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1420 AM Columbus
WRBL > WRCG

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Helen Popejoy at WRBL, Columbus. She moved to Columbus from Macon but later returned to Macon to work at WMAZ. 

(Courtesy of Kenny Burgamy)

WRBL History

WRCG was first authorized, as WRBL, on March 27, 1928, by R. E. Martin in Columbus. On May 22, 1928, it was assigned to transmit on 1170 kHz, and on November 11, 1928, was reassigned to 1200 kHz, as part of a major reallocation made under the provisions of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40. Although the call letters were randomly assigned by the government from an alphabetic list of available call signs, over the years WRBL was said to stand for "Wireless Radio's Bill Lewis", a broadcast engineer pioneer who put the station on the air, and "Wee-Rebel Radio". Sister stations WRBL-TV (Channel 3) and WRBL-FM (102.9 FM) were named after the original station calls.

Through the 1940s and 1950s, WRBL had a conventional format of CBS Radio network programming, "pop" and country music, personality, sports, and local news. In 1947, the station was reassigned to 1470 kHz, with 5 kW. It added a 50 kW FM in 1949 simulcasting its AM. The station became WRCG (Radio Columbus Georgia) on January 18, 1977 when the TV and radio went their separate ways after the death of long-time owner, Jim Woodruff, Jr.

In December 2002, McClure Broadcasting, Inc. sold the news-talk formatted station to Archway Broadcasting Group as part of a four-station deal, along with WRLD-FM, WCGQ, and WKCN.

On July 31, 2008, local investment group PMB Broadcasting LLC (headed up by Jim Martin) purchased this station along with Columbus-area sister stations WRLD-FM, WCGQ, and WKCN from Archway Broadcasting Group.

In April 2010, WRCG flipped formats from News/Talk to Oldies. Later in 2010, formats were flipped again to classic rock. This was followed by numerous subsequent format changes: to active rock branded as "106.9 Really Rocks" on April 4, 2011, to news/talk on January 1, 2012, to southern gospel on November 1, 2014, and to urban adult contemporary.

Under Construction-We're working daily to add the story behind these photos from Columbus radio history. Can you help?  Contact admin@friendsofgeorgiaradio.org.

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