WRCG

WRCG
City Columbus, Georgia
Branding R&B 92.1
Frequency 1420 kHz
Translator(s) 92.1 W221DP (Columbus)
First air date 1923 (as WRBL at 1200)
Format Urban AC
Power 5,000 watts day
79 watts night
Class D
Facility ID 72090
Transmitter coordinates 32°29′52″N 85°02′48″W / 32.49778°N 85.04667°W / 32.49778; -85.04667
Callsign meaning Radio Columbus Georgia
Former callsigns WRBL (1923-?)
Former frequencies 1200 kHz (1923-1940s)
1230 kHz (1940s-?)
Owner PMB Broadcasting LLC
Sister stations WRLD-FM, WKCN, WCGQ
Webcast Listen Live
Website rnb921.com

WRCG (1420 AM) is an urban adult contemporary-formatted radio station in Columbus, Georgia. WRCG previously held the call letters WRBL. As WRBL, the station first operated on the frequency of 1200 kHz before being reassigned in the early 1940s to 1230 and later to 1420 with a power of 5 kW. In 2010, the station began simulcasting at 106.9 FM with a broadcast translator. Its studios are co-located with four other sister stations on Wynnton Road in Columbus east of downtown, and its transmitter is located in Phenix City, Alabama.

The station is an affiliate of the Atlanta Braves radio network.[1]

History

WRCG was formerly WRBL ("Wee-Rebel Radio" although the call letters originally referred to "Wireless Radio's Bill Lewis" a broadcast engineer pioneer who put the station on the air in the late 1920s)from which WRBL-TV (Channel 3) and WRBL-FM (102.9 FM) sprang. The station was a conventional format of CBS Radio network programming, "pop" and country music, personality, sports and local news through the 1940s and 1950s. It added a high powered (50KW) FM channel(transmitter on Pine Mountain linked by a pioneering STL system)in 1949 simulcasting its AM. The music was phased out with the rise of FM radio. It became WRCG (Radio Columbus Georgia) when the TV and radio went their separate ways after the death of long time owner, Jim Woodruff, Jr.[2]

In December 2002, McClure Broadcasting, Inc., (Chuck McClure Jr., president) reached an agreement to sell this station to Archway Broadcasting Group (Al Vicente, president/CEO). This was part of a four-station deal, along with WRLD-FM, WCGQ, and WKCN, for a reported combined sale price of $15 million.[3] At the time of the sale, WRCG carried a news/talk radio format.

On July 31, 2008, local investment group PMB Broadcasting LLC (headed up by Jim Martin) purchased this station along with Columbus-area sister stations WRLD-FM, WCGQ, and WKCN from Archway Broadcasting Group LLC for a reported sale price of $7.2 million.[4] The deal was approved by the FCC on October 1, 2008.[5]

Former Boomer 106.9 logo

In April 2010, WRCG flipped formats from News/Talk to Oldies. Carrying programming from Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel, the station used the FM frequency of its broadcast translator for its "Boomer 106.9" branding. Later in 2010, formats were flipped again to classic rock. Once again on Monday April 4, 2011 106.9 flipped formats to active rock branded as "106.9 Really Rocks".

On January 1, 2012 WRCG changed their format from active rock to news/talk.

On November 1, 2014 WRCG changed their format from news/talk to southern gospel.

On November 1, 2016 WRCG changed their format from southern gospel to urban adult contemporary, branded as "R&B 92.1" (simulcasting on W221DP 92.1 FM Columbus).[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Affiliate Radio Stations". The Official Site of the Atlanta Braves.
  2. ↑ "Technical Profile". Alabama Broadcast Media Page.
  3. ↑ "Changing Hands - 1/20/2003". Broadcasting & Cable. 2003-01-20.
  4. ↑ "Deals - 8/18/2008". Broadcasting & Cable. 2008-08-18.
  5. ↑ "Application Search Details (BAL-20080806AAP)". FCC Media Bureau. 2008-10-01.
  6. ↑ R&B 92.1 Debuts in Columbus, GA Radioinsight - November 1, 2016
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