WGNU

For the radio station in Granite City, Illinois, formerly known as WGNU-FM, see WARH.
WGNU
City of license Granite City, Illinois
Broadcast area St. Louis, Missouri
Branding CBS Sports Radio 920 AM (weekdays)
WGNU 920 AM (weekends)
Frequency 920 kHz
First air date 1961[1]
Format Sports Talk weekdays Urban Talk weekends
Power 450 watts (day)
500 watts (night)
Class B
Facility ID 49042
Transmitter coordinates 38°45′33.2″N 90°3′0.4″W / 38.759222°N 90.050111°WCoordinates: 38°45′33.2″N 90°3′0.4″W / 38.759222°N 90.050111°W (NAD 83)
Callsign meaning Good NUs (reference to "good news", in homage to gospel music format)
Affiliations CBS Sports Radio
Owner Radio Property Ventures[1] (operated during the week by InsideSTL Enterprises under time brokerage agreement)
(920 AM, LLC)
Sister stations KXEN[1]
Website insidestl.com
wgnu920am.com

WGNU (920 AM) is a radio station licensed to Granite City, Illinois, and serving the St. Louis, Missouri, area. Founded by Chuck Norman in 1961 and owned by him for the rest of his life, it was held in trust after his 2004 death until being sold to Radio Property Ventures, owners of KXEN, on September 26, 2007 and switching to a gospel music format.[1][2] Initially, WGNU was a Top 40 station, then changed to country music and eventually talk.[3][2]

Former KFNS host Tim McKernan and his company, InsideSTL Enterprises, bought the weekday air time for WGNU, and the station switched to a Monday-Friday only sports format on August 1, 2013. The station is affiliated with CBS Sports Radio. Aside from this affiliation, the station airs eleven hours of local sports talk, weekdays only. The Urban Talk format is still aired on weekends.

The station briefly made national headlines when former St. Louis Cardinals player Jack Clark, who cohosted "The King and the Ripper" with longtime St. Louis radio personality Kevin "the King" Slaten, claimed Los Angeles Angels slugger Albert Pujols had performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) while Pujols was with the Cardinals. Clark had been the Cardinals' hitting coach during the early part of Pujols' 12-year tenure in St. Louis. Clark had said that he talked to Pujols' former personal trainer and said that "I know for a fact he was" using PEDs.[4] Pujols responded by threatening Clark and WGNU with a defamation lawsuit, and vehemently denied that he had ever used PEDs. The trainer added that he hadn't even talked to Clark in over ten years. InsideSTL cut ties with Clark and Slaten after only seven shows.[4][5][6] It also issued an unreserved apology to Pujols.[7] I

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Garrison, Chad (2007-09-27). "WGNU Sale Finalized; Station to Go Gospel". STLog (Village Voice Media). Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hinman, Kristen (April 27, 2005). "The old Chuckaroo". Riverfront Times. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  3. ↑ http://www.stlmediahistory.com/index.php/Radio/RadioArticles/norman-knew-what-was-gnu
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/23082071/former-mlber-jack-clark-accuses-albert-pujols-of-using-peds
  5. ↑ http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9553275/albert-pujols-says-sue-jack-clark-false-accusations
  6. ↑ http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:9556488
  7. ↑ "Albert Pujols sues Jack Clark".

External links