WMGK (102.9 FM, "102.9 MGK") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

FM radio station licensed to serve

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

. The station is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts a

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

. The broadcast tower used by the station is located in the Roxborough section of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

at (), while studios are in Bala Cynwyd. The station features popular Philadelphia radio personalities John DeBella and Andre Gardner.

History

Early years as W67PH/W69PH/WCAU-FM/WPEN-FM

On November 26, 1940, the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

granted WCAU Broadcasting Company a construction permit for a new FM station on 46.7 MHz on the original 42–50 MHz FM broadcast band with the W67PH

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally ass ...

. The construction permit was modified on January 28, 1941, when the FCC reallocated the station to 46.9 MHz with a corresponding call sign change to W69PH. On November 24, 1941, the FCC granted the station authority to begin broadcasting and granted its first license on November 18, 1942. On November 1, 1943, the station was assigned the WCAU-FM call sign. After the FCC created the current FM broadcast band on June 27, 1945, the commission granted WCAU Broadcasting the authority to begin operating the station on 102.7 MHz on December 17, 1945. The FCC granted a voluntarily reassignment of the station's license to Philadelphia Record Company on October 17, 1946. On June 27, 1947, the FCC reallocated the station to 102.9 MHz, followed by another voluntary reassignment of the station's license on November 28, 1947, to William Penn Broadcasting Company. This reassignment was effective on December 18, 1947, at which time the station's call sign was changed to WPEN-FM. The new owners filed an application for a construction permit to move the station to 102.9 MHz on July 12, 1948. A new license for operation on the new frequency was granted by the FCC on August 17, 1950. WPEN-FM was one of the first two FM stations to be licensed for SCA (subcarrier) service. The station filed an application for the SCA on October 12, 1955, with the FCC granting the authorization on July 1, 1956. Subcarriers could be used to send special programming to subscribers, such as background music for stores and restaurants. From its earliest days until the 1960s, WPEN-FM mostly

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simul ...

950 WPEN. In 1966, when the

no longer allowed most FM stations to simulcast their AM counterparts full-time, WPEN-FM carried a middle-of-the-road format, similar to the AM station, but with fewer interruptions and with mostly pre-recorded DJ comments. Some hours were still simulcast.

Switch to soft rock

On October 16, 1974, the station's license was voluntarily transferred by the FCC to Greater Philadelphia Radio, Inc. (a subsidiary of Greater Media), with an effective date of January 6, 1975. On September 2, 1975, the station's call sign was changed to WMGK. The station adopted a

soft rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

format and changed its slogan to "Magic Music" with the ''Magic 103'' branding. The first song aired under the new call sign was " Could It Be Magic" by

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include " Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", " I Write the Songs", " C ...

. The music on ''Magic 103'' was mostly album cuts from singer-songwriters of the 1960s and early 1970s, presented in four-song blocks with minimal talk. The station would not play artists primarily found on the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

, such as The Carpenters or

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the fir ...

. The

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sev ...

was made up of softer songs heard on

album rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orient ...

stations, from artists such as

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...

and

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include " Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Th ...

. The format was quite successful, with Greater Media putting "Magic Music" on its other FM stations, along with call letters referring to "Magic," WMJC in Detroit, WMJX in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and WMGQ in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city in and the seat of government of Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Roxborough section of Philadelphia. The station's license was renewed by the FCC with the new facilities on July 12, 1978. Over time, WMGK began to lose listeners to WUSL, known as "US 1". WUSL had switched from

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

to a soft vocal format similar to WMGK, but with a shorter playlist of more familiar songs. Eventually, WMGK responded with an even tighter playlist, moving from soft rock to a

soft adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...

format and rebounded past WUSL in the ratings. The station was programmed by the late Dave Klahr and signed on by its first midday host Pete Booker, who later programmed Greater Media sister station WMJC in Detroit, and who recently retired as CEO of the Delmarva Broadcasting Company.

