WMDG
WMDG (1260 AM) was a radio station broadcasting a News/Talk radio format. Licensed to East Point, Georgia, the station served the Atlanta metropolitan area. It is currently silent.
 | |
| City | East Point, Georgia |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Atlanta metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 1260 kHz |
| Branding | Newstalk AM 1260 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Silent (formerly News/Talk) |
| Affiliations | Premiere Radio Networks Fox News Radio Fox Sports Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Michael and Dara Glinter (Northwest Georgia Broadcasting) |
| History | |
| First air date | 1949 |
| Former call signs | WKRW (1961–1981) WYXC (1981-2017) |
| Former frequencies | 1270 kHz (1961-2018) |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 19541 |
| Class | D |
| Power | 5,100 watts day 52 watts night |
| Transmitter coordinates | 33°41′47.00″N 84°28′29.00″W |
The station is owned by Michael and Dara Glinter, through licensee Northwest Georgia Broadcasting. The station featured nationally syndicated programming from the Premiere Radio Networks and Fox News Radio.
History
AM 1260 East Point
A station first signed on in 1949 in East Point as 1260 WTJH.[1] It was a daytimer, powered at 1,000 watts and required to go off the air at sunset to protect existing stations already on AM 1260. It was owned by James and Doris Rivers, with James serving as the company president. By 1970, its daytime-only power output had been boosted to 5,000 watts.
By 2000, it was owned by Wilkes Broadcasting and aired a Christian talk and teaching format.
AM 1270 Cartersville
Another station, this one on AM 1270 in Cartersville, Georgia, signed on the air on September 21, 1961.[2] WKRW was also a daytimer, powered at 500 watts and owned by the Bartow County Broadcasting Company. It later changed its call sign to WYXC.
On December 7, 2009, WYXC experienced a "catastrophic equipment failure" involving the station's automation system. After evaluating the costs of repairing or replacing the equipment, the station's owners decided to close down the station, as they could not afford the cost of repairs.
Major Damage
On December 21, 2012, WYXC went under new ownership with John and Brandi Underwood along with partner Greg Detscher, forming the NewsTalk Corporation. In June 2014, NewsTalk Corp. defaulted on the lease with Clarion Communications. Intruders vandalized the station causing major damage. Clarion Communications took over operation of the station, and spent many hours in engineering expenses getting the damage repaired. The station returned to the air under the "Fox News & Sports" logo.
Effective June 3, 2016, Clarion Communications sold WYXC to Anthony D. St. Cyr for $1.
Michael and Dara Glinter’s Northwest Georgia Broadcasting filed an $180,000 deal to buy WYXC from Anthony St. Cyr. Northwest Georgia Broadcasting doesn’t own any other stations. Pensacola-based Michael and Dara Glinter previously attempted to buy the now-defunct WTJH 1260 in the Atlanta metro but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) deleted the station’s license after it remained off the air for too long. Meanwhile, WYXC remained off the air pending its sale and relocation. The purchase by Northwest Georgia Broadcasting was consummated on December 1, 2016. On May 2, 2017, the station changed its call sign to WMDG.
Restoring the Station
Effective October 3, 2018, WMDG was issued a construction permit by the FCC to move its city of license from Cartersville to East Point, to move from 1270 AM to 1260 AM, and to both increase its daytime power and decrease its nighttime power. The new station would replace WTJH, the defunct station that had broadcast from East Point on AM 1260.
The station is once again on the air featuring a Christian format; much of its programming is relayed from KGMS in Tucson, Arizona.
External links
- WMDG in the FCC's AM station database
- WMDG on Radio-Locator
- WMDG in Nielsen Audio's AM station database