WPGP

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Talk radio station in Pittsburgh

title: "WPGP" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1922-establishments-in-pennsylvania", "conservative-talk-radio", "news-and-talk-radio-stations-in-the-united-states", "radio-stations-established-in-1922", "radio-stations-in-pittsburgh", "salem-media-group-radio-stations"] description: "Talk radio station in Pittsburgh" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPGP" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Talk radio station in Pittsburgh ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox radio station"]

FieldValue
nameWPGP
logoWPIT 1250 The Answer logo.png
cityPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
areaPittsburgh metropolitan area
brandingAM 1250 The Answer
frequency1250 kHz
translator
airdate
languageEnglish
formatConservative talk radio
power
classB
licensing_authorityFCC
facility_id65691
coordinates
callsign_meaningPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
former_callsigns
former_frequencies
affiliations
ownerSalem Media Group
licenseeSalem Communications Holding Corporation
sister_stations
webcast

| | website | | | logo_size | 250px | ::

| name = WPGP | logo = WPIT 1250 The Answer logo.png | city = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | area = Pittsburgh metropolitan area | branding = AM 1250 The Answer | frequency = 1250 kHz | translator = | airdate = | language = English | format = Conservative talk radio | power = | class = B | licensing_authority = FCC | facility_id = 65691 | coordinates = | callsign_meaning = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | former_callsigns = | former_frequencies = | affiliations = | owner = Salem Media Group | licensee = Salem Communications Holding Corporation | sister_stations = | webcast =

| website = | logo_size = 250px

WPGP (1250 AM) is a radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, broadcasting with a power output of 5,000 watts. The station is owned and operated by the Salem Media Group.

History

The station is one of the five original Pittsburgh stations, signing on May 4, 1922, as WCAE. It was originally owned by the Pittsburgh department store Kaufmann & Baer's, and operated on 833 kHz (as all stations did at that time); it moved to 750 kHz in December and to 650 in May 1923. Kaufmann and Baer's was purchased in 1925 by Gimbels; this made WCAE the company's third radio station, after WIP in Philadelphia and WGBS in New York City. The station became an affiliate of the NBC Red Network in January 1927. It moved to 560 kHz on June 15, 1927, but in November returned to 650; a year later, WCAE moved to 1220 kHz

WCAE was acquired by Hearst Corporation in 1931. on November 1, it became a full-time affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System (which previously aired on both WCAE and KQV), with NBC Red moving to KDKA. Another affiliation change took place on June 15, 1945, when WCAE swapped affiliations with KQV and joined the Blue Network, which changed its name to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) that same day. An FM sister station on 96.1 MHz was started in 1948; WCAE-FM was shut down in 1953, but was restarted August 8, 1960. WCAE lost the ABC affiliation to WJAS on May 21, 1955. The station expanded into television three years later, with the debut of WTAE (channel 4) on September 4, 1958, initially as a joint venture of Hearst and the former owners of KQV; this arrangement had led to the sale of KQV to ABC in 1957 to avoid duopoly concerns.

WCAE began stunting on May 27, 1961, promoting a new format to begin two days later; at that time, the station changed its call letters to WRYT and began playing beautiful music. Another call letter change occurred five years later, when the station became WTAE to match its television sister station (which had become wholly owned by Hearst by this time); soon afterward, the station shifted to a middle-of-the-road format.

