WGCU-FM

WGCU-FM
City Fort Myers, Florida
Broadcast area Southwest Florida
Branding WGCU
Slogan NPR for Southwest Florida
Frequency 90.1 MHz (also on HD Radio)
Repeater(s) 91.7 WMKO-FM (Marco Island)
First air date 1983
Format FM/HD1: News/Talk
HD2: Classical 24
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 248 meters
Class C1
Facility ID 69042
Transmitter coordinates 26°48′55.2″N 81°45′42.5″W / 26.815333°N 81.761806°W / 26.815333; -81.761806
Callsign meaning W
Gulf
Coast
University
Former callsigns WSFP-FM (1983-1996)
Affiliations NPR
Owner Florida Gulf Coast University
Sister stations WGCU-TV
Webcast Listen Live
Listen Live (HD2)
Website wgcu.org

WGCU-FM (90.1 FM) is an NPR-member radio station. Licensed to Fort Myers, Florida, United States, the station is owned by Florida Gulf Coast University. WGCU also operates WMKO-FM 91.7, a full-time satellite station licensed to Marco Island to serve the Naples area. As of June 25th, 2018 WGCU's schedule is entirely NPR news and talk programming.

WGCU-FM first signed on in 1983 as WSFP-FM, a station owned by the University of South Florida in Tampa, owners of public broadcasting stations WUSF FM and TV. At the time, Fort Myers / Naples was the only media market in Florida without any public broadcasting stations. WSFP-FM was largely a rebroadcast of WUSF-FM.

The broadcast license was transferred to the new Florida Gulf Coast University in 1996. WSFP-FM changed its calls to WGCU-FM on June 13, 1997, two months before FGCU opened.

Despite operating at a full 100,000 watts, the main WGCU-FM signal is barely listenable in parts of Collier County. This is because its transmitter is located in southern Charlotte County; however, its grade B signal reaches much of northern Collier County, including much of Naples itself. Soon after FGCU opened, it requested funding for a second station to improve its coverage in Naples. WMKO signed on for the first time in 1999, filling in coverage gaps in southern Collier County.

HD Radio Programming

For its first 13 years as a locally focused station, WGCU-FM aired a mix of NPR news and classical music.

  • HD2 - In 2009, WGCU moved its classical music programming to a 24/7 feed on its second digital subchannel. In 2012 when Classical South Florida affiliate WNPS signed on in the market, the HD2 changed to xPonential Radio, a Triple-A format produced by WXPN in Philadelphia. As of June 25th, 2018, the xPonential Radio service ended, the classical format moved from HD3 to HD2 and the HD3 subchannel was discontinued.

Both WGCU and WMKO run a 67 kHz subcarrier featuring a Radio Reading Service for the visually impaired.

WGCU has also been referenced for hurricane information on highway signs across Southwest Florida, mainly the 90.1 WGCU-FM signal.

See also

References


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