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Gainesville / Ocala TSA Heritage Call Letters

jmtillery

jmtillery

Below is a list of station licenses within the Gainesville / Ocala TSA that have continuously held the same call letters since sign-on or have been assigned to the same license / frequency for at least 25-years. The list consist of call letters, service [AM or FM], frequency and the year the call letters were assigned. If anyone can think of any additional heritage Gainesville / Ocala TSA call letters [25-years or older] that have been in continuous service on the same frequency since sign-on or at least 25-years, add them to the list.

Below are thirteen identified heritage market call letters:

WRUF-AM 850 1928
WRUF-FM 103.7 1948
WGGG-AM 1230 1948
WMOP-AM 900 1953
WLQH-AM 940 1965
WOCA-AM 1370 1983
WTRS-FM 102.3 1969
WUFT-FM 89.1 1981
WYFB-FM 90.5 1985
WJLF-FM 91.7 1986
*WMFQ-FM 92.7 / 92.9 1977
** WYKS-FM 105.5 / 105.3 1981
*** WDVH-AM 980 1954

* These call letters were first assigned in 1977 when WMFQ first signed on the air operating on 92.7mHz and remained with the same license when WMFQ moved frequency to 92.9 in 1988.

** These call letters were first assigned in 1981 when WGVL 105.5 became WYKS. In 1995 WYKS license was modified to specify operation on 105.3mHz under the same WYKS call letters.

*** Although WDVH is heritage, first assigned in 1954, the call letters were not in service on its original frequency AM 980 continuously due to AM 980 holding the call letters WLUS between 08-07-1986 and 02-22-2004 before returning to WDVH on 02-23-2004.
 
slight quibble….

WGGG was WFTP from 2/15/94 until 4/1/94 when they went back to WGGG. That was probably back during the Sonny Bloch debacle so they may not have been on the air with those calls as they were dark for quite some time. I remember they had that nice studio setup at Thornebrook Village that went unused for a long time.
 
Jeff said:
slight quibble….

WGGG was WFTP from 2/15/94 until 4/1/94 when they went back to WGGG. That was probably back during the Sonny Bloch debacle so they may not have been on the air with those calls as they were dark for quite some time. I remember they had that nice studio setup at Thornebrook Village that went unused for a long time.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely correct. I don't know how I missed that one because, after you reminded me by jogging my memory, I do remember that brief period Sonny Bloch owned WGGG as WFTP... The station was dark for an extended period before the license was sold to Florida SportsTalk. Gordon Smith returned the station to the air with an interim classical music format until the STL between WMOP Ocala and WGGG Gainesville were connected, bringing sports programming over AM 900 and AM 1230. Did I miss any other market heritage calls and stations?
 
Ive always thought it interesting that the oldest AM stations in town (WRUF/WGGG/WDVH) are still on the air with their original call letters (with a couple of interim changes along the way). The baby of the group (WDVH) has been on the air for 56 years.

I grew up in the era when AM was the only game in town so hate to see the struggles that service is going through. I'm sure FM is starting to worry about competition from Sirius/XM, the internet, and smart phones. I hate to admit when driving I'm usually listening to Sirius and to WWOZ from New Orleans on my iPhone. With Apple TV you can play the music from your iPod through your TV's sound system. I do check in with WRUF and WDVH periodically.

I'm sure we'll start to see survival of the fittest in vogue as stations with no hope of success going dark.
 
Nice, question: When did WGVL sign on? I think in the 70's?
 
vadar said:
Nice, question: When did WGVL sign on? I think in the 70's?
Click to expand...

WGVL [GVL - GainesViLle] signed on the air in 1970 as a Stereo Country FM, becoming Progressive / AOR in 1971. The move to CHR occured in late 1981 with a call letter change to WYKS "Kiss 105".
 
I might also add WRZN-AM 720 to the list. Although the station is less than 25-years old, the call letters have remained consistent with AM 720 since its sign-on in 1989 which in my opinion is appropriate to consider WRZN to be heritage.
 
We seem to recall WGVL being a very distorted and mono as a country station, much worse sounding than WDVH, cleaning up their act and changing to stereo progressive rock around 1971 or 2.
Who remembers the stations from which WGGG borrowed G's to do their TOH legal ID's as they ran their annual "missing G" contest? We remember WGBS and WGTO being two.
 
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