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WGST (AM)
Encyclopedia
WGST AM
640 is a radio station
licensed in the city of Atlanta
, Georgia
operating at a frequency of 640 kHz with 50,000 watt
s of power during the daytime, and 1,000 watts of power during nighttime hours. The station is owned by the Clear Channel Communications
subsidiary
Citicasters Licenses (formerly part of Jacor Communications), and serves the Atlanta metropolitan area media market
with a news
/talk
radio format
. WGST's programming is simulcast
on an HD Radio
digital subchannel
of sister station
WUBL FM 94.9. The station is also carried on an audio-only, digital sub-channel of the low-powered digital television station WANN-LD in Atlanta
.
The facility
at 640 started with an application in 1981, with a construction permit
granted by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) in 1985, and the broadcast callsign WPBD issued in 1986. After a series of extensions to the six-month permits and finally a minor modification, it finally went on the air in February 1988. After an initial dismissal later that year, permission to transfer the station to Jacor was granted in 1989, and the WGST format was moved from what is now WGKA AM 920. The station's nighttime radiation pattern
has a null
toward the northeast.
for 710 kHz was issued by the Federal Radio Commission
March 17, 1922 (or March 19, 1922), with the call sign WGM. The station's origin pre-dates the 1922 date when the station went by the experimental radio call sign of "4FT". The owner was the Atlanta Constitution, responding to the rival Atlanta Journal 's new WSB
. The FCC issued WGM's license days after WSB
's March 15, 1922 grant on 740 kHz. The current WGST call sign was assigned to the station after the station was donated to the Georgia School of Technology (now Georgia Institute of Technology
) in 1923 following the station going out of business in late July of that year. The WGM license was allowed to expire in August 1923, and new call signs issued to the school on January 13 (or 11) of 1924 as WBBF, later becoming WGST in 1925 when the station moved to 1110 kHz.
and the use of the 890 kHz frequency was given to WLS
, Chicago. It was operated as a commercial radio station under a lease
to Southern Broadcasting Company beginning in 1930, but the Georgia Board of Regents
got back control of the station in 1946.
's new Office of Long-Range Development within its College of Architecture
, which created a "Master Plan" for the Institute's development and expansion. WGST was a Mutual Broadcasting Company affiliate
in 1949 and later became an ABC
affiliate in 1950.
' song "I Got a Woman
" was recorded at WGST in the early 1950s. In 1956, WGST moved to a studio facility next to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum
on the Georgia Tech campus. This facility was built on top of the Coliseum's locker rooms for the radio station, and it featured two large studios for live performances, complete with grand pianos. The studios still exist and WREK
occupied a small area of the original until it moved to its current studio in the Georgia Tech
Student Center. During the 1960s, WGST was running a Top 40 radio format, but by the late-1960s had changed format to Easy Listening, in an attempt to cut-into WSB-AM's audience.
to Top 40, and was billed simply as "92". By 1972, the station had changed to a Solid-Gold Format. In 1973 it adopted a modified gold/current adult contemporary format. The station did fair in the ratings
, and well at night, particularly in the male 25-49 demographics, boosted in part when WGST became the originating flagship station
for the Atlanta Flames
ice hockey broadcasts. The station continued with its long-running Georgia Tech Football Network and Georgia Tech Basketball broadcasts.
By the late-1970s, WGST switched to an all-news
format. In 1973, it was declared surplus property
and was sold for five million dollars to Meredith Corporation
in 1974, ignoring opposition from alumni, state legislators
, and even the governor. However, interest
from the trust fund created by the sale was used to upgrade Tech's student-run WREK FM 91.1, which in 1978 moved to the Coliseum studios vacated by WGST in 1975. Meanwhile, WGST tried to compete with WSB (AM)
by becoming a full service, top-40 station and hiring big name personalities such as Chuck Daugherty, Sam Holman from WABC
, Tony Taylor from WNBC
, and Skinny Bobby Harper
who was in Kansas City
. But their ratings languished, despite the high-priced talent Meredith had assembled.
WGST AM
640 is a radio station
licensed in the city of Atlanta
, Georgia
operating at a frequency of 640 kHz with 50,000 watt
s of power during the daytime, and 1,000 watts of power during nighttime hours. The station is owned by the Clear Channel Communications
subsidiary
Citicasters Licenses (formerly part of Jacor Communications), and serves the Atlanta metropolitan area media market
with a news
/talk
radio format
. WGST's programming is simulcast
on an HD Radio
digital subchannel
of sister station
WUBL FM 94.9. The station is also carried on an audio-only, digital sub-channel of the low-powered digital television station WANN-LD in Atlanta
.
