WGH (AM)

Infobox Radio Station
name = WGH-AM


city = Newport News, Virginia
area = Newport News, Virginia
branding = ESPN Radio 1310
airdate = 1928
frequency = 1310 (kHz)
format = Sports Talk
power = 20,000 watts daytime
5,000 watts nighttime
erp =
class = B
owner = Max Media
website = [http://espnradio1310.com/ http://espnradio1310.com]
callsign_meaning = World's Greatest Harbor

History

WGH, the callsign for ESPN Radio 1310 is an AM radio station licensed to Newport News, Virginia. The letters chosen for WGH (1310 kHz AM) stood for "Worlds Greatest Harbor" for Hampton Roads. The station took to the airwaves in October 1928 as WNEW (for Newport News). Call letters were changed when the following month the new station was authorized to be begin broadcasting with its distinctive 3 letter call sign "WGH". It signed on for the first time with the new call sign on November 20, 1928. The WNEW calls would eventually be used on 1130 AM in New York City (now WBBR), where they would become legendary.

Long known as the "Voice of Old Virginia", WGH usually made the required federal station identification announcements as "WGH - Newport News - Norfolk, Virginia." WGH announcers broadcast from several studio locations, including Military Circle Studios in Norfolk, at Ocean View Amusement Park at Ocean View (where the broadcast booth was located under the famous roller coaster), and at the Todd Center studios in Hampton. The multiple tower transmitter site on Todd's Lane in Hampton became a visible landmark when State Route 168, now Interstate 64, was built through the area in the late 1950s.

Many DJ's over the years included: George Crawford, Gene Loving, John Garry, Larry O'Brien, Roger Clark, Bob Calvert, Dick Lamb, Glenn "The Turtle" Lewis, Dave Cummins, J.J. Bowman, Jack Fischer (aka Throckmorton Quiff), Hunter Todd, Charlie Shannon, Ron James, Bill Stephens, Tom Scott, Bill Tucker, Rob Wayne, Jim Stewart, Mike Patrick, Jim Lawrence, Dale Parsons and "The Real" Neal Steele.

The first "Miss WGH" was Mildred K. Williams, during the early 60's. She became ill after being bitten by the WGH mascot, a small monkey that wore a WGH blazer.

During its height as a Top 40 station, Bob Calvert voiced and produced a very distinctive top of the hour ID, "WGH Newport News, Serving Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach, 24 hours a day!" The station also had an audible on-air beep that could be heard on the air when the official time reached the top of the hour.

For many years, WGH was owned by the Newport News "Daily Press" and "Times Herald" newspapers. WGH was the number one station in Tidewater from the late 50s until the mid-70s. In 1983, the station was sold to a Pennsylvania broadcast group, Grandcor, who changed the call letters to WNSY (along with WGH's sister FM station). From 1983 to 1984 the station did an Oldies format. In mid 1984 the station switched to country. In 1985 the station was sold to Sussquahanna Broadcasting and The WGH calls were restored to both stations in that same year. Later in the late 80's The station simulcasted sister station 97.3's Top 40 format, with interruptions for sports events, until about 1990, when it broadcast CNN Radio News, which was popular during the Gulf War. Country returned to the station in March 1991, but became "1310 the Score" in 1992. It was Virginia's first all sports radio station. The stations were later sold to Heritage Broadcasting, then to Entercom, then Barnstable, and finally Max Media.

Since 1986, WGH-AM has broadcast "Afternoon Sportstalk", hosted by Tony Mercurio weekday afternoons. Now the show is simply called "The Tony Mercurio Show" on ESPN Radio 1310. It began on September 15, 1986, and was created by Sandy Goldberg and Fred Wright shortly after they came to run the station. One of their first ideas was to make WGH-AM 1310 a sports radio station. Therefore, they decided to start the first weeknight "sportstalk" show ever in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Local newspapers criticized this idea of Sports Talk, saying it would not last more than one month. The show celebrated its 20th year on the air in September 2006.

On February 1, 1999, the Sports Entertainment Network was dropped and the station signed on with the ESPN Radio network, only the second in the nation to do so. "The Score" was also dropped, and ESPN Radio 1310 was the result. The station carries ESPN Radio programming 7 days a week, along with the Tony Mercurio Show from 3 to 7 p.m. Weekdays.

WGH-AM were sold in the mid-'90s to Barnstable Broadcasting, which also picked up other stations in the area. One of the stations, Classic Country 1050 WCMS, changed its format by picking up the Fox Sports Radio network. However, this was short-lived, and the station itself was sold in 2004 to Davidson Media. The format was changed to Spanish, and the calls changed to WVXX. Since Barnstable did not want to lose the WCMS call letters, they were given to 1310 AM, and was then known as ESPN Radio 1310 WCMS.

In 2005, Max Media Hampton Roads purchased the stations owned by Barnstable Broadcasting, making them once again locally owned and operated. With this purchase, on July 1, 2005, the call sign for 1310 reverted to WGH. (the WCMS calls were moved to an FM station Max owned in North Carolina) The station is still an ESPN Radio affiliate, on 1310 kHz.

WGH-AM has broadcast play-by-play of Norfolk Tides baseball since 2002, and recently signed a contract to do so until 2011. The station also carries Norfolk Admirals hockey and Old Dominion University football in 2009. Through a time buy agreement, James Madison University football and basketball are carried on WGH.

A sister station, WGH-FM, a country music station, broadcasts at 97.3 MHz.

Trivia

*The three letter call sign (versus the customary four letters) of a U.S. radio or television station generally indicates one of the older broadcasting stations in the United States. The Federal Radio Commission (succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission) required four letter call signs for new broadcasters after January, 1930. Transfers, and addition of television and FM frequencies were grandfathered under the FCC rules.

*While newspapers were often the source of financing for new radio and television stations in the early years of development, later FCC rules discouraged common ownership of both print and broadcast media in major markets in order to ensure public access to independent sources of news.

External links

* [http://www.alohanews.com/wgh.htm WGH memories website]
* [http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/wgh.html WGH AM radio historical fan site]
* [http://espnradio1310.com Official ESPN Radio 1310 Web Site]
* [http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/info?call=WGH&service=AM Radio Locator Information on WGH]

References

* [http://hamptonroads.vartv.com Hampton Roads Media News and Information]