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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Washington metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 95.5MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | WPGC 95.5 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Urban contemporary |
| Subchannels | HD2:WJFK-FM simulcast |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | January 18, 1948 (77 years ago) (1948-01-18) |
Former call signs |
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Former frequencies | 96.7 MHz (1948–1954)[1] |
Call sign meaning | Prince George's County |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 26832 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 50,000 watts |
| HAAT | 148 meters (486 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°51′50″N76°54′40″W / 38.864°N 76.911°W /38.864; -76.911 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (via Audacy) |
| Website | www |
WPGC-FM (95.5MHz) is acommercialradio stationlicensed toMorningside, Maryland, and serving theWashington metropolitan area. It is owned byAudacy, Inc., and airs anurban contemporary format.
WPGC-FM hasstudios in theNavy Yard neighborhood ofSoutheast D.C., with itstransmitter located off Walker Mill Road at Tanow Place inCapitol Heights, Maryland.[3] In 2005, WPGC began broadcasting inIBOCdigital radio, using theHD Radio system fromiBiquity. The HD2digital subchannel carries a simulcast ofWJFK-FM.
The stationsigned on the air on January 18, 1948, at 7 a.m., on 96.7 MHz with thecall sign WBUZ. WBUZ was owned by Arthur Baldwin Curtis, president of Chesapeake Broadcasting Company, Incorporated, and was located in Bradbury Heights.[4] WBUZ-FM broadcasting with an effective radiated power of 420 watts. The call letters were a play on the word "bus", as WBUZ broadcast background music for aPrince George's County, Maryland based bus company.[5]
In May 1953, WBUZ-FM raised power to 6,300 watts and itscity of license was changed to Oakland, Maryland (nearDistrict Heights;[6] not theWestern Maryland town). Then on June 8, 1953, theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) granted a permit to the station to raise power from 6.3 to 18 kilowatts. WBUZ-FM changed frequency from 96.7 to 95.5 Megahertz and power was reduced to 16.5 kilowatts from a new transmitter and tower site on Walker Mill Road in Oakland. The calls were changed to WRNC on March 30, 1956. By the end of the year, WRNC was simulcasting WPGC (AM). The ERP was reduced to 15.7 kilowatts while the power increase authorized for WPGC (AM) in 1955 to 10,000 watts daytime only.
WPGC-AM, Inc., purchased WRNC in 1956. The calls were changed to WPGC-FM in March 1958.[5] WPGC-FM temporarily went silent until February 1959, as new studios were being constructed for thetop 40 format. Though the calls have always stood forPrince George's County for the county Morningside resides in, during the 70s and early 80s an alternate contest slogan had them standing forWhere People Get Cash on-air.
WPGC-FM maintained some form of the top 40 format (skewed fromrock 'n' roll-based toadult contemporary) until 1984, when it flipped toeasy listening/adult contemporary. For two years, the station took the calls WCLY and was known on-air as "Classy 95".[7]
Classy 95 ended up being a failure, and First Media sold its stations off toCook Inlet Radio Partners, a group ofAlaska Natives for $177 million in 1987.[8] Cook Inlet returned the WPGC-FM calls on the weekend afterMemorial Day on May 30, 1987.[7] The first song under the new format was "Jam On It" byNewcleus, and the new CHR format with an urban lean became much more popular.[9] The station was initially brandedWPGC, 95 Jams. In the early 2000s, the branding reverted to simplyWPGC 95.5, dropping theJams moniker from the brand, although it still visibly remained on the station's logo. In August 2009, the station rebranded again to95-5 PGC.
Donnie Simpson hostedThe Donnie Simpson Morning Show during the morning drive from March 1993 to January 29, 2010.
Infinity Broadcasting acquired the station and sister station WPGC from Cook Inlet in June 1994 for $60 million. The stations moved to new studios and offices at 4200 Parliament Place, Suite 300 inLanham, Maryland, in the summer of 2000. In January 2006 owner Viacom split into two companies, Viacom and CBS, and the Infinity Broadcasting name was dropped in favor of CBS Radio.
WPGC announced they were moving their studios from Parliament Place in Lanham in suburban Maryland to the Navy Yard neighborhood in southeast DC on March 26, 2015.[10]
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge withEntercom.[11] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.[12][13]
Similar to other long-time rhythmic turned urban stations includingKMEL inSan Francisco andWQHT inNew York, WPGC has evolved into a full-service urban contemporary station that is still monitored byNielsen BDS as a rhythmic. WPGC-FM also has been a debated topic amongst radio experts about its format classification as aRhythmic Contemporary Hit radio station even though it really operates musically and programmed as an Urban Contemporary. In 1987, when the current format on WPGC was introduced it was a mix of R&B, hip-hop, dance and pop titles. This came at a time when many radio stations took on the "crossover"-based format for the first time asEmmis Communications pioneered it onKPWR in Los Angeles andWQHT in New York upon acquiring those stations. In the case of Washington, D.C., the new format niched in well with established R&B stations WKYS, WMMJ andWOL as well as top 40 stations (at the time)WRQX andWAVA-FM.
