WGER
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| WGER | |
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| City of license | Saginaw, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | [1] |
| Branding | Magic 106.3 |
| Slogan | Tri-City's Best Variety |
| Frequency | 106.3 MHz |
| Format | Hot Adult Contemporary |
| Power | 4,400 watts |
| HAAT | 116 meters |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 20384 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Callsign meaning | Gerity Broadcasting (original owner) |
| Former callsigns | WNEM-FM (?-2/19/69) (on 102.5) |
| Owner | NextMedia Group |
| Sister stations | WCEN-FM, WSGW, WTKQ-FM, WTLZ |
| Website | http://www.magic1063.com/ |
WGER (106.3 FM, "Magic 106.3") is a radio station licensed to Saginaw, Michigan broadcasting a hot adult contemporary format.
WGER began broadcasting at 102.5 MHz under the WNEM-FM call and featured a Beautiful Music format for the first several decades of its existence. WGER's beautiful music format, programmed by TM Programming, achieved high ratings in adult demographics in both the Tri-Cities and Flint markets thanks to its 86,000-watt signal licensed to Bay City.
In 1986, WGER and WIOG swapped frequencies, with WGER moving its easy listening format to 106.3. WGER evolved from easy listening to mainstream AC on 106.3 and eventually took the name "Soft Rock 106.3" by the late 1990s before adopting the current "Magic" moniker.
By 2005, WGER had evolved from mainstream AC to its current Hot AC sound. The station added songs like "Fergalicious" by Fergie and "Girl Next Door" by Saving Jane that did not fit the AC format and introduced a "Totally 80's Weekend" while continuing to feature the Soft AC sounds of Delilah at night.
That same year, Magic 106.3 got an AC competitor when MacDonald Broadcasting changed its adult standards WSAM-AM and oldies WSAG-FM to a Soft AC simulcast called "The Bay," featuring a softer and more gold-based sound than WGER. In the summer of 2007, Delilah moved to "The Bay," and WGER became the new home of the John Tesh radio show in the Tri-Cities market. Increased competition from WSAM/WSAG and top-rated oldies/classic hits station WHNN (which has added more '80s music to its playlist), as well as listener perception that the sound of the station is inconsistent, has led to a decline in WGER's ratings over the past several years. The Fall 2007 Arbitron ratings book showed WGER in tenth place 12+ with a 3.3 share(1).
WGER was the first station in the Tri-Cities market to play continuous Christmas music for the holiday season. In 2006, however, the station announced that it would not change to all-Christmas that year because of research that showed its listeners didn't want it, which left the door open for 96.1 WHNN to change to Christmas music, with which it was very successful. In 2007, both WGER and WHNN went all-Christmas shortly after Halloween.
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