The facility
at 640 started with an application in 1981, with a construction permit
granted by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) in 1985, and the broadcast callsign WPBD issued in 1986. After a series of extensions to the six-month permits and finally a minor modification, it finally went on the air in February 1988. After an initial dismissal later that year, permission to transfer the station to Jacor was granted in 1989, and the WGST format was moved from what is now WGKA AM 920. The station's nighttime radiation pattern
has a null
toward the northeast.
for 710 kHz was issued by the Federal Radio Commission
March 17, 1922 (or March 19, 1922), with the call sign WGM. The station's origin pre-dates the 1922 date when the station went by the experimental radio call sign of "4FT". The owner was the Atlanta Constitution, responding to the rival Atlanta Journal 's new WSB
. The FCC issued WGM's license days after WSB
's March 15, 1922 grant on 740 kHz. The current WGST call sign was assigned to the station after the station was donated to the Georgia School of Technology (now Georgia Institute of Technology
) in 1923 following the station going out of business in late July of that year. The WGM license was allowed to expire in August 1923, and new call signs issued to the school on January 13 (or 11) of 1924 as WBBF, later becoming WGST in 1925 when the station moved to 1110 kHz.
and the use of the 890 kHz frequency was given to WLS
, Chicago. It was operated as a commercial radio station under a lease
to Southern Broadcasting Company beginning in 1930, but the Georgia Board of Regents
got back control of the station in 1946.
's new Office of Long-Range Development within its College of Architecture
, which created a "Master Plan" for the Institute's development and expansion. WGST was a Mutual Broadcasting Company affiliate
in 1949 and later became an ABC
affiliate in 1950.
' song "I Got a Woman
" was recorded at WGST in the early 1950s. In 1956, WGST moved to a studio facility next to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum
on the Georgia Tech campus. This facility was built on top of the Coliseum's locker rooms for the radio station, and it featured two large studios for live performances, complete with grand pianos. The studios still exist and WREK
occupied a small area of the original until it moved to its current studio in the Georgia Tech
Student Center. During the 1960s, WGST was running a Top 40 radio format, but by the late-1960s had changed format to Easy Listening, in an attempt to cut-into WSB-AM's audience.
to Top 40, and was billed simply as "92". By 1972, the station had changed to a Solid-Gold Format. In 1973 it adopted a modified gold/current adult contemporary format. The station did fair in the ratings
, and well at night, particularly in the male 25-49 demographics, boosted in part when WGST became the originating flagship station
for the Atlanta Flames
ice hockey broadcasts. The station continued with its long-running Georgia Tech Football Network and Georgia Tech Basketball broadcasts.
By the late-1970s, WGST switched to an all-news
format. In 1973, it was declared surplus property
and was sold for five million dollars to Meredith Corporation
in 1974, ignoring opposition from alumni, state legislators
, and even the governor. However, interest
from the trust fund created by the sale was used to upgrade Tech's student-run WREK FM 91.1, which in 1978 moved to the Coliseum studios vacated by WGST in 1975. Meanwhile, WGST tried to compete with WSB (AM)
by becoming a full service, top-40 station and hiring big name personalities such as Chuck Daugherty, Sam Holman from WABC
, Tony Taylor from WNBC
, and Skinny Bobby Harper
who was in Kansas City
. But their ratings languished, despite the high-priced talent Meredith had assembled.
WGST AM
640 is a radio station
licensed in the city of Atlanta
, Georgia
operating at a frequency of 640 kHz with 50,000 watt
s of power during the daytime, and 1,000 watts of power during nighttime hours. The station is owned by the Clear Channel Communications
subsidiary
Citicasters Licenses (formerly part of Jacor Communications), and serves the Atlanta metropolitan area media market
with a news
/talk
radio format
. WGST's programming is simulcast
on an HD Radio
digital subchannel
of sister station
WUBL FM 94.9. The station is also carried on an audio-only, digital sub-channel of the low-powered digital television station WANN-LD in Atlanta
.
