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WXGM
Gloucester, Virginia;
Broadcast area	Gloucester, Virginia; Gloucester County, Virginia
Frequency	1420 kHz
Branding	1420 and 102.3 WXGM
Programming
Format	Oldies
Affiliations	AccuWeather; Good Time Oldies (Jones Radio Networks); Virginia News Network; Westwood One News
Ownership
Owner	WXGM, Inc.
Sister stations	WXGM-FM
History
First air date	1957 (as WDDY)
Former call signs	WRIP (1956, CP); WDDY (1956–1988)
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	74208
Class	D
Power	740 watts daytime; 58 watts nighttime
Transmitter coordinates	37°24′36.0″N 76°32′52.0″W / 37.410000°N 76.547778°W
Translator(s)	102.3 W272EJ (Gloucester)
Links
Public license information	Public file; LMS;
Webcast	WXGM Webstream
Website	xtra99.com

WXGM is an oldies-formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Gloucester, Virginia, serving Gloucester and Gloucester County, Virginia. WXGM is owned and operated by WXGM, Inc.^[2]

History

WDDY

WDDY went on the air on January 20, 1957, becoming the first radio station in the Middle Peninsula.^[3] The station was owned by S. L. Goodman, the owner of a publishing firm in Richmond,^[4] though the station was almost immediately sold to WDDY, Inc.—owned by station manager Charles E. Springer—upon signing on the air. It broadcast during the daytime only with 1,000 watts.^[4] In 1958, Arthur Lazarow, a former announcer at WWJ radio in Detroit, acquired WDDY in 1958 by way of his company Cape Radio; minority investors in Cape included John R. Daniels and Arthur Shimmin.^[5] The station's full-service format included 12 hours a week each of African American and country programming in 1967.^[6]

Lazarow owned WDDY for 23 years until he sold it in 1981 for $90,000^[7] to a new WDDY, Inc., owned by William Eure and Thomas Robinson of Petersburg, where they owned WSSV AM and WPLZ-FM.^[8] Despite not planning many changes at the outset,^[8] changes did come to WDDY: that summer, it relaunched with a country format and picked up coverage of Virginia Cavaliers football and the Washington Redskins.^[9] Eure and Robinson laid the groundwork for another change in the 80s by announcing their intention in 1984 to apply for an FM frequency.^[10] Eure's stake was subsequently purchased by a new corporation, WXGM, Inc., founded by Robinson and Walter Wurfel, an experienced radio executive who was then vice president of communications for the National Association of Broadcasters. ^[11]

WXGM

Comprehensive changes came to 1420 AM on September 1, 1988^[12] when the station was relaunched as WXGM with an oldies format.^[13] The overhaul also included $40,000 in equipment upgrades.^[12] Even more changes came on July 29, 1991, when WXGM-FM 99.1 launched; the FM and AM stations initially simulcast as adult contemporary "Xtra 99.1 FM".^[14] That same year, the AM station reduced its daytime power to 740 watts.^[15] Its sports coverage gained a regional appeal the next year when the station began what would be a 9-year relationship with the William & Mary Tribe; WXGM ended the deal abruptly in 2001 when it signed a more favorable deal to carry the athletic events of Christopher Newport University, in which CNU paid the station and offered to help sell advertising.^[16]

After Wurfel died in 2018 and Robinson died in 2020, ownership of the station passed to their widows, Sara Fitzgerald and Marva Paige Robinson.

References

^ "Facility Technical Data for WXGM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
^ ^a ^b "WXGM Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
^ "Mid-Peninsula's 1st Radio Station Begins Operation". Daily Press. January 21, 1957. p. 8. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
^ ^a ^b "History Cards for WXGM". Federal Communications Commission. (Guide to reading History Cards)
^ "Firm Headed By Detroit Man Buys Radio Station". Daily Press. May 10, 1958. p. 14. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
^ "WDDY" (PDF). 1967 Broadcasting Yearbook. 1967. p. B-170. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
^ "Ownership Changes" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 22, 1981. p. 74. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Petersburg Men Buy Station WDDY". Daily Press. January 28, 1981. p. 16. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
^ "New Format Introduced For WDDY". Daily Press. August 16, 1981. p. E5. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
^ "WDDY-AM seeks FM". Daily Press. March 30, 1984. p. 24. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
^ "Radio World".
^ ^a ^b "A new direction". Daily Press. September 1, 1988. p. B1. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
^ Warden, Billy (August 26, 1988). "Changes in store for WDDY". Daily Press. p. 13.
^ Pryweller, Joseph (August 3, 1991). "Taxing reality to hit NN cable subscribers". Daily Press. pp. D1, D4. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 2, 1991. p. 42. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
^ Fairbank, Dave (January 29, 2002). "W&M finding going to the air is costly". Daily Press. p. B1. Retrieved September 27, 2019.