KWG (AM)

KWG (1230 AM) is a radio station licensed to Relevant Radio, Inc. in Stockton, California. It carries that company's Catholic talk radio programming.

History

KWG is one of the oldest broadcasting stations in the United States, and the first radio station in the Stockton-Sacramento area. It was initially licensed to the Portable Wireless Telephone Company on December 7, 1921, as the second formally licensed broadcasting station west of the Mississippi River. In addition, it traces its history to an earlier amateur station operated by Paul Oard.

Oard was the principal engineer for Oard Radio Laboratories, a small radio equipment company owned by George Turner and located at 1218 North Union Street in Stockton. The company's apparatus was sold through the Atlantic-Pacific Radio Supplies Company of San Francisco.Atlantic-Pacific Radio Supplies Company (advertisement), Radio, front cover, August 1922.

In the spring of 1921, Oard installed a receiver in an automobile, and as part of the demonstrations picked up music transmitted by his amateur station, 6FI."Paul Oard's Moving Station", Radio News, June 1921, page 878. The "6" in 6FI's call sign indicated that the station was in the sixth Radio Inspection district Shortly thereafter, arrangements were made with the Stockton Record newspaper to make regular broadcasts over 6FI. A debut program was presented at 8:00 p.m. on November 22, 1921, which featured contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink singing "At Parting" and "The Rosary". During this broadcast it was also announced that Oard Radio Laboratories had been renamed the Portable Wireless Telephone Company."Schumann Heink on Ether to Far Audiences" The Music News, May 26, 1922, page 15. (This report misidentifies the radio station as "6F1" instead of "6FI", and "Card" instead of "Oard" Radio Laboratories.)

In late 1921, radio stations in the United States were regulated by the Department of Commerce. Initially, there were no formal regulations specifying which stations could make broadcasts intended for the general public, and 6FI was one of a number of amateur and experimental stations in California making regular broadcasts."Early Broadcasting in the San Francisco Bay Area" by John Schneider, 1997 (theradiohistorian.org) However, in order to provide common standards for the service, the Commerce Department issued a regulation effective December 1, 1921, that stated that broadcasting stations would now have to hold a Limited Commercial license that authorized operation on two designated broadcasting wavelengths: 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment", and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather reports"."Amendments to Regulations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 10.

On December 7, 1921, a broadcasting station license with the randomly assigned call letters KWG was issued to Portable Wireless Telephone Company, for operation on 360 meters."New Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 2. Limited Commercial license, serial #245, issued December 7, 1921 to the Portable Wireless Telephone Company for a one year period. This authorization marked the second formally recognized broadcasting station in the West; at the time the December 1, 1921, regulations were adopted, a small number of stations already held licenses that met the new standards, including KQL, licensed to Arno A. Kluge in Los Angeles.


George Turner sold KWG in the spring of 1930 to the McClatchy system of radio stations and newspapers. The station installed a T-type transmitting antenna at the corner of Weber Avenue and E Street in Stockton, which went into service in 1931. The antenna was strung between two  wooden poles placed at either end of the transmission building, and connected to the transmitter by a line that ran through a hole in the building's roof. KWG was one of the last broadcast stations to employ this type of antenna; it remained in use until the 1990s, when it was replaced by a single guyed-wire tower located next to the transmitter building."The Historic AMs of Stockton, California" by Scott Fybush, November 18, 2005 (fybush.com)

In December 1936, the station moved into new studios located atop the Wolf Hotel in San Joaquin City, which were described as "the last word in acoustical engineering and design"."KWG, Stockton, Grows With Radio", Fresno Bee, December 28, 1936, page 13-C. On March 29, 1941, under the provisions of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, KWG, along with most of the other stations transmitting on 1200 kHz, was reassigned to 1230 kHz, where the station has been ever since.

In 1956, the station moved to 411 East Market Street. Barnes Enterprises, led by Johnny Jacobs, the off-screen announcer for various Chuck Barris Productions game shows, owned KWG between 1978 and early 1981. In February 1981, Best Radio Incorporated of San Bernardino purchased KWG, along with then-KSRT 100.9 MHz FM (now KMIX), licensed to Tracy, California. KWG then began its "Delta Country" format. Just under 18 months later KWG became an "oldies" station, and was very successful well into the 1990s.

IHR Educational Broadcasting purchased KWG from The (Susan) Carson Group Inc. on October 18, 1999, reportedly for $300,000, and began carrying the inspirational "Catholic Talk Radio" programming. A 2013 review noted the station had eliminated local programming and "no longer has a business office or studio in Stockton"."AM Radio Heartbeat Faint But Still Kicking" by Michael Fitzgerald, September 13, 2013 (radionet.com) KWG switched to Relevant Radio programming on June 30, 2017, when IHR Educational Broadcasting consummated a merger with Starboard Media Foundation.

References

Other websites
FCC History Cards for KWG (covering 1927–1980)

Category:Towers in California
Category:Radio stations established in 1921
Category:Relevant Radio stations
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