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WCLG (AM)
Encyclopedia
WCLG is an Oldies
and Classic rock
formatted broadcast
radio station
licensed to Morgantown, West Virginia
, serving the Morgantown, West Virginia
and Monongalia County, West Virginia
area. WCLG is owned and operated by Bowers Broadcasting Corporation.
. It was licensed to C. Leslie Golliday, from which it derived its call letters, and operated with an initial power of 500 watts at 1300 on the AM dial. Studios were located on High Street, with transmitter on Jackson Street in Westover, WV. In 1955, the station increased its power to 1,000 watts and at that time billed itself as "Morgantown's most powerful radio station."
Owner Leslie Golliday, a prominent Martinsburg, WV businessman, envisioned a group of stations in the state, and his early announcers used the tag line, "This is the Mountaineer station for northern West Virginia." His station in Martinsburg used the tag line, "This is the Mountaineer station for the Eastern Panhandle," thus the call sign there of WEPM.
The station's early programming featured a variety of music formats and a strong local tie-in to the community through audience participation shows and local news coverage. Country and western air personalities such as Shorty King, brother Charlie Arnett, and Matt Maddox anchored several hours each morning of such music, while Golliday himself broadcast weekend programs that featured both semi-classical and classical music. Telephone technology of that day included phone-in quiz shows, a buy, sell, and trade program, and daily phoned in reports from city, county, and state police agencies as well as the city fire department and Department of Employment Security.
Among the station's first news announcers was Jim Snyder, later to gain acclaim as Jim Slade with the Westinghouse, Mutual, and ABC News
networks. In 1959, the station placed the first mobile news unit on the streets of Morgantown, with capability of direct on-scene broadcasting from news events. The Associated Press
in 1969 honored the WCLG News Department with its "spot news of the year award," giving the AP a considerable national beat on the Farmington Number 9 coal mine disaster in November 1968, which entombed 78 miners.
In 1959, the station was purchased by William and Eleanor Freed; then in 1983, it again changed hands, moving into the ownership of Garry Bowers. Bowers had been with the station since 1958, when he began as an announcer while a student at West Virginia University
.
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
and Classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
formatted broadcast
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed to Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is the county seat of Monongalia County. Placed along the banks of the Monongahela River, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia, and the base of the Morgantown metropolitan area...
, serving the Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is the county seat of Monongalia County. Placed along the banks of the Monongahela River, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia, and the base of the Morgantown metropolitan area...
and Monongalia County, West Virginia
Monongalia County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 81,866 people, 33,446 households, and 18,495 families residing in the county. The population density was 227 people per square mile . There were 36,695 housing units at an average density of 102 per square mile...
area. WCLG is owned and operated by Bowers Broadcasting Corporation.
History
WCLG went on the air in 1954 in Morgantown, West VirginiaWest Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. It was licensed to C. Leslie Golliday, from which it derived its call letters, and operated with an initial power of 500 watts at 1300 on the AM dial. Studios were located on High Street, with transmitter on Jackson Street in Westover, WV. In 1955, the station increased its power to 1,000 watts and at that time billed itself as "Morgantown's most powerful radio station."
Owner Leslie Golliday, a prominent Martinsburg, WV businessman, envisioned a group of stations in the state, and his early announcers used the tag line, "This is the Mountaineer station for northern West Virginia." His station in Martinsburg used the tag line, "This is the Mountaineer station for the Eastern Panhandle," thus the call sign there of WEPM.
The station's early programming featured a variety of music formats and a strong local tie-in to the community through audience participation shows and local news coverage. Country and western air personalities such as Shorty King, brother Charlie Arnett, and Matt Maddox anchored several hours each morning of such music, while Golliday himself broadcast weekend programs that featured both semi-classical and classical music. Telephone technology of that day included phone-in quiz shows, a buy, sell, and trade program, and daily phoned in reports from city, county, and state police agencies as well as the city fire department and Department of Employment Security.
Among the station's first news announcers was Jim Snyder, later to gain acclaim as Jim Slade with the Westinghouse, Mutual, and ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
networks. In 1959, the station placed the first mobile news unit on the streets of Morgantown, with capability of direct on-scene broadcasting from news events. The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
in 1969 honored the WCLG News Department with its "spot news of the year award," giving the AP a considerable national beat on the Farmington Number 9 coal mine disaster in November 1968, which entombed 78 miners.
In 1959, the station was purchased by William and Eleanor Freed; then in 1983, it again changed hands, moving into the ownership of Garry Bowers. Bowers had been with the station since 1958, when he began as an announcer while a student at West Virginia University
West Virginia University
West Virginia University is a public research university in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser;...
.