WGTS

Radio station


name = WGTS
callsign_meaning = Washington's Gateway To Service
frequency = 91.9 MHz | city = Takoma Park, Maryland
power =
erp = 23,500 watts
haat = 186 meters
class = B
facility_id = 12460
area = Washington, D.C.
format = CCM and Talk
owner = Columbia Union College Broadcasting
webcast = [http://www.wgts919.com/content/studio/listenlivenew.shtml Listen Live]
website = [http://www.wgts919.com/ wgts919.com]

WGTS 91.9 FM is a Christian radio station broadcasting from Takoma Park, MD and serving the Washington DC Baltimore area in a Contemporary Christian music format.

History

Unlike most Washington, DC radio stations, WGTS, has always been under its original ownership. In 1946 Columbia Union College (CUC) started the station as an AM carrier current broadcasting to the dorms. In 1957 CUC applied to the FCC for an FM radio license. CUC itself, is a Seventh-day Adventist college, and as such its station has a close relationship with the religion. In 1997, it made the decision to drop its classical music programming which it held for approximately 20 years, in favor of Contemporary Christian Music CCM, a need that had not been met in the Washington, DC area. Since then, the station has seen significant growth in listenership. It is now ranked as the 2nd most-listened to non-commercial religious station in the country.

2007 marks the 50th anniversary for the station and has plans to honor those who have helped maintain the station over the years. Over that period, WGTS has been a pioneer in radio in the Washington, DC area. When the FCC decided it wanted to set aside all frequencies below 92.0 to be used as public educational stations (i.e. listener-supported) that could not sell advertising, WGTS was the first in the DC area to be recognized. This is one reason why they were able to get the 91.9mHz frequency, being the last place on the dial before the commercial portion. It was also the first station in Washington to go stereo.

In 2004, WGTS expanded its coverage of the DC market when its application for a new tower located in Arlington, VA was approved by the FCC. It almost doubled its previous coverage, reaching more of Northern Virginia and northern & western Maryland.

Many long-time listeners immediately recognize the voice of Dr. Gerry Fuller, who is the host of its long-running Saturday morning broadcast "Breakaway" (formerly Saturday Seminar). Dr. Fuller is a licensed DDS in the Washington area, but has hosted Breakaway for over 39 years, interviewing locally and nationally known authors, speakers and musicians who have a heart for sharing God's love. Some notable guests have included Dr. James Dobson and his wife Shirley, CeCe Winans, Dr. Ben Carson, Dr. Barry Black, Philip Yancey and Dr. Charles Stanley. Dr. Fuller has also served as President of the board at the station and is still regarded as an honorable member.

Today, familiar names to listeners of the station include Brennan & Becky, the morning show team that gets people into work each morning from 5:30-10a. Becky has been with the station since its format flip in 1997 when she helped debut the new morning team at that time. She's also worked locally as a traffic reporter for WTOP & WMAL before coming back to the station full time. Brennan is the station's Production Director and has also worked in the Huntsville, AL market at WOCG on the campus of Oakwood College. Rob Conway, has been with the station for 10 years. He is the station's Music Director. Rob Conway is the deejay from 10a to 3p, and Angela Stevens is the afternoon drive host, who came to the station from Clear Channel's Washington cluster in the fall of 2006 to take over on-air and Promotions duties. Ty McFarland joined the station in the Spring of '06 from KTSY in Boise, ID a sister Adventist station, to be Senior Program Director.

The current General Manager is John Konrad, who has worked at the station since the late 80s, first as a high school student, then college intern and finally in 1996 took over GM duties for Don Wheeler who entered retirement.

Format

WGTS features Christian Music for most of its programming, with a few locally produced religious talk programs on the weekends. WGTS previously had a weekend night time show, Reflections, which played Black Gospel music. However, when another station, WPRS-FM, began featuring that format full-time, WGTS dropped the show.

Corporate

WGTS is non profit, listener supported radio station. They have two fund raisers a year, and are a federally recognized charity. The station is licensed to WGTS/Columbia Union College Broadcasting, Inc., a self supporting subsidiary of Columbia Union College. Both the station's owners and studio are located in Takoma Park, MD, an older suburb next to Washington D.C.

Proposed sale

According to a July 18, 2007 article in the Washington Times, sources close to the station said that the station would be sold to American Public Media (the parent company of Minnesota Public Radio) to produce a news/talk station similar to KPCC in Los Angeles. [cite news |first= Kara|last= Roland|title= WGTS license likely for sale|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070718/BUSINESS/107180017/1006 |work=Washington Times |date=2007-07-16 |accessdate=2008-02-09 |language= |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= ] Several websites were set up to lobby for the Christian format of WGTS, which would likely be dropped should the station have been sold. It was purported that the offer by American Public Media was approximately $20-25 million and that a $10 million initial offer by the WGTS board of directors to keep the station within Columbia Union College was rejected. In a change of direction, on Sept. 20, 2007, the college board voted to rescind any current discussions of selling WGTS. [cite news |first=Paul |last=Farhi |title= Christian College to Keep Radio Station|url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092002563.html?hpid=sec-religion|work=Washington Post |date=2007-09-21 |page=C07 |accessdate=2008-02-09]

References

External links

* [http://wgts.org WGTS Official Website]
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* [http://www.SaveWGTS.net SaveWGTS.net Website]
* [http://www.SaveWGTS.org SaveWGTS.org Website]