The facility
at 640 started with an application in 1981, with a construction permit
granted by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) in 1985, and the broadcast callsign WPBD issued in 1986. After a series of extensions to the six-month permits and finally a minor modification, it finally went on the air in February 1988. After an initial dismissal later that year, permission to transfer the station to Jacor was granted in 1989, and the WGST format was moved from what is now WGKA AM 920. The station's nighttime radiation pattern
has a null
toward the northeast.
for 710 kHz was issued by the Federal Radio Commission
March 17, 1922 (or March 19, 1922), with the call sign WGM. The station's origin pre-dates the 1922 date when the station went by the experimental radio call sign of "4FT". The owner was the Atlanta Constitution, responding to the rival Atlanta Journal 's new WSB
. The FCC issued WGM's license days after WSB
's March 15, 1922 grant on 740 kHz. The current WGST call sign was assigned to the station after the station was donated to the Georgia School of Technology (now Georgia Institute of Technology
) in 1923 following the station going out of business in late July of that year. The WGM license was allowed to expire in August 1923, and new call signs issued to the school on January 13 (or 11) of 1924 as WBBF, later becoming WGST in 1925 when the station moved to 1110 kHz.
and the use of the 890 kHz frequency was given to WLS
, Chicago. It was operated as a commercial radio station under a lease
to Southern Broadcasting Company beginning in 1930, but the Georgia Board of Regents
got back control of the station in 1946.
's new Office of Long-Range Development within its College of Architecture
, which created a "Master Plan" for the Institute's development and expansion. WGST was a Mutual Broadcasting Company affiliate
in 1949 and later became an ABC
affiliate in 1950.
' song "I Got a Woman
" was recorded at WGST in the early 1950s. In 1956, WGST moved to a studio facility next to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum
on the Georgia Tech campus. This facility was built on top of the Coliseum's locker rooms for the radio station, and it featured two large studios for live performances, complete with grand pianos. The studios still exist and WREK
occupied a small area of the original until it moved to its current studio in the Georgia Tech
Student Center. During the 1960s, WGST was running a Top 40 radio format, but by the late-1960s had changed format to Easy Listening, in an attempt to cut-into WSB-AM's audience.
to Top 40, and was billed simply as "92". By 1972, the station had changed to a Solid-Gold Format. In 1973 it adopted a modified gold/current adult contemporary format. The station did fair in the ratings
, and well at night, particularly in the male 25-49 demographics, boosted in part when WGST became the originating flagship station
for the Atlanta Flames
ice hockey broadcasts. The station continued with its long-running Georgia Tech Football Network and Georgia Tech Basketball broadcasts.
By the late-1970s, WGST switched to an all-news
format. In 1973, it was declared surplus property
and was sold for five million dollars to Meredith Corporation
in 1974, ignoring opposition from alumni, state legislators
, and even the governor. However, interest
from the trust fund created by the sale was used to upgrade Tech's student-run WREK FM 91.1, which in 1978 moved to the Coliseum studios vacated by WGST in 1975. Meanwhile, WGST tried to compete with WSB (AM)
by becoming a full service, top-40 station and hiring big name personalities such as Chuck Daugherty, Sam Holman from WABC
, Tony Taylor from WNBC
, and Skinny Bobby Harper
who was in Kansas City
. But their ratings languished, despite the high-priced talent Meredith had assembled.
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
640 is a radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed in the city of Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
operating at a frequency of 640 kHz with 50,000 watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s of power during the daytime, and 1,000 watts of power during nighttime hours. The station is owned by the Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
Citicasters Licenses (formerly part of Jacor Communications), and serves the Atlanta metropolitan area media market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
with a news
News Radio
News Radio can refer to:* NewsRadio, the NBC sitcom which aired from 1995–1999.* News radio, the all-news or news/talk radio format....
/talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
radio format
Radio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
. WGST's programming is simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
on an HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
of sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
WUBL FM 94.9. The station is also carried on an audio-only, digital sub-channel of the low-powered digital television station WANN-LD in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
.
The facility
Facility ID
The facility ID number or FIN is a unique positive integer assigned by the United States Federal Communications Commission to each domestic and international broadcast station in its Common Database System . Licensees are required to provide the relevant station's FIN when filing reports and...
at 640 started with an application in 1981, with a construction permit
Construction permit
A construction permit or building permit is a permit required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existing structures, and in some cases for major renovations. Generally, the new construction must be inspected during construction and after completion to ensure compliance...
granted by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) in 1985, and the broadcast callsign WPBD issued in 1986. After a series of extensions to the six-month permits and finally a minor modification, it finally went on the air in February 1988. After an initial dismissal later that year, permission to transfer the station to Jacor was granted in 1989, and the WGST format was moved from what is now WGKA AM 920. The station's nighttime radiation pattern
Radiation pattern
In the field of antenna design the term radiation pattern most commonly refers to the directional dependence of the strength of the radio waves from the antenna or other source ....
has a null
Null (radio)
In radio electronics, a null is an area or vector in an antenna's radiation pattern where the signal cancels out almost entirely.This can be an advantage, as nulls in the horizontal plane can be used to protect other transmitters from interference. If not carefully planned however, nulls can...
toward the northeast.
