WGBP-FM was an
FM high school radio
High school radio are radio stations located at high schools and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision. The oldest extant high school AM radio station is AM 1450 KBPS in Portland, Oregon. Portland radio station KBPS, first li ...
station at Premontre High School in
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...
. The station operated on 90.1 MHz between 1975 and 1990.
History
On November 30, 1973, Premontre High School applied to build and operate a 10-watt radio station from its campus at 610 Maryhill Drive in Green Bay. WGBP-FM signed on March 10, 1975, as the fourth high school radio station in the state. The impetus to start the station had come when students had heard of
WSHS at
Sheboygan North High School
Sheboygan North High School, is a public high school in Sheboygan, Wisconsin operated by the Sheboygan Area School District. The school opened in 1938 in what is now Urban Middle School on the city's north side, with the current building openin ...
in
Sheboygan and wanted to start up a facility; faculty advisors thought that, despite the paperwork burden, such an outlet would be useful.
The station's program output during the school day included easy listening and rock music, plus news, weather, sports and public affairs programming.
WGBP quickly developed a deep tradition in sports broadcasting—one that would outlive the station itself. In its first full school year of operation, WGBP began carrying play-by-play of Premontre sports, quickly becoming the station's most popular program output. One of its first sports play-by-play announcers was a young
Kevin Harlan
Kevin Harlan (born June 21, 1960) is an American television and radio sports announcer. The son of former Green Bay Packers executive Bob Harlan, he broadcasts NFL and college basketball games on CBS and the NBA for TNT.
2022 will be his 38th con ...
, son of
Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the thi ...
executive
Bob
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
Places
*Mount Bob, New York, United States
*Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname) ...
. After spending his freshman year doing studio work,
Harlan began doing play-by-play of the school's football, basketball and hockey games as a sophomore,
which included home and away broadcasts. After attending the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
and being named the lead radio announcer for the
Kansas City Kings
The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...
at the age of 22, making him the youngest announcer in the four major sports, Harlan called getting into radio at WGBP his "first good move". Another basketball announcer, Pete Pranica of the
Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...
, also started his career in broadcasting at the station. Mark Daniels, who later went on to a lengthy career in Green Bay sports radio, was a senior at Premonte when WGBP started up and served as its first sports director.
As the 1980s drew to a close, two different events would signal the end of WGBP-FM. The first concerned Premontre High itself. In November 1989, the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay ( la, Diocesis Sinus Viridis) was established on March 3, 1868, by Pope Pius IX. It covers the city of Green Bay, as well as Brown, Calumet, Door, Florence, Forest, Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, Kewaunee, Lan ...
announced a three-way merger that would combine Premontre with Abbot Pennings High School and St. Joseph Academy on Premontre's campus; the new Notre Dame Academy began operating in 1990, and the station was closed. Even if the station had been allowed to continue, the increasing power of other stations would have foreclosed its continued operation. In 1991, the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
assigned 90.1 to a new radio station applicant, whose station signed on in 1994 as
WORQ
WORQ, known by the on-air brand of "Q90 FM", is a Christian radio radio station in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The station is owned and operated by Lakeshore Communications, and broadcasts at 90.1 MHz on the FM broadcasting, FM dial. WORQ is hea ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Green Bay Radio
GBP
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...
Defunct radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1975
Radio stations disestablished in 1990
High school radio stations in the United States
1975 establishments in Wisconsin
1990 disestablishments in Wisconsin
GBP-FM