WVSG (AM)

WVSG

Columbus, Ohio
Broadcast area	Columbus and most of central Ohio towards Lake Erie,south central,west central and northwest Ohio
Frequency	820 kHz
Branding	"St. Gabriel Radio"
Programming
Format	Christian radio (Catholic)
Ownership
Owner	St. Gabriel Radio Inc.
Sister stations	WFOT/89.5 MHz Lexington/Mansfield (former sister station now part of Annunciation Radio Toledo)
History
First air date	June 3, 1922
Former call signs	8XL (experimental 1920-1922) WEAO (1922-1933) WOSU (1933-2011)
Call sign meaning	We're (the) Voice (of) St. Gabriel."
Technical information
Class	B
Power	6,500 watts (day) 790 watts (night)
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	stgabrielradio.com

WVSG (820 AM, "St. Gabriel Radio") is an American radio station in Columbus, Ohio. St. Gabriel Radio began broadcasting on AM 820 (the former WOSU) when it returned the station to the air as WVSG on Saturday morning December 17, 2011, after 3 days of silence and concluded its broadcasts on WVKO (1580 AM) also in Columbus on the evening of December 20.

St. Gabriel Radio airs local Catholic programming in addition to programming from EWTN Global Catholic Radio. AM 820 broadcasts with 5,000 watts daytime and 790 watts directional in the evenings and overnights from their respective transmitter sites located near Upper Arlington and Grove City.

St. Gabriel programming was previously broadcasting on WVKO until the purchase of WOSU took place. Hence, St. Gabriel programming on WVKO ceased on December 20 at 6P.M. local time. WVKO was airing continuing announcements informing St. Gabriel listeners to switch to AM 820 until it eventually reverted to a talk format.

St. Gabriel Radio is the first full-time Catholic radio broadcaster in central Ohio.

The transition of St. Gabriel from 1580 to 820 AM concluded on Tuesday evening December 20, 2011 at 6pm during the local airing of "The Local Spotlight Show" on WVKO and the program concluding on WVSG afterward. WOSU radio programming as a news/talk format from National Public Radio continues on WOSU-FM while WVKO adopted a progressive talk format on January 2, 2012 at 6 am.

History

St. Gabriel Radio Inc. purchased WUCO 1270 kHz in Marysville from Frontier Broadcasting in 2005 making it the first full-time Catholic station licensed in Ohio. (Though WNOP serves Catholics in the Cincinnati/tri-state area as "Sacred Heart Radio," with studios in Cincinnati it is actually licensed to Newport, Kentucky.) WUCO previously aired country music when it first signed-on in 1984. In the 1990s it later switched to Adult Contemporary. It moved its studio and office base to Columbus as it is the hub of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus, thus increasing its volunteer and listener base. In 2007, St. Gabriel Radio proposed to lease WVKO 1580 in Columbus from owner Bernard Ohio LLC with intention to later purchase the station as its signal better reaches Columbus than the directional and less powerful signal of WUCO. WVKO previously aired a liberal progressive talk format. Both WUCO and WVKO aired in simulcast until WUCO was sold in January 2010 to ICS Communications which is now WQTT airing an oldies format with the studio moved back to Marysville. It was that same year when The Ohio State University announced that WOSU was put up for sale which convinced St. Gabriel Radio to purchase it on September 21, 2011 instead of WVKO. Their fundraiser "Leave a Legacy" then focused on purchasing WOSU. The sale and transfer of license from The Ohio State University was approved by the FCC on November 7, 2011.

St. Gabriel Radio also owned and operated WFOT 89.5 MHz licensed to Lexington and serving the Mansfield area as a near-simulcast of the AM station. WFOT made its on-air debut in February 2007. WFOT now broadcasts the programming of Annunciation Radio (originated by WNOC based in Toledo).

Call sign history

The call sign WVSG was used previously from 2002 to 2006 at the former WZQK (now K-LOVE affiliate WGCK-FM) 99.7 MHz in Coeburn, Virginia and then from 2006 to 2009 at an AM station formerly known as WEZC and currently as WUKB 1480 kHz in Neon, Kentucky. The call sign is believed to have been used at 98.9 FM in Bethel, North Carolina, the current WLXB.

Sources

• Columbus Dispatch article of sale of WOSU to St. Gabriel Radio Inc.
• FCC application and approval for St. Gabriel Radio to purchase WOSU
• FCC approval of callsign change from WOSU to WVSG. (PDF)
• St. Gabriel purchase of WOSU and transition from WVKO to WVSG mentioned at Radio-Info.com
• "Sale of AM 820 Is Bittersweet" (from Sept 9, 2011 post at WOSU.org)
• AM 820 transition from WOSU to WVSG plus technical information (from REC Networks site)

External links

• Official St. Gabriel Radio website (with streaming audio)
• St. Gabriel Radio on Facebook
• Facility details for Facility ID WVSG ({{{2}}}) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• {{{2}}} in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• WVSG coverage map