to distinguish from 8 Track tapes as they don’t have a roller pincher built in. Its funny that the white board looks like it was written on just yesterday. Some of those rare CDs and LPs could fetch a good price on eBay or Amazon merchants. Streaming killed the radio star.

Loved that old Harris console. Worked on the same console, but a larger model back in the mid 80s. I hate seeing stations move their studio to a new building and just abandoning what was there. I love old analog gear like that.

7:11 those aren’t eight tracks, though they are similar. Those are carts, self contained continuous loop acetate tape, usually anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes. You recorded your adverts (Spots) or songs (Usually songs were 3 to 3 1/2 minutes) if you didn’t want to have to fool with queuing up a record on the turntable. The station where I worked we had three cart players, three CD players and usually ran the music off the CDs and had the carts queued up for commercial breaks, during which you would reload the CD players. Those CDs weren’t usually albums like you could buy at strawberries or Sam goody, they were made by a company which put all sorts of different music on each CD and supply they randomly generated master list to play the songs from. being a DJ with no engineer was a lot of work back in the early 90s! lol

Makes me real sad watching abandoned radio stations.

Know WFMC very well, in my home town! Been in that building many times. "Top Gun in Goldsboro, WFMC." Had an FM station in same building WOKN.

The area these studios are in flooded after Hurricane Fran in Septembet 1996. The studios were relocated, but the transmitters remain and are fed by an STL link. The studios were relocated after Hurricane Floyd struck in September 1999 and severely flooded the area again.

so sad seeing all that vinyl going to waste I would of had a field day just looking through the 45s they look like they could still be saved a little cleaning and new jackets

I received a broadcasting degree in 1995 from my local Community College and learned on most of the equipment we see here. Sad it's left that way.

I think that you will find, if you look closer at them, that the "8 track cassettes" are actually commercial and/or intro cartridges (carts).

Not 8-tracks. Broadcast cartridges or carts. Now computers play digital audio files so carts and reel to reel tape is obsolete.

Sad to see this. I worked there in the mid 80's. It slogan, 73 WFMC, Proud to be Country! The FM was WOKN, a black urban format. I believe the site was flooded during one of NC's many hurricanes.

Wow it's amazing what people always leave behind!!

👍🤚my friend I watch but don’t usually comment but had to one this treasure. Great explore. It is sad they did not move,sell or donate but that is often what you find. So glad you had a mask with all the mold. I enjoyed going back in time with you. Thanks for sharing your friend in Florida take care 💕

A flat roof sure doesn't hold up without maintenance. It's sad to see that station in such a condition.

Hi, wow there was quite a few things missing in the gap between the 1st and 2nd visit. A cool find though, because the station is still on air in another location you would think they would take all of the paperwork at the very least. Thanks for sharing. x

*”THIS ROOM IS JUST CDS. REMEMBER THOSE?”* 🤦😹

They must take all records, tapes , cds and clean it or sell it to collectors

the 8 tracks are called carts and they held commercials, psa's etc

Hi, if this radio station has the entire radio DJ CD series called, Country Hot Hits, from 1990, to 1999, I'd be interested in perchasing this CD series. Great video though.

It is a shame that equipment was left to rot

WGBR 1150 and WFMC 730 still transmits on the towers, there are several FM Signals there, 92.3 (Religious) 92.7 (Hip Hop), 98.3 (WGBR) 105.7 (WFMC). The building was abandoned after hurricane Floyd came thru the area in 1999 and flooded the studio building, probably not worth saving as it probrably got salt water in everything...they moved the transmitters & other required equipment to the shipping container on stilts behind the building, WGBR moved there in 2004 and added a tower, not sure cuz of the hurricane or because of I-795 which was built around Goldsboro which displaced them.

I’m a music buff yet I didn’t recognise any of the artists I saw! Mad lol. I’m assuming it was mainly country & western and religious? Good explore! Such a shame to see all those records wasted

Those aren't 8tracks they're called Carts

Certainly I remember Cd's, LP's and Seven Singles. Do you remember them? I have been around for a while.

Picking the bones of the dead carcass. They don't even know what they are looking at.

Ask the owners if you can have all the records and cds,before the roof will collapse and nothing will be used...

Good vid bro.

I believe the country CDs and whatnot were for WKTC in Goldsboro.......it, WFMC and WGBR operated out of here. WFMC was the gospel/religious station. WGBR was news/talk

Looks like the feed horn on the dish is gone

those aint eight tracks buddy, those are carts, they use to play those when it was time for your comercial breaks on the radio. i dont know if they still use carts no, but i've talked to people who've worked in the industry and they say that radio stations use3d those for music, ads, and other things such as station identifiers. "w y q g 730 am, rockford illinois!" woulde bge an example, i dont know if yqg exists but still it would be something along those lines. i would love to get a hold of a cart machine and some blank carts though, i'd use it for my ham radio station. one cart would have my id on it and would play every ten minutes, while i used others for like a r newsline, the rain report, the fcc report and the like. it would be cool if someone used a cart player for something like that lol

I still use cd and dvd.

The CD's should still be good. Cases can be cleaned, The records that are protected on the shelves should be ok, Some people might be interested in the old sound boards to rebuild. This is Sad.

What a waste! I worked in radio back then and that was probably a nice studio at one time .