1920s
WGST's original broadcast licenseBroadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
for 710 kHz was issued by the Federal Radio Commission
Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...
March 17, 1922 (or March 19, 1922), with the call sign WGM. The station's origin pre-dates the 1922 date when the station went by the experimental radio call sign of "4FT". The owner was the Atlanta Constitution, responding to the rival Atlanta Journal 's new WSB
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
. The FCC issued WGM's license days after WSB
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
's March 15, 1922 grant on 740 kHz. The current WGST call sign was assigned to the station after the station was donated to the Georgia School of Technology (now Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
) in 1923 following the station going out of business in late July of that year. The WGM license was allowed to expire in August 1923, and new call signs issued to the school on January 13 (or 11) of 1924 as WBBF, later becoming WGST in 1925 when the station moved to 1110 kHz.
1930s
In 1930, WGST moved to 890 kHz. The station moved to 920 kHz after the 1941 NARBA treaty created the clear channels in the U.S.United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the use of the 890 kHz frequency was given to WLS
WLS (AM)
WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
, Chicago. It was operated as a commercial radio station under a lease
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
to Southern Broadcasting Company beginning in 1930, but the Georgia Board of Regents
Georgia Board of Regents
The Georgia Board of Regents oversees the University System of Georgia as part of the state government of Georgia in the United States. The University System of Georgia is composed of all state public institutions of higher education.-History:...
got back control of the station in 1946.
1940s
In the 1940s, it was located in the Forsyth Building in downtown Atlanta. In 1944, funds from the station financed Georgia TechGeorgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
's new Office of Long-Range Development within its College of Architecture
Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture
The College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology was established in 1908 as the Department of Architecture, offering the first four-year course of study in architecture in the Southern United States.-History:...
, which created a "Master Plan" for the Institute's development and expansion. WGST was a Mutual Broadcasting Company affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
in 1949 and later became an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate in 1950.
1950s-1960s
WGST was the first station to play rock 'n roll in Atlanta in the 1950s. Radio personality Paul Drew had his debut on WGST with a weekend show "The Big Record." Ray CharlesRay Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
' song "I Got a Woman
I Got a Woman
"I Got a Woman" is a song co-written and recorded by American R&B/soul musician Ray Charles and released as a single in December 1954 on the Atlantic label as Atlantic 45-1050 b/w "Come Back Baby." Both sides later appeared on his 1957 album Ray Charles .-Origin:The song builds on...
" was recorded at WGST in the early 1950s. In 1956, WGST moved to a studio facility next to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum
Alexander Memorial Coliseum
The Alexander Memorial Coliseum is an indoor arena located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the home of the basketball teams of Georgia Tech and hosted the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA from 1968–1972 and again from 1997–1999...
on the Georgia Tech campus. This facility was built on top of the Coliseum's locker rooms for the radio station, and it featured two large studios for live performances, complete with grand pianos. The studios still exist and WREK
WREK
WREK is the radio station staffed by the students of the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is located at 91.1 MHz and on channel 17 on the Georgia Tech cable TV network, GTCN...
occupied a small area of the original until it moved to its current studio in the Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
Student Center. During the 1960s, WGST was running a Top 40 radio format, but by the late-1960s had changed format to Easy Listening, in an attempt to cut-into WSB-AM's audience.
1970s
In 1971, WGST changed format from easy listeningEasy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
to Top 40, and was billed simply as "92". By 1972, the station had changed to a Solid-Gold Format. In 1973 it adopted a modified gold/current adult contemporary format. The station did fair in the ratings
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
, and well at night, particularly in the male 25-49 demographics, boosted in part when WGST became the originating flagship station
Flagship station
In broadcasting, a flagship is the broadcast which originates a television network, or a particular radio show or TV show, primarily in the United States and Canada. This includes both direct network feeds and broadcast syndication, but generally not backhauls...
for the Atlanta Flames
Atlanta Flames
The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA from 1972 to 1980. The team, a member of the National Hockey League , was relocated to Calgary, Alberta, Canada for the start of the 1980–81 NHL season and were re-named the Calgary Flames. The NHL returned to the...
ice hockey broadcasts. The station continued with its long-running Georgia Tech Football Network and Georgia Tech Basketball broadcasts.
