| City of license | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Pittsburgh metropolitan area |
| Branding | FM NewsTalk 104.7 |
| Slogan | "Pittsburgh's Next Generation of NewsTalk" |
| Frequency |
104.7 HD-2 for Smooth Jazz |
| First air date | 1967 (as WYDD) |
| Format | News/Talk |
| ERP | 13,000 watts |
| HAAT | 252 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 18511 |
| Former callsigns | WYDD (1967-1980s) WNRJ (1980s-1990) WEZE-FM (1990-1991) WORD-FM (1991-1993) WXRB (1993-1995) WNRQ (1995-1996) WJJJ (1996-2004) |
| Owner | Clear Channel Communications |
| Sister stations | WBGG, WDVE, WKST-FM, WWSW, WXDX |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wpgb.com |
WPGB is a conservative talk radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts at 104.7 MHz with an ERP of 13 kW. Its transmitter is located in Pittsburgh.
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Though this station first signed on the air as 104.7 WYDD in 1967, its roots can be traced back to 1963 as 100.7 WPGH and under the ownership of Gateway Broadcasting Enterprises, which also owned New Kensington-licensed AM station WKPA (now WGBN). 100.7 was also (and still is) licensed to New Kensington.
Gateway owner Nelson L. Goldberg was interested in acquiring an improved FM signal with Pittsburgh market penetration. That opportunity presented itself in 1967, when a channel opened up for 104.7. To acquire the new signal, Goldberg had to spin off WPGH, which was purchased by Milton Hammond and moved to Millvale, where it was rechristened as big-band formatted WNUF-FM. That station is known today as WBZZ.
104.7 adopted the WPGH call letters, but they didn't stay around for long, as the station changed to a full-time jazz format and given the call letters WYDD, for "the 'WIDE' world of Pittsburgh", using an elongated globe as its logo. The station would then move to a more free-form rock format in the 1970s, and then a Top 40 format by the early 1980s, which it maintained under a variety of different monikers such as "Y-104", "Power 105" and then finally "Energy 105" (which brought the call letter change to WNRJ). One of the chief competitors between Top 40 station WBZZ (then known as B94, now as KDKA-FM) and AOR-formatted WDVE, WYDD maintained a fairly consistent lineup until its sale to Salem Communications in 1989, ending more than two decades of local ownership. During the final days of Gateway ownership, the station had adopted a new Top 40 format from WABC radio legend Rick Sklar and Program Director Tony Florentino. The change brought about the new slogan "Energy 105" and the call letters WNRQ. This format would only last about a year. Among the talent hired for the new Energy 105 was Mike Frazer, who remained in Pittsburgh and had been a part of WWSW (3WS) from 1990 until fall 2010.
WYDD had its main studio located along with WKPA in New Kensington since its beginnings, but maintained a separate sales office at Gateway Towers in Pittsburgh for many years. Following the finalized sale to Salem Communications, the call letters were switched to WEZE, shared by Salem's co-owned AM station in Boston, and an easy-listening format was adopted, with the intent to switch from that format to Christian talk once the ministry contracts could be obtained. The studios were then moved to Greentree borough, located in Pittsburgh's South Hills, to Seven Parkway Center, Suite 625, one floor below WLTJ. The tower site was then moved later that same year from Murray Hill Road in East Deer Township (which was half of WKPA's two-tower directional antenna array) to 750 Ivory Avenue, just off I-279 in Pittsburgh, the home of WPGH-TV Fox 53. The much higher tower location allowed a power reduction to 13 kW, but a coverage problem for the southern suburbs of Pittsburgh was finally alleviated.
After years of negotiations, the opportunity to purchase heritage Christian stations WPIT-AM/FM finally presented itself to Salem Communications. Salem purchased the station in 1993, and though now legally permitted to hold 104.7 (thanks to duopoly) in addition to WPIT-AM/FM, Salem chose to spin 104.7 off to Entertainment Communications (dba Entercom), licensee of WDSY-FM and the former WEEP-AM. WPIT-AM/FM's facilities were moved to Greentree, and 104.7's operations were moved to WPIT's longtime home in downtown Pittsburgh at Gateway Towers, where it was joined by WEEP and WDSY. Both stations would remain there for about five years, until all three stations were split off and sold to three different owners. Operations for 104.7 would move temporarily to One Allegheny Square in Pittsburgh, and then finally to 200 Fleet Street in Greentree.
The 104.7 frequency would see a few more formats such as active rock ("104.7 The Revolution"), country ("104.7 The Rebel"), smooth jazz ("Smooth Jazz 104.7") (with the WJJJ call letters instituted on June 28, 1996), and urban oldies ("Jammin' 104-7") before adopting its current talk format on January 2, 2004.
On April 25, 2006, Clear Channel announced that WPGB's HD2 subchannel will carry a smooth jazz music format, which was a previous station format under the call letters WJJJ.
On September 12, 2006, Clear Channel and the Pittsburgh Pirates announced a five-year agreement in which WPGB would become the "new radio broadcast and strategic promotional partner of the Pirates beginning with the 2007 (Major League Baseball) season." WPGB is the Pirates' flagship radio station, having replaced KDKA, which broadcast the first Major League Baseball game on radio (between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies) in 1921, and served as the Pirates' flagship station for 52 seasons (1955-2006). On July 6, 2010, the station was announced as the new home for the Duquesne Dukes men's basketball team.
The station also lost its partnership with the Pittsburgh Pirates after the 2011 season.
The programming on WPGB is fairly standard for a Clear Channel station of its type, a regional morning show (itself simulcast on several stations throughout northern Appalachia and New England), followed by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, with Michael Savage in the evening hours. Weekday newscasts are supplied by Cleveland station WTAM and Fox News Radio.
In addition, Glen Meakem hosts a program from 8-9:30am on Saturday mornings and 8-9:30am on Sunday mornings. The nationally syndicated radio program The Mutual Fund Show with Adam Bold airs on Saturday mornings.
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