WBGI
| City | Connellsville, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Connellsville, Pennsylvania / Pittsburgh |
| Branding | The Pickle |
| Frequency | 1340 kHz |
| First air date | 1947 (as WCVI) |
| Format | Classic Hits (simulcast with WPKL) |
| Power | 1,000 watts (unlimited) |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 39859 |
| Former callsigns | WCVI (1947-1999) DWCVI (1999) WCVI (1999-2001) WPNT (2001-2005) WYJK (2005-2011) |
| Owner | Keymarket Communications, Inc. |
| Website | picklefm.com |
WBGI was a commercially licensed AM radio station, formerly licensed to operate at the federally assigned frequency of 1340 kHz, with a maximum power output of 1,000 watts. WBGI was licensed to Connellsville, Pennsylvania, approximately 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
First coming on the air back in 1947, WCVI was a typical radio station of its time, boasting a middle-of-the-road music format with local talk and sports broadcasts, serving Western Pennsylvania's fabled "Fay-West" area (southern Westermoreland and northern Fayette Counties. Over the years, WCVI became one of the top stations in Western Pennsylvania, and best known for fostering the careers of local sportscaster legends Kevin Harrison and Jack Benedict.
WCVI was first owned by Connellsville Broadcasters, Inc., a company headed by J. Wylie Driscoll, who served as President, General Manager, and Commercial Manager. The station broadcast from studios and offices at 126 West Crawford Avenue, and operated with a daytime power output of 1,000 watts, and at 250 watts at night.
On June 28, 1951, the owner principals of WCVI changed, though the name of the licensee remained the same, with a local physician, Dr. Cam T. "Doc" Troilo assuming control of the station from Raymond Galiardi by 1955. By that time, the station briefly relocated to the Hetzel Building, and then finally up the street from its original location to an 18th-century historic building at 133 East Crawford Avenue in Connellsville, where it would operate from for the rest of the 20th century.
In 1985, Troilo sold the station to Mar Com Broadcasting, owned by Marlene Hesler of Monroeville. Two years later, an FM sister station joined WCVI into the fold. WPQR (now WPKL), a station licensed to Uniontown, had been acquired that year by Pittsburgh attorney Geoffrey P. Kelly, doing business as Kel Com Broadcasting. Though the licenses of the two stations were separately owned, both Heshler and Kelly were able to make a partnership work, doing business as Mar Kel Partners, Limited, reducing expenses through shared employee functions. After Kelly acquired WPQR, he moved the on-air operations of his station to the WCVI building, but maintained a satellite sales office in downtown Uniontown.
...
Wikipedia