WGH-FM (97.3

MHz 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 u ...

) is a commercial

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

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of c ...

, serving

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

. WGH-FM is owned and operated by

Max Media Max Media is a company that owns radio stations throughout the United States. It is based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. History Max Media was founded in 2001. Prior to this, some of the company's management had run the TVX Broadcast Group from 1 ...

and airs 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 ...

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, ...

. It uses the branding "97.3 The Eagle". Studios and offices are on Greenwich Road in

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the most populous city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. It is the sixth-most populous city in the ...

. 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 on Newport News Point, near Interstate 664.

Station history

WGH-FM first

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 ...

the air in November 1948, one of the first FM stations in Virginia. It broadcasts at 74,000 watts in an area of the country where today the maximum power for FM radio stations should be 50,000 watts. But, because the station dates back to 1948, before the

Federal Communications Commission 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 j ...

set rules for FM power levels, it is grandfathered at the higher power. The

call letters 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 Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

for WGH-FM and its

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 ...

WGH ( 1310 AM) stand for "World's Greatest Harbor", a slogan for the Hampton Roads or Tidewater area of Virginia, where there is a large shipbuilding industry and both commercial and military ports. WGH and WGH-FM are the only stations in Virginia to operate with three-letter call signs. For many years in its early days, WGH-FM was a

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

station. On September 1, 1983, after Commcor bought the station, the classical format was abruptly dropped and flipped to

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

as WNSY-FM, "Sunny 97". A year later, it flipped 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. "To ...

as "Y-97". The next year, after

Susquehanna Broadcasting The Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Company was a conglomerate of companies that started in the 19th century with Johann George Pfaltzgraff's emigration from Germany to York, Pennsylvania (in the Susquehanna Valley). Johann Pfaltzgraff was a potter and ...

took over, the station changed call letters to WRSR and rebranded as "97 Star" during the week of September 10, 1985, while keeping the current format. The WGH-FM calls would return on December 15, 1986. On August 29, 1990, the top 40 format was dropped and the station began stunting with all-

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

. On September 3, at noon, it flipped to its current country format as "Eagle 97.3".

References

External links

New Country 97-3 The Eagle Online
{{Max Media 1948 establishments in Virginia Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1948 GH-FM Mass media in Newport News, Virginia Max Media radio stations