WXYG (540

kHz 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 on ...

AM) is an American

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 serve the

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 ...

Sauk Rapids, Minnesota Sauk Rapids is a city in Benton County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,862 at the 2020 census and is 13,896 according to 2021 census estimates, about a third of Benton County's population. It is on a set of rapids on the Missi ...

, United States. The station is part of the

Tri-County Broadcasting Tri-County Broadcasting is a radio broadcasting company located in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. It was founded by Herbert M. Hoppe, long time local radio broadcaster who started out building small AM stations. The stations serve the St. Cloud, Minnesota ...

group and the

license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

is held by the Herbert M. Hoppe Revocable Trust. WXYG broadcasts an

album-oriented 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-oriente ...

(AOR) format.

History

This station received its original

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

from 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 ...

on July 26,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. The new station was assigned the

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 ...

WXYG by the FCC on September 10, 2007. The call sign was changed to WMIN on August 12, 2008; to WPPI on December 2, 2008; and back to WXYG on December 14, 2009. This construction permit was scheduled to expire on July 25, 2010. As of November 8, 2010, WXYG, which had been occasionally testing with a mix of rock and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

since June, began playing

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

. The station resumed testing after the holiday season. On May 23, 2011, the FCC granted the station

program test authority {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) In broadcasting, program test authority (PTA) is an authorization to conduct on-air testing of broadcast station facilities authorized to be built under a construction permit. Once this testi ...

to begin broadcasting before receiving its broadcast license. On June 24, 2011, WXYG ended testing and signed on the air with

, branded as "Album Rock 540, The Goat". The station's

broadcast license A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary ...

was issued by the FCC on January 27, 2012. The station plays a large library of deep

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 ...

album cuts. The station shares towers with three of its sister AM stations. There are seven total towers. In March 2016 WXYG was granted an

FCC 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 ...

to increase the day power to 850 watts. Work on the upgraded signal was complete by mid-June 2016. The station now broadcasts with 850 watts during the day. The station celebrated its fifth birthday in late June 2016 by playing its entire library from A-Z. Station program manager Al Neff noted it would take nine to ten days to get through the entire catalog.

Former logo

References

External links

Tri-County Broadcasting
* * * * {{AM Stereo radio stations HD Radio stations Radio stations in Minnesota Album-oriented rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 2011 Benton County, Minnesota Radio stations in St. Cloud, Minnesota