WGUL (860 AM) 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

conservative talk radio Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

format. Licensed to

Dunedin, Florida Dunedin is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The name comes from ''Dùn Èideann'', the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area and is ...

, United States, it serves the Tampa Bay area. The station is owned by

Salem Communications Salem Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SALM; formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher formerly based in Camarillo, California (moved most operations to Irv ...

and features only syndicated conservative weekday programming from

Salem Radio Network Salem Radio Network is a United States-based radio network that specializes in syndicated Christian political talk, music, and conservative secular news/talk programming. It is a division of the Salem Media Group. Network information Salem Ra ...

. 860 kHz is a Canadian

clear-channel A clear-channel station is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The syste ...

frequency.

History

WGUL previously ran a live, locally based "

Music of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and C ...

" format from 1985 to August 12, 2005. That year, Salem Communications acquired WGUL from its previous owners, WGUL-FM, Inc., in which they changed its format to its current conservative talk format. WGUL-FM, Inc. continues in business today under that name, as owners and operators of stations in Florida's

Nature Coast The Nature Coast is an informal, unofficial region of the U.S. state of Florida. The broadest definition of the Nature Coast includes the eight counties that abut the Gulf of Mexico along the Big Bend Coast defined by geologists: from west to east ...

region (including WGHR and

WXOF WXOF (96.7 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Yankeetown, Florida. The station is owned by WGUL-FM, Inc. It airs a classic rock radio format. It sometimes describes itself on the air as "classic hits" but it plays popular classi ...

), though Salem currently holds the WGUL

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 ...

and intellectual property.

Programming

The content of WGUL's talk programming is conservative with show hosts such as Phil Grande,

Hugh Hewitt Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is an American radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network and an attorney, academic, and author. A conservative, he writes about law, society, politics, and media bias in the United States. Hewitt is ...

and Mike Gallagher. The weekend show line up includes

Kim Komando Kimberly Ann Komando (born 1967) is the host of two daily radio shows and one weekend radio show about consumer technology. On her weekly call-in show, she provides advice about technology gadgets, websites, smartphone apps, and internet security. ...

. The station previously broadcast two shows hosted by Gary Gauthier, ''It's God's Money'' and ''All About Florida Real Estate'' until Gauthier was arrested in January 2014, for running a

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...

from 2005 until 2010, which allegedly bilked $6 million of retirement savings from at least 38 elderly people.

References

External links

* GUL News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1960 Salem Media Group properties 1960 establishments in Florida Dunedin, Florida Conservative talk radio {{Florida-radio-station-stub