ERP 6,000 watts Class A Frequency 96.3 MHz Format Country music Branding 96.3 WGOG | HAAT 92 meters Facility ID 2462 City of license Walhalla Area Oconee, Pickens, Anderson | |
First air date 1991-04-19 (as WGOG-FM at 96.3) Callsign meaning W Garden Of the Gods (town nickname) Owner Appalachian Broadcasting Co_, Inc. Slogan Golden Corners Radio Station | ||
WGOG (101.7 FM) is a commercial American radio station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to serve the tri-county area of Oconee, Pickens, and Anderson, SC. The official city of license, and studio location, is Walhalla, SC. WGOG is owned by Appalachian Broadcasting Co., Inc.
WGOG broadcasts a country music format and carries syndicated programing from Westwood One and ABC Radio News/United Stations Radio Network, and broadcasts local sports talk programming and news.
History
WGOG’s first broadcast originated April 15, 1959, from the same studios it continued to occupy, on Westminster Highway in Walhalla. WGOG originally broadcast at 1460 kHz AM. As a corporation, founded by the late Dorothy Friend and Edith Mooneyham, WGOG was the sole property of Oconee Broadcasting Incorporated. Misses Friend and Mooneyham operated Oconee Broadcasting (WGOG) for nearly 25 years, with various formats, and “mixture” formats, dependent upon the current entertainment trend. WGOG was always dedicated to broadcasting local, regional, and national news. In the 1960s, WGOG changed its frequency to 1000 kHz AM, assuming a “clear channel” status (clear channel is a radio term meaning the channel is clear of interference). During the 1970s, WGOG was known as “Clear Channel 10 Country, WGOG.”
In 1984, Misses Friend and Mooneyham sold WGOG to Luzanne Griffith, who had worked at WGOG years before as Traffic Manager and Receptionist. With the sale, Oconee Broadcasting Incorporated was re-incorporated into Appalachian Broadcasting Incorporated. Under the Direction of Ms. Griffith, WGOG moved to FM transmission on 96.3 MHz in 1991. For a time, WGOG FM operated along with WGOG AM (at 1000 kHz), which was eventually dropped.
In 2001, Ms. Griffith retired and sold WGOG to Georgia-Carolina Radiocasting, Inc of Toccoa, Georgia. The sale included a promise by the new owners that WGOG would continue to be a locally-oriented operation.
On August 19, 2009, WGOG filed to move its license to Powdersville, where it would operate on 105.5 FM. Georgia-Carolina Radiocasting Company would have used this facility to start a new radio station, WESL, to serve the Easley and Powdersville areas. WGOG's programming and call letters would have moved to the company's construction permit for 95.9 FM in Pendleton; co-owner Terry Carter told The Anderson Independent-Mail that the 95.9 transmitter location in Seneca would allow WGOG to serve an area more densely populated than that served by the station's existing transmitter near Tamassee. To comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations that required Walhalla to remain the city of license for a radio station, Georgia-Carolina proposed to move WSNW from Seneca to Walhalla; this led Cox Radio to object to the moves, as it was planning to change the city of license of WHZT from Seneca to Williamston, which would have left Seneca with no radio stations. Georgia-Carolina Radiocasting dropped its plans to move WGOG and WSNW on July 18, 2012; the application was dismissed on August 6. In 2014, Georgia-Carolina sold the 95.9 facility to Salem Communications; it signed on as WLTE in 2015.
As of 2016, WGOG's news coverage was headed by Dick Mangrum, a native of Philadelphia, PA, who joined WGOG in 1984. Gary Bryant is the station's General Manager and Kris Butts hosts the "Golden Corner's Morning Show" heard each weekday morning. Gary Butts serves as Operations Assistant.
In September 2010, former owner of WGOG Luzanne Griffith died.
In March 2015, WGOG contracted to air "The Evening Sports Page", a live, local, sports talk show hosted by longtime sports talker Ron Scarborough. The show is heard weekday evenings from 8-10 PM.
On August 5, 2015 WGOG moved from 96.3 FM to 101.7 FM.
The station plays Top 40 Country, but sets itself aside with a heavy mix of classic hits from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. In 2016, WGOG began airing ACC Rewind, archived editions of American Country Countdown with Bob Kingsley from the 1990's and early 2000's. A popular Sunday morning staple is Golden Corner Gospel, hosted by radio veteran Tom Rusk.