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WXGM (AM)

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WXGM
Broadcast areaGloucester, Virginia
Gloucester County, Virginia
Frequency1420 kHz
Branding1420 and 102.3 WXGM
Programming
FormatOldies
AffiliationsAccuWeather
Good Time Oldies (Jones Radio Networks)
Virginia News Network
Westwood One News
Ownership
OwnerWXGM, Inc.
WXGM-FM
History
First air date
1957 (as WDDY)
Former call signs
WRIP (1956, CP)
WDDY (1956–1988)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID74208
ClassD
Power740 watts daytime
58 watts nighttime
Transmitter coordinates
37°24′36.0″N 76°32′52.0″W / 37.410000°N 76.547778°W / 37.410000; -76.547778[2]
Translator(s)102.3 W272EJ (Gloucester)
Links
Public license information
WebcastWXGM Webstream
Websitextra99.com

WXGM is an oldies-formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Gloucester, Virginia, serving Gloucester and Gloucester County, Virginia. WXGM is owned and operated by WXGM, Inc.[2]

History

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WDDY

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WDDY went on the air on January 20, 1957, becoming the first radio station in the Middle Peninsula.[3] The station was owned by S. L. Goodman, the owner of a publishing firm in Richmond,[4] though the station was almost immediately sold to WDDY, Inc.—owned by station manager Charles E. Springer—upon signing on the air. It broadcast during the daytime only with 1,000 watts.[4] In 1958, Arthur Lazarow, a former announcer at WWJ radio in Detroit, acquired WDDY in 1958 by way of his company Cape Radio; minority investors in Cape included John R. Daniels and Arthur Shimmin.[5] The station's full-service format included 12 hours a week each of African American and country programming in 1967.[6]

Lazarow owned WDDY for 23 years until he sold it in 1981 for $90,000[7] to a new WDDY, Inc., owned by William Eure and Thomas Robinson of Petersburg, where they owned WSSV AM and WPLZ-FM.[8] Despite not planning many changes at the outset,[8] changes did come to WDDY: that summer, it relaunched with a country format and picked up coverage of Virginia Cavaliers football and the Washington Redskins.[9] Eure and Robinson laid the groundwork for another change in the 80s by announcing their intention in 1984 to apply for an FM frequency.[10] Eure's stake was subsequently purchased by a new corporation, WXGM, Inc., founded by Robinson and Walter Wurfel, an experienced radio executive who was then vice president of communications for the National Association of Broadcasters. [11]

WXGM

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Comprehensive changes came to 1420 AM on September 1, 1988[12] when the station was relaunched as WXGM with an oldies format.[13] The overhaul also included $40,000 in equipment upgrades.[12] Even more changes came on July 29, 1991, when WXGM-FM 99.1 launched; the FM and AM stations initially simulcast as adult contemporary "Xtra 99.1 FM".[14] That same year, the AM station reduced its daytime power to 740 watts.[15] Its sports coverage gained a regional appeal the next year when the station began what would be a 9-year relationship with the William & Mary Tribe; WXGM ended the deal abruptly in 2001 when it signed a more favorable deal to carry the athletic events of Christopher Newport University, in which CNU paid the station and offered to help sell advertising.[16]

After Wurfel died in 2018 and Robinson died in 2020, ownership of the station passed to their widows, Sara Fitzgerald and Marva Paige Robinson.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WXGM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ a b "WXGM Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. ^ "Mid-Peninsula's 1st Radio Station Begins Operation". Daily Press. January 21, 1957. p. 8. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  4. ^ a b FCC History Cards for WXGM
  5. ^ "Firm Headed By Detroit Man Buys Radio Station". Daily Press. May 10, 1958. p. 14. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  6. ^ "WDDY" (PDF). 1967 Broadcasting Yearbook. 1967. p. B-170. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  7. ^ "Ownership Changes" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 22, 1981. p. 74. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Petersburg Men Buy Station WDDY". Daily Press. January 28, 1981. p. 16. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  9. ^ "New Format Introduced For WDDY". Daily Press. August 16, 1981. p. E5. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  10. ^ "WDDY-AM seeks FM". Daily Press. March 30, 1984. p. 24. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  11. ^ "Radio World".
  12. ^ a b "A new direction". Daily Press. September 1, 1988. p. B1. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  13. ^ Warden, Billy (August 26, 1988). "Changes in store for WDDY". Daily Press. p. 13.
  14. ^ Pryweller, Joseph (August 3, 1991). "Taxing reality to hit NN cable subscribers". Daily Press. pp. D1, D4. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  15. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 2, 1991. p. 42. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  16. ^ Fairbank, Dave (January 29, 2002). "W&M finding going to the air is costly". Daily Press. p. B1. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
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