WGGO

WGGO
City	Salamanca, New York
Broadcast area	Western Twin Tiers
Branding	Talk 1590 WGGO
Frequency	1590 kHz
First air date	June 19, 1957 (as WNYS)
Format	Talk radio
Audience share	0 (Spring 2009, ^[1])
Power	5,000 watts day 14 watts night
Class	D
Facility ID	9409
Callsign meaning	Great Golden Oldies
Former callsigns	WNYS (1957-1960s)
Affiliations	The Answer
Owner	Bettina Finn, William and Paige Christian (Sound Communications, LLC)

WGGO is an AM radio station located in Salamanca, New York, United States. The station broadcasts at 1590 kHz.

History

WGGO signed on June 19, 1957 under the guidance of religious broadcaster George Thayer as WNYS, although they changed their call signs fairly early in their existence. (Thayer is still alive today and continues to produce religious broadcasts.)

One of WGGO's most notable alumni is CBS weatherman Ira Joe Fisher, who worked at the station for his first job in 1963.

In the late 1970s/early 1980s, WGGO's original programming included "Tradio on the Radio" and a top 25 countdown show called "The Most Alive 25". During this time period, one of the evening DJs went by the moniker "Johnny B. Goode", and would end each broadcast day by playing the Chuck Berry hit before sign-off.

WGGO was a local operation well into the 1990s, when it ran a country music and variety format. Some time in the late 1990s, WGGO switched to a satellite nostalgia format ("America's Best Music") from Westwood One. In 2003, the station moved to an adult contemporary format ("Unforgettable Favorites") from ABC Radio, with ABC News Radio updates at the top of each hour.

Prior to 2003 the station was a daytime-only station that, regardless of time of year, would always sign off at 5:00 PM each day. The station now broadcasts at a nominal power level at night.

In 2006, Pembrook Pines Media Group (an ownership group led by Robert Pfuntner), took over the station and changed the format to sports radio along with sister stations WELM in Elmira and WPIE in Ithaca. Vision Communications was slated to buy what is left of Pembrook Pines in 2014, and changed the format to its current one in late 2013 (at the time simulcasting WEHH in Elmira) upon the assumption of a local marketing agreement, but withdrew its bid days before it was to close because of cross-ownership objections. Once those objections were resolved (WEHH was not included in the revised sale, so that simulcast had to be broken), Vision acquired WGGO.

Programming

WGGO currently runs an automated talk radio format affiliated with the Salem Radio Network. CBS Radio News at the top of each hour; the last regularly scheduled local non-brokered program on the station, Tradio, was dropped unceremoniously in 2008. On Sunday September 12, 2010 at 9:22am, the longest running program on WGGO AM, "The Voice Of Living Waters", ended its run; Bill Ferguson, Sr. (1924-2012) started the program in 1963. The program was first called "The Voice of Many Waters" and had as its theme song the song of the same title.

Buffalo Sabres hockey, the only sports rights Pembrook Pines holds in the region, remains on sister station WMXO because of WMXO's stronger nighttime signal. New York Yankees baseball was added to WQRS instead of WGGO for the same reason.

Upon the station's change to sports programming in 2006, WGGO added Penn State Nittany Lions football and the Cleveland Browns (these teams primarily play during the day and thus make the best use of the station's signal), as well as local high school sports. Airing Browns games was previously done in the early 1990s on then-Pembrook Pines station WNNR and on WMXO, which was not yet a Pembrook Pines station. The rationale was that there was (and remains) a large contingent of Browns fans in the Western New York region, particularly older ones whose fandom predates the existence of the Bills and those who view the Browns as a favorite "second team." The most popular teams in the western Twin Tiers, the Buffalo Bills and, to a lesser extent in Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Steelers, are heard on other stations in the market (WPIG and WBRR for the Bills, WESB for the Steelers). In the 1990s, Pembrook Pines ran the Browns on WACK, also because the Bills were carried on another station in the market. That station no longer is owned by Pembrook Pines, but it now carries the Bills. By 2009, all live sports programming other than that which comes from ESPN had been dropped. In 2010, WGWE picked up most of the local high school sports that had been heard on WGGO. Penn State football rights were bought by WBYB. The ESPN Radio affiliation moved to WHDL in October 2013, at which point WGGO assumed an adult standards/oldies format.

In 2014, WGGO picked up a package of high school sports from Allegany-Limestone Central School that had previously aired on WBYB. The station also carries Buffalo Bisons minor league baseball.

WGGO flipped to an all-syndicated talk format in early 2016 with content from Salem Radio Network's "The Answer." All of the sports programming on the station continued unaffected.

References

↑ .

External links

Query the FCC's AM station database for WGGO

Radio-Locator Information on WGGO

Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WGGO

Radio stations in the Olean, New York market

Note: This market also includes the areas around Bradford and Coudersport in Pennsylvania.

By AM frequency	600 790 1360 1450 1490 1590

By FM frequency	88.3 89.1 90.3 90.5 91.3 93.5 93.9 94.9 95.7 96.7 97.1 98.3 98.7 99.1 100.1 101.5 103.5 103.9 104.5 105.9 106.3

NOAA Weather Radio	162.425 162.5

By callsign	W230BO W237CS W254BQ W256BQ W257CW W283AU WBRR WBYB WCOV-FM WESB WFRM WGWE WHDL WHKS WJQZ WLSV WMXO WNG591 WOEN WOLN WPIG WQRS WQRW WSBU WTWT WVTT WWG32 WXMT WXXY WZHD

Defunct	WQLE

New York radio markets Albany–Schenectady–Troy Binghamton Buffalo–Niagara Falls Elmira–Corning Hudson Valley Nassau–Suffolk (Long Island) New York City Olean Plattsburgh Poughkeepsie Rochester Syracuse Utica–Rome Watertown Other New York radio regions Ithaca Jamestown–Dunkirk North Country Saratoga Pennsylvania radio markets Allentown–Bethlehem Altoona Bradford–Coudersport Chambersburg–Waynesboro Erie Harrisburg–Lebanon–Carlisle Lancaster Montrose New Castle Philadelphia Pittsburgh Reading Sayre–Towanda–Mansfield–Wellsboro Wilkes-Barre–Scranton Williamsport York Other Pennsylvania radio regions Bedford Indiana Johnstown Lewistown–Mifflintown Meadville–Franklin Punxsutawney–DuBois St. Marys–Emporium–Kane State College Stroudsburg Sunbury–Selinsgrove–Lewisburg Warren See also List of radio stations in New York List of radio stations in Pennsylvania

Coordinates: 42°10′24″N 78°41′07″W / 42.17333°N 78.68528°W / 42.17333; -78.68528

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