WGDJ
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| City | Rensselaer, New York |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Capital District |
| Branding | Talk 1300 |
| Slogan | The Capital District's Talk Radio |
| Frequency | 1300 kHz |
| Translator(s) | W287AB (98.7, Albany) |
| First air date | 1963 |
| Format | News/Talk |
| Power | 10,000 watts day 8,000 watts night |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | Some believe W Gerald D Jennings (mayor of Albany, New York); however, in reality, it is the initials of some of the investors in the station. |
| Former callsigns |
WEEE (1963-72) WQBK (1972-97) WTMM (1997-2007) WEEV (2007) WTMM (2007-08) |
| Owner | Capital Broadcasting, Inc. |
| Website | www.talk1300.com |
WGDJ (Talk 1300) is an AM radio station broadcasting on 1300 kHz licensed to Rensselaer, New York. The station is owned and operated by Capital Broadcasting, Inc., which bought the station from Regent Communications and runs a talk radio format.
WGDJ started out in 1963 as WEEE, a 5,000-watt daytime-only radio station. The 1300 kHz frequency allocation was created for another station that was forced off the air a year earlier (1280 WRSA Saratoga Springs). The station played country music, but always had trouble competing against more powerful and popular WOKO, the leading country music station in the market. In 1970, the station changed hands and adopted the WQBK calls, initially doing an MOR format that eventually evolved to full-time talk, by the late 1970s. In 1981, WQBK became a full-time station with 5,000 watts of nighttime power and also became the New York Yankees radio affiliate for the market.
With the exception of upstart WWCN from 1985-1987 (now WOPG), WQBK was the only full-time talk radio station in the Albany area until WPTR and WGY moved to that format in 1994 and was the first Albany stop for a young Tom Leykis early in his career before he left for Miami's WNWS. Locally, market veterans Paul Vandenburgh (later of WROW, and future minority owner of the station as WGDJ) and Tom Mailey (who went on to WRGB) began their careers at the station. The talk format did well even against the larger signaled WPTR and the evolution of WGY to talk; however, the sale of WQBK AM/FM to Radio Enterprises, Inc. in 1996 led to drastic changes. At literally a moment's notice, all local programming was canceled, most of the staff fired, and sports contracts were terminated (including the Yankees, mere hours before first pitch of opening day).
In 1997, Radio Enterprises was purchased by Clear Channel Communications (which had owned a minority share) and, noticing a steady performance by sports radio pioneer WFAN in New York City in the Albany ratings, decided to flip WQBK to become the first sports radio station in the market. The station took the WTMM calls with the flip and began to sign on a variety of time buy play-by-play rights . For the first year of its new format, WTMM's programming came from One-on-One Sports with the switch of programming to ESPN Radio coming in early 1998. With the station's launch came the addition of play-by-play of the Buffalo Bills, Albany Firebirds, College of Saint Rose athletics, and Union College men's hockey. The station's biggest acquisition came in 2000 when the station began to broadcast New York Yankees games, a fixture on the station during its time as WQBK. Later that year, Regent Communications purchased the station after Clear Channel divested several stations in the market and decided to launch their own sports talk station (WOFX). Under Regent's ownership, WTMM had most of its non-ESPN programming eliminated including the "Times Union Sports Minute" and all locally based play-by play and lost its own sales staff, leading to commercial breaks being filled with public service announcements and ads sold on group deals. Some exceptions came when WTMM and sister station WABT aired games of the Albany Conquest in 2004 and when the AHL's Albany River Rats began airing their games on WTMM in 2006.
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