WMGK

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102.9 WMGK FM
City of license	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area	Greater Philadelphia (Delaware Valley)
First air date	licensed 1945
Frequency	102.9 MHz 102.9 HD-2 for Classic Deep Cuts
Format	Classic Rock
Owner	Greater Media

WMGK, known as "Classic Rock 102.9 MGK" or "Philadelphia's Classic Rock: 102.9 MGK", is a Classic Rock radio station which is broadcasted in the Philadelphia area. The station features popular Philadelphia radio personality John Debella and former Howard Stern Show censor Andre Gardner. WMGK is owned by Greater Media. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.

Contents 1 History 2 On-air schedule 2.1 Weekdays 2.2 Weekends 2.3 Specialty programming 3 External links

[edit] History

WMGK was known as WPEN-FM prior to 1975. First assigned a license in September 1945 on the newly-moved FM band at 95.9 and later 99.5, WPEN-FM was one of the first two FM stations to be licensed for SCA (subcarrier) service in 1955. Their co-owned AM station has been WPEN since 1929.

At various times in the 1960s WPEN-FM either broadcast instrumental background music, was simulcast with WPEN, or played music similar to WPEN's middle-of-the-road format. By about 1972 WPEN-FM was simulcasting WPEN 50% of the time (the maximum allowed by FCC regulations in those years) and playing adult contemporary music without disc jockeys during non-simulcast hours. When Greater Media acquired the stations in 1975 the FM simulcast the AM's newly launched oldies format for almost six months while plans were made for stand-alone programming on FM.

On September 2, 1975 WPEN-FM changed its call letters to WMGK and adopted a soft adult contemporary format called "Magic Music". The first song aired under the new call sign was "Could It Be Magic" by Barry Manilow. The music was a blend of current adult contemporary songs with album cuts from singer-songwriters of the '60s and early '70s, presented in four-song blocks with minimal talk. The format was successful for a time, then lost listeners to WUSL ("US1"), which had implemented a somewhat similar format with a shorter playlist of more familiar songs. Eventually WMGK replied with an even tighter playlist and rebounded past WUSL in the ratings.

By the early 1980s WMGK had an Adult Contemporary format with a "Soft Rock" positioning. They were known as "Magic 103". They played artists like Billy Joel, The Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Eagles, Four Tops, Elton John, James Taylor, etc. They also played softer songs by artists known for harder rock (example Waiting For a Girl Like You/Foreigner from January, 1982) As the 80's approached artists like Hall & Oates, Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie, George Michael, Chicago, and others were added. "Magic 103" was one of the pioneering stations in the Adult Contemporary format, and the concept was subsequently applied to stations in other markets (i.e. Greater Media-owned sister WMJC 94.7 "Magic 95" in Detroit, now WCSX).

In the 1980s Magic 103 WMGK leaned soft but played several uptempo songs an hour. They also continued to play plenty of current product. They were a Straight but slightly downtempo AC station.

They continued this approach in the 1990s. Over the years their competition was WSNI Sunny 104. Easy 101 became Soft AC in 1989 and by 1993 they were more of an AC format. WEAZ 101.1 (soon WBEB) dominated in the ratings. In the Summer of 1994 with the feeling that Philadelphia cound no longer support 3 AC stations Greater Media opted to drop AC for an All 70's format.

In the Summer of 1994 WMGK played All 70's all the time and all types of 70's music ranging from Classic Rock to Disco to Easy Listening to Pop/Rock to R & B. By 1995 the station added a few big 60's and 80's hits that were mostly of the Classic Rock leaning Pop type. They also moved away from Disco and Easy Listening. By the Fall of 1995 WMGK was more of a Classic Hits station. They had dropped the Magic name as well. They played mostly Classic Rock with some rock friendly Pop hits thrown in but not much of the harder stuff.

In 1997 Greater Media would acquire WMMR and 95.7 FM. At that point WMGK continued to position themselves as a Classic Hits station. A couple years ago they began to call themselves Classic Rock and eliminated the non rock pop hits. Still with Rocker WMMR in the cluster WMGK leans softer than most classic rock stations.

On Friday, November 17 2006, at 6 p.m. EST, the former WTHK (97.5 FM) became "The New Smooth Jazz 97.5 WJJZ", an allusion to the fact that WJJZ was once a popular smooth jazz station broadcasting on 106.1. This made WMGK the Philadelphia region's only classic rock station. The 106.1 frequency is now occupied by the Rhythmic AC-formatted WISX ("Philly's 106.1"). WJJZ is now owned by Greater Media, thus making it a sister station to WMGK.

[edit] On-air schedule

All times are EST.

[edit] Weekdays

• 5:30AM to 9AM - The John Debella Show
• 9AM to 2PM - Debbi Calton
• 2PM to 7PM - Andre Gardner
• 7PM to 10PM - Ray Koob
• 10PM to 1AM - Alice Cooper
• 1AM to 5:30AM - Rich Russo/ Jeff St. Pierre

[edit] Weekends

• Various Shifts - Michael Tearson
• Various Shifts - Tony Harris
• Various Shifts - T Morgan
• Various Shifts - Jim Kinney
• Various Shifts - Kathy Wagner
• Various Shifts - Bubba John
• Various Shifts - Cyndy Drue

[edit] Specialty programming

• Weekdays circa 7:05AM to 7:20AM - Breakfast with The Beatles.
• Weekdays 12PM to 1pm - Noontime Nuggets
• Weekdays 3PM - 3 Fer 3
• Weekdays 4PM - Beatle Breaks
• Weekdays 5PM - Attitude Adjustment
• Weeknights 7PM-Get The Led Out(Block of Led Zeppelin)
• Weeknights 9PM - Jones For The Stones
• Daily - 40 Minute Classic Rock Blocks
• Daily - Classic B-Sides
• Daily - College of Classic Rock Knowledge
• Sunday 9AM to 11AM - Breakfast with The Beatles
• Sunday 10PM to 12AM - Little Steven's Underground Garage
• Saturday 6AM to 8AM - Saturday Morning '60s

[edit] External links

• WMGK Website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WMGK