WSKY-FM (97.3

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

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 ...

licensed to

Micanopy, Florida Micanopy ( ) is a town in Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, United States, located south of Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The population as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census was 600. The oldest community in t ...

, and serving the Gainesville- Ocala radio market. The station airs a

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 Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

and is owned by

Audacy, Inc. Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...

WSKY carries a local weekday morning talk and information show, followed by nationally syndicated talk programs. They include Brian Kilmeade, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro, '' Coast to Coast AM with George Noory'' and '' This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal''. Weekends feature shows on money, health, real estate, law, gardening, horses, computers and cigars, some of which are paid brokered programming. Hosts include Kim Komando, Bill Handel, Clark Howard and

Bill Cunningham Bill Cunningham may refer to: People *Bill Cunningham (rugby union) (1874–1927), New Zealand rugby union player *Bill Cunningham (footballer), Irish international footballer active in the 1890s *Bill Cunningham (infielder) (1886–1946), profes ...

. Most hours begin with world and national news from

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 ...

History

On September 7, 1985, the station first

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 ...

at 97.7 FM as WGLV, an

adult contemporary music 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, quiet ...

station known as "Gainesville's Love 98." WGLV was co-owned with

WGGG WGGG (1230 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station in Gainesville, Florida, broadcasting to the Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville-Ocala, Florida area. History WGGG began broadcasting in February 1948 on 1230 kHz with 250 watts of ...

, a longtime legendary

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 ...

station in the market, and tried to take advantage of the connection by hiring legendary WGGG personality "Boomer" Hough as its first morning show host. However, Hough's show lasted only a few months. WGLV tried to further bank on the legendary WGGG

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 ...

in 1987 by adopting a 1970s-based

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 ...

format as WGGG-FM and declaring "The Legend is Back!" This, too, proved short-lived. After WGGG-AM-FM were sold in 1989, WGGG-FM became WLCL, a soft AC station branded as "Clear FM". From 1993 until the debut of WSKY in 1998 (except for a brief period during which it programmed

as WGGO "Go 97.7"), the station was known as WRRX "97-X". At that time, the station featured an adult album alternative format which was partially programmed via satellite from an outside provider, and locally in certain dayparts, featuring an eclectic variety of music. 97-X had a small yet loyal following in the local Gainesville music scene. 97-X was sold to Entercom in March 1998, for a price tag of $2.8 million.Broadcasting Yearbook 1999 page D-95
/ref> Entercom switched the call letters to WSKY-FM and changed frequencies to 97.3 MHz on June 7, 1998, boosting the signal to 13,500

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 from its previous 2,600 watts. The antenna height was nearly doubled to 948 feet from its previous 495-foot tower. This gave WSKY better coverage of the Gainesville-Ocala radio market, putting a high-quality signal over both cities. The station also switched to its current talk radio format. WSKY has since boosted its power to 50,000 watts

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 ...

(ERP) but reduced its height above average terrain (HAAT) to 492 feet.

Awards

WSKY was given an award for its news reporting during the 2004 hurricane season, which hit WSKY's broadcast area especially hard.

References

External links

* {{Entercom SKY-FM News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1985 Audacy, Inc. radio stations 1985 establishments in Florida