WGNI - History

History

The call letters WGNI were originally assigned to 1340 AM in Wilmington. The station went on the air on Christmas Eve in 1945. The original station was owned by General Newspapers Inc, publisher of the Wilmington Post. The Station was known as "The Rock of Coastal Carolina". The studios were located in the 200 block of Princess Street in downtown Wilmington.

The studios were moved to the Eagle Island transmitter site in the late 1950s, then to 211 North Second Street until the spring of 1992, afterwards they relocated to 1890 Dawson Street and then in July 2001 moved to their current location of 3233 Burnt Mill Road in Wilmington.

The FM (102.7) was put on the air in 1971 as WAAV, a beautiful music station. By this time, the AM transmitter site had been moved to River Road near Greenfield Lake and the original FM antenna was side mounted on the AM tower. Subsequently, a taller tower was built on the site to house the FM antenna until the station was sold to an owner which then purchased an existing tower south of Wilmington to upgrade their signal.

In 1981, WAAV and WGNI were sold to Cape Fear Broadcasting, which was based in Fayetteville with two stations, WFNC and WQSM. Once this sale took place, WAAV & WGNI switched call letters and frequencies, WAAV going to 1340, and WGNI to 102.7. In the process WAAV changed to a "Music of Your Life" format and WGNI picked up the Adult Contemporary format.

In the fall of 1999, Cape Fear Broadcasting announced the sale of their Wilmington and Fayetteville stations to their current owners, Cumulus Media. This sale was challenged by Ocean Broadcasting of Wilmington because it would give Cumulus 6 FMs and an AM in Wilmington, and about 55 percent of market revenue. After selling one of their FM's, a change in the FCC, and other matters, the sale was finally approved in the spring of 2001.

GNI features several promotions each year. One popular promotion is the WGNI Beach Bag. Each Summer, GNI gives listeners the chance to call in and win a Beach Bag. The bag is filled with several prizes.

During the Hurricane Season, 102-7 GNI is "Wilmington's Hurricane Information Station" and provides listeners with around the clock weather coverage.

Like many other AC stations around the country, GNI provides listeners with 24/7 Christmas music during the holiday season. And each year towards the end of November, 102-7 GNI is "Wilmington's Original All Christmas Music Station" and flips to an all-Christmas music format. The format continues through mid-night Christmas Day.