Usually they just build a box and put a new transmitter up because they are on high hills, or mountains and the personalities like the weather guy or the DJ doesn't want to drive down some winding hillside road for an hour and rather do it 5 minutes from home in the city. They can remotely transmit the station to the site and transmit from there. Our shady television station burned down their old facility because it was run down and needed to be up to code and they placed a shed next to the tower. They located 40 miles away in an abandoned bank building for dirt cheap and even did a 10 part series on spending millions of dollars renovating. A couple years later their old site just mysteriously burnt down and then had engineers setting up a temp shed with power so they can continue to broadcast 2 days later. I remember watching the news one night and then nothing, blank no signal. I re-scanned my tv and the entire channel disappeared and found out from their website there was a fire at their old location and that housed the digital repeater equipment.

I wonder if they left the transmitter and satellite equipment. I would love to know what they were using the C-band for There used to be a lot of religious audio feeds on C-band. I am guessing they used it for that

Put a scary Halloween mask right at eye level. So when the next trespassers find it they run away

Think the CDs survived much better than the records? Then they could be saved. (no pun) Those files in that file cabinet are not able to be salvaged. The rest of the equipment is too far gone to be salvaged, either. At 5:53 Was there a duck in there? 😂 or some kind of bird making that sound?

still transmitting from one of the towers out back.

Those personal messages should be returned or destroyed. The record collection cleaned up and sold.

somebody should renovate that

lol Looks like the good old no tell motel, rooms by the hour upon request.

that is sad😥

I'm surprise the way they left all the records and cds behind

That’s in Goldsboro nc

Ahh, The Rebels. Was big into those dudes. Too bad they were big into my sister. They did that Lutheran comedy song, I got a haddock , I need a sturgeon. Good times...

Good and interesting find

Very interesting!

Some of those albums were apparently Christian artists, while the CD's were Country. Did you look at any of the 45's?

Bro saying 1998 like it was 300 years ago.

So cool

That’s so,sad I would like to know the Story of it and why it ended that way

Where is this Radio Station located at please? The outside appearance is similar to the one where I live but, fortunately, it is still operating. I have always been a fan of Radio.

This is so SAD!

Es verdaderamente triste y penoso asistir a sucesos de este carácter que ponen al descubierto la indolencia y falta de respeto a aquellos que con su talento y esfuerzo crearon maravillas de ingeniería para el bien de la humanidad.

Well, they didn't leave everything behind---I don't see dogs, pickup trucks or shotguns lying on the ground

that 8track cassetteis actualy a cart tape

I know where this is, pass it just about every morning, anyone know the best way to get in? Planning on walking through the woods and park somewhere nearby

what is restorable and salvageable should be restored/salvaged instead of trashed.

each record is worth 10 dollars each to a record shop these days in australia. thats alot of money lying around there

you should have shown the towers and transmitters ..

Please tell me the name of the song 🎧 that starts at 0:30 🕧. I like 👍 it. I’d ask the owner about those vinyl records. Some of them are probably worth something. A lot of them are probably still in pristine condition. No property is ever truthfully abandoned. It’s always in a set of hands 🙌. I’d also ask on being able to take the CD’s 💿. Back then, music 🎶 was a lot better. Your friend, Jeff.

Not just country music station it's also a Christian music station... most likely abandoned because it was on a am frequency and very low budget

If you threw Steve Dahl into a radio station full of disco records, the result would be similar to this. If not, worst!

😂😹🤣 *I love the way you say 1998 like it’s ages ago. Don’t worry, someday you, too, will be 40+ and rolling your eyes when kids all and all over really ancient stuff from the teens and 20s of the 21st-century!* God for bid you get over to England or France where there’s stuff that’s actually 1000+ years old, or the Middle East/Asia/North Africa where there’s stuff thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years old. Places where you can actually feel the weight of history, roaming through cities built from the rubble of the city that was built before on the rubble of the city that was built before… it’s kind of sad actually how people in America think that their nation is old, and they think anything more than 15 years old is ancient, useless and worthless.

I would have taken any patsy cline , or kitty wells CDs if there where any an, run!

this station was never a country station every Urban Contemporary Gospel was its format it went on the air in 1952 in the 90s it ran into financial trouble there is nothing official on as to why it left this location but changing listing habit and the shift to HD and digital is a good bet they left everything behind because the need for record tape and even CDs was sliding as Streaming was starting to take hold stations had to pay a license fee every time a song play and Leasing services started taking over slowly CDs dyed out and streaming took over. Most Radio station started selling out to one of a few large giant media company's I heart Cumulus to name a couple . there is very few privity owned radio stations left .

Flooding maybe the cause of the relocation

The time is stopped...

Those records cost lot of money and cds

How fungus have to leave a boombox party there :(

If you got power to that and power to the transmitter I wonder if everything will still work and I wonder if you could transmit

Damm Shame..

Darth Vader is the one holding the camera.

but he radio station still works

thoes are cd`s

An abandoned country music station ... No loss!

Looks like the God Channel ... no wonder the CD/vinyl media haven't been stolen after all this time

wish i could have gotten to those mixing consoles before the water damage happened. the are worth thousands $$. guess the station had no place to store that stuff.

not country, its christian

Son of a b**** I guess I'll just have to look up the call sign and see if they're even still trying anymore those who listen know exactly what I mean.

1:42 Doesn't look like a country station. Looks like a Christian station. Just sayen.

All worthless garbage. Too bad the business won't get fined into oblivion for creating a hazardous waste site.

show the transmitter and R.F. amplifier. show all the power equipment , not the junk

Not a country station, a whacko religious outfit. Can't believe they abandoned all of that awesome gear....

Que les sucedió a estás estaciones solo Dios sabe