WGRF (96.9

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

FM radio station in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, branded as "97 Rock". The station is owned by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

and has a

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

playing

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

, mostly from the 1970s and 1980s. WGRF competes for classic rock listeners with

WBUF WBUF (92.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Buffalo, New York. Its studios are located at the Rand Building in Downtown Buffalo, with its transmitter on Elmwood Avenue in North Buffalo. WBUF is owned by Townsquare Media and broadc ...

92.9 FM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on FM broadcasting, FM frequency 92.9 MHz: Argentina * Activa in Rosario, Santa Fe * Carrodilla in Carrodilla, Mendoza * La Red in Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña, Chaco * Pacífico in Salt ...

and cross-border rival 91.7

CIXL-FM CIXL-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting in Welland, Ontario. It uses the on-air brand name ''91.7 Giant FM'', and broadcasts a classic rock format at 91.7 MHz. It is one of the few commercial FM radio stations on its frequency that can ...

. The

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

s are in the eastside of Buffalo. WGRF has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

of 24,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is off Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo. It uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performance ...

to protect

CHYM-FM CHYM-FM is a Canadian radio station broadcasting at 96.7 FM in Kitchener, Ontario. The station currently airs an adult contemporary format using its on-air brand name as ''CHYM 96.7'' and is owned by Rogers Sports & Media. CHYM's studios are at ...

Kitchener, Ontario ) , image_flag = Flag of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , image_seal = Seal of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_shield=Coat of arms of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_blank_emblem = Logo of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , blank_emblem_type = ...

, which is on 96.7 MHz.

History

Beautiful music

WGRF started as the FM

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

WGR WGR (550 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Buffalo, New York. Owned by Audacy, Inc., its studios and offices are located on Corporate Parkway in Amherst, and the transmitter site—utilized by WGR and co-owned WWKB—is in Ham ...

550 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 550 kHz, which the Federal Communications Commission classifies as a regional frequency. Argentina * La Primera in Neuquén, Neuquén. (still have no call sign assigned) Bolivia * CP ...

. On , it

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

the air as WGR-FM. At first, WGR-AM-FM mostly

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

full service Full service or Full Service may refer to: * Full-service radio, a wide range of programming * Full Service Network, a communications company Entertainment * "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block from their album ''The Block'' * F ...

, middle of the road (MOR) format of popular adult music, talk and news. By the late 1960s, WGR-FM switched to

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...

, playing quarter hour sweeps of soft, instrumental

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of popular songs. Over the years, WGRF was owned by the Taft Television and Radio Company, Rich Communications, Mercury Radio Communications and

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media ...

, a forerunner to current owner Cumulus Media. Mercury Radio separated WGRF from WGR AM in 1995 when it bought WGRF from Rich Communications, which in turn retained WGR until selling it to the

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...

two years later.

Top 40 and AOR

In 1973, the station became WGRQ with a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

format known as "Super Q". Its main competition was legendary Top 40 powerhouse WKBW

1520 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1520 kHz: 1520 AM is a United States clear-channel frequency. WWKB in Buffalo, New York, and KOKC in Oklahoma City share Class A status on 1520 AM. Argentina * LRI721 in Chascomús, B ...

. Not all radios at the time had FM reception. But WGRQ offered the hits in

FM stereo FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is capa ...

. Led by Program Director JJ Jordan, Station Manager William Austin, and a 24-hour live staff, the station shot to the top 4 in the crowded Buffalo market for about two years. In 1975, flipped to

album rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orient ...

, rebranding as "Q-FM 97", and then as "97 Rock WGRQ-FM". The original "97 Rock" era featured Program Director and DJ John McGhan. By the early 1980s, the station had largely entrenched itself into a styling and format that came to be associated with the nascent

format.

AC music and classic rock

On January 4, 1985, WGRQ dumped its rock format and shifted to an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

format as WRLT, firing all but two of the WGRQ airstaff. With the other rock station in Buffalo, 103.3 WPHD and its simulcast partner on

1400 Year 1400 ( MCD) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The year 1400 was not a leap year in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar. Events January–December * Henry IV of England ...

, maintaining a more modern focus (as it still does), a

domino effect A domino effect or chain reaction is the cumulative effect generated when a particular event triggers a chain of similar events. This term is best known as a mechanical effect and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes. It typically ...

soon followed to fill the void for classic rock. WHTT flipped to a "

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

" format, and rimshot signal 107.7 began playing classic rock as WBYR. On September 20, 1988, WRLT changed its

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

back to WGR-FM. It switched to classic rock and rehired most of its former DJs under the legendary "97 Rock" name. (By the end of the year, WHTT and AM 1400 both changed to

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

, while WBYR flipped to

. Three years later, WGR-FM changed its call letters to the current WGRF. The station staff and format have largely been unchanged ever since. From 1999 to 2013, WGRF was the

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalt ...

of the

Buffalo Bills Radio Network The Buffalo Bills Radio Network is a broadcast radio network based in Buffalo, New York. Its primary programming is broadcasts of Buffalo Bills home and away games to a network of 24 stations in upstate New York, the Northwestern and Northern Ti ...

. Every game day, WGRF devoted hours to airing the game as well as pre-game and post-game shows. WGRF streamed its programming on the Internet until 2002, when it became economically unfeasible for some stations to continue their streams given changes in licensing and royalty agreements. In March 2006, Citadel launched an initiative that provided for the streaming of many of Citadel's stations. WGRF was among the first commercial stations in Buffalo to resume streaming after the earlier changes.

Morning show changes

In December 2015, morning host Larry Norton retired from broadcasting. He decided to devote his time to charity and ministry. In April 2021, WGRF issued a mass firing eliminating the station's program director and the entire morning show, after co-host Rob Lederman had made off-color remarks on the show a month prior. Owner Cumulus Media brought over longtime

WEDG WEDG (103.3 MHz) is a commercial FM radio radio station in Buffalo, New York, serving Western New York. It is owned by Cumulus Media and calls itself "103.3 The Edge," broadcasting an alternative rock radio format. The studios and offices are o ...

morning hosts "

Shredd and Ragan ''Shredd and Ragan'' is a talk radio show based in Buffalo, New York. The show is hosted by the titular Ted Shredd and Tom Ragan and also features producer Jim Jackass and assistant producer Evan James. The show broadcasts to Buffalo, New York, Bu ...

" to host WGRF's morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

show in August of that year.

References

External links

Official WGRF website
*

{{Buffalo Bills GRF Cumulus Media radio stations Classic rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1959 1959 establishments in New York (state) Taft Broadcasting