Translator(s) W250AC 97.9 Athens HAAT 99 meters Callsign meaning University of GeorgiA City of license Athens Call sign meaning University of GeorgiA | ERP 6,000 watts Class A Frequency 91.7 FM Format Public broadcasting First air date August 28, 1987 | |
Broadcast area Northeast Georgia
(Atlanta market) Owner Georgia Public Broadcasting Area Northeast Georgia(Atlanta market) | ||
WUGA (91.7 FM) is the Georgia Public Broadcasting public radio station serving Athens and much of the northeast part of Georgia. It is a member of Georgia Public Broadcasting's radio network, but is operated by the University of Georgia, with studios located at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education on the UGA campus. The transmitter is located east-southeast of Athens.
The station's programming consists of classical music, news and public affairs, jazz, drama, comedy and folk music from GPB Radio, as well as locally produced content.
Since 1993, the station has operated a low-powered translator, W250AC at 97.9. This "fill-in" transmitter was added to improve reception in the downtown Athens area, which can be poor due to terrain shielding and the main transmitter's relatively modest power (6,000 watts). The University of Georgia also owns a student-operated college radio station WUOG (90.5), which broadcasts and transmits from another location on campus.
On March 1, 2010, UGA announced budget cuts that, if approved, would have resulted in the closure of WUGA, or at least the end of locally produced programming on the station, as in all likelihood it would have defaulted to GPB management and become a full-time relay of the GPB network. However, as of January 20, 2011, WUGA remains operated by UGA, and during the early 2010s its operations were consolidated with WUGA-TV, a television station UGA owned at the time.
Supposed translators
There are two other supposed translators which are listed in the FCC database as relays of the station. [1] However, these are licensed to Radio Assist Ministry, a company not associated with GPB or UGA. They are not listed by GPB, or given a station ID on the air, making them highly questionable. It appears that RAM may be committing an abuse of process by listing non-commercial educational (NCE) radio stations as the source for its translators in order to avoid broadcast license fees, then selling them for a profit.
There was a third such translator, W300BF 107.9 MHz in Commerce, Georgia, which, under RAM, repeated WUGA; that repeater was sold to Athens Christian Radio, Inc. in 2007, and was said by FCC records to have switched its programming source to WMJE in Clarkesville.