City Kingsport, Tennessee Branding WGOC AM 1320 First air date 1951 | Broadcast area Tri-Cities, Tennessee Frequency 1320 kHz | |
Slogan Tri-Cities Business Radio | ||
WGOC is an AM radio station broadcasting in Kingsport, Tennessee, under a Business Radio format. It broadcasts on AM frequency 1320 kHz and is under ownership of Cumulus Media.
History
The station signed on the air in 1951 under the call letters WKIN and was soon owned by Cy Bahakel. The station was originally daytime-only and, over the years, increased its power to 5,000 watts.
In the 1960s and 1970s the station was a popular Top 40 outlet with a personality-DJ format. Some key names over the years included:
Nighttime service was added in 1981 with a new 4-tower directional array at the intersection of East Stone Drive and New Beason Well Road in Kingsport, and a nighttime power of 500 watts. The 5-kW daytime operation was consolidated to this site as well in about 1990.
In 1982 WKIN changed to a country format under the branding "A Great Brand Of Country." Variations of country and classic country would continue over the next couple of decades.
The WGOC call letters were on 640 AM from April 9, 1993 until Feb. 26, 2007, when the call letters were moved to what had been WKIN, a news/talk and sports station.
Citadel Broadcasting, which had owned WJCW and WQUT since 1977, bought WGOC and WKIN in 2000. Prior to its current programming, WGOC was broadcasting a Classic Country/Bluegrass/Gospel format. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.