WGAN (560 AM) is an

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 ...

radio station licensed to

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

. The station is owned by Saga Communications and it airs 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 ...

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 calls itself "Newsradio WGAN AM 560 and FM 98.5" The studios and offices are on Western Avenue in

South Portland, Maine South Portland is a city in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, and is the List of municipalities in Maine, fourth-most populous city in the state, incorporated in 1898. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population wa ...

. The station is also heard on a 250-watt 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 ...

, 98.5 W253DA, which allows listeners who prefer FM radio to hear WGAN in Portland and its close suburbs. In addition, WGAN is heard on the HD2 channel of co-owned 93.1

WMGX WMGX (93.1 MHz "Coast 93.1") is a commercial FM radio station in Portland, Maine, serving the Portland metropolitan area. WMGX airs an Adult Top 40 radio format and is owned by Saga Communications. Its tudios and offices are on Western Avenue in ...

. AM 560 broadcasts with 5,000 watts around the clock, covering much of Southern Maine and along the

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

Coast up to Rockland. The

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 near the

Maine Turnpike Interstate 95 (I-95) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs north–south from Miami, Florida to Houlton, Maine. The highway enters Maine from the New Hampshire state line in Kittery, Maine, Kittery and runs for to the Cana ...

off Warren Avenue in Portland. WGAN is Maine's primary entry point station for the

Emergency Alert System The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a Emergency population warning, national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via Cable television, cable ...

Programming

WGAN begins each weekday with a local news and interview show, hosted by

Matthew Gagnon Matthew Owen Gagnon (born December 10, 1980) is an American think tank executive, political strategist and writer from Maine. He is the chief executive officer of the Maine Policy Institute, a free market think tank based in Portland, Maine. He ...

. The rest of the weekday schedule is made up of nationally syndicated

conservative talk Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

shows from

Hugh Hewitt Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is an American conservative political commentator, radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network, attorney, academic, and author. He writes about law, society, politics, and media bias in the United States ...

, Grace Curley,

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

-based

Howie Carr Howard Louis Carr Jr. (born January 17, 1952) is an American conservative radio talk-show host, political author, news reporter and award-winning writer. He hosts '' The Howie Carr Show'' originating from his studios in Wellesley, Massachuset ...

Mark Levin Mark Reed Levin (; born September 21, 1957) is an American broadcast news analyst, columnist, lawyer, political commentator, radio personality, and writer. He is the host of syndicated radio show '' The Mark Levin Show'', as well as '' Life, ...

, '' CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor'', ''

Red Eye Radio ''Red Eye Radio'' is a talk radio program currently hosted by Eric Harley and Gary McNamara. The program is syndicated nationwide by Westwood One, and originates from WBAP in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The show traces its history throug ...

'' and '' This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal''. On weekends, there are shows on money, real estate, technology and gardening. Weekend hosts include Larry Kudlow,

Lars Larson Lars Kristopher Larson (born March 6, 1959)"Lars Kristopher Larson". ''Who's Who in the West'', 26th ed. Accessed June 17, 2013 via LexisNexis. is an American conservative talk radio show host based in Portland, Oregon. Larson worked in televis ...

, Sebastian Gorka and '' Rich DeMuro on Tech''. Most hours begin with world and national news from

CBS News Radio CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

, followed by Maine news with local reporters.

History

The station was founded in 1938 by Guy Gannett Publishing, which was then the owner of the ''

Portland Press Herald The ''Portland Press Herald'' (abbreviated as ''PPH''; Sunday edition ''Maine Sunday Telegram'') is a daily newspaper based in South Portland, Maine, with a statewide readership. The ''Press Herald'' mainly serves southern Maine and is focused ...

'' newspaper. It was Portland's second radio station after 970 WCSH (now co-owned WZAN) which

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

in 1925. WGAN had its studios in the Columbia Hotel and originally broadcast on 640 kHz at 500 watts. It was a

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

, required to go off the air at sunset in Los Angeles, because it shared AM 640 with Class I-A KFI, the dominant

clear channel station A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

. WGAN was a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

, carrying its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

broadcasts during the "

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

". After the enactment of the

North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, ; ) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreements also addressed how frequency assignments were d ...

(NARBA) in 1941, WGAN moved to 560 kHz. It got a power boost to 5,000 watts and could broadcast around the clock. In 1954, WGAN gained a companion television station, WGAN-TV 13, and in 1967, a co-owned FM station, 102.9 WGAN-FM (now

WBLM WBLM (102.9 FM) is a classic rock radio station licensed to Portland, Maine. The station has a studio in One City Center, along with co-owned Townsquare Media stations WJBQ, WCYY and WHOM. The station also serves as the Portland market af ...

). When network programming moved from radio to television, WGAN began airing a full service, middle of the road format of popular music, news and sports. Until the early 1980s, Gannett's Portland operations owned the major daily newspaper, the CBS television station, 102.9 WGAN-FM and 560 WGAN, two of the city's top radio stations. Channel 13 was later renamed WGME when WGAN-AM-FM were sold to Taylor Communications in 1983. In 1987, WGAN was sold by Taylor to Saga Communications, its present owner. Saga increased the talk programming and decreased the music shows, eventually evolving WGAN to a full time talk format. On May 27, 2014, WGAN 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 A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

W288CU 105.5 FM, via

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

's HD2 subchannel. On August 22, 2019, WGAN also began simulcasting on FM translator W253DA 98.5 FM.WGAN Moves FM Signal to 98.5
Radioinsight - August 23, 2019 The 105.5 translator would switch to an

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 ...

format in the fall. In March 2020, morning co-host Ken Altshuler was fired, followed in April with weekend morning host John McDonald's termination. Altshuler had been with WGAN for 18 years, and McDonald for 25.

Translator

References

External links

* * {{Saga Communications News and talk radio stations in the United States

GAN The word Gan or the initials GAN may refer to: Places * Gan, a component of Hebrew placenames literally meaning "garden" China * Gan River (Jiangxi) * Gan River (Inner Mongolia), * Gan County, in Jiangxi province * Gansu, abbreviated '' ...

Radio stations established in 1938 1938 establishments in Maine