WBIN (AM)
 |
WGST AM is a radio station in the city of Atlanta, Georgia at 640 kHz. Owned by Clear Channel Communications subsidiary Citicasters Licenses (formerly part of Jacor), it holds Atlanta as its city of license.
The station was formerly on 920 kHz, now used by WGKA AM. The move allowed it to increase power from 5 kW day and 500 W night to 50 kW day and 1 kW night. While this improved daytime reception, it ruined the nighttime reception, which is now highly directional to avoid interference.
WGST's original license for 920 was issued in 1922, with the callsign WGM. The owner was the Atlanta Constitution, responding to the rival Atlanta Journal 's new WSB. (The FCC issued WGM's license the day after WSB's.) WGST got its current callsign after being given to the Georgia School of Technology (now Georgia Tech) in 1923. The WGM license was allowed to expire that August, and issued to the school in January of 1924 as WBBF, later becoming WGST in 1925. It was operated as a commercial station under a lease to Southern Broadcasting Company beginning in 1930, but the Georgia Board of Regents got back control of the station in 1946. In the 1940s, it was located in the Forsyth Building in downtown Atlanta. It was a CBS affiliate in 1947 and later became an ABC affiliate in 1950. In 1956, WGST moved to a studio facility next to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the Georgia Tech campus. This facility was built on top of the Coliseum's locker rooms for the radio station, and it featured two large studios for live performances, complete with grand pianos. In 1973, it was declared surplus property and was sold for five million dollars to Meredith Corporation in 1974, ignoring opposition from alumni, state legislators, and even the governor. However, interest from the trust fund created by the sale was used to upgrade Tech's student-run WREK FM 91.1, which, in 1978, moved to the Coliseum studios vacated by WGST in 1975.
Ray Charles' song "I Got a Woman" was recorded at WGST in the early 1950s.
Sean Hannity replaced Neal Boortz when Boortz left for WSB-AM in 1992 and stayed until Roger Ailes offered Hannity a position on FOX News Channel in 1996.
The station was simulcast on WGST-FM 105.7 around 1999 and 2000.
2005 marked a year of change for WGST. Following the acquisition of Atlanta Braves radio rights, the station changed its moniker to "Braves Radio 640 GST" in 2005 to reflect the new rights, although many out-of-Atlanta area fans have complained about the change from WSB, noting WGST's signal is much weaker at night compared to WSB. To remedy that situation, sister station WKLS-FM (96 Rock) began simulcasting braves games, as sports programming on FM rock stations is becoming commonplace, and acceptable. Also, as part of a Clear Channel corporate change, it switched to Fox News Radio. On March 20, 2006, WGST-AM's moniker became "Atlanta. Talk. Radio."
Current Line-up includes "AMAtlanta with Tom Hughes," "DennyRadio with Denny Schaffer," "The Rush Limbaugh Radio Program," "The Kim Peterson (Kimmer) Program," "The Phil Hendrie Show," and "Coast to Coast AM with George Norrie and "The Car Show" with Sam & Dave.