WSGO (1440 AM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Oswego, New York Oswego () is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 16,921 at the 2020 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in Upstate New York, about 35 miles (55km) northwest of Syracuse. It promotes itself as "The Port Ci ...

, and serving the northern suburbs of the

Syracuse metropolitan area The Syracuse Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of three counties in central New York, anchored by the city of Syracuse. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 662,577 ...

. The station is owned by

Galaxy Communications Galaxy Media (formerly Galaxy Communications) is a radio broadcasting company with radio stations entirely in the Central New York area. History Ed Levine, current president, attended the Newhouse School at Syracuse University where his love f ...

and airs a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comedy ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informati ...

. The station, like most of Galaxy Communications' Oswego cluster, is a direct repeater of a Syracuse

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 ...

, in WSGO's case, AM 1200 WTLA. Like WTLA, it

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/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, simult ...

s its programming full-time on a 220

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

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 tra ...

, W261AC, at 100.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one h ...

). WSGO operates at 1,000 watts by day. But at night, when radio waves travel farther, it reduces power to only 45 watts to avoid interfering with other stations on AM 1440. It uses a

non-directional antenna In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is a class of antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle to the axis ( elevation angle), declining ...

at all times, located on Dutch Ridge Road in Oswego, adjacent to Route 481.

Programming

WSGO and WTLA have two local weekday sports shows, in middays and afternoon

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cla ...

. The rest of the schedule features programming from

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN" ...

, the Syracuse ISP Sports Network (carrying

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

sports), the New York Giants Radio Network and the

NFL on Westwood One ''The NFL on Westwood One Sports'' is the branding for Cumulus Broadcasting subsidiary Westwood One's radio coverage of the National Football League. These games are distributed throughout the United States and Canada (the latter through TSN Radi ...

. They had previously carried

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...

baseball games until the New York Mets Radio Network was discontinued in 2019 due to the high cost of satellite time.

History

WSGO

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A dig ...

the air on March 6, 1961. It was owned by Clifford C. Harris and the studios were in the Pontiac Hotel. Originally WSGO was a

daytimer A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-co ...

, required to go off the air at sunset to avoid interfering with other radio stations on AM 1440 at night when radio waves travel farther. In the 1990s, it got permission from the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

to stay on the air at night, but at only 45 watts. In 2000, it was acquired by Galaxy Communications.Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2010 page D-388
/ref> The studios and offices were relocated to Syracuse and WSGO became a full time

station to 1200 WTLA. For a time, it aired an adult standards format, from the "

Music of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and C ...

" network. It switched to

in 2010, affiliating with the

Network.

References

External links

* * * SGO Sports in Syracuse, New York {{NewYork-radio-station-stub