On February 11, 1927, the station began as WFIW in Hopkinsville, Kentucky,[5][6] with test broadcasts conducted three nights earlier.[7] Under ownership by the Acme Flour Mills, Inc., of Hopkinsville with the call letters standing for the "Whitest Flour In the World,"[1]: 25–26 it was a 500-watt station that originally broadcast at 820 kilohertz for the station's first three months until moving to 830 kilohertz. The station's broadcasting equipment at that time was sold by the operators of the defunct WIAR, which operated in Paducah from 1922 until 1924.[8] In the latter half of 1927, it moved again to 1150 kilohertz with 1,000 watts of power.[1]: 16–17 [9] A newspaper article published the same year cited the station for its gold and black motif, which earned the station's facility's nickname, the "Golden Studio".[1]: 20
In the latter half of 1928, as part of a nationwide reorganization of radio frequencies, the station's third frequency change occurred, moving to 940 kilohertz. WFIW affiliated with CBS the following year. Tragedy struck the station on July 29, 1931, when the WFIW studio was destroyed by a fire, thus silencing the station until a new studio was built; it would occupy that studio for about two years.[1]: 26
Early years in Louisville
On October 25, 1933, WFIW was purchased by George Norton Jr.,[1]: 30 and its transmitter was moved to Louisville, with the call letters being changed to WAVE.[10] WAVE, retaining the AM 940 frequency it previously broadcast on, returned to the air on December 30, 1933, and was affiliated with the NBC Red Network.[1]: 30 It carried NBC's schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio".[11]
During the Ohio River flood in January 1937, WAVE suspended regular programming to provide extensive coverage of the flood, and to provide emergency information.
In 1948, it added the first TV station in Kentucky, WAVE-TV. Because WAVE radio had been a long-time NBC Radio affiliate, WAVE-TV primarily carried NBC programs.
Middle-of-the-Road format
As network programming shifted from radio to TV during the 1950s, WAVE began airing a full-serviceMOR format, which later shifted to oldies. In 1981, WAVE was sold to locally based Henson Broadcasting. Because the TV station kept the WAVE call sign, the AM station changed call letters to WAVG; this was necessitated by Federal Communications Commission rules at the time, since repealed. Seven years later, the station was purchased by Radio One (unrelated to the company now known as Urban One that eventually bought stations in the Louisville market in the late 1990s).[1]: 107
Oldies format
In the fall of 1989, the station dropped local programming and began running a satellite-fed syndicated oldies format. On September 4, 1990, WAVG switched to an adult standards format. In 1991, WAVG was sold to Sunnyside Communications.[1]: 107
Pulitzer ownership and all-news format
On January 8, 1997, Sunnyside announced it would sell WAVG to Pulitzer, then-owners of CBS affiliate WLKY-TV (channel 32), which announced plans to flip the station to an all-news format, with AP News Radio programming and simulcasts of WLKY's television newscasts. The changeover took place at noon on June 16. At the same time, the WAVG call letters and standards format moved to 1450 AM, while 970 adopted the WLKY call sign.[12]
On January 5, 2015, WGTK rebranded as "970 The Answer".[14]
Word Broadcasting ownership
On December 22, 2016, it was announced that Word Broadcasting Network, owner of then-Ion Television affiliate WBNA (channel 21, now an independent station) and operator of non-commercialContemporary Christian station WJIE-FM, would take over operations of WGTK and sister stations WFIA and WFIA-FM under a local marketing agreement, effective January 3, 2017.[15] On February 10, 2020, Word Broadcasting announced that it would take advantage of the option in its agreement to acquire the stations from Salem for $4 million;[16][17] the sale was completed on May 25, 2022.[18]
On February 17, 2022, it was announced that Louisville First Media Group, a partnership between the operators of both WLCL and WGTK, had struck a broadcast rights deal, wherein the two stations would replace WHAS and WKRD as the official home for University of Louisville Cardinals athletics. The two stations carry all of the university's football, men's and women's basketball, and baseball games; seasonal football and basketball coaches shows; and a daily "Cardinal Insider" program (which also airs on Word Media Group-owned WXVW). Previous flagship WHAS had prioritized in-state rivals, the University of Kentucky Wildcats, with conflicting Cardinals games airing on WKRD.[19]
Weekends feature some specialty shows as well as repeats of weekday programs. WGTK had aired a local midday show with former WHAS host Joe Elliott but that was discontinued in the fall of 2015. The station begins most hours with Townhall Radio News. WGTK is the radio home of University of Louisville Cardinals football as well as men's and women's basketball.
^"New stations". Radio Service Bulletin. February 28, 1927. p. 3.
^Radio Listeners Red Book Magazine. Fort Wayne, Indiana: The Wayne Andrews Company. Spring 1928. p. 15.
^Kieber, John E., Ed. (2001). The Encyclopedia of Louisville. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 126. ISBN0-8131-2100-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Broadcasting Yearbook(PDF). Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 1935. p. 32 – via World Radio History.
