WGYE (original) (raw)

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Radio station in Mannington, West Virginia

WGYE

Simulcasting WMMN Fairmont
Mannington, West Virginia
Broadcast area North-Central West Virginia
Frequency 102.7 MHz
Branding The Torch
Programming
Format Conservative talk
Affiliations Genesis Communications NetworkTownhall NewsWestwood One
Ownership
Owner James Kail(LHTC Media of West Virginia, Inc.)
Sister stations WHTI, WZST, WMMN, WBKE, WRLF
History
First air date 1992 (as WTUS)
Former call signs WTUS (1989–2001)
Call sign meaning play on "Froggy" (former format)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority FCC
Facility ID 32202
Class A
ERP 3,200 watts
HAAT 138 meters
Transmitter coordinates 39°28′3.0″N 80°12′20.0″W / 39.467500°N 80.205556°W / 39.467500; -80.205556
Translator(s) 103.9 W280FF (Morgantown)
Links
Public license information Public fileLMS
Webcast Listen Live
Website wvthetorch.com

WGYE (102.7 FM) is a conservative talk formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Mannington, West Virginia, serving North-Central West Virginia. WGYE is owned and operated by LHTC Media.

Tower on Tower Hill Road, Fairmont, West Virginia, seen from the adjacent Grove Cemetery

This radio station first began as WTUS, and was assigned that call sign on October 31, 1989, more than a year after the construction permit was first granted in May 1988. However, the permit was sold to Joseph Donald Powers and partner Al Sergi in 1991 for $23,000.

Powers and Sergi finally brought the station on the air in the fall of 1992, with the moniker "Today's U.S. Country", maintaining studios and offices along Locust Avenue in neighboring Fairmont, where the station remains today.

Powers and Sergi sold WTUS in the late 1990s to Pittsburgh-based Burbach Broadcasting. Sergi today owns WSGB in Sutton, West Virginia, and three other area stations.

The station had a country format for its entire existence until it was sold to LHTC Media effective September 1, 2023; on September 11th, the station flipped to contemporary hit radio, assuming the format of WHTI, as "Hot 102.7".[2]

On February 5, 2024, WGYE changed its format to a simulcast of conservative talk-formatted WMMN 920 AM Fairmont, branded as "The Torch".[3]

WGYE also simulcasts on a 220-watt translator station W280FF, which transmits on 103.9 MHz. W280FF is licensed to and serves Morgantown, West Virginia.

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WGYE". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ Series of Format Changes in Morgantown/Clarksburg, WV
  3. ^ CONSERVATIVE TORCH LAUNCHES ON WEST VIRGINIA TRIO Radioinsight - February 6, 2024