WRGA AM 1470 and W254CF FM 98.7 ( "News Talk 98.7 and AM 1470 ") is a

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 ...

broadcasting a

news talk information 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. Licensed to serve

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statisti ...

, United States, the station serves Floyd and adjacent counties of

northwest Georgia Northwest Georgia is a region of the state of Georgia in the United States. It includes 12 counties (listed in the section below), which at the 2010 census had a combined population of 753,032. Northwest Georgia includes some of the southernmos ...

and a sliver of

northeast Alabama Northeast Alabama is an ambiguous term, which may include the cities of Anniston, Gadsden, and Talladega, their surrounding areas, as well as the geographical northeast extreme of the state of Alabama. The county inclusion varies, and under some ...

. The station is currently owned by Rome Radio Partners, LLC Prior to spring 2009, WRGA was owned by McDougald Broadcasting, and was run by Southern Broadcasting Company, which is the owner-operator of WSRM FM 93.5, WQTU FM 102.3, WTSH FM 107.1, and WGJK AM 1360, from its studios on John Davenport Drive in Rome. From spring 2004 to July 9, 2009, WRGA

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 ...

a substantially stronger and better quality signal on WSRM-FM. Until spring 2009, WSRM's radio tower was located in

Coosa, Georgia Coosa is an unincorporated community in Floyd County, Georgia, Floyd County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The community is located at the intersection of Georgia State Route 20, Georgia routes 20 and Georgia State Route 100, 100, n ...

; however after the ownership change the tower was moved to

Mount Alto Mount Alto is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in far western Jackson County, West Virginia, Jackson County, West Virginia, United States. It lies along West Virginia Route 331, northwest of the city of Ripley, West Virginia, Ripl ...

in Rome, and the carrier frequency was changed from 95.3 to 93.5 FM. The result was a substantial increase in the size of WSRM's coverage area, which led to issues which resulted in Rome Radio Partners having to end the five-year-old FM simulcast. WSRM's format was changed on July 9, 2009, to "Life FM", an "

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

blend of Christian and secular adult contemporary" music; a later format change on WSRM was to country music. WRGA operates under the tagline "Rome's NewsTalk". WRGA carries Brian Kilmeade, Erick Erickson, Sean Hannity, and Larry Elder during their daily program schedule.

ABC News Radio ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-pas ...

is carried at the top of the hour and

Westwood One News Westwood One News was a radio news network launched on January 1, 2015, and operated by Westwood One through its parent company Cumulus Media. Using audio from CNN reports and correspondents, and anchored by Cumulus employees, it provided radio ...

at the bottom of the hour. Locally produced programming on WRGA includes First News with Tony McIntosh. Other popular locally produced programming included Talk of the Town, which was hosted by the late Nelle Reagan. WRGA is the only station in Rome with a full-time video news team including News Director, David Crowder, and Digital News Editor, Ethan Garrett. Spot news coverage is provided as situations necessitate. Election coverage live from the Floyd County Courthouse is provided any day the polls are open. As of March 1, 2014, WRGA also simulcasts on a broadcast translator at 98.7, with

broadcast callsign Broadcast call signs are call signs assigned as unique identifiers to radio stations and television stations A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) op ...

W254CF. This change was partly to extend the coverage area at night, when

skywave In radio communication, skywave or skip refers to the propagation of radio waves reflected or refracted back toward Earth from the ionosphere, an electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere. Since it is not limited by the curvature of ...

RF interference reduces the AM station's broadcast range. (Previously this was prohibited by the FCC, with translators reserved only for FM stations to cover gaps caused by

terrain Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word ...

, a change which blocks frequencies that

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

LPFM Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" (more commonly " ...

stations could otherwise use locally.) The addition of the FM signal was soon followed by a rebranding as "News Talk 98.7 and AM 1470, WRGA". The station has also been using the tag line "Local News Now" more heavily in 2014.

History

The station began operation on March 5, 1930, as WFDV, operating on 1370 kHz with a power of 100 W. On June 26, 1931, the station was permitted to change its frequency to 1310 kHz. By April 1935 its callsign had become WRGA. On May 16, 1948, WRGA changed its frequency from 1490 kHz to 1470 kHz with a concurrent increase in power from 250 W to 5 KW.

References

External links

* {{News/Talk Radio Stations in Georgia RGA (AM) News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1929 1929 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)