WGGG-AM 1230 Gainesville

History of WGGG
Thanks to Marc Tyll for this history of WGGG.
Twenty years after Gainesville’s first radio station-WRUF-AM 850-went on the air, the area’s second radio station, WGGG-AM 1230 began operation. The year was 1948 as the country was in an economic boom period following the end of World War II. Hoping to cash in on a prosperous economy, the City of Gainesville applied for the frequency 1230 Kilocycles. The Federal Communications Commission soon thereafter granted the construction permit and authorized a power of 100 watts unlimited. The call letters WGGG - Watch Greater Gainesville Grow - were soon granted. The city had planned to use the new radio medium as a means of promoting economic growth within the City of Gainesville and the surrounding outlining area of Alachua County. Plans were underway to construct the radio tower and studio building in the Northeast section of town. The physical address was 1230 Northeast Waldo Road, located approximately half way between downtown Gainesville and the Gainesville Municipal Airport (now the Gainesville Regional Airport). The site was on approximately one acre of land situated on the West side of Waldo Road. In preparation to build the new 100 watt full-time Standard Broadcast Station, the land was cleared to make room for the new tower and studio building. Since WMGG's 1230 KC local channel was authorized to transmit with a non directional antenna system, only one tower was needed. An all steel self supporting tower was designed, manufactured and delivered to the site in late 1947. The tower base was 25’ X 25’ gradually coming to a point approximately two thirds the way up or at approximately the 180 foot level. The remaining 80 feet of so went straight up, all self supporting. While the tower was being installed, the studio building construction was also well underway. A 2,000 square foot masonry building had been very uniquely designed in an effort to reduce the likelihood of any unwanted noise going out over the air. Since there was a rail road, owned and operated by Seaboard Coastline, located directly across the street from where the radio station was being constructed, there was concern the station might experience noise and vibrations from the passing trains. So in an effort to reduce rail noise, the architect designed the building around the on-air studio. The studio was placed in the exact center of the building with a hallway going around the building, completely surrounding the studio. Offices were constructed on the outer edge of the hallway, opposite the studio, against the exterior walls. This design gave the WGGG on-air studio a “double” sound barrier, completely eliminating any unwanted noise from passing trains or airplanes passing nearby on the way to the municipal airport. By January 1948, the station construction was completed. WGGG signed on the air with 100 watts non directional on February 1st, 1948 with a blend of big band music, show tunes, news, information and network programming from the CBS Radio Network. The station’s slogan was "Watch Greater Gainesville Grow" and was promoted very heavily by the City of Gainesville. Later WGGG increased its power to 250 watts unlimited. Eventually the City of Gainesville sold WGGG to Quality Broadcasting, Inc., owned by Delray Beach resident Victor M. Knight. Knight owned WDBF-AM 1420 Delray Beach, and WNDB-AM 1150 and WDNJ-FM 94.5 Daytona Beach, Florida. The format remained mostly big bands, adult standards, MOR and news programming, but the CBS Radio network was dropped, leaving WGGG as an independent radio station. Beautiful Music and Classical formatted WRUF-FM 103.7 soon became the area’s CBS affiliate, leaving WGGG without a national network. A power increase was applied for and granted, allowing WGGG to increase its power to 1,000 watts non directional day but remained 250 watts at night. Soon after buying WGGG, Knight began to realize WGGG was experiencing a decline in market share. Additionally, the ever increasing and growing popularity of progressive rocker WGVL-FM 105.5, caused management to seriously consider a new format and marketing strategy for WGGG. In 1968 the MOR and big band tunes were replaced with . The station became known as “Rock 1230”, “G 1230”, “Super G” and “Super GGG”. The strategy was an overnight, but short lived, success. So plans were underway once again to reformat WGGG into a profitable radio station. Because of the growing popularity and market acceptance of Top 40 formatted “Music Radio Eighty-Five, WRUF”, management determined Top 40 would be the best alternative. Former WUWU-AM 1390 “The WOO WOO” morning man S. W. “Boomer” Hough was hired to become WMGG's new morning host and program director. Under Boomer’s programming style, WGGG quickly became the number