WPGP (1250 AM) is a radio station inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, broadcasting with a power output of 5,000 watts. The station is owned and operated by theSalem Media Group.
The station is one of the five original Pittsburgh stations, signing on May 4, 1922, as WCAE.[2] It was originally owned by the Pittsburghdepartment store Kaufmann & Baer's, and operated on 833 kHz (as all stations did at that time);[3] it moved to 750 kHz in December[4] and to 650 in May 1923.[5] Kaufmann and Baer's was purchased in 1925 byGimbels; this made WCAE the company's third radio station, afterWIP inPhiladelphia andWGBS in New York City.[6] The station became an affiliate of theNBC Red Network in January 1927.[7] It moved to 560 kHz on June 15, 1927,[8] but in November returned to 650;[9] a year later, WCAE moved to 1220 kHz[10]
WCAE was acquired byHearst Corporation in 1931.[3] TheNorth American Regional Broadcasting Agreement moved the station to 1250 kHz on March 29, 1941;[11] on November 1, it became a full-time affiliate of theMutual Broadcasting System (which previously aired on both WCAE andKQV), with NBC Red moving toKDKA.[12] Another affiliation change took place on June 15, 1945, when WCAE swapped affiliations with KQV and joined theBlue Network,[13] which changed its name to theAmerican Broadcasting Company (ABC) that same day. AnFM sister station on 96.1 MHz was started in 1948;[14] WCAE-FM was shut down in 1953,[15] but was restarted August 8, 1960.[16] WCAE lost the ABC affiliation toWJAS on May 21, 1955.[17] The station expanded into television three years later, with the debut ofWTAE (channel 4) on September 4, 1958, initially as a joint venture of Hearst and the former owners of KQV;[18] this arrangement had led to the sale of KQV to ABC in 1957 to avoid duopoly concerns.[19]
WCAE beganstunting on May 27, 1961, promoting a new format to begin two days later; at that time, the station changed its call letters to WRYT and began playingbeautiful music.[20] Another call letter change occurred five years later, when the station became WTAE to match its television sister station (which had become wholly owned by Hearst by this time);[21] soon afterward, the station shifted to amiddle-of-the-road format.[7]
WTAE shifted its format again in 1973, this time to anoldies-heavyadult contemporary format under general managerTed Atkins,[3] who used programming techniques he had learned fromBill Drake atKHJ in Los Angeles.[22] The widely popular morning show,O'Brien & Garry, featured Larry O'Brien and John Garry doing comedy skits, playing music, and other general morning fare. The format proved successful – by 1980, WTAE had become the number-two station in Pittsburgh, trailing only KDKA.[22] The station also had a heavy sports commitment; it became the flagship station of thePittsburgh Steelers in 1969,[3] and around the same time became the home of thePittsburgh Panthers.[23] WTAE also aired a nightly sports show, hosted for many years byMyron Cope.[22] The station also added an affiliation with ABC's Entertainment Network by 1976.[24] In 1987, as at many AM radio stations, music was abandoned, and WTAE became atalk radio station.[25] Hosts included Jack Bogut,Lynn Cullen, Doug Hoerth and Phil Musick.
