WGKA (920
AM) branded ''AM 920 The Answer'' is a commercial
conservative talk radio station licensed to
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, serving primarily the
Atlanta metropolitan area
Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metropolitan statistical area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the sixt ...
. Currently owned by
Salem Media Group
Salem Media Group, Inc. (formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher based in Irving, Texas, targeting audiences interested in Christian values and wh ...
, WGKA serves as the Atlanta
affiliate for the
Salem Radio Network and the
Clemson Tigers football
The Clemson Tigers football program are the American football team at Clemson University. The Tigers compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) of the Atlantic Coast Con ...
radio network. WGKA's studios are located on
Peachtree Street
Peachtree Street is one of several major streets running through the city of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Beginning at Five Points (Atlanta), Five Points in downtown Atlanta, it runs North through Midtown Atlanta, Midtown; a few blocks afte ...
in Atlanta, while its transmitter is located near the
Morningside Nature Preserve.
History
WBBF
The station was first licensed by the
U.S. Department of Commerce on 1110
kilocycle
The cycle per second is a once-common English name for the unit of frequency now known as the ''hertz'' (Hz). Cycles per second may be denoted by c.p.s., c/s, or, ambiguously, just "cycles" (Cyc., Cy., C, or c). The term comes from repetitive ph ...
s, on January 7, 1924; owned by the
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...
, then known as the "Georgia School of Technology", it was issued the sequentially issued
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 ...
of WBBF.
["New Stations: Broadcasting Stations"](_blank)
''Radio Service Bulletin'', February 1, 1924, page 3. Although much of the equipment used by WBBF had been previously used at WGM, the Department of Commerce considered WGM and WBBF to be separate stations, and current 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 ...
records list January 7, 1924, as WGKA's "first license date". Much of the initial station equipment had been donated by the ''
Atlanta Constitution
''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in Atlanta metropolitan area, metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Jo ...
'' newspaper, which had closed its station,
WGM, the previous July. This donation to the
electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
students was made to help familiarize them with the new technology used for radio broadcasting.
["Tech Sends First Message To Radio Fans of America" by Parks Rusk, ''Atlanta Constitution'', January 15, 1924, page 1.]
WBBF's debut broadcast was made on the evening of January 14, 1924, beginning at 7:30 p.m. with a ten-minute address by President
M. L. Brittain. He lauded "the generosity of Editor
Clark Howell and The Constitution". The ''Atlanta Constitution'' reported that he also "expressed the gratitude of the institution to The Constitution for presenting without cost to Tech the powerful broadcasting equipment." The program finished at 8:30 with fifty band students playing the college's fight song, "
Ramblin' Wreck." The station's initial schedule was limited to a single one-hour program on Monday evenings;
WBBF suspended operations in early June for summer vacation, before resuming in September.
WGST
On January 12, 1925, WBBF's call letters were changed to WGST (Georgia School of Technology).
["Georgia School of Technology", ''Education's Own Stations'' by S. E. Frost, Jr., 1937, pages 105-106.] In 1928, as part of the implementation of the
Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by ...
's
General Order 40, the station moved to 890 kHz. In April 1930, the school made an agreement with the Southern Broadcasting Stations, Inc. to operate WGST as a commercial station, while still under the oversight of Georgia Tech.
WGST was a
CBS Radio 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 dramas, comedies, news, sports, game shows, soap operas 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 ...
."
In March 1941, under the provisions 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), stations transmitting on 890 kHz were moved to 920 kHz, where WGST and its successors have been ever since. During the 1940s, the studios and offices were located in the Forsyth Building in Downtown Atlanta. For many years the antenna was old-fashioned design using multi-strand
horizontal wires, strung between two supporting towers on the Forsyth Building, across from Georgia Tech's campus.
In the late 1940s, WGST lost its CBS affiliation to
WAGA (590 AM); WGST joined the
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Golden Age of Radio, ...
and later became an
ABC Radio affiliate in the 1950s.
WGST was the first station to play
rock 'n roll in Atlanta in the 1950s.
["Atlanta Area AM Radio Stations"](_blank)
by Jeffrey Leachman (leachlegacy.ece.gatech.edu) Radio personality Paul Drew made his debut on WGST with a weekend show "The Big Record."
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
' song "
I Got a Woman" was recorded at WGST in the early 1950s. In 1956, WGST moved next to the
Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the Georgia Tech campus. The station's facilities were built on top of the Coliseum's locker rooms, featuring two large studios for live performances, complete with
grand piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
s. They remained in use by WGST into the 1970s; starting in 1977, Georgia Tech's FM radio station,
WREK, occupied most of the original studios, including one of the two big rooms, until 2004 when WREK moved to the current studios in the Georgia Tech Student Center.
Through most of the 1960s, WGST ran a
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 ...
radio format, but by the late 1960s it changed to
middle of the road music, in an attempt to cut into WSB's audience.
