WGM (radio Station)
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WGM was an
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
AM radio broadcasting station, operated by the ''Atlanta Constitution'' newspaper from March 17, 1922 to July 29, 1923. Although the station gained national prominence, it was shut down by its owner after just over a year of operation. The station equipment was then donated to
Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...
, where it was used in early 1924 to help set up radio station WBBF (later WGST, now
WGKA WGKA (920 AM) – branded AM 920 The Answer – is a commercial conservative talk radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia, serving primarily the Atlanta metropolitan area. Currently owned by Salem Media Group, WGKA serves as the Atlanta affil ...
AM 920).


History

In early 1922 there was growing interest by the general public about the introduction of radio broadcasting. On December 1, 1921 the U.S. Department of Commerce, which regulated radio at this time, adopted a regulation formally establishing a broadcasting station category, which set aside the wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) for entertainment broadcasts, and 485 meters (619 kHz) for market and weather reports. By the end of the year there were over 500 authorized stations in the United States. In many communities there was competition to be the first to start a station. In Atlanta both of the two major newspapers, the ''Journal'' and the ''Constitution'', began plans to establish stations. The ''Journal'' would be first to get a station on the air, inaugurating WSB on March 15, 1922. Two days later, on March 17, the ''Constitution'' received its own telegraphed authorization for a broadcasting station, with the randomly assigned call letters WGM, valid for transmitting on both wavelengths. The paper's review of the potential benefits of the new service was enthusiastic: "Although radio news service is still in its infancy, there is every evidence that it is only a question of a very few months when it will be considered as an imperatively necessary source of information." and "It is not a fad. It is an industrial revolution." WGM's debut broadcast began at 7:00 p.m. that evening. Because the newspaper had not yet procured a radio transmitter, the broadcast was made using a transmitter located at the Georgia Railway and Power company, that it had been using for its own amateur station, 4FT. The newspaper announced that broadcasts from WGM were planned to be conducted nightly, from 7 to 7:30 and 9 to 9:30 o'clock. In addition, the paper predicted that "it is believed that in a very few months there will not be a southern community that will not be hanging on the radio telephone to a man, woman and child during the hours The Constitution is broadcasting". Because WSB was also transmitting on 360 meters, the two newspapers had to establish a time sharing agreement allocating broadcast hours. Competition was so fierce between the two that WSB's manager, Lambdin "The Little Colonel" Kay, banned any person who had previously appeared on WGM from broadcasting over WSB."The Voice of the South"
''Peachtree Parade'' by Ernest Rogers, pages 73-75.
WGM's use of the Georgia Railway and Power transmitter came to an end in late May, when the power company received its own broadcasting station authorization, as WDAW. The newspaper announced that WGM was suspending operations until a new transmitting facility could be constructed. In early July WGM resumed operations from its "radio plant" atop the ''Constitution'' building. (During this pause WGM's license was temporarily deleted, then reinstated, with the same call letters and owner.) In September 1922 the Department of Commerce set aside a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz) for "Class B" stations that had quality equipment and programming. Both WSB and WGM were assigned to this new wavelength, with WGM introducing the use of its new home-built 500-watt transmitter. In May 1923 additional "Class B" frequencies were made available, with Atlanta allocated 700 kHz, and WSB and WGM were reassigned to this new shared frequency. That summer WGM's schedule was reported to be 7 to 8 p.m. and 10:30 to 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time daily except on Wednesdays, which was Atlanta's "silent night" when stations in the area remained off the air in order aid listeners attempting to pick up weak distant signals. Although WGM was a high-powered station providing extensive and varied programming, on July 22, 1923 a front page ''Constitution'' headline announced that the station would be shutting down at the end of the month, with the station's assets to be contributed to Georgia Tech, so that the college could establish its own station. WGM made its final broadcast on the evening of July 29, 1923. The Commerce Department officially deleted the station's license effective August 28, 1923."Strike out all particulars for the following named stations"
''Radio Service Bulletin'', September 1, 1923, page 10. Financed largely through the ''Constitution's'' donation, the new Georgia Tech station, WBBF (later WGST, now
WGKA WGKA (920 AM) – branded AM 920 The Answer – is a commercial conservative talk radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia, serving primarily the Atlanta metropolitan area. Currently owned by Salem Media Group, WGKA serves as the Atlanta affil ...
)"New Stations: Broadcasting Stations"
''Radio Service Bulletin'', February 1, 1924, page 3. Although much of the equipment used by WBBF had been inherited from WGM, the Department of Commerce treated WGM and WBBF as separate stations, and current Federal Communications Commission records list January 7, 1924 as WGKA's "first license date".
began operating in early January 1924. During the station's debut broadcast on January 14, college president M. L. Brittain's opening speech lauded "the generosity of Editor
Clark Howell Clark Howell (September 21, 1863 – November 14, 1936) was a Pulitzer Prize winning American newspaper man and politician from the state of Georgia. For fifty-three years, he was editorial executive and owner of ''The Atlanta Constitution ...
and The Constitution", with the newspaper reporting that Brittain also had "expressed the gratitude of the institution to The Constitution for presenting without cost to Tech the powerful broadcasting equipment"."Tech Sends First Message To Radio Fans of America" by Parks Rusk, ''Atlanta Constitution'', January 15, 1924, page 1.


References

{{Atlanta radio GM Radio stations established in 1922 1922 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Radio stations disestablished in 1923 1923 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Defunct radio stations in the United States GM