Move to adult contemporary

In the mid 1980s, Magic 103 leaned soft, but played several uptempo songs an hour, along with more current product. In the spring of 1986, WMGK started a contemporary jazz show called ''Sunday Morning Jazz'', later renamed ''Sunday Evening Jazz'' in early 1987. The show was hosted by Bob Craig and ended in October 1988 when Craig left the radio station. Craig returned in the spring of 1990, and again hosted a contemporary jazz show, this one running on both Saturday and Sunday nights from 7 p.m. to midnight. Along with the jazz, some soft rock songs were mixed in as well. The show lasted one year and ended in the early summer of 1991. Eventually Philadelphia got its first full-time

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the ...

station in 1993, 106.1 WJJZ, which made its debut two years after WMGK's contemporary jazz show had ended. WUSL, the chief rival to WMGK, switched to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

in 1981. In 1989, WEAZ, an easy listening outlet known as "Easy 101," made the transition to Soft AC, and in 1993, changed its call sign to WBEB, calling itself "B-101." Easy 101 had a large number of listeners, and most of them stayed with the station when it became B-101, causing WMGK to slip in the ratings. In addition,

WSNI WSNI (97.7 FM, "Sunny 97.7") is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Keene, New Hampshire. The station is owned by Monadnock Radio Group, a division of Saga Communications, and the broadcast license is held by Saga Comm ...

was also playing adult contemporary music, giving Philadelphia three stations in the AC format.

All-'70s hits

On July 11, 1994, WMGK dropped the long time AC format and changed it to an all-1970s format. The 70s hits included

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...

and R&B. By 1995, the station added a few big 1960s and 1980s hits, and no longer used the term "Magic." By the Fall of 1995, WMGK played mostly classic rock with some rock-friendly

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 198 ...

thrown in, but not much of the harder material.

Classic rock

In 1997, Greater Media acquired two more Phialdelphia FM stations,

WMMR and modern AC WXXM. WMGK continued to position itself as a Classic Hits station. But when WYSP changed its format from classic rock to

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

, WMGK began to describe itself as classic rock, eliminated non-rock 70s songs altogether. Still, with rocker WMMR in the cluster, playing plenty of harder-edged classics, WMGK leaned softer than most classic rock stations. On November 17, 2006, at 6 pm, former

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

-based classic rock station WTHK became "The New Smooth Jazz 97.5 WJJZ." With WTHK no longer airing classic rock, WMGK became the Philadelphia region's only classic rock station. The station on 97.5 is now co-owned with WMGK and carries a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on ...

format as

WPEN-FM WPEN (97.5 MHz, "97.5 The Fanatic") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Burlington, New Jersey, in the Philadelphia radio market. The station is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group through licensee Beasley Media Group, LLC and b ...

, which was once WMGK's call sign. On

April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may ...

in 2015, WMGK reverted to its broadcast to its previous adult contemporary/soft rock music format; he announced WMGK "Magic 103" and played the old Magic

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

s. The prank ended when a listener called in to the station to complain about the loss of classic rock. On July 19, 2016, Beasley Media Group announced it would acquire Greater Media and its 21 stations (including WMGK) for $240 million. The FCC approved the sale on October 6, and the sale closed on November 1.

Competition

WMGK had three major competitors in Philadelphia. On August 25, 2008, WYSP switched from

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

to classic rock, with a harder sound than that of WMGK. On September 2, 2011, WYSP switched to

Sports Radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on ...

as WIP-FM. WFKB ''107.5 Frank FM'', licensed to serve

Boyertown, Pennsylvania Boyertown ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Boyerschteddel'') is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The population was 4,055 at the 2010 census. Boyertown is known for the many painted fiberglass bears that can be found throughout the town and borou ...

, competed with WMGK in Philadelphia's northern and western suburbs and in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

. On March 30, 2009, WFKB switched to Christian programming and became WBYN-FM. Currently, listeners in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia can receive WODE-FM ''99.9 The Hawk'', licensed to serve

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river that joins the Delaware Ri ...

, and primarily focused on the

HD Radio

In early 2006, WMGK launched a digital HD2 subchannel with its "WMGK Deep Trax" format. It features "classic rock nuggets and 'oh wow' songs that may be a bit outside the radio norm." The format has since been switched to

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as w ...

Signal note

WMGK is short-spaced to two other Class B stations: WNEW-FM ''NEW 102.7'' (licensed to serve

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) and WQSR ''102.7 Jack FM'' (licensed to serve

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

) both operate on 102.7 MHz, a first adjacent channel to WMGK. The distance between WMGK's transmitter and WNEW-FM's transmitter is 82 miles, while the distance between WMGK's transmitter and WQSR's transmitter is 92 miles, as determined by FCC rules. The minimum distance between two Class B stations operating on first adjacent channels according to current FCC rules is 105 miles.

References

External links

* * {{Beasley Broadcast Group MGK MGK Classic rock radio stations in the United States