 | |
| Broadcast area |
Gloucester, Virginia Gloucester County, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1420 kHz |
| Branding | 1420 and 102.3 WXGM |
| Programming | |
| Format | Oldies |
| Affiliations |
AccuWeather Good Time Oldies ( Jones Radio Networks) Virginia News Network Westwood One News |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | WXGM, Inc. |
| WXGM-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | 1957 (as WDDY) |
Former call signs | WRIP (1956, CP) WDDY (1956–1988) |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 74208 |
| Class | D |
| Power | 740
watts daytime 58 watts nighttime |
Transmitter coordinates | 37°24′36.0″N 76°32′52.0″W / 37.410000°N 76.547778°W [1] |
| Translator(s) | 102.3 W272EJ (Gloucester) |
| Links | |
| Webcast | WXGM Webstream |
| Website |
xtra99 |
WXGM is an oldies-formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Gloucester, Virginia, serving Gloucester and Gloucester County, Virginia. WXGM is owned and operated by WXGM, Inc. [1]
History
WDDY
WDDY went on the air on January 20, 1957, becoming the first radio station in the Middle Peninsula. [2] The station was owned by S. L. Goodman, the owner of a publishing firm in Richmond, [3] though the station was almost immediately sold to WDDY, Inc.—owned by station manager Charles E. Springer—upon signing on the air. It broadcast during the daytime only with 1,000 watts. [3] In 1958, Arthur Lazarow, a former announcer at WWJ radio in Detroit, acquired WDDY in 1958 by way of his company Cape Radio; minority investors in Cape included John R. Daniels and Arthur Shimmin. [4] The station's full-service format included 12 hours a week each of African American and country programming in 1967. [5]
Lazarow owned WDDY for 23 years until he sold it in 1981 for $90,000 [6] to a new WDDY, Inc., owned by William Eure and Thomas Robinson of Petersburg, where they owned WSSV AM and WPLZ-FM. [7] Despite not planning many changes at the outset, [7] changes did come to WDDY: that summer, it relaunched with a country format and picked up coverage of Virginia Cavaliers football and the Washington Redskins. [8] Eure and Robinson laid the groundwork for another change in the 80s by announcing their intention in 1984 to apply for an FM frequency. [9]
WXGM
Comprehensive changes came to 1420 AM on September 1, 1988 [10] when the station was relaunched as WXGM with an oldies format. [11] The overhaul also included $40,000 in equipment upgrades. [10] Even more changes came on July 29, 1991, when WXGM-FM 99.1 launched; the FM and AM stations initially simulcast as adult contemporary "Xtra 99.1 FM". [12] That same year, the AM station reduced its daytime power to 740 watts. [13] Its sports coverage gained a regional appeal the next year when the station began what would be a 9-year relationship with the William & Mary Tribe; WXGM ended the deal abruptly in 2001 when it signed a more favorable deal to carry the athletic events of Christopher Newport University, in which CNU paid the station and offered to help sell advertising. [14]
Robinson later sold a stake in WXGM-AM-FM to Walt Wurfel, who had previously headed the communications department of the National Association of Broadcasters for a decade; Wurfel died in 2018. [15]
See also
References
- ^ a b "WXGM Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
- ^ "Mid-Peninsula's 1st Radio Station Begins Operation". Daily Press. January 21, 1957. p. 8. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ a b FCC History Cards for WXGM
- ^ "Firm Headed By Detroit Man Buys Radio Station". Daily Press. May 10, 1958. p. 14. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ "WDDY" (PDF). 1967 Broadcasting Yearbook. 1967. p. B-170. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ "Ownership Changes" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 22, 1981. p. 74. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ a b "Petersburg Men Buy Station WDDY". Daily Press. January 28, 1981. p. 16. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ "New Format Introduced For WDDY". Daily Press. August 16, 1981. p. E5. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ "WDDY-AM seeks FM". Daily Press. March 30, 1984. p. 24. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ a b "A new direction". Daily Press. September 1, 1988. p. B1. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ Warden, Billy (August 26, 1988). "Changes in store for WDDY". Daily Press. p. 13.
- ^ Pryweller, Joseph (August 3, 1991). "Taxing reality to hit NN cable subscribers". Daily Press. pp. D1, D4. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 2, 1991. p. 42. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ Fairbank, Dave (January 29, 2002). "W&M finding going to the air is costly". Daily Press. p. B1. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ "Walt Wurfel, Who Led NAB Communications For A Decade, Has Died". InsideRadio. December 3, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2019.