In 1971, WGST switched back to Top 40, and was billed simply as "92". By 1972, the station had changed to a Solid Gold
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 1973, it adopted a mix of oldies and
adult contemporary music
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, sou ...
. The station did fairly well in the Arbitron ratings (now
Nielsen Audio), but it was stronger at night, particularly in the male 25-49
demographic
Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration.
Demographic analy ...
, boosted in part when WGST became the
flagship station
In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...
for the
Atlanta Flames
The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with t ...
hockey
''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...
broadcasts. The station continued with its long-running Georgia Tech Football Network and Georgia Tech Basketball broadcasts.
As the city kept growing, it was difficult to hear the station in some of Atlanta's suburbs. That made it hard to achieve numbers comparable to ratings king WSB, which is powered at 50,000 watts around the clock. WGST ran at 5,000 watts by day, but dropped to 1,000 watts at night, to protect other stations on the frequency. In 1968, Georgia Tech put an FM station,
WREK, on the air. In 1973, the Georgia Board of Regents decided WGST was "surplus property." In 1974, it was sold for five million dollars to the
Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned newspapers, magazines, television stations, and websites. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more than ...
, despite opposition from
alumni
Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...
groups, members of the
Georgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directl ...
and even the
Governor of Georgia
The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's Georgia National Guard, National Guard, when not in federal service, and Georgia State Defense Force, State Defense Fo ...
.
However, profits from the sale were used to upgrade Georgia Tech's
student-run WREK, which in 1978 moved to the Coliseum studios vacated by WGST in 1975.
Under the Meredith Corporation, WGST tried to compete with WSB by becoming a
full service Top 40 station and hiring big name DJs such as Chuck Daugherty, Sam Holman from
WABC in New York City, Tony Taylor from
WNBC
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey� ...
, also in New York, and
Skinny Bobby Harper, who came from
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
. But WGST's ratings languished, despite the high-priced talent Meredith had assembled.
By October 1977, WGST switched to an
all-news
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news.
All-news radio is available in both local and radio syndication, syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news sta ...
format. But it began adding some talk shows by 1980 and in 1983, hired
Neal Boortz
Neal A Boortz Jr. (born April 6, 1945) is an American author, former attorney, and former libertarian radio host. His nationally syndicated talk show, ''The Neal Boortz Show'', which ended in 2013, was carried throughout the United States. The ...
who already had experience hosting on Atlanta talk station WRNG (now
WCNN
WCNN (680 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station city of license, licensed to Brookhaven, Georgia, North Atlanta and serving the Atlanta metropolitan area, Atlanta-area radio market. It is owned by Dickey Broadcasting and airs a sports radio ra ...
). Boortz became the cornerstone for the WGST talk line-up.
In 1985, WGST was acquired by
Jacor Communications, which already owned
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...
FM station
WPCH (94.9 FM).
WAFS
In 1988, WPBD (640 AM) began operations, although the owners soon announced that the station was for sale.
Jacor made arrangements to purchase WPBD and transfer WGST's call letters and format onto the new station. As part of these moves, Jacor divested WGST to the
Moody Bible Institute
Moody Bible Institute (MBI) is a private evangelical Christian Bible college in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Historically, MBI has maintained positions that have identified it as ...
, a
Christian radio
Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...
organization in Chicago, for $2.3 million. On June 30, 1989, Moody changed WGST's callsign to WAFS and changed format from news/talk to
Christian talk and teaching
Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...
;
Jacor concurrently changed WPBD's call letters to
WGST.
WAFS became the Atlanta affiliate of
Moody Radio, which lasted until 2004.
WGKA
The Moody Bible Institute sold WAFS on March 24, 2004, to
Salem Communications
Salem Media Group, Inc. (formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher based in Irving, Texas, targeting audiences interested in Christian values and wha ...
.
[MBI-Moody Broadcasting Network::WAFS::Home](_blank)
/ref> On August 2, 2004, Salem swapped call letters between its two stations on 920 and 1190 kHz, which resulted in the WGKA call letters moving to 920 kHz, and the WAFS call letters now appearing at 1190 kHz.
On January 5, 2015, WGKA was rebranded as "920 The Answer"."Salem Rebrands Talkers as The Answer"
by Lance Venta, January 5, 2015 (radioinsight.com) It began airing many of the Salem Radio Network
conservative talk hosts.
Beginning in the Fall of 2018, WGKA became the Atlanta home for
Clemson Tigers football
The Clemson Tigers football program are the American football team at Clemson University. The Tigers compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) of the Atlantic Coast Con ...
games, taking over from
WCFO, which had switched to a
Catholic radio
Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...
format.
References
External links
*
FCC History Cards for WGKA (covering 1927-1981 as WGST)by Jeffrey Leachman (leachlegacy.ece.gatech.edu)
*
{{Salem Communications
1924 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
Conservative talk radio
Radio stations established in 1924
GKA
Salem Media Group radio stations
Talk radio stations in the United States