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| Simulcast ofWHPY-FMBellevue | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Broadcast area | Nashville metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 1430kHz |
| Branding | Hippie Radio 94.5 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Classic hits |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Kensington Digital Media, L.L.C. |
| WHPY-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | September 14, 1958; 67 years ago (1958-09-14) (as WENO) |
Former call signs | WENO (1957–1977) WJRB (1977–1988) WWRB (1988) WRLT (1988–1990) WHNK (1990–1995) WCKD (1995–1996) WMAK (1996–2000) WKDA (2000–2002) WQDQ (2002) WPLN (2002–2023) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 21473 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 15,000watts days 1,000 watts nights |
Transmitter coordinates | 36°16′19″N86°42′53″W / 36.27194°N 86.71472°W /36.27194; -86.71472 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | hippieradio945.com |
WYGI (1430kHz) is acommercialAMradio stationlicensed toMadison, Tennessee, and serving theNashville metropolitan area. WYGI andsister stationWHPY-FMsimulcast aclassic hitsradio format. They are owned by Kensington Digital Media and are known as "Hippie Radio." The stations focus on the "hippie era," playing the hits of the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
By day, WYGI is powered at 15,000wattsnon-directional. But at night, to protect other stations on1430 AM from interference, it reduces power to 1,000 watts and uses adirectional antenna with a four-tower array. Thetransmitter is on Nesbitt Lane in Nashville, near Gallatin Pike North (U.S. Route 31E).[2]
The stationsigned on the air on September 14, 1958; 67 years ago (1958-09-14).[3] Its originalcall sign was WENO. For its first few decades, WENO was acountry music station and anetwork affiliate of theMutual Broadcasting System.
It was owned by the Central Broadcasting Company with studios in Nashville. It was considered the first station to play country music during all of the broadcast day, not just at night as the legendaryWSM 650 did for many years. AM 1430 went through several ownership, call letter and format changes over the years. It became WQDQ in 2002,simulcasting the news programming of localCBS television affiliateWTVF and its affiliatedcable outlet.
On April 1, 2002, the station was acquired by Nashville Public Radio. WQDQ became WPLN on April 9, 2002. The station was generally considered to be financially marginal, which is why the frequency was available for sale to the local public radio board, due to lack of interest by potential commercial buyers. Nashville Public Radio was able to put most of its spoken word programs on its AM station, while allowing its FM station, 90.3WPLN-FM to devote some hours to music programming.
WPLN was part of a trend for large cities to have multiple public radio outlets carrying distinct formats. However, with Nashville Public Radio's purchase ofVanderbilt University student stationWRVU and converting it to an all-classical music format asWFCL, WPLN-FM's format was changed on June 8, 2011, to an all-news-and-talk format. (WFCL is now WNXP and changed in 2020 to anadult album alternative format, with classical music moving to a WPLN-FM HD-2 signal.)
The formercall sign WPLN originated fromPublicLibrary ofNashville, reflecting the original status ofpublic radio in Nashville as a subsidiary of thepublic library. Although the library and the radio station had developed separate operations andboards of directors well before the addition of the AM station, the FM radio had retained the 'PLN' moniker.
As of March 2020, WPLN was also heard on its sister station WPLN-FM's HD3 channel. From May 2011 until March 2020, it was previously heard on the HD2 subchannel. In 2020, WPLN converted its format to theBBC World Service, broadcasting its programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All other programs were dropped.
On September 20, 2022, Nashville Public Radio announced that it was selling WPLN to Kensington Digital Media.[4] WPLNsigned off the air at noon on December 22, 2022, in preparation for the sale to Kensington Digital Media.
Kensington announced that it planned to debut a new format after the New Year in 2023 and change the station's call sign to WYGI.[5] The BBC World Service and the WPLN International format continued to be broadcast on the WPLN-FM HD3 subchannel. AM 1430 began simulcasting WHPY-FM 94.5. The call sign change occurred on January 10, 2023.