WSKY-FM

WSKY-FM
City Micanopy, Florida
Broadcast area Gainesville-Ocala, Florida
Branding Newstalk 97.3 The Sky
Frequency 97.3 MHz
First air date September 7, 1985 (as 97.7 WGLV)
Format Talk radio
ERP 50,000 watts
HAAT 150 meters (492 ft)
Class C2
Facility ID 23352
Transmitter coordinates 29°32′9.00″N 82°19′18.00″W / 29.5358333°N 82.3216667°W / 29.5358333; -82.3216667
Callsign meaning The Big SKY[1]
Former callsigns WGLV (1985-1987)
WGGG-FM (1987-1989)
WLCL (1989-1993)
WRRX (1993-1998)
Affiliations Premiere Radio Networks
Westwood One Network
ABC Radio News
Owner Entercom Communications
(Entercom License, LLC)
Sister stations WKTK
Webcast Listen Live
Website thesky973.com

WSKY-FM (97.3 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Micanopy, Florida, and serving the Gainesville-Ocala, Florida radio market. The station airs a talk radio format and is owned by Entercom Communications.[2][3]

WSKY carries a local weekday morning talk and information show, followed by nationally syndicated talk programs. They include Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Beyond Reality Radio, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal. Weekends feature shows on money, health, real estate, law, gardening, computers and cigars, some of which are paid brokered programming. Hosts include Kim Komando, Bill Handel, Clark Howard and Bill Cunningham. Most hours begin with world and national news from ABC Radio News.

History

On September 7, 1985, the station first signed on at 97.7 FM as WGLV, an adult contemporary music station known as "Gainesville's Love 98." WGLV was co-owned with AM 1230 WGGG, a longtime legendary Top 40 station in the market, and tried to take advantage of the connection by hiring legendary WGGG personality "Boomer" Hough as its first morning show host. However, Hough's show lasted only a few months. WGLV tried to further bank on the legendary WGGG call sign in 1987 by adopting a 1970s-based oldies format as WGGG-FM and declaring "The Legend is Back!"[4] This, too, proved short-lived. After WGGG-AM-FM were sold in 1989, WGGG-FM became WLCL, a soft AC station branded as "Clear FM".

From 1993 until the debut of WSKY in 1998 (except for a brief period during which it programmed oldies as WGGO "Go 97.7"), the station was known as WRRX "97-X". At that time, the station featured an adult album alternative format which was partially programmed via satellite from an outside provider, and locally in certain dayparts, featuring an eclectic variety of music. 97-X had a small yet loyal following in the local Gainesville music scene.

97-X was sold to Entercom in March 1998, for a price tag of $2.8 million.[5] Entercom switched the call letters to WSKY and moved the station to the 97.3 FM frequency on June 7, 1998, boosting the signal to 13,500 watts from its previous 2,600 watts. The antenna height was nearly doubled to 948 feet from its previous 495 foot tower. This gave WSKY better coverage of the Gainesville-Ocala radio market, putting a high-quality signal over both cities. The station also switched to its current talk radio format. WSKY has since boosted its power to 50,000 watts effective radiated power (ERP) but reduced its height above average terrain (HAAT) to 492 feet.

Awards

WSKY was given an award for its news reporting during the 2004 hurricane season, which hit WSKY's broadcast area especially hard.

References

  1. ↑ "Call Letter Origins". Radio History on the Web.
  2. ↑ "WSKY-FM Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. ↑ "WSKY-FM Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  4. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1987 page B-62
  5. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1999 page D-95
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