WRCG (1420 AM) is an

urban contemporary gospel Urban/contemporary gospel is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genre was well established by the end of the 1980s. The radio format is pitched prima ...

-formatted

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

. Studios are co-located with four sister stations on Wynnton Road in Columbus east of downtown, and the transmitter is located in

Phenix City, Alabama Phenix City is a city in Lee and Russell counties in the U.S. state of Alabama, and the county seat of Russell County. As of the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 38,817. Phenix City lies immediately west across the Chattahoochee R ...

. WRCG is an affiliate of the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

radio network.

History

WRCG was first authorized, as WRBL, on March 27, 1928 to R. E. Martin in Columbus. On May 22, 1928 it was assigned to transmit on 1170 kHz, and on November 11, 1928 was reassigned to 1200 kHz, as part of a major reallocation made under the provisions of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40.FCC History Cards for WRCG
/ref> Although the call letters were randomly assigned by the government from an alphabetic list of available call signs, over the years WRBL was said to stand for "Wireless Radio's Bill Lewis", a broadcast engineer pioneer who put the station on the air, and "Wee-Rebel Radio". Sister stations WRBL-TV (Channel 3) and WRBL-FM (102.9 FM) were named after the original station. Through the 1940s and 1950s WRBL had a conventional format of CBS Radio network programming, "pop" and country music, personality, sports and local news. In 1947, the station was reassigned to 1470 kHz, with 5 kW. It added a high-powered (50 kW) 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 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 cap ...

. The station became WRCG (Radio Columbus Georgia) on January 18, 1977 when the TV and radio went their separate ways after the death of long time owner, Jim Woodruff, Jr. 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 WCGQ (107.3 FM, "Q107-3") is a radio station broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR) music format. WCGQ is licensed to serve the community of Columbus, Georgia, United States. Its studios are co-located with four other sister stations on Wynnton Road in C ...

, and

WKCN WKCN (99.3 FM broadcasting, FM), known as "Kissin 99.3", is a radio station licensed to Fort Benning South/Columbus, and serving the greater Columbus, Georgia, area. Its studios are co-located with four other sister stations on Wynnton Road in Co ...

, for a reported combined sale price of $15 million. At the time of the sale, WRCG carried a

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

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. The deal was approved by the FCC on October 1, 2008. In April 2010, WRCG flipped formats from News/Talk to Oldies. Carrying programming from Scott Shannon's

True Oldies Channel Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel (also known more recently as ''The True Oldies Channel: Greatest Hits'') is a radio network begun in the spring of 2004. Originally distributed by ABC Radio Networks via satellite, the service plays a hybrid ol ...

, 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. This was followed by numerous subsequent format changes: to active rock branded as "106.9 Really Rocks" on April 4, 2011, to news/talk on January 1, 2012, to southern gospel on November 1, 2014, and to urban adult contemporary, branded as "R&B 92.1" (simulcasting on translator W221DP 92.1 FM Columbus), on November 1, 2016.R&B 92.1 Debuts in Columbus, GA
Radioinsight - November 1, 2016

References

External links

WRCG official website

FCC History Cards for WRCG
(covering 1928-1980 as WRBL/WRCG) * * {{Urban Radio Stations in Georgia RCG Radio stations established in 1928 Gospel radio stations in the United States 1928 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)