Technical Profile: WKGC-FM

FM Technical Profile: WKGC-FM

Station Name:: GC 90.7
Frequency:: 90.7
Format:: Public Radio
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view] - On the campus of Gulf Coast State College's North Campus, west of FL-77 on Highway 2300.
Power (ERP):: 100 kW
Antenna:: Omnidirectional
Antenna HAAT:: 356 feet
Other Information:: 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.; HD-2: - Jazz
"Jazz 'Til Tomorrow"; HD-3: College
"Alter Nation Radio"; :PS-[?] Time-[?] Text-[?] PTY-[?]; AUX: 18.5 kW @ 220 feet HAAT. 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC. (CP)
More Information:: [FCC]
[FCCdata]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]

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[Picture] Image of the station's HD1 program services data (PSD), showing program title, call sign and channel logo. From May 2023.
[Picture] Image of the station's HD2 PSD, showing program title, call sign and channel logo. From May 2023.
[Picture] Image of the station's HD3 PSD, showing program title, call sign and channel logo. From May 2023.
Owner:: Gulf Coast State College
History:: An initial construction permit for this station was granted in 1974 for a Class D (10 watt) educational station on 90.7 MHz, with studios and transmitter located on the Gulf Coast Community College campus in Panama City. When it signed on in early 1975, it was transmitting with a Collins A-830-2 into a Marti 2-bay antenna, with a signal that didn't travel far off campus.. The station was put on by Charlie Wooten (now a respected engineer in Florida) and Ron Johnson (now a former Florida politician). With a few years, the college approved money to upgrade the facilities, and thanks to donated tower space from (then) WDLP (now WDIZ), the station was able to secure an upgrade to 9.2 kW at 269 feet HAAT, using a Gates FM-1B transmitter feeding a Gates FM-10A antenna with 10 bays. The station picked up NPR affiliation in 1976. The upgraded facility signed on in the spring of 1977. A year later the station began running a Subsidiary Communications Authorization (SCA) broadcast on 67 kHz.

The station became the first in Panama City to install a satellite dish in 1978. In 1979, another upgrade was approved, with power increasing to 28.5 kW from a HAAT of 380 feet. The college installed a CCA FM-12000E transmitter, feeding a CCA H5 5 bay antenna located on the WJHG-TV tower on Front Beach Road a mile west of Thomas Avenue. That facility signed on right at the end of 1979 and gave the station's signal regional reach. Around this time the Florida state legislature granted the station money to create their first true full studio. They became a very early adopter of the compact disc, installing playback machines in 1979.

In 1982, Janus Broadcasting donated AM station WGNE (now WKGC AM) to the school, creating the first AM/FM public radio combo run by a school in the USA. Today, it carries student programming as "Alter Nation Radio".

The station received another upgrade, this time to a full 100,000 watts, in 1985, when it began transmitting from a new tower site near the Panama City Beach sewage treatment plant on US-98 west of Panama City Beach.

The station received their latest construction permit in 2006, when they applied to move the transmitter location to the school's north campus north of the Southport community. That facility signed on in 2009, and marked the station's transition into broadcasting with the IBOC HD hybrid digital system. Their HD-2 subchannel originally carried Classical Music programming.

In 2013, the station dropped NPR affiliation due to competition from Florida State's WFSW, which had signed on in 1993 and carried much of the same NPR programming as this station. Today, they carry American Public Media programming as well as NPR programming, along with a few locally produced shows.