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WDGY (740
kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...
) is a
commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...
AM
radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...
licensed to
Hudson, Wisconsin Hudson is a city in and the county seat of St. Croix County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 14,755. It is part of the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. History Several Li ...
, and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul
radio market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
. It is owned by WRPX, inc. and airs a Classic Hits/
Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...
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 broadcasting, ...
. The station's studios and offices are in
Lake Elmo, Minnesota Lake Elmo is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 11,335 at the 2020 census. According to 2022 census estimates, the population is 13,449. Much of the area within the city limits is still farmland, givin ...
, while its
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
is off Commerce Drive near
Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...
in Hudson. This station is unrelated to the original WDGY, which was a popular Top-40 station in the area during the mid-late 1950s, '60s and '70s. Because
AM 740 The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 740 kHz: 740 AM is a Canadian clear-channel frequency; CFZM in Toronto, Ontario, is the dominant Class A, clear-channel station on 740 AM. In Argentina * LRH 251 in Chaco * Radio R ...
is a Canadian clear channel frequency, WDGY is a daytime-only station. It must
sign-off A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonwealth countries exce ...
at sunset to prevent interfering with Class A
CFZM CFZM (740 kHz) is an commercial Canadian AM radio station in Toronto, Ontario. It is owned by ZoomerMedia, headed by Canadian broadcaster Moses Znaimer. It airs an adult standards and oldies format, branded as ''Zoomer Radio'', with the slog ...
in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. WDGY can be heard around the clock on two FM
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
stations: 92.1 W221BS from St. Paul and 103.7 W279DD from Hudson. The station can also be heard on 107.1
KTMY KTMY (107.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is an entertainment-oriented talk radio, talk radio station, serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Twin Cities as well as portions of West Central Wisconsin. The station is owned and operated by Hubbard Broadcasting ...
's HD2 channel in the Twin Cities.


History


The original WDGY

WDGY was founded in 1923 by Dr. George Young, an optometrist who dabbled in radio as a hobby, and was one of the first radio stations in the Twin Cities area. The original
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 as ...
was KFMT, broadcasting at 1300 kHz. The following year, the station moved to 1140 kHz. After several call letter changes, including WHAT and WGWY, Young settled on WDGY, which was based on his name. The WDGY call letters lasted from 1925 until 1991, first at 1140 kHz, then to its longtime home at 1130 kHz beginning in 1941. Following Young's death in 1945, the station was sold by his estate. WDGY went through several ownership changes until 1956, when it was purchased by
Todd Storz Robert Todd Storz (May 8, 1924 – April 13, 1964) headed a very successful chain of American radio broadcasting stations and is generally credited with being the foremost innovator of the Top 40 radio format in 1951. The selection of records t ...
' Storz Broadcasting, an
Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...
-based owner of a five-to-seven-station group (the maximum number allowed at the time). Storz quickly changed the format to
Top-40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently 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 ...
, taking advantage of the early rise of
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
music. The station was nicknamed "WeeGee," the phonetic pronunciation of the call sign, and its format was near the top of the ratings for several years. In 1959, WDGY gained a formidable challenger when
KDWB KDWB-FM (101.3 MHz) is an commercial radio station broadcasting in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, licensed to suburban Richfield. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, and airs a contemporary hit radio format. KDWB has an effective radi ...
launched. The two competitors seesawed back and forth in ratings supremacy for area teen and young adult audiences throughout the 1960s and '70s. The competition, sometimes friendly, sometimes not, resulted in memorable merchandising promotions and concerts. Generally, WDGY came in second in overall audience ratings to market-dominant, clear-channel WCCO. WDGY seemed to appeal to the 18-35 age demographic while KDWB held a fair share of the teen audience - considered a hot property during this period. WDGY's longtime Top 40 format came to an end at 3 p.m. on September 2, 1977. Faced with stronger competition on the FM dial, WDGY adopted a
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
format, which continued well into the 1980s. In 1990, WDGY would flip to a
news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...
format, which would evolve to
sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...
as KFAN the next year. Ironically, the abandoned WDGY call letters were quickly picked up by WDGY's former rival station at 630 kHz.


History of 740 AM

The original call sign for the station's construction permit was WAOZ, but the station was never on the air with those call letters. 740 AM began broadcasting as WRPX, featuring a locally-based MOR/
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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
format targeting the Hudson/ St. Croix Valley area on December 14, 1983. After a brief shutdown in 1993 due to
business failure __NOTOC__ Business failure refers to a company ceasing operations following its inability to make a profit (accounting), profit or to bring in enough revenue to cover its expenses. A profitable business can fail if it does not generate adequa ...
and the sale of the station, the vacated WMIN call sign was acquired, which had a long history in the market. WMIN aired a pop music
Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
format as "La Nueva Ley" until November 14, 2005. It also aired
sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...
at various times as well as leasing time to two groups that eventually acquired their own full-time frequencies: "Straight Talk Radio" (later on 950
KTNF KTNF (950 kHz, "AM 950") is a commercial AM radio station licensed to St. Louis Park, Minnesota that serves the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The station brands itself as "The Progressive Voice of Minnesota," and offers a combinati ...
) and "
Relevant Radio Relevant Radio (corporate name Relevant Radio, Inc.) is a radio network in the United States, mainly broadcasting talk radio and religious programming involving the Catholic Church. Relevant Radio broadcasts "talk radio for Catholic life" over a ...
" (later on 1330 WLOL). In 2008, the station became WDGY after sister station 630 AM switched to
Regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...
music, using the call letters WREY. The WMIN call sign was used from
1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...
until
1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
by the predecessor to today's 1400
KMNV KMNV (1400 kHz "") is a commercial AM radio station licensed to St. Paul, Minnesota, and serving the Twin Cities radio market. It is owned by Santamaria Broadcasting and broadcasts a Spanish-language radio format featuring Regional Mexica ...
and from 1972 to 1993 at 1010 and 1030; the call sign was also briefly used for a shared-time
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
station on channel 11 that was launched by the original WMIN Radio. In 2014, the station began broadcasting in HD. In May 2016, WDGY began
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of 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, simultaneously) ...
ing on FM translator W279DD 103.7 in Hudson, Wisconsin. In February 2017, WDGY added another FM translator, W221BS 92.1, broadcasting from an antenna atop Wells Fargo Place in Downtown St. Paul.http://northpine.com Upper Midwest Broadcasting On March 7, 2017, WDGY discontinued broadcasting in HD and began broadcasting in
C-QUAM C-QUAM (Compatible QUadrature Amplitude Modulation) is the method of AM stereo broadcasting used in Canada, the United States and most other countries. It was invented in 1977 by Norman Parker, Francis Hilbert, and Yoshio Sakaie, and published in ...
AM stereo. Due to the re-heightened awareness of HD broadcasting on AM surrounding the October 27, 2020 FCC vote to approve voluntary all-digital broadcasting by AM stations, WDGY resumed an HD Radio signal on November 17, 2020. On October 30, 2021, WDGY once again discontinued broadcasting in HD Radio. Unlike in 2017, AM stereo did not return. However, in February 2022 the station resumed broadcasting in AM HD. WDGY at one time carried " The True Oldies Channel" programmed by
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
DJ Scott Shannon. It currently programs its oldies format in-house and uses local hosts.


References


External links

* * * *
Historic Minneapolis/St. Paul airchecks dating back to 1924 including WDGY and other Twin Cities radio stations
{{Coord, 44, 58, 05, N, 92, 40, 01, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title DGY Classic hits radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1983 1983 establishments in Wisconsin DGY