WGKA

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This article is about WGKA AM 920. For use of the WGKA call sign on 1190 AM from 1956-2004, see WAFS (AM) § WGKA.
WGKA
Atlanta metropolitan area
Frequency920 kHz
BrandingAM 920 The Answer
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatConservative talk radio
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
January 14, 1924; 100 years ago (1924-01-14)
Former call signs
  • WBBF (1924–1925)
  • WGST (1925–1989)
  • WAFS (1989–2004)
Former frequencies
  • 1110 kHz (1924–1928)
  • 890 kHz (1928–1941)
Call sign meaning
Glenkaren Associates
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID65976
ClassB
Power
  • 14,000 watts (day)
  • 490 watts (night)
Transmitter coordinates
33°48′36″N 84°21′22″W / 33.809863°N 84.356117°W / 33.809863; -84.356117
Repeater(s)104.7 WFSH-HD3 (Athens)
Links
Public license information
Webcast
Websitewww.am920theanswer.com

WGKA (920

Atlanta metropolitan area. Currently owned by Salem Media Group, WGKA serves as the Atlanta affiliate for the Salem Radio Network and the Clemson Tigers football radio network. The WGKA studios are located on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, while the station transmitter resides near the Morningside Nature Preserve. Besides a standard analog transmission
, WGKA is available online.

Historically, the station is perhaps better known as the original home of WGST, founded by the

Georgia Institute of Technology; WGST's programming and call letters moved to 640 AM (now WBIN) via an intellectual property
transaction in 1989.

History

WBBF

The station was first licensed by the

Atlanta Constitution newspaper, which had closed its station, WGM, the previous July. This donation to the electrical engineering students was made to help familiarize them with the new technology used for radio broadcasting.[3]

WBBF's debut broadcast was made on the evening of January 14, 1924, beginning at 7:30 p.m. with a ten-minute address by President M. L. Brittain. He lauded "the generosity of Editor Clark Howell and The Constitution". The Atlanta Constitution reported that he also "expressed the gratitude of the institution to The Constitution for presenting without cost to Tech the powerful broadcasting equipment." The program finished at 8:30 with fifty band students playing the college's fight song, "Ramblin' Wreck." The station's initial schedule was limited to a single one-hour program on Monday evenings;[3] WBBF suspended operations in early June for summer vacation, before resuming in September.[4]

WGST

On January 12, 1925, WBBF's call letters were changed to WGST (Georgia School of Technology).

CBS Radio Network affiliate, carrying its dramas, comedies, news, sports, game shows, soap operas and big band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio
."

In March 1941, under the provisions of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), stations transmitting on 890 kHz were moved to 920 kHz, where WGST and its successors have been ever since.[6] During the 1940s, the studios and offices were located in the Forsyth Building in Downtown Atlanta. For many years the antenna was old-fashioned design using multi-strand horizontal wires, strung between two supporting towers on the Forsyth Building, across from Georgia Tech's campus.

In the late 1940s, WGST lost its CBS affiliation to WAGA (590 AM);[7] WGST joined the Mutual Broadcasting System and later became an ABC Radio affiliate in the 1950s.[8]

WGST was the first station to play

grand pianos. They remained in use by WGST into the 1970s; starting in 1977, Georgia Tech's FM radio station, WREK
, occupied most of the original studios, including one of the two big rooms, until 2004 when WREK moved to the current studios in the Georgia Tech Student Center.

Through most of the 1960s, WGST ran a

hockey
broadcasts. The station continued with its long-running Georgia Tech Football Network and Georgia Tech Basketball broadcasts.

As the city kept growing, it was difficult to hear the station in some of Atlanta's suburbs. That made it hard to achieve numbers comparable to ratings king WSB, which is powered at 50,000 watts around the clock. WGST ran at 5,000 watts by day, but dropped to 1,000 watts at night, to protect other stations on the frequency. In 1968, Georgia Tech put an FM station,

student-run
WREK, which in 1978 moved to the Coliseum studios vacated by WGST in 1975.

Under the Meredith Corporation, WGST tried to compete with WSB by becoming a

all-news format.[12] But it began adding some talk shows by 1980 and in 1983, hired Neal Boortz who already had experience hosting on Atlanta talk station WRNG (now WCNN
). Boortz became the cornerstone for the WGST talk line-up.

In 1985, WGST was bought by

WPCH (94.9 FM).[13]

WAFS

Not to be confused with Atlanta radio station WAFS (AM).

In 1988, WPBD (640 AM) began operations, although the owners soon announced that the station was for sale.

Christian talk and teaching;[16] Jacor concurrently changed WPBD's call letters to WGST
.

WAFS became the Atlanta affiliate of Moody Radio, which lasted until 2004.[9]

WGKA

Previous logo

The Moody Bible Institute sold WAFS on March 24, 2004 to

Salem Communications.[17][18] On August 2, 2004, Salem swapped call letters between its two stations on 920 and 1190 kHz, which resulted in the WGKA call letters moving to 920 kHz, and the WAFS call letters now appearing at 1190 kHz.[19]

On January 5, 2015 WGKA was rebranded as "920 The Answer".

conservative talk
hosts.

Beginning in the Fall of 2018, WGKA became the Atlanta home for

Catholic radio format.[citation needed
]

References

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WGKA". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "New Stations: Broadcasting Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, February 1, 1924, page 3. Although much of the equipment used by WBBF had been previously used at WGM, the Department of Commerce considered WGM and WBBF to be separate stations, and current Federal Communications Commission records list January 7, 1924 as WGKA's "first license date".
  3. ^ a b "Tech Sends First Message To Radio Fans of America" by Parks Rusk, Atlanta Constitution, January 15, 1924, page 1.
  4. ^ "Last Tech Radio Concert Until September", Atlanta Constitution, Juie 2, 1924, page 12.
  5. ^ a b "Georgia School of Technology", Education's Own Stations by S. E. Frost, Jr., 1937, pages 105-106.
  6. ^ "United States Assignments", March 29, 1941, North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement.
  7. ^ "WGST Atlanta Goes to MBS in Autumn" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 17, 1948. p. 42. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  8. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook (1949 edition) page 104.
  9. ^ a b c d e f "Atlanta Area AM Radio Stations" by Jeffrey Leachman (leachlegacy.ece.gatech.edu)
  10. ^ I Got a Woman by Ray Charles (allmusic.com)
  11. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook (1970 edition) page B-49.
  12. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook (1978 edition) page C-50.
  13. ^ Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook (1987 edition) page B-70.
  14. ^ "WGST's AM Frequency to Be Sold". The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. January 11, 1989. p. B/2.
  15. ^ Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2003-2004 page D-113
  16. ^ "Black Radio Milestone Is Lost in a Shell Game Owner's Actions Questioned in Sale of WPBD". The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. 1989-07-02. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  17. ^ "Scooping up stations" by Lisa R. Schoolcraft, Atlanta Business Chronicle, August 16, 2004 (bizjournals.com)
  18. ^ MBI-Moody Broadcasting Network::WAFS::Home
  19. ^ "News Talk Station WGKA-AM Moves to 920 AM Aug. 2; Atlanta Radio Station Improves News Talk Signal with Frequency Change", July 30, 2004 (salemmedia.com)
  20. ^ "Salem Rebrands Talkers as The Answer" by Lance Venta, January 5, 2015 (radioinsight.com)

External links


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