WMGA

Last updated

WMGA
97.9 The River logo.png
Broadcast area
Frequency 97.9 MHz
Branding97.9 The River
Programming
Format
Affiliations Westwood One
Ownership
OwnerFifth Avenue Broadcasting Company, Inc. (dba Kindred Communications)
WXBW, WDGG, WRVC, WCMI, WCMI-FM
History
First air date
 2006
Call sign meaning
"Magic" (previous format)
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 164110
Class A
ERP 3,500 watts
HAAT 133 meters
Transmitter coordinates
 38°25′26.0″N82°32′8.0″W / 38.423889°N 82.535556°W / 38.423889; -82.535556
Links
Public license information
Webcast Listen Live
Website 979theriver.com

WMGA (97.9 FM, "The River") is a classic hits and oldies formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Kenova, West Virginia, serving Huntington, West Virginia, Ironton, Ohio, and Ashland, Kentucky. WMGA is licensed to Fifth Avenue Broadcasting Company, Inc.

Contents

History

On July 26, 2012, WMGA changed its format from soft AC (as "Magic 97.9") to hot AC, branded as "Hits 97.9". [2] In May 2017, WMGA changed its format to 1980s music, retaining the "Hits" branding. [3] On February 26, 2018, WMGA changed its format from 1980s hits to adult contemporary, branded as "97.9 The River". [4]

On October 19, 2023, 97.9 the River was the very first radio station in the United States to flip to all Christmas music for the 2023 holiday season. No media outlets had noticed WMGA's change until October 31, when WMXL in Lexington, Kentucky, was thought to have been the first for that year [5] (which would have been, in reversal of the Christmas creep trend, the latest such first overall flip in over a decade); Radio Insight, which tracks such format flips, later added an addendum to that report that "we have been told" WMGA had been doing so since October 19. [6] Inside Radio, which also identified WMXL as first, stated that WMGA had "slipp(ed) under the radar." [7]

Following the Christmas music stint, on December 26, 2023, the station, still under the "River" branding, shifted to an oldies format focused primarily on 1960s and 1970s music. The format shift was deemed a "very personal" project for Kindred president/CEO Mike Kirtner, who had grown up in the Huntington area and claimed said music was deemed a "forgotten generation" by most radio outlets in the area. [8]

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References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WMGA". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ Hits Hit Huntington Radioinsight - July 26, 2012
  3. ↑ Venta, Lance (May 9, 2017). "Hits 97.9 Huntington Goes To The 80s". RadioInsight. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  4. ↑ WMGA Goes From 80s to AC Radioinsight - February 26, 2018
  5. ↑ "Merry Halloween: The Christmas Flips Have Begun". Insideradio.com. October 31, 2023. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
  6. ↑ Venta, Lance (October 31, 2023). "No trick: WMXL becomes first all-Christmas station of 2023" . Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  7. ↑ "November Blizzard: Christmas Flips Are Busting Out All Over The Dial". Insideradio.com. November 1, 2023. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
  8. ↑ 97.9 The River Shifts to Oldies
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