WGRF

WGRF is a radio station in Buffalo, New York, USA. The station's on air branding is "97 Rock". The station mostly plays Classic rock from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Since 2006, the station has also aired numerous rock-leaning oldies, such as songs from The Beatles, that were displaced by the format change at sister station WHTT. WGRF broadcasts at 96.9 MHz.

The WGRF morning show consists of Larry Norton, Rob Lederman, Chris Klein and their Producer Russ. Other local disc jockeys include John "J.P." Piccollo, Carl Russo, John Hager, Slick Tom Tiberi, Anita West, Jeff Gordon, Cindy Chan, Megan Davis, Jim McGee, and Rick Walters. WGRF's significant local presence and history in the area has made the station nearly as much of the Buffalo culture as chicken wings.

WGRF is owned by Cumulus Media. Previous owners included the Taft Television and Radio Company, Rich Communications, Mercury Radio Communications (who separated the longtime combination with WGR in 1995 when it bought WGRF from Rich Communications, who in turn retained WGR until selling it to the Sinclair Broadcast Group two years later), and Citadel Broadcasting (which merged with Cumulus on September 14, 2011^[1]). Its transmitter is located in Buffalo.

WGRF streamed its programming on the Internet up until 2002, when it became economically unfeasible for some stations to continue their streams given changes in licensing and royalty agreements. In March 2006, Citadel launched an initiative that provided for the streaming of many of Citadel's stations. WGRF was one of them, and was among the first commercial stations in Buffalo to resume streaming after the earlier changes.

Other programming

• The Deep End with Nick Michaels
• Flashback with Bill St. James
• Breakfast with the Beatles, a local version
• Little Steven's Underground Garage
• Nights with Alice Cooper (Saturday nights only)
• The Grateful Dead Hour

WGRF is one of many stations that carries Arlo Guthrie's 1967 diatribe Alice's Restaurant every Thanksgiving. WGRF was also affiliated with The Source and occasionally still uses taped announcements from the network, which were voiced by Don Pardo.

History

WGRF started as the FM sister station to WGR, under the call sign WGRQ. It signed on in 1973 (relatively late compared to most of the other FM stations in Western New York) with a top 40 format known as "Super Q," which was rare at the time for an FM station. In 1975, the station began its best-known run as an album-oriented rock station, rebranding as Q-FM-97. On January 5, 1985, however, WGRQ dumped its rock format and shifted to adult contemporary music as "Lite" WRLT, firing the entire WGRQ airstaff as well. The loss of rock music in Buffalo led to stations WHTT adopting the format in 1987, as well as the brief success of distant station WBYR in 1986. In 1988, however, WRLT change back to rock, this time to classic rock, and rehired much of the airstaff under the name "97 Rock." (By the end of the year, WHTT would change to oldies; WBYR to beautiful music.) The station has remained mostly unchanged ever since.

From 1999 to 2011, WGRF was the flagship station of the Buffalo Bills Radio Network.

References

External links

• Official WGRF website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WGRF
• Radio-Locator information on WGRF
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WGRF
• 1970s Photos of 97 Rock jocks from Steve Cichon's staffannouncer.com