WGTS

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WGTS

City of license	Takoma Park, Maryland
Broadcast area	Washington, D.C.
Frequency	91.9 MHz
Format	CCM and Talk
ERP	23,500 watts
HAAT	186 meters
Class	B
Facility ID	12460
Callsign meaning	Washington's Gateway To Service
Owner	Washington Adventist University Broadcasting
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	wgts919.com

WGTS 91.9 FM is a Christian radio station broadcasting from Takoma Park, Maryland, USA, and serving the Washington DC Baltimore area in a contemporary Christian music format.

The station is owned by Washington Adventist University, which is itself owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

History

In 1946 Columbia Union College (now Washington Adventist University) started the station as an AM carrier broadcasting to the dormitories. In 1957 CUC received an FM broadcasting licence from the FCC, enabling a larger population to receive its signal. In 1997 the station dropped its classical music programming after approximately 20 years, in favor of contemporary Christian music (CCM), a format not offered in the Washington DC area. Since then, the station's listenership increased, and it became the second most-listened to non-commercial religious station in the country.

In 2004 WGTS expanded its coverage of the DC area when its application for a new tower located in Arlington, Virginia, was approved by the FCC. It almost doubled its previous coverage, reaching more of northern Virginia and northern and western Maryland.

When the FCC decided to set aside all F.M. band frequencies below 92.1 MHz to be used as public (i.e. listener-supported) educational stations that did not sell advertising, WGTS was the first in the DC area to be recognized. It was the first station in Washington to go stereo.

Gerry Fuller was the host of its long-running Saturday morning broadcast Breakaway (formerly Saturday Seminar). Fuller was a licensed DDS in the Washington area and hosted Breakaway for over 39 years, interviewing authors, speakers and musicians who talk about Christianity. Guests have included James Dobson and his wife Shirley, CeCe Winans, Ben Carson, Barry Black, Philip Yancey and Charles Stanley. Fuller also served as president of the board at the station. He died on July 1, 2012 at the age of 83.

Familiar names to listeners of the station include Jerry and Blanca, the morning show team from 5:30-10a. Becky, the midday host on weekdays, started with the station at its format change in 1997, when she helped start the new morning team. She also worked locally as a traffic reporter for WTOP and WMAL before returning to the station full-time. Brennan, the weeknight and Saturday night host, is the station's production director and has also worked in the Huntsville, Alabama, market at WOCG on the campus of Oakwood College. Rob Conway, the station's music director, is the overnight deejay. Angela Stevens, the host from 4pm to 8pm on Saturday, came to the station from Clear Channel's Washington cluster in fall 2006 to take over on-air and promotions duties. Ty McFarland joined the station in spring of 2006 from KTSY in Boise, Idaho, a sister Adventist station, to be senior program director.^[1]

In 1996 Don Wheeler was replaced as general manager by John Konrad, has worked at the station from the late 1980s, first as a high school student and then as a college intern. He died on January 2, at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, after suffering from bilateral pneumonia since mid-December.

Format

WGTS features a limited rotation of Christian music for most of its programming, with a few locally produced religious talk programs at weekends. WGTS previously had a weekend night time show, Reflections, which played black Gospel music. However, when another station, WPRS-FM, began featuring that format full-time, WGTS dropped the show.

Corporate

WGTS is a non-profit, listener-supported radio station. It has two fund raisers a year, and is a federally recognized charity. The station is licensed to WGTS/Washington Adventist University Broadcasting, Inc., a self-supporting subsidiary of Washington Adventist University. Both the station's owners and studio are located in Takoma Park, immediately next to Washington D.C..

Proposed sale

According to a July 18, 2007, article in the Washington Times, sources close to the station said that the station would be sold to American Public Media (the parent company of Minnesota Public Radio) to produce a news/talk station similar to KPCC in Los Angeles.^[2] Several websites were set up to lobby for the Christian format of WGTS, which would probably be dropped should the station have been sold. It was believed that the offer by American Public Media was for approximately US$20–25 million, and that a $10 million initial offer by the WGTS board of directors to keep the station within Washington Adventist University was rejected. In a change of direction, on September 20, 2007, the college board voted to halt any current discussions of selling WGTS.^[3]

References

↑ http://wgts.org/djs/
↑ Roland, Kara (2007-07-16). "WGTS license likely for sale". Washington Times. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
↑ Farhi, Paul (2007-09-21). "Christian College to Keep Radio Station". Washington Post. p. C07. Retrieved 2008-02-09.

External links

v t e Radio stations in the Washington, D.C. market

By AM frequency	Washington DC Washington DC 630 980 1120 1260 1340 1450 1500 Maryland 540 570 900 950 1030 1050 1160 1540 1560 1580 1600 Northern Virginia 730 780 920 1190 1220 1250 1310 1390 1460 1480

By FM frequency	Washington DC 88.5 89.3 90.1 90.9 93.9 96.3 97.1 98.7 99.5 100.3 101.1 103.5 107.3 Maryland 88.1 91.9 92.7 94.7 95.5 99.1 99.9 102.3 104.1 107.9 Northern Virginia 87.7 89.9 94.3 104.3 105.1 105.9 106.7 107.7

NOAA Weather Radio	162.45 162.55

By callsign	KHB36 WACA WAMU WASH WAVA WAVA-FM WBIG-FM WBQH WCRW WCSP WCTN WDCN-LP WDCT WETA WFAX WFED WFRE WGOP WGTS WHUR-FM WIAD WIHT WILC WJFK WJFK-FM WKDL WKDV WKIK WKIK-FM WKYS WLXE WLZL WMAL WMAL-FM WMET WMMJ WMUC WMZQ-FM WNEW-FM WNG736 WOL WPER WPFW WPGC-FM WPRS-FM WPWC WRQX WSPZ WTEM WTNT WTOP-FM WURA WUST WWDC WWGB WWRC WWWT-FM WWXT WWXX WYCB WZHF

Defunct Stations	WCAP WGMS WTWP WWZZ WHFS (FM)

Satellite radio local traffic/weather XM Channel 214 Sirius Channel 152 Washington DC metro markets Frederick, MD Fredericksburg, VA Baltimore See also List of radio stations in Washington, D.C. List of radio stations in Virginia List of radio stations in Maryland

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