WMGF

WMGF
City Mount Dora, Florida
Broadcast area Central Florida
Branding Magic 107.7
Slogan More Variety from the 80s to Now
Frequency 107.7 MHz (also on HD Radio)
107.7 HD-2 for "WLOQ" ("Orlando's Smooth Jazz")
First air date 1967 (as WORJ)
1990 (as WMGF)
Format Adult Contemporary
ERP 98,000 watts
HAAT 484 meters
Class C
Facility ID 51981
Callsign meaning W MaGic Florida
Former callsigns WORJ (1967-1981)
WJYO (1981-1990)
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
(Clear Channel Broadcasting Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stations WFLF, WJRR, WRUM, WTKS-FM, WXXL, WYGM
Webcast WMGF Webstream
WMGF-HD2 Webstream
Website magic107.com
wloqradio.com (HD2)

WMGF (107.7 FM, "Magic 107.7") is an adult contemporary radio station serving the Orlando, Florida market. Licensed to Mount Dora, it is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., and operates out of iHeartMedia, Inc.'s Orlando offices in Maitland. It is broadcast at the FM frequency of 107.7 MHz, with a power of 98,000 watts effective radiated power from a transmitter in Orange City, Florida. As of June 2007, WMGF is broadcasting in HD Radio.

The station is best known for playing Christmas holiday music from Thanksgiving Day through Christmas Day.

History

The frequency used to be occupied in Orlando from 1967 to 1981 by WORJ (an album rock station known in the late 1970s as "Zeta 7") and then from 1981 to 1990 by WJYO-FM "Joy 108", which was also a Soft AC station. WMGF was established in 1990. WJYO is now operated as a Christian rock station in Fort Myers, Florida at the 91.5 FM frequency.

Former logo of the radio station used from September 2001 through March 2005
Former logo of the radio station used from April 2005

On January 25, 2008, it was announced that WMGF-FM is one of several Clear Channel radio stations to be sold, in order to remain under the ownership caps following the sale of Clear Channel to private investors. Until it is sold, WMGF-FM and other stations to be sold will be placed into the Aloha Stations Trust.

Former logo of the radio station used from 2009 to July 2014

WMGF was, for a time, an affiliate of the Delilah After Dark and John Tesh Radio Show. Both were dropped in Fall 2010. As such, the station adopted Clear Channel's Premium Choice and synced the station's playlist with it 24/7 which made the station sounded like it's leaning towards the Adult Top 40 direction by the beginning of 2011. Around Fall 2011, the station had their playlist return to local programming completely. From there, the station leans more towards the Soft AC direction with heavier emphasis on the softer 70s, 80s, and 90s artists like Billy Joel, Elton John, Rod Stewart, James Taylor, Eagles, Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, Loggins and Messina, Air Supply, Kenny Loggins, Benny Mardones, Benjamin Orr, Whitney Houston, Taylor Dayne, Celine Dion, and Amy Grant, along with the upbeat 80s and 90s artists like Shannon, Haddaway, and Ricky Martin and all the recurrents and currents by artists like Train, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, Adele, Bruno Mars, Carly Rae Jepsen, Gotye, Nickelback, and Daughtry that they continue to play which had the station borderline between Mainstream AC and Soft AC at the time. The station is still mostly voice-tracked. By March 2012, the station was placed on the Mediabase add board. When Clear Channel had another round of lay-offs through their stations in Fall 2012, the station's Programming Director was let go, therefore the station morphed back into a Mainstream AC under a new PD in which it had the station emphasize less on softer 70s, 80s, and 90s music by Spring 2013. By July 2014, the station changed their slogan to "More Variety from the 80s to Now". Along with that, the station eliminated 70s music completely and shifted their music to 80s, 90s, 2000s, and today only, which is what most adult contemporary radio stations are doing now.

Although not a Christian music station itself, WJYO produced a program on Sunday mornings called "Glory of Joy", which aired contemporary Christian music. WMGF retained the program after its re-branding. Another weekend staple on WMGF is American Top 40: The 80s (distributed by Clear Channel corporate sibling Premiere Radio Networks).

Smooth Jazz 102.5 and HD-2

Main article: WLOQ
102.5 WLOQ logo used for WMGF-HD2 and W273CA.

WMGF is licensed for HD Radio operations and airs Broadcast Architecture's Smooth Jazz network programming on its HD-2 side channel. In August 2011, the side channel began simulcasting on an FM translator leased by Clear Channel, 102.5 W273CA, as "102.5 WLOQ," restoring the smooth jazz format to analog radio listeners in the immediate Orlando area several weeks after the original WLOQ-FM dropped the format in favor of Spanish language as WHKQ. W273CA's area of strongest coverage includes Orlando's western suburbs, specifically the communities of Winter Garden, Pine Hills, Ocoee, and Clermont. The simulcast on 102.5 FM ended on February 12, 2014, when W273CA flipped to a simulcast of WFLF, which moved from another translator, W283AN (104.5 FM), which flipped to urban as a result of long-time urban station WJHM flipping to Top 40 the day before.

External links

Coordinates: 28°55′12″N 81°19′08″W / 28.920°N 81.319°W / 28.920; -81.319

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