By the late-1970s, WGST switched to an all-news
News Radio
News Radio can refer to:* NewsRadio, the NBC sitcom which aired from 1995–1999.* News radio, the all-news or news/talk radio format....
format. In 1973, it was declared surplus property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
and was sold for five million dollars to Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation
The Meredith Corporation is a media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions, National Media and Local Media.-History:...
in 1974, ignoring opposition from alumni, state legislators
Georgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, being composed of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate....
, and even the governor. However, interest
Interest
Interest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or money earned by deposited funds....
from the trust fund created by the sale was used to upgrade Tech's student-run WREK FM 91.1, which in 1978 moved to the Coliseum studios vacated by WGST in 1975. Meanwhile, WGST tried to compete with WSB (AM)
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
by becoming a full service, top-40 station and hiring big name personalities such as Chuck Daugherty, Sam Holman from WABC
WABC (AM)
WABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Cumulus Media Networks...
, Tony Taylor from WNBC
WNBC (AM)
WNBC was a radio station that operated in New York City from 1922 to 1988. For most of its history, it was the flagship station of the NBC Radio Network...
, and Skinny Bobby Harper
Skinny Bobby Harper
Skinny Bobby Harper was a Canadian radio and video DJ. First making it big in Cincinnati, Ohio at WSAI , he moved to Atlanta, Georgia in the late 1960s and joined the staff of WQXI radio, where WKRP in Cincinnati creator Hugh Wilson used him as inspiration for the sitcom's off-the-wall character Dr...
who was in Kansas City
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...
. But their ratings languished, despite the high-priced talent Meredith had assembled.
1980s
In 1989, the owners of WGST, Jacor Communications, saw the opportunity to purchase the new WPBD operating at 640 kHz.INSIDE STACKS
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WGST AM
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
640 is a radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed in the city of Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
operating at a frequency of 640 kHz with 50,000 watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s of power during the daytime, and 1,000 watts of power during nighttime hours. The station is owned by the Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
Citicasters Licenses (formerly part of Jacor Communications), and serves the Atlanta metropolitan area media market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
with a news
News Radio
News Radio can refer to:* NewsRadio, the NBC sitcom which aired from 1995–1999.* News radio, the all-news or news/talk radio format....
/talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
radio format
Radio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
. WGST's programming is simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
on an HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
of sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
WUBL FM 94.9. The station is also carried on an audio-only, digital sub-channel of the low-powered digital television station WANN-LD in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
.
The facility
Facility ID
The facility ID number or FIN is a unique positive integer assigned by the United States Federal Communications Commission to each domestic and international broadcast station in its Common Database System . Licensees are required to provide the relevant station's FIN when filing reports and...
at 640 started with an application in 1981, with a construction permit
Construction permit
A construction permit or building permit is a permit required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existing structures, and in some cases for major renovations. Generally, the new construction must be inspected during construction and after completion to ensure compliance...
granted by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) in 1985, and the broadcast callsign WPBD issued in 1986. After a series of extensions to the six-month permits and finally a minor modification, it finally went on the air in February 1988. After an initial dismissal later that year, permission to transfer the station to Jacor was granted in 1989, and the WGST format was moved from what is now WGKA AM 920. The station's nighttime radiation pattern
Radiation pattern
In the field of antenna design the term radiation pattern most commonly refers to the directional dependence of the strength of the radio waves from the antenna or other source ....
has a null
Null (radio)
In radio electronics, a null is an area or vector in an antenna's radiation pattern where the signal cancels out almost entirely.This can be an advantage, as nulls in the horizontal plane can be used to protect other transmitters from interference. If not carefully planned however, nulls can...
toward the northeast.
1920s
WGST's original broadcast licenseBroadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
for 710 kHz was issued by the Federal Radio Commission
Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...
March 17, 1922 (or March 19, 1922), with the call sign WGM. The station's origin pre-dates the 1922 date when the station went by the experimental radio call sign of "4FT". The owner was the Atlanta Constitution, responding to the rival Atlanta Journal 's new WSB
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
. The FCC issued WGM's license days after WSB
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
's March 15, 1922 grant on 740 kHz. The current WGST call sign was assigned to the station after the station was donated to the Georgia School of Technology (now Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
) in 1923 following the station going out of business in late July of that year. The WGM license was allowed to expire in August 1923, and new call signs issued to the school on January 13 (or 11) of 1924 as WBBF, later becoming WGST in 1925 when the station moved to 1110 kHz.
