WGIN

WGIN (930 AM) is a radio station in Rochester, New Hampshire with a Sports radio from ESPN Radio simulcasting WMYF. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications.

History

WGIN signed on in 1947^[1] as WWNH, owned by Strafford Broadcasting Corporation.^[2][3] Initially a 1,000 watt daytimer^[2][3][4], the station boosted power to 5,000 watts in 1954^[5] and added night service, with the same power, in 1967.^[6][7] WWNH was an easy listening station by 1971^[8]; that year, the station began an affiliation with CBS Radio.^[9] It became a contemporary station in 1974.^[10] An FM sister station, WWNH-FM (96.7 FM; now WQSO) was added October 21, 1979.^[1]

Strafford Broadcasting Corporation sold WWNH to Salmanson Communications Partners in 1987^[11]; by then, the station had a country music format.^[12][13] Salmanson later changed the call letters to WKOS^[14] (matching the WKOS-FM call letters adopted by 96.7 in 1987^[12]) and the format to adult standards, via the AM Only service from Transtar Radio Networks (now America's Best Music from Dial Global).^[15] (The WWNH call letters are now assigned to 1340 AM in Madbury.) Another sale, this time to Bear Broadcasting Company, followed in 1990^[16]; Bear again changed the station's call letters and format, this time to WZNN and all-news, largely via a simulcast of CNN Headline News.^{[15][17][18][19]} In 1994, WZNN was again sold, this time to Precision Media^[20], owner of WMYF (1540 AM, now WXEX) and WERZ (107.1 FM)^[19]; Precision reverted the station to standards in 1995, a format it also ran on WMYF.^[21] However, although WZNN and WMYF simulcast a local morning show, the station could not air the Stardust programming WMYF aired the remainder of the day, as WZNN's signal overlapped with that network's Lakes Region affiliate, WASR; as a result, the station rejoined AM Only.^[22]

Precision Media sold its stations in the market to American Radio Systems in 1997.^[23] ARS soon applied to transition WZNN to an expanded band allocation on 1700 kHz^[24], with proposed call letters WAYU.^[25] It then sold WZNN and WAYU, along with its other Seacoast properties, to Capstar Broadcasting in the midst of a merger with CBS Radio.^[26] Capstar converted WZNN and WMYF to the WGIR simulcast (an arrangement billed on-air as the "Action News Network"^[27]) that September, with 930 taking its current WGIN callsign soon afterward.^[28][29] (The standards format would later be revived, under the WMYF callsign, on 1380 AM.) Along with the WGIR simulcast came an affiliation with NBC Radio^[27], which was subsequently phased out by Westwood One in favor of CNN Radio. A few months later, Capstar merged with fellow Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst subsidiary Chancellor Media to form AMFM Broadcasting^[30], which itself announced a merger with Clear Channel Communications several months afterward.^[31] In the meantime, plans for WAYU were abandoned, and its construction permit was canceled on December 22, 2000.^[32] The station picked up Fox News Radio in the mid-2000s after Clear Channel signed a larger agreement with the service.^[33]

Programming

As a WGIR simulcast, WGIN carries a WGIR-produced morning show hosted by former WMUR-TV sports director Charlie Sherman. Most other weekday programming consists of syndicated programming, including The Glenn Beck Program, The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Sean Hannity Show, The Savage Nation, The Alan Colmes Show, and Coast to Coast AM. Weekend programming consisted of lifestyle and business programming (including The Kim Komando Show and Paul Parent Garden Club), as well as best-of editions of weekday programming and the weekend editions of Coast to Coast AM.

Much of the programming heard on WGIN was also heard on WQSO; however, that station aired Imus in the Morning in lieu of The Charlie Sherman Show, and WQSO replaces a Sunday morning financial talk show with infomercials and a local public affairs program. (Another WQSO-produced program, New Hampshire Perspective, was originally heard only on WQSO and WGIN, but was subsequently added to the WGIR lineup.) Additionally, WGIN simulcasts WGIR's New Hampshire Fisher Cats minor league baseball broadcasts, whereas WQSO is an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox Radio Network; conversely, all three stations serve as co-flagships of the Wildcat Sports Network. In March 2011 WGIN switched to a simulcast of Portsmouth based WMYF

References

External links

• WGIN website
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WGIN
• Radio-Locator Information on WGIN
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for WGIN