WAGG
| City | Birmingham, Alabama |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Birmingham |
| Branding | WAGG 610 AM and 100.1 FM |
| Slogan | Birmingham's Best Gospel |
| Frequency | 610 kHz |
| Translator(s) | 100.1 W261BX (Birmingham) |
| Repeater(s) | 95.7-3 WBHJ-HD3 |
| First air date | 1926 (as WKBC at 1310) |
| Format | Urban Gospel |
| Power | 5,000 watts (day) 1,000 watts (night) |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 48717 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 33°29′40″N 86°52′30″W / 33.49444°N 86.87500°W |
| Callsign meaning | "Alabama’s Gospel Giant" or A.G. Gaston (former owner) |
| Former callsigns | WKBC (1926-32) WSGN (1932-85) WZZK (1985-98) WEZN (1998-99) |
| Former frequencies | 1310 kHz (1926-1941) |
| Owner | Summit Media LLC (SM-WAGG, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WBHJ, WBHK, WBPT, WENN, WPYA, WZZK, W297BF |
| Webcast | http://player.listenlive.co/45951 |
| Website | 610wagg.com |
WAGG (610 AM) is a radio station licensed to Birmingham, Alabama. It broadcasts at a daytime power 5,000 watts, and at nighttime, it broadcasts at 1,000 watts from a transmitter in the city's westside. WAGG is a gospel music station that targets Birmingham's African-American population. It is owned by Summit Media, which also owns six other stations in the market, and all share studios in the Cahaba neighborhood in far southeast Birmingham. The station was assigned the WAGG call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on January 15, 1999.
Some generations ago, the 610 AM frequency was home to Birmingham’s third oldest radio station. That station began in 1926 as WKBC, broadcasting at 1310 AM. The original owner of the station was a local furniture company. In 1932, the station was sold to The Birmingham News, and the callsign was changed to WSGN. That callsign stood for "South’s Greatest Newspaper," an obvious tribute to The Chicago Tribune’s WGN, whose callsign stands for "World’s Greatest Newspaper."
Throughout the 1940s, WSGN was an affiliate of the NBC Blue Network, the forerunner of the current ABC Network. Late in 1955, WSGN became the first station in Birmingham to adopt a Top 40 format. In the early days it did battle with WYDE-AM 850 and WVOK-AM 690 to lead the pack in the current hits category.
Many legendary personalities worked at WSGN over the years. Perhaps the most famous alumnus of WSGN was Rick Dees, who hosted morning drive-time from 1973-1974.
The dominance of WSGN was challenged when in 1972 when longtime middle of the road station WBRC (the former sister television station has kept the same callsign to this present day) was sold. Its callsign was changed to WERC, and for the first time since 1965, WSGN had a serious Top 40 challenger in the market. For much of the mid-1970s, the battle between “The Big 610, WSGN” and “96-ERC” gave Birmingham and central Alabama listeners two strong choices for Top 40 music.
...
Wikipedia