WZGC (92.9
FM) – branded ''92.9 The Game'' – is a commercial
sports
Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...
radio station licensed to serve
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 ...
, covering 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 ...
. Owned by
Audacy, Inc.
Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...
, WZGC is the Atlanta
affiliate for
Infinity Sports Network
Infinity Sports Network is an American sports radio network. It debuted as CBS Sports Radio with hourly sports news updates on September 4, 2012, and with 24/7 programming on January 2, 2013.
Infinity Sports Network is programmed by Audacy, In ...
; 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 Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...
,
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...
and
Atlanta United FC
Atlanta United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won one MLS Cup, one U.S. Open Cup, and one Eastern ...
radio networks; and the radio home of
Randy McMichael. The WZGC studios are located at
Colony Square in
Midtown Atlanta
Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown for short, is a Urban area, high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used ...
, while the station transmitter is located in Atlanta's
North Druid Hills neighborhood. In addition to a standard
analog transmission, WZGC broadcasts over one
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...
channel, and is available online via
Audacy.
History
Classical (1955–1971)
The station signed on the air on September 1, 1955, as WGKA-FM. Owned by Glenkaren Associates, it was the FM counterpart of
WGKA (1190 AM), with studios at 1140 Peachtree Street NE. WGKA-FM was the first full-time FM classical music station in Atlanta.
Rock (1971–1973)
In 1971, the
General Cinema Corporation acquired WGKA-AM-FM. Even though it was a movie theater chain, GCC wanted to branch out into broadcast media. The classical music remained on the AM station, while the FM station became WZGC (referring to the last two letters in General Cinema) in 1972, with an
album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock.
US rad ...
format.
Top 40 (1973–1989)
In March 1973, the format switched to
contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...
calling itself "Z-93".
In the 1970s, many radios still only received AM signals.
WQXI and
WGST (920 AM) were the leading top 40 stations in Atlanta, but as FM listening increased, WZGC gained an audience. The station was acquired by First Media Corporation in 1976.
In the 1980s, the AM top 40 stations switched to other formats, leaving WZGC as Atlanta's only contemporary hits station. Then, in 1986,
WAPW (99.7 FM) debuted with its own popular top 40 format, with WZGC's ratings declining as a result. The station switched to a
rhythmic contemporary
Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 20, Rhythmic Top 30, Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and upbeat R&B hit ...
format during the summer of 1988.
Classic rock (1989–2004)
On January 3, 1989, that station changed to a
classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...
format, while retaining the "Z-93" moniker.
Infinity Broadcasting
Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Im ...
acquired WZGC in 1992; Infinity was renamed
CBS Radio in December 2005.
AAA (2004–2012)
The name change to "Dave FM" and format switch to
adult album alternative
Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...
(AAA) came at 5 pm on July 21, 2004, following a stunt featuring all-
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band (also known as DMB) is an American rock band from Charlottesville, Virginia. The band's lineup consists of Dave Matthews (lead vocals, guitar), Stefan Lessard (bass), Carter Beauford (drums), Tim Reynolds (lead guitar), R ...
music. Dave's first song was "
Orange Crush
Crush is a brand of carbonated soft drinks owned and marketed internationally by Keurig Dr Pepper, originally created as an orange soda, Orange Crush. It was created in 1911, 30 years before Coca-Cola's Fanta, by beverage and extract chemist ...
" by
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...
WZGC installed an
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...
transmitter in the early 2000s. The HD-2 subchannel carried an
Americana format branded as "Dave Roots".
Sports talk (2012–present)
Throughout its run as "Dave FM", the station maintained decent
ratings, though it was never an overall winner. However, in the summer of 2011, the station saw a drop in its
Arbitron ratings
Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...
. At the same time, CBS had enjoyed success with several of its FM stations that had switched to all sports formats in
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 ...
,
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
and
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
. Due to this, CBS announced in July 2012 that WZGC would flip to all sports in October. Dave's final day of programming, which started on September 29, after a three-day radiothon for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, consisted of the on-air staff hosting final shifts (including Steve Craig, Jill, Mara Davis, Charles, Yvonne Monet, Sully, Renee and Margot), as well as a "Top 92 Songs of Dave FM" countdown. Around 12:20 am on September 30, Dave FM ended regular programming with "
Little Lion Man" by
Mumford & Sons
Mumford & Sons are a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, double bass, bass guitar), and Ben Lovett (British musician), B ...
(the #1 song in the countdown) and "Atlanta" by
Butch Walker. The station ran on
automation
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...
until the flip at 2 pm on October 24. The final song on "Dave" was "Thank You Friends" by
Big Star
Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). They have been described as the "quintessential American ...
.
Even though WZGC was owned by CBS Radio, it didn't affiliate with
CBS Sports Radio at launch, as the network already had an
affiliate in Atlanta on
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 ...
. Because of this, WZGC had local sports hosts around the clock, all week long. Eventually, WCNN became an
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically 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 banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...
affiliate, and WZGC added CBS Sports Radio programming to its overnight schedule.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with
Entercom
Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...
. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17.
On February 23, 2022, WZGC added The Bet to its HD2 subchannel.
Former DJs
*
Elvis Duran – hosted with sidekick "Hot Henrietta" during the late '80s.
*
Jimmy Baron
*
Steve Barnes – host of ''All Access''
*
The Greaseman (syndicated show)
*
Steve McCoy
Steve McCoy is an American radio personality best known for his morning show with Vikki Locke in Atlanta, Georgia for over 18 years on WSTR. The duo was twice nominated for the Marconi Award. McCoy came to Atlanta in 1981 to work at WZGC FM ( ...
*
Shadoe Stevens
* John Young -- later left DJing to continue voiceover work for
WPCH (as WTBS),
TNT and other TV/radio stations
* Ross Brittain
* Brian Wilson
References
External links
*
{{Entercom
ZQC
Sports radio stations in the United States
HD Radio stations
Radio stations established in 1955
1955 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
Audacy, Inc. radio stations
Infinity Sports Network stations