WNGH-FM (98.9 FM) is an

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

-member public radio station (via its

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), licensed to

Chatsworth, Georgia Chatsworth is a city in Murray County, Georgia, United States, specifically in the Dalton, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population was 4,874 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Murray County and the site of the coldes ...

, United States. The station is currently owned by

Georgia Public Broadcasting Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) is a state network of PBS member television stations and NPR member radio stations serving the U.S. state of Georgia. It is operated by the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, an agency of the ...

(GPB), which the station

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, simulta ...

s all

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ming from. It transmits from atop a mountain in the west-southwestern part of Fort Mountain State Park (''not'' Fort Mountain itself), having moved in May 2008 to the tower of sister television station WNGH-TV.

History

The station began broadcasting as a commercial operation on November 13, 1976, and held the call sign WQMT.History Cards for WNGH-FM
fcc.gov. Retrieved September 29, 2019. It was owned by Cohutta Broadcasting Company. On December 21, 2007, then-owners North Georgia Radio Group entered into an agreement to sell the station, still known as WQMT, to the Foundation For Public Broadcasting In Georgia, Inc., which shares the same street address as the GPB headquarters in Atlanta. The sale was approved by 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 jurisdicti ...

(FCC) on April 9, 2008. Pending the sale, GPB reserved the call sign WNGH-FM for the station, to be assigned upon consummation. GPB also chose to change the callsign of WCLP-TV to WNGH-TV. The station switched from its previous

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

format (branded as "Georgia 99") to GPB programming on January 2, 2008, and later moved to the WNGH-TV tower around May 2008. Despite broadcasting at a relatively modest 420 watts, WNGH-FM provides city-grade coverage to much of far northern Georgia, including

Dalton Dalton may refer to: Science * Dalton (crater), a lunar crater * Dalton (program), chemistry software * Dalton (unit) (Da), the atomic mass unit * John Dalton, chemist, physicist and meteorologist Entertainment * Dalton (Buffyverse), minor ch ...

, and provides secondary coverage to much of the

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...

area, including much of Chattanooga itself. This is because its transmitter is located 1,778 feet above average terrain. Effective June 30, 2016, the Foundation For Public Broadcasting in Georgia donated WNGH-FM to the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, the state entity that supervises GPB, making GPB the direct licensee.

References

External links

*
Archive photos of WQMT-FM on the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame page
{{NPR Georgia NGH-FM NPR member stations Radio stations established in 1976 1976 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)