WTAE shifted its format again in 1973, this time to an oldies-heavy adult contemporary format under general manager Ted Atkins, The widely popular morning show, O'Brien & Garry, featured Larry O'Brien and John Garry doing comedy skits, playing music, and other general morning fare. The format proved successful – by 1980, WTAE had become the number-two station in Pittsburgh, trailing only KDKA. WTAE also aired a nightly sports show, hosted for many years by Myron Cope. In 1987, as at many AM radio stations, music was abandoned, and WTAE became a talk radio station. Hosts included Jack Bogut, Lynn Cullen, Doug Hoerth and Phil Musick.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/WEAE_1250_AM_ESPN_logo.svg" caption="WEAE's final logo as "1250 ESPN", used from 2008 until December 31, 2010"] ::

After 66 years of ownership, Hearst sold WTAE, along with what had become WVTY (now WKST-FM), to SFX Broadcasting in 1997. That December 1, SFX relaunched WTAE as a sports radio station. Chancellor Media bought SFX's Pittsburgh stations a year later, and then traded WTAE to Jacor in exchange for WKNR in Cleveland, Ohio in August 1998. Jacor changed the call letters to WEAE to disassociate the station from WTAE-TV, which remained owned by Hearst-Argyle. which affiliated the station with its ESPN Radio network on March 15 of that year. Mike Logan, Guy Junker, Madden returned to the Pittsburgh airwaves on October 13, 2008, with an afternoon drive show on competitor WXDX, which is otherwise a modern rock station.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/RadioDisney1250.png" caption="WDDZ's logo as "Radio Disney AM 1250", used from 2011 until 2015"] ::

Soon after the sale to ABC, WEAE lost the Steelers rights to WDVE (itself formerly owned by ABC) and WWSW (now WBGG) after nearly thirty years; a year earlier, WTAE had lost the Pittsburgh Panthers to KQV.

Although WEAE was generally the top-rated sports station in Pittsburgh, ahead of WBGG, it was a financial failure (at one point losing as much as $2 million)—a problem that only worsened when KDKA-FM was launched as an FM sports station and wooed away some of WEAE's advertisers. and Penn State men's basketball moving to KQV. Local programming was largely canceled on September 25, 2010. When the format change occurred on January 1, 2011, the call letters were changed to WDDZ (which were transferred from a former Radio Disney affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island and Zion, Illinois).

On August 13, 2014, Disney put WDDZ and twenty-two other Radio Disney stations up for sale, to focus on digital distribution of the Radio Disney network. Disney originally planned to temporarily shut down the station on September 26, 2014. However, Disney changed its plans at the last minute, and all stations remained on the air and continued carrying Radio Disney programming until they were sold.

thumb|175px|Original logo after taking "The Answer" branding On February 25, 2015, Sports Radio Group (the Disney subsidiary that held the station's license) filed to sell WDDZ to the Pennsylvania Media Associates, Inc., a subsidiary of the Salem Media Group. Salem bought the station for $1 million. Following the sale's completion, Salem introduced its "Answer" conservative talk format on the station on May 13. The FCC granted the sale on April 13, 2015. The sale was consummated on May 12, 2015, and the call sign was changed to WPGP.

