WKGC (AM)
WKGC (1480 AM) is a radio station licensed to Southport, Florida, United States. The station serves the Panama City, Florida area. The station was owned by Gulf Coast State College.[1]
| City | Southport, Florida |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Panama City, Florida |
| Frequency | 1480 kHz (HD Radio via WKGC-FM-HD3) |
| Slogan | "The AlterNation" |
| Programming | |
| Format | Silent |
| Affiliations | American Public Media |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Gulf Coast State College |
| Sister stations | WKGC-FM |
| History | |
| First air date | 1957 |
| Former call signs | WTHR (1957-1962) WGNE (1965-1982) |
| Technical information | |
| Class | D |
| Power | 5,000 watts day 34 watts night |
| Transmitter coordinates | 30°13′05″N 85°51′16″W |
| Links | |
| Webcast | https://wkgc.org/hd3stream/ |
| Website | wkgc.org |
History
WKGC began broadcasting in 1957 as WTHR, a popular music and weather station, and operated until 1962, when it went dark. This lasted for three years, until Don McCoy (later founder of Magic Broadcasting) helped launch WGNE (branded as Genie Radio) once again as a popular music station, starting on 25 June 1965. Due to newfound success, in 1971, WGNE-FM went on the air, which proved more successful for the station than the AM signal previously had. Both stations were soon sold to Janus Broadcasting in the 1970s, but still aired the same pop music format. In early 1982, Janus Broadcasting donated the radio station to Gulf Coast State College to supplement WKGC-FM, and its callsigns were changed accordingly. This sale led to the WKGC cluster being the first college radio station available in both AM and FM.
Due to the extensive damage of Hurricane Michael, the station has been silent since October 10, 2018.
In March 2019, Omni Broadcasting (based out of Destin, Florida) filed a $5,000 deal to buy the station. Omni currently owns WTKP, another station in the Panama City market.[2]
References
- "WKGC Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
- "Deal Digest: A Group Deal In Kentucky". InsideRadio.
External links
- WKGC in the FCC's AM station database
- WKGC on Radio-Locator
- WKGC in Nielsen Audio's AM station database