1930s
In 1930, WGST moved to 890 kHz. The station moved to 920 kHz after the 1941 NARBA treaty created the clear channels in the U.S.United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the use of the 890 kHz frequency was given to WLS
WLS (AM)
WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
, Chicago. It was operated as a commercial radio station under a lease
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
to Southern Broadcasting Company beginning in 1930, but the Georgia Board of Regents
Georgia Board of Regents
The Georgia Board of Regents oversees the University System of Georgia as part of the state government of Georgia in the United States. The University System of Georgia is composed of all state public institutions of higher education.-History:...
got back control of the station in 1946.
1940s
In the 1940s, it was located in the Forsyth Building in downtown Atlanta. In 1944, funds from the station financed Georgia TechGeorgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
's new Office of Long-Range Development within its College of Architecture
Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture
The College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology was established in 1908 as the Department of Architecture, offering the first four-year course of study in architecture in the Southern United States.-History:...
, which created a "Master Plan" for the Institute's development and expansion. WGST was a Mutual Broadcasting Company affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
in 1949 and later became an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate in 1950.
1950s-1960s
WGST was the first station to play rock 'n roll in Atlanta in the 1950s. Radio personality Paul Drew had his debut on WGST with a weekend show "The Big Record." Ray CharlesRay Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
' song "I Got a Woman
I Got a Woman
"I Got a Woman" is a song co-written and recorded by American R&B/soul musician Ray Charles and released as a single in December 1954 on the Atlantic label as Atlantic 45-1050 b/w "Come Back Baby." Both sides later appeared on his 1957 album Ray Charles .-Origin:The song builds on...
" was recorded at WGST in the early 1950s. In 1956, WGST moved to a studio facility next to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum
Alexander Memorial Coliseum
The Alexander Memorial Coliseum is an indoor arena located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the home of the basketball teams of Georgia Tech and hosted the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA from 1968–1972 and again from 1997–1999...
on the Georgia Tech campus. This facility was built on top of the Coliseum's locker rooms for the radio station, and it featured two large studios for live performances, complete with grand pianos. The studios still exist and WREK
WREK
WREK is the radio station staffed by the students of the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is located at 91.1 MHz and on channel 17 on the Georgia Tech cable TV network, GTCN...
occupied a small area of the original until it moved to its current studio in the Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
Student Center. During the 1960s, WGST was running a Top 40 radio format, but by the late-1960s had changed format to Easy Listening, in an attempt to cut-into WSB-AM's audience.
1970s
In 1971, WGST changed format from easy listeningEasy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
to Top 40, and was billed simply as "92". By 1972, the station had changed to a Solid-Gold Format. In 1973 it adopted a modified gold/current adult contemporary format. The station did fair in the ratings
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
, and well at night, particularly in the male 25-49 demographics, boosted in part when WGST became the originating flagship station
Flagship station
In broadcasting, a flagship is the broadcast which originates a television network, or a particular radio show or TV show, primarily in the United States and Canada. This includes both direct network feeds and broadcast syndication, but generally not backhauls...
for the Atlanta Flames
Atlanta Flames
The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA from 1972 to 1980. The team, a member of the National Hockey League , was relocated to Calgary, Alberta, Canada for the start of the 1980–81 NHL season and were re-named the Calgary Flames. The NHL returned to the...
ice hockey broadcasts. The station continued with its long-running Georgia Tech Football Network and Georgia Tech Basketball broadcasts.
By the late-1970s, WGST switched to an all-news
News Radio
News Radio can refer to:* NewsRadio, the NBC sitcom which aired from 1995–1999.* News radio, the all-news or news/talk radio format....
format. In 1973, it was declared surplus property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
and was sold for five million dollars to Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation
The Meredith Corporation is a media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions, National Media and Local Media.-History:...
in 1974, ignoring opposition from alumni, state legislators
Georgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, being composed of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate....
, and even the governor. However, interest
Interest
Interest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or money earned by deposited funds....
from the trust fund created by the sale was used to upgrade Tech's student-run WREK FM 91.1, which in 1978 moved to the Coliseum studios vacated by WGST in 1975. Meanwhile, WGST tried to compete with WSB (AM)
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
by becoming a full service, top-40 station and hiring big name personalities such as Chuck Daugherty, Sam Holman from WABC
WABC (AM)
WABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Cumulus Media Networks...
