WGOG

WGOG (101.7 FM) is a commercial American radio station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to serve the tri-county area of Oconee, Pickens, and Anderson, SC. The official city of license, and studio location, is Walhalla, SC. WGOG is owned by Appalachian Broadcasting Co., Inc.^[2]

WGOG broadcasts a country music format and carries syndicated programing from Westwood One and ABC Radio News/United Stations Radio Network, and broadcasts local sports talk programming and news.

History

WGOG’s first broadcast originated April 15, 1959, from the same studios it continued to occupy, on Westminster Highway in Walhalla. WGOG originally broadcast at 1460 kHz AM. As a corporation, founded by the late Dorothy Friend and Edith Mooneyham, WGOG was the sole property of Oconee Broadcasting Incorporated. Misses Friend and Mooneyham operated Oconee Broadcasting (WGOG) for nearly 25 years, with various formats, and “mixture” formats, dependent upon the current entertainment trend. WGOG was always dedicated to broadcasting local, regional, and national news. In the 1960s, WGOG changed its frequency to 1000 kHz AM, assuming a “clear channel” status (clear channel is a radio term meaning the channel is clear of interference). During the 1970s, WGOG was known as “Clear Channel 10 Country, WGOG.”

In 1984, Misses Friend and Mooneyham sold WGOG to Luzanne Griffith, who had worked at WGOG years before as Traffic Manager and Receptionist. With the sale, Oconee Broadcasting Incorporated was re-incorporated into Appalachian Broadcasting Incorporated. Under the Direction of Ms. Griffith, WGOG moved to FM transmission on 96.3 MHz in 1991. For a time, WGOG FM operated along with WGOG AM (at 1000 kHz), which was eventually dropped.

In 2001, Ms. Griffith retired and sold WGOG to Georgia-Carolina Radiocasting, Inc of Toccoa, Georgia. The sale included a promise by the new owners that WGOG would continue to be a locally-oriented operation.

A number of local celebrities have performed on WGOG, including local radio performers George Allgood, Gary Butts, Jerry Dyar, Jim Graham, Marvin Hill, Dick Mangrum, Wayne Morton, Kenn Sparks, Doug Stephens and Kris Butts. South Carolina State Senator Thomas Alexander was once a WGOG employee.

As of 2015, WGOG's news coverage was headed by Dick Mangrum, a native of Philadelphia, PA, who joined WGOG in 1984. Gary Bryant is the station's General Manager and Kris Butts hosts the "Golden Corner's Morning Show" heard each weekday morning, while Doug Stephens handles station commercial traffic duties. WGOG serves as flagship station for the Furman/IMG Sports Network, producing football, men's basketball, and baseball broadcasts for the Greenville-based university.

In September 2010, former owner of WGOG Luzanne Griffith died.

In March 2015, WGOG added "The Evening Sports Page", a live, local, sports talk show hosted by longtime sports talker Ron Scarborough. The show is heard weekday evenings from 8-10 PM.

On August 5, 2015 WGOG moved from 96.3 FM to 101.7 FM.

References

External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WGOG
• Radio-Locator information on WGOG
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WGOG