WFFG (1300 AM) is an American radio station licensed to operate in

Marathon, Florida Marathon is a city in the middle of the Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, Monroe County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 9,689, up from 8,297 in 2010 United States ce ...

, United States, in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami a ...

, broadcasting a news/talk format.

History

First licensed in 1960, the station was a 500-watt, four-tower directional station built on an uninhabited island in the Florida Keys. Telephone and electrical services were run to the island, exclusively for the station. A drawbridge was built for convenient transportation. The original owners were Kentucky broadcasters, Bill Betts and Gilmore Nunn, who vacationed in Marathon. In the early 1960s they sold the station to Kentucky financier Garvis Kincaid where it became part of the Bluegrass Broadcasting chain, headquartered in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

. Bluegrass sold the station to a former Michigan legislator and local resident, Emil Lockwood. Lockwood retained the station for less than three years before selling to competitors, the Thacker family, who then owned WMUM-FM, a music station in

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

. The Thackers upgraded the station to 2,500 watts with a two tower directional signal. They sold both the AM and FM stations to Joe Nascone, a local resident formerly from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. While the

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

database states that the station's transmitter tower is located on

Boot Key Boot Key is an island in the middle Florida Keys located adjacent to Key Vaca. Boot Key is within the city limits of Marathon, Florida, United States. The island is largely undeveloped. A draw bridge that once connected the island to Key Vaca w ...

, as well as the transmitter for

Radio Marti Radio is the technology of telecommunication, communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

. Radio Marti is actually on Sister's Creek Island, adjacent to Boot Key and inside the Marathon City limits. As of July 2007, the station's programming consists of

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 ...

, including syndicated programming of

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer. He hosts ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a radio syndication, nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a Hannity, sel ...

G. Gordon Liddy George Gordon Battle Liddy (November 30, 1930 – March 30, 2021) was an American lawyer and FBI agent who was convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping for his role in the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration. Work ...

and Bill O'Reilly. The station was most recently owned by Jonathan Smith's Choice Radio Keys Corporation. Due to an inability to pay outstanding debts, the company assigned the licenses of WFFG and sister stations WGMX, WKEY-FM, and WKEZ-FM to a trustee on June 4, 2018, to be sold for the benefit of creditors. A sale of WFFG and WGMX to Joseph Nascone's The Great Marathon Radio Company was consummated on September 14, 2020, at a price of $35,000.

References

External links

{{coord, 24, 41, 28, N, 81, 06, 30, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title FFG (AM) News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1960 1960 establishments in Florida