WGTK (AM)

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Coordinates: 38°19′05″N 85°44′39″W / 38.31806°N 85.74417°W / 38.31806; -85.74417
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
WGTK
University of Louisville Cardinals Sports
Ownership
Owner
  • Word Media Group
  • (Word Broadcasting Network, Inc.)
History
First air date
February 1927; 97 years ago (1927-02) (in Hopkinsville
Moved to Louisville December 30, 1933; 90 years ago (1933-12-30))[1]
Former call signs
  • WFIW (1927–1933)
  • WAVE (1933–1981)
  • WAVG (1981–1997)
  • WLKY (1997–2000)
Call sign meaning
"Talk"
Technical information
Facility ID63936
ClassB
Power5,000 watts
Translator(s)93.5 W228EO (Louisville)
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websitewgtktheanswer.com

WGTK (970

studios
and offices are on Corporate Campus Drive in Louisville.

It is powered at 5,000

FM translator W228EO at 93.5 MHz in Louisville.[3]

Programming

On weekdays, WGTK runs

nationally syndicated Salem Radio Network talk shows: Hugh Hewitt, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Sebastian Gorka and Charlie Kirk. In addition, it carries shows hosted by Michael Medved, Ben Shapiro and Bill O'Reilly
.

Weekends feature some specialty shows as well as repeats of weekday programs. WGTK had aired a local midday show with former

University of Louisville Cardinals
football as well as men's and women's basketball.

History

The Hopkinsville years

In February 1927, the station began as WFIW in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.[4] Under ownership by the Acme Flour Mills of Hopkinsville with the call letters standing for the "Whitest Flour In the World,"[1]: 25, 26  it was a 500-watt station that originally broadcast at 820 kilohertz for the station's first three months until moving to 830 kilohertz. Later that year, it moved again to 1150 kilohertz with 1,000 watts of power.[1]: 16, 17  A newspaper article published the same year cited the station for its gold and black motif, which earned the station's facility's nickname, the "Golden Studio".[1]: 20 

In 1928, as part of a nationwide reorganization of radio frequencies, the station's third frequency change occurred, moving to 940 kilohertz. WFIW affiliated with CBS the following year. Tragedy struck the station on July 29, 1931, when the WFIW studio was destroyed by a fire, thus silencing the station until a new studio was built; it would occupy that studio for about two years.[1]: 26 

Early years in Louisville

On October 25, 1933, WFIW was purchased by George Norton Jr.,

NBC Red Network.[1]: 30  It carried NBC's schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio".[6]

During the Ohio River flood in January 1937, WAVE suspended regular programming to provide extensive coverage of the flood, and to provide emergency information.

After more than six years transmitting drom the Brown Hotel building, the station's transmitter site was relocated to

AM 970.[1]
: 32 

In 1948, it added the first TV station in Kentucky, WAVE-TV. Because WAVE radio had been a long-time NBC Radio affiliate, WAVE-TV primarily carried NBC programs.

MOR and oldies

As network programming shifted from radio to TV during the 1950s, WAVE began airing a

full-service MOR format, which later shifted to oldies. In 1981, WAVE was sold to locally based Henson Broadcasting. Because the TV station kept the WAVE call sign, the AM station changed call letters to WAVG; this was necessitated by Federal Communications Commission rules at the time, since repealed. Seven years later, the station was purchased by Radio One (unrelated to the company now known as Urban One that eventually bought stations in the Louisville market in the late 1990s).[1]
: 107 

In the fall of 1989, the station dropped local programming and began running a satellite-fed

syndicated oldies format. On September 4, 1990, WAVG switched to an adult standards
format.

In 1991, WAVG was sold to Sunnyside Communications.

all-news format, with AP News Radio programming and simulcasts of WLKY's television newscasts. The changeover took place at noon on June 16. At the same time, the WAVG call letters and standards format moved to 1450 AM, while 970 adopted the WLKY call sign.[7]

Salem Communications

In August 2000,

Salem Communications. Salem flipped it to a talk radio format as WGTK.[8]

In the 1990s, the WGTK

Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina radio market, it used the same call letters, with that station known as WGTK-FM
from February 2013 until Salem sold it effective November 6, 2023.

On January 5, 2015, WGTK rebranded as "970 The Answer".[9]

Word Broadcasting

On December 22, 2016, it was announced that Word Broadcasting Network, owner of

Contemporary Christian station WJIE-FM, would take over operations of WGTK and sister stations WFIA and WFIA-FM under a local marketing agreement, effective January 3, 2017.[10] On February 10, 2020, Word Broadcasting announced that it would take advantage of the option in its agreement to acquire the stations from Salem for $4 million;[11][12] the sale was completed on May 25, 2022.[13]

On February 17, 2022, it was announced that Louisville First Media Group, a partnership between the operators of both

University of Kentucky Wildcats, with conflicting Cardinals games airing on WKRD.[14]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9781879688933
    .
  2. ^ Radio-Locator.com/WGTK
  3. ^ Radio-Locator.com/W228EO
  4. ^ "WFIW Rebuilding" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 15, 1931. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  5. ISBN 0-8131-2100-0
    . P. 126.
  6. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1935 page 32
  7. ^ Dorsey, Tom (June 16, 1997). "WLKY adds all-news station at 970-AM". The Courier-Journal. p. F2.
  8. ^ Dorsey, Tom (August 28, 2000). "New management". The Courier-Journal. p. F2.
  9. ^ Lance Venta (5 January 2015). "Salem Rebrands Seven Talkers As The Answer". RadioInsight.
  10. ^ Lance Venta (22 December 2016). "Word Broadcasting Network To LMA Salem's Louisville Cluster". RadioInsight.
  11. ^ "Salem Media Group, Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2019 Total Revenue of $64.1 Million". BusinessWire. November 12, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  12. ^ "Salem Sells Louisville Cluster". RadioInsight. 10 February 2020.
  13. ^ Kirby, Kathleen A. (June 2, 2022). "Re: Salem Communications Holding Corporation…" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  14. ^ University of Louisville Moves To WLCL/WGTK Tandem

External links

38°19′05″N 85°44′39″W / 38.31806°N 85.74417°W / 38.31806; -85.74417

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