WGPB FM 97.7 is a

public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

station in

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statist ...

. It is part of the

Georgia Public Broadcasting Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) is a state network of PBS member television stations and NPR member radio stations serving the U.S. state of Georgia. It is operated by the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, an agency of the ...

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass media, mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio (Duplex (teleco ...

, a state network which in turn is a member of

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

Public Radio Exchange The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a non-profit web-based platform for digital distribution, review, and licensing of radio programs. The organization is the largest on-demand catalogue of public radio programs available for broadcast and internet ...

, and

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

. Unlike most stations on the GPB network, WGPB does not completely

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) ...

with the network. WGPB also produces its own programs. The

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s are located at Georgia Highlands College's Heritage Hall

campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

in downtown Rome, from which locally produced programming originates. The station began

broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

as WGPB at 5 AM on June 30, 2006.

History

The station began broadcasting May 22, 1965 as WROM-FM,

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 ...

to WROM AM 710. It had that

callsign 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 assi ...

until November 1979 when it became WKCX,History Cards for WGPB
fcc.gov. Retrieved July 27, 2020. known as "K98", most recently with a

hot 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. A satellite-delivered format was used during most of the broadcast day, except for mornings and afternoons. The station was previously owned by Mills Fitzner, who owned WKCX for 20 years under the name Briar Creek Broadcasting Corp.

Format and callsign change

In 2006, WKCX was sold to Georgia Public Broadcasting, with the format changed from hot adult contemporary, to public broadcasting. The deal was announced in March 2006, and was finalized after a 45-day

waiting period A waiting period is the period of time between when an action is requested or mandated and when it occurs. In the United States, the term is commonly used in reference to gun control, abortion and marriage licences, as some U.S. states require ...

on June 29, one day before GPB began broadcasting on the frequency. Most of WKCX's staff left the station on May 31 in preparation for the changeover. The station began

as WGPB at 5 AM on June 30, 2006.

Coverage

WGPB is the first GPB or NPR radio station in northwest Georgia, and covers all of Floyd and about half of each neighboring

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

reliably. The only other NPR/PRI stations available are WABE FM 90.1 from Atlanta, and WUTC FM 88.1 and WSMC-FM 90.5 from

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, both of which have marginal to poor reception in the Rome area. GPB Radio is also usually available on the

second audio program Second audio program (SAP), also known as secondary audio programming, is an auxiliary audio channel for analog television that can be broadcast or transmitted both over-the-air and by cable television. Used mostly for audio description or ot ...

of GPB TV station WNGH-TV 18, from near Chatsworth, except for when WNGH is using the SAP channel for other uses. The station broadcasts with a power of 4,200 watts at HAAT, and is class C3. Despite what seems like a low

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

, its height makes it approximately equivalent to the class C3 maximum of 25,000 watts at 100 meters, which gives a reference distance of nearly 40 km or 25 miles from the

radio antenna In radio-frequency engineering, an antenna (American English) or aerial (British English) is an electronic device that converts an alternating electric current into radio waves (transmitting), or radio waves into an electric current (receivi ...

site. This is the first GPB station, and one of the few

non-commercial educational A non-commercial educational station (NCE station) is a radio station or television station that does not accept on-air advertisements (television advertisement, TV ads or radio advertisement, radio ads), as defined in the United States by the Fed ...

stations in the country, that use a channel outside of the 88-92 MHz reserved band. WQMT FM 98.9 in Chatsworth was purchased under similar circumstances for $3.2 million and switched to GPB programming on January 2, 2008 as

WNGH-FM WNGH-FM (98.9 FM) is an NPR-member public radio station (via its radio network), licensed to Chatsworth, Georgia, United States. The station is currently owned by Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), which the station simulcasts all radio prog ...

. Both stations have a single station ID done together each hour and heard on both stations, indicating they use the same feed. In early February 2013, GPB applied to the FCC to move the station eastward, which would reduce coverage in northeast Alabama and increase it in northwestern

metro Atlanta 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 ...

, bringing Cartersville and Acworth within its protected signal contour. This would increase power from 4.2 to 17.5 kW, but decrease HAAT from 241 to , leaving the station with approximately the same or slightly greater coverage area, and with greater population within its

broadcast range A broadcast range (also listening range or listening area for radio, or viewing range or viewing area for television) is the service area that a broadcast station or other transmission covers via radio waves (or possibly infrared light, which i ...

. This radio tower, just west-northwest of Kingston (), has been used by WTSH-FM 107.1, which is moving south-southwest to a higher tower located west-northwest of Euharlee according to that station's

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

. WGPB's application references two other stations in Alabama which would also be moving as the result of its signal being pulled away from that state.

Broadcast translator

The station was also assigned broadcast translator W221CG FM 92.1 MHz, licensed to, but not reaching any part of, Kennesaw with 55 watts at 19 meters HAAT. It was located along Cobb Parkway ( U.S. Route 41) on the north-northeast corner of Awtrey Church Road (), west of Acworth and just north of SR 92, and reached as far north as the southern parts of Emerson according to FCC maps. It was owned by Radio Assist Ministry, not GPB/GPTC, and may not have actually been airing WGPB. It has since been reassigned to relay commercial station WWWQ FM 99.7 MHz, and was sold by RAM to Cumulus Licensing, owner of WWWQ. The station was moved west-southwest in 2009 to the far exurbs between

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

and Hiram, and had a

to move between Powder Springs and Austell to serve Lithia Springs on 92.5 MHz, where it became W223BP in early 2012.

References

External links