References

References

  1. "A Chronology of AM Radio Broadcasting 1900-1960". History of American Broadcasting.
  2. Roteman, Jeff. "From 833 to 1250...". Jeff Roteman's WTAE Radio Page.
  3. (January 2, 1923). "Radio Service Bulletin". [[Bureau of Navigation]], [[Department of Commerce]].
  4. (June 1, 1923). "Radio Service Bulletin". Department of Commerce Bureau of Navigation.
  5. (December 14, 1925). "Gimbel Growth". [[Time (magazine).
  6. Salamon, Ed. (2010). "Pittsburgh's Golden Age of Radio". [[Arcadia Publishing]].
  7. (May 31, 1927). "Radio Service Bulletin". United States Department of Commerce Radio Division.
  8. (November 30, 1927). "Radio Service Bulletin". United States Department of Commerce Radio Division.
  9. (November 30, 1928). "Radio Service Bulletin". United States Department of Commerce Radio Division.
  10. (September 15, 1940). "Log of U. S. Broadcast Stations Effective March 29, 1941". Supplement to [[Broadcasting & Cable.
  11. (March 17, 1941). "KQV, Pittsburgh, and WCBM, Baltimore, Will Transfer to Blue Network in Fall". Broadcasting.
  12. (January 22, 1945). "WCAE, KQV Switch Networks June 15". Broadcasting.
  13. (July 2018). "Broadcasting-Telecasting Yearbook 1950".
  14. (June 8, 1953). "For The Record". Broadcasting-Telecasting.
  15. (July 2018). "Broadcasting Yearbook 1961-62".
  16. (April 25, 1955). "WJAS Switches to ABC". Broadcasting-Telecasting.
  17. (July 22, 1957). "Closed Circuit". Broadcasting-Telecasting.
  18. (September 2, 1957). "AB-PT Confirms Buy Of KQV for $700,000". Broadcasting-Telecasting.
  19. (March 27, 1965). "Pitt. Station's Catchy Promotions a Catch-All". [[Billboard (magazine).
  20. (June 6, 1966). "For The Record". Broadcasting.
  21. Mehno, John. (November 8, 1980). "Stumbling WTAE-AM Soars To Deuce Spot". Billboard.
  22. (December 21, 2002). "The Pederson Years". [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]].
  23. (July 2018). "Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1988".
  24. (March 25, 1997). "Hearst To Acquire WPBF-TV, West Palm Beach, Florida".
  25. Tascarella, Patty. (February 23, 1998). "Live from Green Tree". [[Pittsburgh Business Times]].
  26. (March 2, 1998). "Station breakup". Pittsburgh Business Times.
  27. (June 29, 1998). "Changing stations". Pittsburgh Business Times.
  28. Smizik, Bob. (September 24, 2010). "Major changes next week at 1250 ESPN". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  29. [[Stan Savran]], and ''Stillers 365'' (with Ken Laird). [[Mark Madden]] was a host on the station from 1998 until his firing in May 2008 for making an on-air remark that he wished that Sen. [[Edward Kennedy]] be assassinated."Madden removed from air by ESPN," ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,'' May 28, 2008
  30. "105.9 The X - Mark Madden page".
  31. Finder, Chuck. (February 18, 1999). "WDVE-FM secures rights as Steelers flagship station". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  32. "PSU Advertisement (1998 affiliate list)". [[Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission]].
  33. McCoy, Adrian. (November 3, 2010). "WBGG to gain some ESPN sports talk". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  34. Smizik, Bob. (November 17, 2010). "Penn State basketball to KQV". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  35. Smizik, Bob. (September 26, 2010). "Shutdown begins at 1250 ESPN". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  36. Fybush, Scott. (January 3, 2011). "New Year Dawns with Format Changes". NorthEast Radio Watch.
  37. (August 13, 2014). "Exclusive: Radio Disney Moving Off Air to Digital".
  38. "Radio Disney to Sell the Majority of Its Stations".
  39. Venta, Lance. (August 13, 2014). "Radio Disney To Sell All But One Station". Radio Insight.
  40. (September 26, 2014). "NERW Extra: No Signoffs for Disney AMs".
  41. (February 25, 2015). "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
  42. "Parties to the Application - FCC".
  43. Venta, Lance. (February 25, 2015). "Salem Acquires Disney Properties In Atlanta & Pittsburgh". Radio Insight.
  44. Fybush, Scott (February 25, 2015). [http://www.fybush.com/nerw-extra-disney-sells-in-pittsburgh/ Disney sells in Pittsburgh] {{webarchive. link. (February 27, 2015. ''NorthEast Radio Watch''. Retrieved February 27, 2015.)
  45. (March 10, 2015). "The Salem Plan For Disney Stations". Radio Ink.
  46. (March 11, 2015). "Salem Reveals Pending Formats For Disney Acquisitions". RadioInsight.
  47. "Application Search Details". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
  48. Staff, FCC Internet Services. "Application View ... Redirecting".
  49. "Call Sign History - FCC".

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1922-establishments-in-pennsylvaniaconservative-talk-radionews-and-talk-radio-stations-in-the-united-statesradio-stations-established-in-1922radio-stations-in-pittsburghsalem-media-group-radio-stations