WWGE

WWGE
City	Loretto, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area	Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Slogan	Great Music. Local Sports.
Frequency	1400 kHz
First air date	1922
Format	Adult standards & Sports
Power	1000 Watts
Class	C
Former callsigns	WTAC, WJAC, WWSF, WAMQ, WJRV, WEBG, WBZV
Affiliations	Saint Francis University, ABC News, NBC Sports Radio, Westwood One, Compass Media Networks
Owner	Todd Bartley (Colonial Radio Group of Williamsport, LLC)
Website	www.1400wwge.com

WWGE is a commercially licensed AM radio station serving Cambria County, in west central Pennsylvania. WWGE operates at the federally assigned frequency of 1400 kilohertz and a maximum power output of 1,000 watts. The production studio is located in downtown Ebensburg, PA, and the transmitter is located on the campus of Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA. The station is licensed to the community of Loretto and is owned by Todd Bartley, through licensee Colonial Radio Group of Williamsport, LLC.

History

WWGE has roots that can be traced all the way back to November 1922, when it first signed on the air with the callsign WTAC. In the 9 decades that have passed, WWGE has seen a myriad of call letter and frequency changes along the way. WTAC signed on on the wavelength of "360 meters" (833 kHz) and went through three different channel assignments before settling on 1400 kHz in 1941.

The 1400 AM frequency first appeared in the region as one of many channel assignments for WJAC in Johnstown, which first signed on the air in 1925. WJAC later moved to 850 in 1963, leaving 1400 open and available.

1400 AM was picked up by St. Francis College (now St. Francis University) that year and signed on as WWSF October 7, 1963. The college continued its ownership of the station until about 1981, when it was sold to Sherlock-Hart Broadcasting, Rebranded as WAMQ, the new country-formatted station moved from the college campus to the First United Federal Building in Ebensburg, where it remained until it was sold in August 1992 to Sherlock-Hart Broadcasting employee Tom Stevens, who had worked for Sherlock-Hart Broadcasting's FM property WBXQ in Altoona (but licensed to Cresson).

Stevens changed to call letters to WJRV and the format to soft rock, and relocated the studios to his home. Unforeseen circumstances later forced the station to go silent and Stevens to sell the station in 1996 to Allegheny Broadcasting Corporation for $75,000. Under this new owner, the call letters were changed to WEBG (the call letters of another Ebensburg AM that had been given up years before) before being sold to Radiowerks in 1999.

Disappearance

During the summer of 2012 WWGE disappeared from the AM dial due to unknown circumstances, and the future of the station was also unknown.

Reemergence

During the summer of 2013, WWGE returned to the air under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Williamsport-based Pioneer Sports Productions, LLC. In February 2014, Radiowerks agreed to sell WWGE to Pioneer Sports Productions; the sale was consummated effective December 9, 2014, at a price of $45,000.

The current format includes classic hits as well as serving as the home for Saint Francis University Red Flash programming, local high school sports programming, PA Sports Now and PA Sports Saturday.

Owner Todd Bartley transferred WWGE's license to his wholly owned Colonial Radio Group of Williamsport, LLC on August 17, 2015.

Programming

WWGE is the flagship station for Saint Francis University Red Flash Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the NFL on Westwood One. WWGE also broadcasts local high school sporting events. The Jed Donahue Show and PA Sports Talk air regularly. When the station is not broadcasting athletics, it plays Adult Standards music.

Locations

The new studio is located in the Barnes Building, at 101 W. High Street, Suite 102-A in downtown Ebensburg. The station transmitter is located on the campus of Saint Francis University.

External links

WWGE official website

Query the FCC's AM station database for WWGE

Radio-Locator Information on WWGE

Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WWGE

Radio stations in the Johnstown, Pennsylvania market

By AM frequency	560 850 990 1160 1230 1400 1450 1490

By FM frequency	88.9 89.7 90.7 92.1 95.5 96.5 97.3 97.7 98.5 99.1 100.5 101.7 105.1 105.7

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.4

By callsign	WCCL WCRO WCCS WDAD WESA WFGI-FM WFRB WFRJ WJHT WKGE WKYE WLGY WLKH WLKJ WLLI WMUG-LP WNTJ WPCL WQED-FM WRKW WXM33 WWGE WYRA

Defunct	WNCC/950 WBHV/1330 WRDD/1580

Pennsylvania radio markets Allentown–Bethlehem Altoona Bradford–Coudersport Chambersburg–Waynesboro Erie Harrisburg–Lebanon–Carlisle Lancaster Montrose New Castle Philadelphia Pittsburgh Reading Sayre–Towanda–Mansfield–Wellsboro Wilkes-Barre–Scranton Williamsport York Other Pennsylvania radio regions Bedford Indiana Johnstown Lewistown–Mifflintown Meadville–Franklin Punxsutawney–DuBois St. Marys–Emporium–Kane State College Stroudsburg Sunbury–Selinsgrove–Lewisburg Warren See also List of radio stations in Pennsylvania

Coordinates: 40°30′12″N 78°38′10″W / 40.50333°N 78.63611°W / 40.50333; -78.63611

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