, Tony Taylor from WNBC
WNBC (AM)
WNBC was a radio station that operated in New York City from 1922 to 1988. For most of its history, it was the flagship station of the NBC Radio Network...
, and Skinny Bobby Harper
Skinny Bobby Harper
Skinny Bobby Harper was a Canadian radio and video DJ. First making it big in Cincinnati, Ohio at WSAI , he moved to Atlanta, Georgia in the late 1960s and joined the staff of WQXI radio, where WKRP in Cincinnati creator Hugh Wilson used him as inspiration for the sitcom's off-the-wall character Dr...
who was in Kansas City
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...
. But their ratings languished, despite the high-priced talent Meredith had assembled.
1980s
In 1989, the owners of WGST, Jacor Communications, saw the opportunity to purchase the new WPBD operating at 640 kHz.INSIDE STACKS
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WGST AM
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
640 is a radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed in the city of Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
operating at a frequency of 640 kHz with 50,000 watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s of power during the daytime, and 1,000 watts of power during nighttime hours. The station is owned by the Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
Citicasters Licenses (formerly part of Jacor Communications), and serves the Atlanta metropolitan area media market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
with a news
News Radio
News Radio can refer to:* NewsRadio, the NBC sitcom which aired from 1995–1999.* News radio, the all-news or news/talk radio format....
/talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
radio format
Radio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
. WGST's programming is simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
on an HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
of sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
WUBL FM 94.9. The station is also carried on an audio-only, digital sub-channel of the low-powered digital television station WANN-LD in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
.
The facility
Facility ID
The facility ID number or FIN is a unique positive integer assigned by the United States Federal Communications Commission to each domestic and international broadcast station in its Common Database System . Licensees are required to provide the relevant station's FIN when filing reports and...
at 640 started with an application in 1981, with a construction permit
Construction permit
A construction permit or building permit is a permit required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existing structures, and in some cases for major renovations. Generally, the new construction must be inspected during construction and after completion to ensure compliance...
granted by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) in 1985, and the broadcast callsign WPBD issued in 1986. After a series of extensions to the six-month permits and finally a minor modification, it finally went on the air in February 1988. After an initial dismissal later that year, permission to transfer the station to Jacor was granted in 1989, and the WGST format was moved from what is now WGKA AM 920. The station's nighttime radiation pattern
Radiation pattern
In the field of antenna design the term radiation pattern most commonly refers to the directional dependence of the strength of the radio waves from the antenna or other source ....
has a null
Null (radio)
In radio electronics, a null is an area or vector in an antenna's radiation pattern where the signal cancels out almost entirely.This can be an advantage, as nulls in the horizontal plane can be used to protect other transmitters from interference. If not carefully planned however, nulls can...
toward the northeast.
1920s
WGST's original broadcast licenseBroadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
for 710 kHz was issued by the Federal Radio Commission
Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...
March 17, 1922 (or March 19, 1922), with the call sign WGM. The station's origin pre-dates the 1922 date when the station went by the experimental radio call sign of "4FT". The owner was the Atlanta Constitution, responding to the rival Atlanta Journal 's new WSB
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
. The FCC issued WGM's license days after WSB
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
's March 15, 1922 grant on 740 kHz. The current WGST call sign was assigned to the station after the station was donated to the Georgia School of Technology (now Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
) in 1923 following the station going out of business in late July of that year. The WGM license was allowed to expire in August 1923, and new call signs issued to the school on January 13 (or 11) of 1924 as WBBF, later becoming WGST in 1925 when the station moved to 1110 kHz.
1930s
In 1930, WGST moved to 890 kHz. The station moved to 920 kHz after the 1941 NARBA treaty created the clear channels in the U.S.United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the use of the 890 kHz frequency was given to WLS
WLS (AM)
WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
, Chicago. It was operated as a commercial radio station under a lease
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
to Southern Broadcasting Company beginning in 1930, but the Georgia Board of Regents
Georgia Board of Regents
The Georgia Board of Regents oversees the University System of Georgia as part of the state government of Georgia in the United States. The University System of Georgia is composed of all state public institutions of higher education.-History:...
got back control of the station in 1946.
1940s
In the 1940s, it was located in the Forsyth Building in downtown Atlanta. In 1944, funds from the station financed Georgia TechGeorgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
's new Office of Long-Range Development within its College of Architecture
Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture
The College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology was established in 1908 as the Department of Architecture, offering the first four-year course of study in architecture in the Southern United States.-History:...
