WMGO (1370 AM) is a

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 ...

broadcasting a full service format. Licensed to

Canton, Mississippi The city of Canton is the county seat of Madison County, Mississippi, United States, and is situated in the northern part of the Jackson, Mississippi metropolitan area, metropolitan area surrounding the state capital, Jackson, Mississippi, Jackso ...

, United States, the station serves the

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

area. The station is currently owned by WMGO Broadcasting Corp.

History

On July 10, 1952, the Madison County Broadcasting Company, owned by Annie Dee Davis, James T. Ownby, and J. Dige Bishop, received a construction permit from 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 ...

for a new daytime-only radio station on 1370 kHz at Canton. ( Guide to reading History Cards) Originally broadcasting with 500 watts, WMGO began broadcasting in 1953; it was approved to increase power to 1,000 watts the next year. The original owners filed to transfer control of the station to W. E. Farrar, R. E. and Lucille Hook, and Hugh Hughes in 1956; Hook bought out Farrar and Hughes the next year. In 1963, the Hooks sold the station to Roy James Loflin, Jr., and Wilbur Rodney Williams. As the sale awaited completion, the station was briefly taken off-air in April when a tractor plowed into the transmission line; the engineer intervened in time to prevent the driver from touching the electrified wiring. The new owners relaunched the station as WMGO on July 9, 1963, from new studios. Two years later, they sold WMGO to the Canton Broadcasting Corporation. Under Canton Broadcasting ownership, the station continued to have an almost entirely White air staff, with the only Black personalities featured on Sunday mornings. Canton retained the station for more than 15 years, selling to two men from

Fairhope, Alabama Fairhope is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, located on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay. The population was 22,477 at the 2020 census. Fairhope is a principal city of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan area, which in ...

, in 1981; they owned the station until 1990, when it was sold to McCulloch. New investors were brought in in 1993. WMGO was joined by an FM sister station in 1997 when owner Jerry Lousteau built WMGO-FM 93.1, licensed to

Yazoo City Yazoo City is the county seat of Yazoo County, Mississippi, United States. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe livi ...

. In 2014, WMGO owner Lousteau revealed that political ads placed on the station against United States Senate candidate

Chris McDaniel Christopher Brian McDaniel (born June 28, 1971) is an American attorney, talk radio host, perennial candidate for statewide office, and politician who served in the Mississippi State Senate from 2008 to 2024. His politics have been widely descri ...

, linking him to the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

, had been placed by a Democratic Party operative. WMGO also broadcasts short form local news simply branded as "The Local Report". The program focuses on local news, weather, and obituaries in Canton, and airs at 7, 8 and 9 AM, and at noon and is anchored by Keith Hill. The previous owner and presenter Jerry Lousteau died of cancer on May 25, 2024.

References

External links

MGO Urban contemporary radio stations in the United States Madison County, Mississippi 1953 establishments in Mississippi Radio stations established in 1953 {{Mississippi-radio-station-stub