WMGK
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| 102.9 WMGK FM | |
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| City of license | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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| Broadcast area | Greater Philadelphia (Delaware Valley) |
| Branding | 102.9 MGK |
| Frequency | 102.9 MHz (Also on HD Radio) 102.9 HD-2 for Classic Deep Cuts |
| First air date | licensed 1945 |
| Format | Classic Rock |
| ERP | 8,900 Watts |
| HAAT | 350 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 25094 |
| Callsign meaning | "WMGK"from"MaGic" (former adult contemporary format) |
| Owner | Greater Media |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.wmgk.com |
WMGK, known as "Classic Rock 102.9 MGK" or "Philadelphia's Classic Rock: 102.9 MGK", is a Classic Rock formatted radio station which is broadcast in the Philadelphia area. The station features popular Philadelphia radio personality John DeBella and former Howard Stern Show censor Andre Gardner. WMGK is owned by Greater Media. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.
[edit] History
WMGK was known as WPEN-FM prior to 1975. First assigned a license in September 1945 on the newly-moved FM band at 95.9 and later 99.5, WPEN-FM was one of the first two FM stations to be licensed for SCA (subcarrier) service in 1955. Their co-owned AM station has been WPEN since 1929.
At various times in the 1960s WPEN-FM either broadcast instrumental background music, was simulcast with WPEN, or played music similar to WPEN's middle-of-the-road format. By about 1972 WPEN-FM was simulcasting WPEN 50% of the time (the maximum allowed by FCC regulations in those years) and playing adult contemporary music without disc jockeys during non-simulcast hours. When Greater Media acquired the stations in 1975 the FM simulcast the AM's newly launched oldies format for almost six months while plans were made for stand-alone programming on FM.
On September 2, 1975 WPEN-FM changed its call letters to WMGK and adopted a soft adult contemporary format called "Magic Music". The first song aired under the new call sign was "Could It Be Magic" by Barry Manilow. The music was a blend of current adult contemporary songs with album cuts from singer-songwriters of the '60s and early '70s, presented in four-song blocks with minimal talk. The format was successful for a time, then lost listeners to WUSL ("US1"), which had implemented a somewhat similar format with a shorter playlist of more familiar songs. Eventually WMGK replied with an even tighter playlist and rebounded past WUSL in the ratings.
By the early 1980s WMGK had an Adult Contemporary format with a "Soft Rock" positioning. They were known as "Magic 103". They played artists like Billy Joel, The Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Eagles, Four Tops, Elton John, James Taylor, etc. They also played softer songs by artists known for harder rock (example Waiting For a Girl Like You/Foreigner from January, 1982) As the 80's approached artists like Hall & Oates, Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie, George Michael, Chicago, and others were added. "Magic 103" was one of the pioneering stations in the Adult Contemporary format, and the concept was subsequently applied to stations in other markets (i.e. Greater Media-owned sisters WMJC 94.7 "Magic 95" in Detroit, now WCSX and WMGQ in New Brunswick, NJ ).
In the 1980s Magic 103 WMGK leaned soft but played several uptempo songs an hour. They also continued to play plenty of current product. They were a Straight but slightly downtempo AC station.
They continued this approach in the 1990s. Over the years their competition was WSNI Sunny 104. Easy 101 became Soft AC in 1989 and by 1993 they were more of an AC format. WEAZ 101.1 (soon WBEB) dominated in the ratings. In the Summer of 1994 with the feeling that Philadelphia could no longer support 3 AC stations, Greater Media opted to drop AC for an All 70's format.
On July 10th, 1994, WMGK officially dropped the long time AC format and changed it to All 70's format with all types of 70's music ranging from Classic Rock to Disco to Easy Listening to Pop/Rock to R & B. By 1995 the station added a few big 60's and 80's hits that were mostly of the Classic Rock leaning Pop type. They also moved away from Disco and Easy Listening. By the Fall of 1995 WMGK was more of a Classic Hits station. They had dropped the Magic name as well. They played mostly Classic Rock with some rock friendly Pop hits thrown in but not much of the harder stuff.
In 1997 Greater Media would acquire WMMR and 95.7 FM. At that point WMGK continued to position themselves as a Classic Hits station. A couple years ago they began to call themselves Classic Rock and eliminated the non rock pop hits. Still with Rocker WMMR in the cluster WMGK leans softer than most classic rock stations.
On Friday, November 17 2006, at 6 p.m. EST, the former WTHK (97.5 FM) became "The New Smooth Jazz 97.5 WJJZ", an allusion to the fact that WJJZ was once a popular smooth jazz station broadcasting on 106.1. This made WMGK the Philadelphia region's only classic rock station. The 106.1 frequency is now occupied by the Hot AC-formatted WISX ("My 106.1"). WJJZ is now owned by Greater Media, thus making it a sister station to WMGK.
WMGK only has three major competitors. WCHR-FM, WFKB, And WODE. WCHR-FM 105.7 The Hawk competes with it from the Lower Bucks County area to the Jersey Shore. WFKB of Mt. Penn, PA (just outside Reading, but is licensed to Boyertown, PA), known as "107.5 Frank FM", competes with WMGK anywhere from Reading to the northern Philadelphia suburbs and the Lehigh Valley region. WODE 99.9 The Hawk, based in Easton, PA, competes in the Lehigh Valley area and the northern Philadelphia suburbs.
[edit] External links
- WMGK official website
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WMGK
- Radio Locator information on WMGK
- Query Arbitron's FM station database for WMGK
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