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WGCO
Midway, Georgia;
Broadcast area	Savannah, Georgia; (rimshots to Brunswick, Georgia & Jacksonville, Florida)
Frequency	98.3 MHz
Branding	Hot 98-3
Programming
Format	Top 40 - CHR
Affiliations	United Stations Radio Networks
Ownership
Owner	Dick Broadcasting; (Dick Broadcasting Company, Inc. of Tennessee);
Sister stations	WFXH-FM, WHHW, WRWN, WUBB, WXYY
History
First air date	1974; 51 years ago as WSOJ in Jesup
Former call signs	WSOJ (1974–1985); WAJS (1985); WZKS (1985–1989)
Call sign meaning	W Georgia COast
Technical information
Facility ID	11674
Class	C1
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	299 meters (981 ft)
Links
Webcast	Listen live
Website	hot983savannah.com

WGCO (98.3 FM, "Hot 98-3") is a commercial radio station licensed to Midway, Georgia, and serving the Savannah metropolitan area and Brunswick, Georgia. Owned by Dick Broadcasting, it broadcasts a Top 40 - CHR format. Its studios are on Mall Boulevard in Savannah.

WGCO is a Class C1 FM station. It has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts, the maximum for most stations. The transmitter is off Steve Nelson Road in the Chimney Villa section of Townsend, Georgia, about halfway between Savannah and Brunswick.

History

Southern Gospel and All-News

The station signed on the air in 1974; 51 years ago (1974).^[1] Its original call sign was WSOJ and its city of license was Jesup, Georgia. The station broadcast a Southern Gospel format with Christian talk and teaching programs. It was powered at only 3,000 watts, a fraction of its current output. It could only be heard in Jesup and adjacent communities.

In 1982, the station flipped to an all-news format. It used an audio simulcast of the new cable network, CNN Headline News. It did not have many listeners and shortly thereafter, the station went off the air.

Country, AC and Oldies

Southern Gospel music returned to the station when it went back on the air in 1984. Then the station flipped to country music. It used the call letters WAJS, calling itself "The Great 98" a year later. Within a few months, the station became adult contemporary WZKS "Kiss FM". In 1989, it got a power boost and the station's tower was moved to McIntosh County, Georgia. That put it closer to the more lucrative radio market of Savannah. It began broadcasting oldies as "Oldies 98.3". It later became "98.3 Cool FM" with the current call sign WGCO.

In 2005, the station flipped to adult hits. It used the [[radio syndication|nationally syndicated "Jack FM" format and brand. On March 16, 2007, the station dropped Jack FM and returned to the oldies format once again. It used its former name, "Oldies 98.3" after a 'protest' was held by then-former morning host Chuck "Boom Boom" Cannon asking for the return of Oldies 98.3. On September 24, 2007, WGCO refined its sound to classic hits as Big 98.3, playing a variety of songs from roughly 1964–1985, with the core being the 1970s.

On August 29, 2013, the station dropped the classic hits format and began stunting with a loop of Hank Williams Jr.'s "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight". This led to a flip to classic country as "98.3 Hank FM" the next day.^[2]

Dick Broadcasting

WGCO's owner, Alpha Media, decided to divest some of its radio properties. In September 2017, Dick Broadcasting announced that it would acquire Alpha Media's clusters in Savannah, Kinston/New Bern/Jacksonville, and Myrtle Beach. Under the terms, a formal sale filing would not be made for the Savannah stations until August 2019, with Dick operating these stations under a local marketing agreement (LMA) in the meantime.^[3]

On May 25, 2018, the station began stunting with a heartbeat sound, and teasing that "something hot" was coming. On May 28, 2018, the station flipped to contemporary hit radio as Hot 98.3. The station competes primarily with iHeartMedia's WAEV 97.3 KISS-FM. That gave WAEV it its first direct competitor since the flip of sister station WXYY to classic hip-hop.^[4]