WGNS

WGNS
City Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Broadcast area Rutherford County
Middle Tennessee
Branding Rutherford County’s Place To Talk
Slogan Your Good Neighbor Station
Frequency 1450 kHz
Repeater(s) W263AI (100.5 FM) Murfreesboro
W270AF (101.9 FM) Murfreesboro
First air date December 31, 1946
Format News/Talk
Power 1,000 Watts
Class C
Callsign meaning Good Neighbor Station
Affiliations CBS Radio, MTSU Blue Raider Network
Owner The Rutherford Group, Inc.
Sister stations WETV-LP
Webcast WGNS Listen Live
WGNS Bitcast
Website WGNSradio.com

WGNS is a radio station based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States. The station operates at 1450 kHz on the AM dial. The call letters are an acronym representing the phrase, "Good Neighbor Station". The station covers Murfreesboro, Tennessee proper as well as the surrounding counties. WGNS also operates class A television station WETV-LP channel 11, which simulcasts the audio from WGNS and local talk programming. The station also has two FM translators at W263AI FM 100.5 and W270AF FM 101.9, which are also licensed to Murfreesboro.

History

Early years

WGNS was founded by Cecil Elrod, Jr. The station signed on the air at 10:00 p.m. Central time on the evening of December 31, 1946, with the first full day of broadcast taking place at WGNS on January 1, 1947. The first program broadcast on the station was an introductory program entitled This is WGNS, followed by a New Year’s program from the Mutual Broadcasting System. Their first sports program was the broadcast of the 1947 Cotton Bowl that originated from Dallas, Texas. [1] [2] Throughout its history, the station never changed its callsign or its frequency. WGNS has been carrying high school football and basketball games, as well as Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders sporting events, since 1947. [3]

The 1980s and 90s

In 1981, WGNS began broadcasting Atlanta Braves baseball broadcasts provided by the Atlanta Braves Radio Network. [4] Bart Walker purchased the station in 1984, and he has owned the station ever since. [5]

WGNS was broadcasting a rock n’ roll format until sometime in the early 1990s, but news and sports also occupies the program schedule. MTSU Sports was dropped in favor of University of Tennessee Volunteers football and basketball during the 1990s. [3] WGNS switched to a news/talk format sometime in 1990.

2000s

The station's original self-supporting tower, which was 328 feet (100 m) tall and dated back to the World War II-era, was destroyed during a severe thunderstorm on April 15, 2001. The tower was rebuilt by July 14, 2001 and is the tallest structure of any kind in Murfreesboro. [6]

MTSU sports returned to the station in 2005. [3]

On the morning of March 1, 2007, WGNS began simulcasting its signal over two FM translators, W270AF at 101.9 MHz and W263AI at 100.5 MHz. WGNS was the first AM radio station in the United States to broadcast with this new type of FM translator. WRHI in Rock Hill, South Carolina became the second AM broadcaster in the nation to begin this service. Their first broadcast was on the next day (March 2, 2007). [7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ WGNS came on the air Dec. 31, 1946 with a full day of broadcast in 1947”. WGNS Radio. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  2. ↑ ”WGNS Opens Tonight with ‘47 Broadcast”. Daily News Journal. December 31, 1946, page 1.
  3. 1 2 3 WGNS Logo's, Shirt's, Design Ideas from the Past (March 8, 2013).
  4. ↑ Affiliate Radio Stations. The Official Site of the Atlanta Braves.
  5. ↑ Jakes, Bill. Murfreesboro, (TN) 2006 p. 127 "The popular AM radio station was broadcast for many years from the mezzanine of Cecil Elrod's French Shop at 120 ... Bart Walker has owned the station since 1984."
  6. ↑ 2001: The Day the Tower Fell at WGNS (April 15, 2001). WGNS Radio. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  7. ↑ ”WGNS Officially Adds Two FM's to our AM for the first time”. WGNS Radio (March 1, 2007). Retrieved April 8, 2015.

Coordinates: 35°50′26″N 86°23′27″W / 35.84056°N 86.39083°W / 35.84056; -86.39083

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