WEAE's final logo as "1250 ESPN", used from 2008 until December 31, 2010
After 66 years of ownership, Hearst sold WTAE, along with what had become WVTY (nowWKST-FM), toSFX Broadcasting in 1997.[26] That December 1, SFX relaunched WTAE as asports radio station.[27] Chancellor Media bought SFX's Pittsburgh stations a year later,[28] and then traded WTAE toJacor in exchange forWKNR inCleveland, Ohio in August 1998.[29] Jacor changed the call letters to WEAE to disassociate the station from WTAE-TV, which remained owned byHearst-Argyle.[3] Soon afterward, Jacor put the station up for sale, and in 1999, WEAE was acquired by ABC,[30] which affiliated the station with itsESPN Radio network on March 15 of that year.[3] ESPN programming such asMike and Mike in the Morning was supplemented by local sports talkersScott Paulsen,[31]Mike Logan,[31] Chris Mack,[32] Guy Junker,[31]Stan Savran,[31] andStillers 365 (with Ken Laird).[32]Mark Madden was a host on the station from 1998[30] until his firing in May 2008 for making an on-air remark that he wished that Sen.Edward Kennedy be assassinated.[33] Madden returned to the Pittsburgh airwaves on October 13, 2008, with an afternoon drive show on competitorWXDX, which is otherwise amodern rock station.[34]
WDDZ's logo as "Radio Disney AM 1250", used from 2011 until 2015
Soon after the sale to ABC, WEAE lost the Steelers rights toWDVE (itself formerly owned by ABC) and WWSW (nowWBGG) after nearly thirty years;[35] a year earlier, WTAE had lost the Pittsburgh Panthers to KQV.[23] The station subsequently picked up thePenn State Nittany Lions.[32][36]
Although WEAE was generally the top-rated sports station in Pittsburgh, ahead of WBGG, it was a financial failure (at one point losing as much as $2 million)—a problem that only worsened whenKDKA-FM was launched as an FM sports station and wooed away some of WEAE's advertisers.[32] After attempts to sell the station ended without a buyer, ABC decided to not renew its lease ofWWCS, which it had run as Pittsburgh'sRadio Disney affiliate, upon its expiration on December 31, 2010, and move Radio Disney to WEAE,[32] with WBGG assuming the ESPN Radio affiliation[37] andPenn State men's basketball moving to KQV.[38] Local programming was largely canceled on September 25, 2010.[39] When the format change occurred on January 1, 2011, the call letters were changed to WDDZ (which were transferred from aformer Radio Disney affiliate inProvidence, Rhode Island andZion, Illinois).[40]
On August 13, 2014, Disney put WDDZ and twenty-two other Radio Disney stations up for sale, to focus on digital distribution of the Radio Disney network.[41][42] Disney originally planned to temporarily shut down the station on September 26, 2014.[43] However, Disney changed its plans at the last minute, and all stations remained on the air and continued carrying Radio Disney programming until they were sold.[44]
Original logo after taking "The Answer" branding
On February 25, 2015, Sports Radio Group (the Disney subsidiary that held the station's license) filed to sell WDDZ to the Pennsylvania Media Associates, Inc.,[45] a subsidiary of theSalem Media Group.[46] Salem bought the station for $1 million.[47] Following the sale's completion, Salem introduced its "Answer" conservative talk format on the station on May 13.[48][49][50] The FCC granted the sale on April 13, 2015.[51] The sale was consummated on May 12, 2015,[52] and the call sign was changed to WPGP.[53]
^"Radio Service Bulletin". Department of Commerce Bureau of Navigation. June 1, 1923. p. 10. Archived fromthe original on March 4, 2016. RetrievedDecember 24, 2010.
^"Radio Service Bulletin". United States Department of Commerce Radio Division. May 31, 1927. p. 9. Archived fromthe original on November 25, 2006. RetrievedDecember 25, 2010.
^"Radio Service Bulletin". United States Department of Commerce Radio Division. November 30, 1927. p. 8. Archived fromthe original on March 4, 2016. RetrievedDecember 25, 2010.
^"Radio Service Bulletin"(PDF). United States Department of Commerce Radio Division. November 30, 1928. p. 9. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on March 4, 2016. RetrievedDecember 25, 2010.
^"WJAS Switches to ABC"(PDF).Broadcasting-Telecasting. April 25, 1955. p. 9. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on March 24, 2012. RetrievedDecember 25, 2010.
^"Closed Circuit"(PDF).Broadcasting-Telecasting. July 22, 1957. p. 5. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on March 24, 2012. RetrievedDecember 25, 2010.
^Smizik, Bob (November 17, 2010)."Penn State basketball to KQV".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Archived from the original on September 29, 2010. RetrievedDecember 27, 2010.
^Smizik, Bob (September 26, 2010)."Shutdown begins at 1250 ESPN".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Archived from the original on September 29, 2010. RetrievedSeptember 27, 2010.
