WKGC-FM (90.7 FM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

licensed to

Panama City, Florida Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee and Pensacola. It is the more populated city of the Panama City–Lynn Ha ...

, United States. The station is currently owned by

Gulf Coast State College Gulf Coast State College is a public college in Panama City, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System and offers the Associate of Arts degree, Associate of Science degree, certificates, and as of 2011, bachelor's degrees. History The ...

. WKGC-FM was the brainchild of two Gulf Coast students, Charles Wooten and

Ron Johnson Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American accountant, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wisconsin, a seat he has held since 2011. A Republican, Johnson was first elected to the U.S. S ...

, who concocted the idea in 1968. Initially, they only had enough donated materials for a 100-milliwatt AM signal, which was only strong enough to beam rock music into the student center. On October 21, 1974, WKGC-FM went on the air with a power of ten watts. In the course of two years, the college's District Board of Trustees appropriated $20,000 for the station's expansion. The station only ended up using $13,000 to expand to 9,200 watts, thanks to tower space donated by local radio station WDLP. In 1976, WKGC-FM was eligible for funding by the state's

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. With this funding, the current crew was able to hire full-time professional staff, which allowed more variety in programming and the creation of new educational experiences for students. The state's funding was followed by further funding from the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

. Later that same year, WKGC had gained affiliation with

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, broadening the station's repertoire to include more music, as well as NPR original programs such as ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

.'' In 1978, the station was granted a power increase to 28,500 watts, with its reach reportedly spanning from Pensacola to Apalachicola, as well as over the Alabama state line. In 1979, a satellite dish was installed on-site, for ease of recording programs for delayed broadcast. That same year, the

Florida Legislature The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Cons ...

, among other funding agencies, granted WKGC-FM $350,000 for new facilities, marking the first time the station would operate from a real studio. In 1982, Janus Broadcasting, former owner of Panama City's

WGNE-FM WGNE-FM (99.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Middleburg, Florida, and serving the Jacksonville metropolitan area. It is owned by Renda Broadcasting and airs a country music radio format as "99.9 Gator Country", and primarily ...

, donated to the college what had been WGNE-AM's frequency. Janus' generosity led to WKGC becoming the first AM/FM community college radio station in America. WKGC carries programming from National Public Radio as well as independently produced music programs.

HD channels

WKGC broadcasts three

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

channels: * HD-1 simulcasts the main WKGC-FM signal. * HD-2 carries Jazz Music * HD-3 carries GCSC's student-run AlterNation

References

External links

WKGC official website
* KGC-FM NPR member stations Blues radio stations Jazz radio stations in the United States News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1974 1974 establishments in Florida KGC-FM {{Florida-radio-station-stub