Technical Profile: WLGQ

FM Technical Profile: WLGQ

Station Name:: K-Love
Frequency:: 91.5
Format:: Christian Contemporary
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view] Located on a ridge alongside I-59 in the Reese City area, just north of the Tuckahoe Golf Course along the scenic road.
Power (ERP):: 6.3 kW vertical only
Antenna:: Directional
Antenna HAAT:: 522 feet
Other Information:: 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.
More Information:: [FCC]; [FCCdata.org]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]
[Facebook] Facebook for the K-Love network

[Image] Coverage map of WBHM and WSGN (hosted on WBHM's website).
Owner:: K-Love, Inc.
History:: Gadsden State Community College was granted a construction permit for a new non-commercial radio station in March 1974. The original facility, which went on in March 1975, broadcast from atop the Student Center Building on campus, with 3.5 kW of power from a GE BT-3B transmitter into a 3 section Gates FMC-3A antenna located approximately at 75 feet HAAT. The studios were also in the Student Center Building, and were assembled from various donations by other broadcasters as well as purchases from the state of Alabama's surplus auctions. School instructors assembled the station, along with help from folks at WBRC-TV in Birmingham. The call sign was WEXP (for 'EXPerimental').

For years, the station was run by students and faculty. Early on, it had a widely diverse format, everything from Middle of the Road to Jazz to Classical, plus Urban music and even educational/classroom programming. In 1985, when Katz Broadcasting acquired 610 AM WSGN in Birmingham, the new owners did not want to use the historic WSGN calls, but did not want them to appear elsewhere in the Birmingham market. Therefore, a deal was struck with the college, who took the WSGN call sign in April 1985.

The station received a construction permit in 1994 to move the transmitter off-campus to a site north of Gadsden, to improve coverage. This entailed switching to a vertical-only polarization and employing a directional antenna. A lack of finances kept the station from signing on under this new facility until the fall of 2000. In the interim, a new station manager struck a deal with public broadcaster WBHM in Birmingham to rebroadcast all of their content.

The station began being heard on a Fort Payne area translator (W284CA, owned by Sand Mountain Broadcasters) in 2012.

It was announced in mid-September 2018 that the station was being sold by the school, since there was no more broadcasting school or classes being offered. The station signed off on 30 September 2018, pending sale to Education Media Foundation, who will flip the station to their Christian Contemporary "K-Love" format when the license transfer is approved. The school will retain ownership of the historic WSGN calls.

The Fort Payne translator that had rebroadcast WSGN was set to remain on air, carrying WBHM, but instead it was reported to be carrying Huntsville's WLRH instead. It later was moved out to rebroadcast another station elsewhere in the state.

When the station returns to the air with EMF's K-Love programming, it will drop the historic WSGN calls for WLGQ. The station returned to the airwaves in April 2019.

The station was forced to operate on reduced power starting in late August 2023 due to storm damage to the antenna. A Special Temporary Authority (STA) was filed in September 2023 noting the station was running at 3.15 kW, or half of their licensed power.

In mid-February 2024 the station filed a construction permit application to replace the antenna. As it will be a direct replacement of the same model Shivley antenna, no changes of any material kind are expected.

In early September 2024, the license was transferred from Educational Media Foundation to K-Love, Inc.