WBGI-FM
| City | Bellaire, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Wheeling, West Virginia Steubenville, Ohio |
| Branding | Biggie 100.5 |
| Frequency | 100.5 MHz |
| First air date | December 2, 1947 (as WTRF-FM) |
| Format | Country |
| ERP | 48,000 watts |
| HAAT | 152 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 3039 |
| Callsign meaning | W BiGgIe |
| Former callsigns | WTRF-FM (1947-1970s) WOMP-FM (1970s-2005) WYJK-FM (2005-2012) |
| Owner | FM Radio Licenses, LLC |
| Website | WBGI Online |
WBGI-FM (100.5 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Bellaire, Ohio, United States, it serves the Wheeling area. The station is currently owned by FM Radio Licenses, LLC.
This station began as WTRF AM & FM at a time when many applicants for new AM radio stations were also issued FM licenses (ergo, WTRF's original call-sign meaning, "Two Radio Frequencies"). Thus, both stations went on the air at around the same time, but in FM's halcyon years, no profit would be realized until years later. The FM simulcast its AM sister station for many years, primarily using the FM station as a vehicle for providing local radio service after the AM was mandated to shut down after sunset.
These stations operated for many years as co-owned affiliates of local television station WTRF-TV, the CBS affiliate for the Wheeling and Steubenville television market. Though the radio stations went on the air first, they prospered under this relationship with the television station. The radio stations were sold off to new owners in the late 1970s.
At around this time, programming was separated between the two stations, with WOMP-FM (the station's branding was a phonetic sound of the call letters) taking on a more Top 40 role, becoming a neck-and-neck competitor with like-formatted then-competitor WKWK in Wheeling and WRKY "Rocky 103" in Steubenville soon after WKWK changed its format.
WOMP-AM/FM had fallen into financial difficulty at around 1990, forcing the station into receivership in 1992. The station's studios and offices were consumed in a fire later that year, forcing the station to broadcast from a trailer near its transmitter site after a brief period off the air. The station was then acquired by its current owner as part of a duopoly transaction with WRKY and its AM sister station WSTV. WOMP-FM simulcast WRKY outside of morning drive, but resumed full independent programming after studio issues were resolved.
In the fall of 2005, both WOMP-AM/FM underwent format changes. WOMP (AM) and its simulcast sister, WSTV began an affiliation with the ESPN Radio network after years as a talk station. WOMP-FM's longtime legendary call letters were switched to WYJK, and the station adopted its present format.
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Wikipedia