, which created a "Master Plan" for the Institute's development and expansion. WGST was a Mutual Broadcasting Company affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
in 1949 and later became an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate in 1950.
1950s-1960s
WGST was the first station to play rock 'n roll in Atlanta in the 1950s. Radio personality Paul Drew had his debut on WGST with a weekend show "The Big Record." Ray CharlesRay Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
' song "I Got a Woman
I Got a Woman
"I Got a Woman" is a song co-written and recorded by American R&B/soul musician Ray Charles and released as a single in December 1954 on the Atlantic label as Atlantic 45-1050 b/w "Come Back Baby." Both sides later appeared on his 1957 album Ray Charles .-Origin:The song builds on...
" was recorded at WGST in the early 1950s. In 1956, WGST moved to a studio facility next to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum
Alexander Memorial Coliseum
The Alexander Memorial Coliseum is an indoor arena located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the home of the basketball teams of Georgia Tech and hosted the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA from 1968–1972 and again from 1997–1999...
on the Georgia Tech campus. This facility was built on top of the Coliseum's locker rooms for the radio station, and it featured two large studios for live performances, complete with grand pianos. The studios still exist and WREK
WREK
WREK is the radio station staffed by the students of the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is located at 91.1 MHz and on channel 17 on the Georgia Tech cable TV network, GTCN...
occupied a small area of the original until it moved to its current studio in the Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
Student Center. During the 1960s, WGST was running a Top 40 radio format, but by the late-1960s had changed format to Easy Listening, in an attempt to cut-into WSB-AM's audience.
1970s
In 1971, WGST changed format from easy listeningEasy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
to Top 40, and was billed simply as "92". By 1972, the station had changed to a Solid-Gold Format. In 1973 it adopted a modified gold/current adult contemporary format. The station did fair in the ratings
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
, and well at night, particularly in the male 25-49 demographics, boosted in part when WGST became the originating flagship station
Flagship station
In broadcasting, a flagship is the broadcast which originates a television network, or a particular radio show or TV show, primarily in the United States and Canada. This includes both direct network feeds and broadcast syndication, but generally not backhauls...
for the Atlanta Flames
Atlanta Flames
The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA from 1972 to 1980. The team, a member of the National Hockey League , was relocated to Calgary, Alberta, Canada for the start of the 1980–81 NHL season and were re-named the Calgary Flames. The NHL returned to the...
ice hockey broadcasts. The station continued with its long-running Georgia Tech Football Network and Georgia Tech Basketball broadcasts.
By the late-1970s, WGST switched to an all-news
News Radio
News Radio can refer to:* NewsRadio, the NBC sitcom which aired from 1995–1999.* News radio, the all-news or news/talk radio format....
format. In 1973, it was declared surplus property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
and was sold for five million dollars to Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation
The Meredith Corporation is a media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions, National Media and Local Media.-History:...
in 1974, ignoring opposition from alumni, state legislators
Georgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, being composed of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate....
, and even the governor. However, interest
Interest
Interest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or money earned by deposited funds....
from the trust fund created by the sale was used to upgrade Tech's student-run WREK FM 91.1, which in 1978 moved to the Coliseum studios vacated by WGST in 1975. Meanwhile, WGST tried to compete with WSB (AM)
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...
by becoming a full service, top-40 station and hiring big name personalities such as Chuck Daugherty, Sam Holman from WABC
WABC (AM)
WABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Cumulus Media Networks...
, Tony Taylor from WNBC
WNBC (AM)
WNBC was a radio station that operated in New York City from 1922 to 1988. For most of its history, it was the flagship station of the NBC Radio Network...
, and Skinny Bobby Harper
Skinny Bobby Harper
Skinny Bobby Harper was a Canadian radio and video DJ. First making it big in Cincinnati, Ohio at WSAI , he moved to Atlanta, Georgia in the late 1960s and joined the staff of WQXI radio, where WKRP in Cincinnati creator Hugh Wilson used him as inspiration for the sitcom's off-the-wall character Dr...
who was in Kansas City
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...
. But their ratings languished, despite the high-priced talent Meredith had assembled.
1980s
In 1989, the owners of WGST, Jacor Communications, saw the opportunity to purchase the new WPBD operating at 640 kHz.INSIDE STACKS
About Stacks | Questions | Search help | Customer service | Pricing | Terms of Service | New search
BEYOND STACKS
Microfilm Sources | Other Newspapers
MORE SERVICES
ajc.com/info | Obituary Help | Permissions | ajcstore.com