First airing in 1974, WKGC is Gulf Coast State College’s personal radio station, broadcasting directly from the college to the surrounding area. The station itself was the idea of two GCCC students, named Charlie Wooten and Ron Johnson. They started with a 10-watt FM transmitter that could only reach the end of the campus parking lot, and that signal ended up growing to be a 100,000-watt signal that spans across 10 counties in Northwest Florida and reaching into Southwest Alabama and Southeast Georgia.
The station has always been particularly well known for how quick it is to adapt to new technologies, as it was the first to eventually go all-digital in 2016. But before that, in 2009, WKGC merely went somewhat digital, using the IBOC HD system, which was the industry standard at that time. This is still present today, as the station has three HD channels, one for main broadcasts and the one that most of the population will listen to. Another for elevator music and the third for student-created broadcasts.
Over the years, WKGC has begun to serve as the surrounding community’s Public Media affiliate and has also been a working classroom for students. Having this real-world full-time radio station right on the college campus has helped the careers of hundreds of people, who could go on to be radio and television broadcasters, or maybe even journalists. Alongside this Radio-Television Studies Program, Charlie Wooten and Ron Johnson’s dream brought along a building at GCSC that at one time housed two different radio stations. WKGC is more present than ever, after being one of the only stations still up in the area due to Hurricane Michael, it brought along a lot of good publicity.
Tons of people tuned in, to get updates, or just to be let known that they weren’t the only ones suffering due to the hurricane. After its lengthy history, WKGC is still kicking today and has shown no signs of slowing down.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Austin Greggs
Student Author - Fall 2020