By 1997, following the departure of longtime assistant program director/music director and afternoon host Albie Dee, its playlist consisted mainly of R&B and hip-hop titles. Many critics say the ability to attract more mainstream advertisers as Rhythmic, rather than Urban, is the real reason. By the early 2000s, WPGC was regularly airinggo-go, a local sub-genre offunk, soul, and R&B, made popular by live performers includingChuck Brown,Experience Unlimited, andRare Essence in local clubs and performance venues.
In June 2009, speculation began circulating that WPGC might be evolving towards a Top 40/CHR direction or back to its former urban-leaning Rhythmic format similar to sister stationWZMX. The move might have been fueled by the recent drop in the ratings and in part due to the introduction of PPMs in the market, where it has hurt them audience-wise.[14] However, WPGC remained an urban, albeit a Mainstream Urban (in terms of programming and music playlist, although still basically considered a rhythmic), that focuses primarily on the current urban hits with some recurrents and throwbacks mixed into its playlist.
In December 2010, WPGC began to open up its playlist to include songs that they wouldn't have touched, i.e.Just The Way You Are fromBruno Mars. This issue of whether WPGC might be shifting to a broader Rhythmic sound continued to be debated on message boards like Radio-Info.[15] Even though WPGC-FM was still considered as a rhythmic, it added more rhythmic-friendly tracks but reduced the urban lean from 2010 to 2018.
From 1992 to 1997, WPGC was an original member of the BDS Rhythmic Top 40 panel, when it was moved to BDS's R&B/Hip-Hop reporting panel in 1997. It was the only Rhythmic owned by then CBS Radio that was not listed on theNielsen BDS rhythmic panel. From 1997 to 2012, Nielsen BDS placed WPGC-FM on the urban panel, while it remained on the rhythmic panel onMediabase, as Radio One'sWKYS is its competitor, but is an urban contemporary station. On June 13, 2012, WPGC returned to theNielsen BDS Rhythmic Top 40 panel after 15 years.[16] CBS Radio moved WPGC to the Rhythmic panel from the R&B/Hip-Hop panel due to WPGC becoming more of a hit-driven Rhythmic Top 40 that is more in line with their other Rhythmic outlets and to be more competitive with Top 40/CHR rivalWIHT. However, it retained a heavy urban lean to programming when compared to most rhythmic-formatted stations on the panel. Ironically, they were also the second CBS Radio Rhythmic outlet on the BDS Rhythmic panel with a R&B/Hip-Hop direction, the other beingWZMX-Hartford, Connecticut.
WPGC is considered the 2nd largest and co-flagship (along with WVEE) owned by Audacy within its urban/rhythmic division, based on market size (Washington, DC #8). Until August 2012,CBS Radio did list WPGC as an urban on their corporate listings, but by 2012, it was programmed as a hybrid of both formats.[17] As a result, Atlanta (market rank #7) sister station,WVEE, is considered the largest urban station from 2012 to 2018 and again in 2023, but WVEE is still the co-flagship of the company's urban/rhythmic division. As of January 2018, Audacy does list WPGC-FM as an urban on their station listings, making WPGC an urban station once again.[18]
As of April 2021,Mediabase does monitor WPGC-FM as an urban on its weekly station panel.[19]
Currently, WPGC is musically programmed as a hit-driven, full-service, urban contemporary station that spins a heavy concentration of mainly contemporary hip-hop, soul,go-go and R&B music with numerous urban music throwbacks throughout the day and an occasional crossover pop hit song. The station directly competes withurban contemporary rivalWKYS andurban adult contemporary rivalsWMMJ andWHUR full-time, and to a lesser extent the station competes withcontemporary hit radio rivalWIHT. The station airs current and classic R&B and soulslow jams late nights on Sunday through Thursday dubbedThe Coolout. After many years of only giving occasional spins to urban contemporary gospel music that charted well on the Billboard, the station added a program dedicated to the genre on early Sunday mornings. The station also airs urban and crossover pop music throwbacks on Sunday evenings.
The station's signal covers both Washington and Baltimore, so it also competes with Baltimore'sWERQ, anUrban One-ownedurban contemporary station, and to a lesser extent,iHeartMedia'sWZFT which has a more generic Top 40/CHR format. It is the only Audacy rhythmic/urban in theEastern United States to use its call letters as a branding on-air (the other two,KSFM inSacramento andKLUC-FM inLas Vegas, are both in theWestern United States).
The station is an official sponsor of thePrince George's Film Festival.[20]