WGMS (defunct)
WGMS was a radio station in Washington, D.C. that maintained a classical music format from 1946 to 2007. Last owned by Bonneville International, it was known on air for many years as Classical 103.5. It last broadcast on 104.1 MHz from a transmitter in Waldorf, Maryland, with a repeater signal broadcast from Braddock Heights, Maryland, on 103.9 MHz under the call sign of WGYS.
The WGMS call letters are today in use by public radio station WETA-FM's repeater in Hagerstown, Maryland, having been donated by Bonneville as part of an agreement between both stations made public the same day WGMS signed off.
History
Early history
The station went on air on December 29, 1946, under the call sign of WQQW at 570 kHz on the AM band. It added an FM signal, at 103.5 MHz, on September 18, 1948. It changed its call letters in 1951 to WGMS, which stood for "Washington's Good Music Station" (that slogan had been used on the station several years before). According to the station's website, WGMS "was the first FM signal in the marketplace and holds the record for the longest consecutive broadcast in the same format."
WGMS
WGMS may stand for:
WETA (FM)
WETA (90.9 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to serve Washington, DC broadcasting a classical music format. Its studios are located in Arlington, Virginia and its broadcast tower is located near Arlington at (38°53′30.0″N 77°07′54.0″W / 38.891667°N 77.131667°W). The station covers the Washington metro area with the highest effective radiated power of any FM station in the area with 75,000 watts, which exceeds the current limit set by the Federal Communications Commission for Class B FM radio stations. It has an HD Radio simulcast at 90.9 FM HD and operates simulcasting stations WGMS/89.1 in Hagerstown, Maryland and at W205BL/88.9 in Frederick, Maryland.
Past formats and format changes
From 1970 through early 2005, WETA featured a mixed radio format of classical music, folk music, jazz, and news. It switched to a predominantly news and talk radio format from February 28, 2005 until January 22, 2007, when it switched to its current all-classical radio format. The switch was part of an unusual deal between the public radio station and commercial station WGMS (FM), which abandoned the classical music format it had aired for decades after an attempt to sell WGMS to Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder failed. The FCC subsequently granted WETA permission to use the WGMS call letters for its Hagerstown, Maryland, repeater station, formerly known as WETH.
The Worlds Greatest Music Station
The Worlds Greatest Music Station (or WGMS) was the AM sister station to Hereward FM. Its time on-air was short lived and restricted to approximately two years when both local ILR stations were acquired by the GWR group in the 90s.
History
Originally, Hereward Radio (which launched on the July 10th 1980) broadcast on both on FM and 1332 AM. On the April 14th 1992 the station split its AM and FM frequencies, with Hereward FM just broadcasting on 102.7 FM and The Worlds Greatest Music Station launching on 1332 AM. WGMS was short-lived, as around 1994, it was purchased by the GWR Group and then re-branded as Classic Gold 1332. Due to going over the limits of the amount of stations a group can own, GWR sold their "Classic Gold" stations, and they were bought by UBC Media, although GWR did keep a 20% stake. Then, on August 3, 2007, all Classic Gold stations were rebranded as simply "Gold". This followed the GCap Media purchase of the Classic Gold network, and the merging of the Capital Gold and Classic Gold stations
