 In the 1950s and 1960s WHEC broadcast popular music along with local and CBS news, sharing staff and some news content with sister television station WHEC-TV, which hit the airwaves in 1953.Gannett placed the station up for sale in the summer of 1971, and found a purchaser in Sande Broadcasting Company, a partnership of local investors and broadcast managers.After the sale was finalized in January 1972, the new owners rebranded the station WAXC ("Waxy"), and changed format to compete with WBBF, then the top station in the market, by playing Top 40 hits.