WWGE is a commercially licensed AM 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...

 serving Cambria County, in west central Pennsylvania. WWGE operates at the federally assigned frequency of 1400 kilohertz and a maximum power output of 1,000 watts. Its programing is currently simulcast on Birach Broadcasting Corporation

Birach Broadcasting Corporation

Birach Broadcasting Corporation is a Southfield, Michigan-based company that owns several AM radio stations and one low-power television station in the US....

-owned WKGE AM 850 in Johnstown

Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County...

. The station is licensed to the community of Loretto and is owned by Pennsylvania Radiowerks, LLC.

History

According to the station's website, WWGE's roots go all the way back to 1922, when it first signed on the air as WTAC-AM in November of that year. In the eight decades that have passed, WWGE has seen a myriad of call letter and frequency changes along the way. WTAC signed on at the dial position of 833 AM and went through three different channel assignments before settling on AM 1400 in 1941.

The AM 1400 frequency first appeared in the region as one of many channel assignments for WJAC-AM in Johnstown, which first signed on the air in 1925. WJAC later moved to AM 850 in 1963, leaving AM 1400 open and available.

AM 1400 was picked up by St. Francis College (now St. Francis University) that year and signed on as WWSF October 7, 1963. The college continued its ownership of the station until about 1981, when it was sold to Sherlock-Hart Broadcasting, Rebranded as WAMQ, the new country-formatted station moved from the college campus to the First United Federal Building in Ebensburg, where it remained until it was sold in 1992 to Sherlock-Hart Broadcasting employee Tom Stevens, who had worked for Sherlock-Hart Broadcasting's FM property WBXQ in Altoona (but licensed to Cresson).

Stevens changed to call letters to WJRV and the format to soft rock, and relocated the studios to his home. Unforeseen circumstances later forced Stevens to sell the station in 1995. The station went to another owner under the call letters WEBG (the call letters of another Ebensburg AM that had been given up years before) before being sold to Radiowerks in 1999.

Programming

WWGE is primarily programmed with various personality driven talk radio

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...

 programs. The station boasts the lineup of The Tom and Mike Show, The Laura Ingraham Show

The Laura Ingraham Show

The Laura Ingraham Show is a three-hour American radio show hosted by conservative commentator Laura Ingraham on Talk Radio Network. , the show is broadcast live on Channel 2, from 9 a.m...

, G. Gordon Liddy

G. Gordon Liddy

George Gordon Liddy was the chief operative for the White House Plumbers unit that existed from July–September 1971, during Richard Nixon's presidency. Separately, along with E. Howard Hunt, Liddy organized and directed the Watergate burglaries of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in...

, and Dennis Miller

Dennis Miller

Dennis Miller is an American stand-up comedian, political commentator, actor, sports commentator, and television and radio personality. He is known for his critical assessments laced with pop culture references...

. Evenings, overnights, and weekends are filled by programs from Sporting News Radio

Sporting News Radio

Yahoo! Sports Radio, formerly Sporting News Radio is a United States sports radio network that broadcasts sports news, talk, scores, and highlights 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. On August 1, 2011, it was announced the network would change its name to Yahoo! Sports Radio, effective...

. WWGE is also the home for Leo Stanek's "Sunday Sounds of Polka Music," a locally originated program prominently featuring the Polish-style polka

Polka

The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...

. As of December 2010, Stanek's program is no longer listed on WWGE's Web site.

WWGE is also the flagship station for Saint Francis University

Saint Francis University

Saint Francis University is a four-year, coeducational Catholic liberal arts university in Loretto, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1847 and conducted under the tradition of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular...

 Red Flash Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...

, Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...

, and the NFL on Westwood One

NFL on Westwood One

The NFL on Westwood One is the brand name given to weekly National Football League games carried on the radio over the Dial Global Radio Network...

 as well as the Sports USA Radio Network

Sports USA Radio Network

The Sports USA Radio Network is the largest independent nationwide sports broadcasting radio network, specializing in live broadcasts of American football, specifically of the NCAA football Division I-A and National Football League...

. WWGE also broadcasts local sporting events from Penn Cambria, Bishop Carroll, and Central Cambria High Schools.