one radio station in Gainesville, maintaining that position for many years. Seeing an opportunity to get the best return on investment now that WGGG went from “worst to first”, Knight sold WGGG to Chicago radio talk host Howard A. Miller for $1.2 Million in 1978. Miller was building a Florida radio group when he added WGGG to his radio portfolio which also included WMMB-AM 1240 and WYRL-FM 102.3 Melbourne, Florida. WGGG Advertising Assistant Tom Calato, who was 25 at the time and who was also a recent UF graduate, had won numerous “Addy” awards for his creative copywriting, was promoted to General Manager of WGGG. Morning Host and Program Director Boomer Hough briefly left WGGG to became an airline flight attendant for TWA, but soon returned to his hometown of Gainesville, and also returned to WGGG where he once again took over the morning and programming duties. WGGG continued to be Gainesville’s number one radio station throughout the remainder of the 70s and early 80s. Many changes on the Gainesville radio airwaves were underway in 1981. Longtime heritage progressive/AOR WGVL-FM 105.5 was sold and the programming was switched to CHR under a new moniker "Kiss 105" with the call letters WYKS-FM 105.3. WGGG began to lose its Top 40 listeners to the new CHR Kiss 105, so Miller decided to sell WGGG to newly formed New Brunswick, New Jersey based U.S. Broadcasting, Inc. U.S. was owned by corporate attorney Fred Mazey who hired former WNBC-AM 660 New York General Manager Charlie Warner as a consultant to the company. Warner recommended that WGGG should become an oldies based adult contemporary station catering to the 25-54 year old adult. Warner also recommended that former WAPE-AM 690 Jacksonville air personality Mike Bonts be hired as WGGG's program director, replacing “Boomer” in that capacity. Boomer, however, stayed on as WMGG's long time morning show host.
Former WTMC-AM 1290 Ocala Program Director, Marc Tyll, who had just begun classes at the University of Florida, was hired as WGGG's Operations Manager and Assistant Program Director. Tyll was given the responsibility of assisting Bonts with the format transition from Top 40 to Adult Contemporary. The studio was also being renovated into a new state of the art facility, while the music library was being transferred from record to cart. The new WGGG adult contemporary on-air line-up in 1981 was Sumner Wayne “Boomer” Hugh 6-10 Mornings; Mike Bonts 10- 3 Mid-days; Marc Tyll 3-7 Afternoons; Chip Sorentino 7-Midnight; and Steve Mitchell Midnight to 6 overnights. Later former WPTR-AM Albany, New York morning personality Joe MacKay was brought in - via Gainesville’s WKGR - to replace Bonts as Program Director. Tyll graduated from UF and headed to Daytona to assume the 7 to Midnight shift on WDOQ-FM 101.9 "Q 102". Several air personality changes took place with WGGG eventually becoming a Transtar Format 41 satellite programming affiliate, eliminating all local air staff accept Boomer who remained on the morning show. Mazey decided to sell WGGG to American Communications and Television’s Mark Goldstein and Harvey Budd who were in the process of bringing Gainesville a new adult contemporary FM station: WGLV-FM 97.7 which would become “Gainesville’s Love 98”. Mazey retained the WGGG building and tower located at 1230 Northeast Waldo Road with plans to lease it back to Goldstein and Budd. Instead Budd moved WGGG to the WGLV studio location which was located at 900 Northeast 6^th street. The original WGGG building sat empty for a year and a half before it was sold to Comco headed by former WFTV channel 9 President Walter Windsor. Comco planned to move the former WRYO-FM 98.5 (now WKTK) studios from Homosassa Springs to Gainesville, operating from the former WGGG building. The transmitter and tower site were also eventually moved to an area in West Gainesville. Boomer moved to over to do mornings on sister station WGLV-FM. Goldstein and Budd kept WGGG along with WGLV for about a year before it was sold to former WHLY Program Director Rick Stacy. The format was changed to oldies. Boomer, however, left radio to become a cruise captain in Jacksonville, taking tourist on boat cruises along the St. Johns River. A year later Stacy sold WGGG-AM and WGLV-FM to Gator Broadcasting, owned by David Gregg. Once again, the format was changed, this time to CNN Headline News. Gregg took WGGG off the air and sold the license to H. I. “Sonny” Bloch, but retained WGLV-FM. Bloch never placed WGGG back on the air and eventually sold the license to its current owner, Florida Sportstalk, Inc., owned by UF Alumni , realtor and Ocala resident Gordon P. Smith. Smith immediately placed WGGG back on the air with plans to rebroadcast Ocala’s WMOP-AM 900. Smith had purchased Ocala’s heritage country station WMOP-AM 900 in 1996 and switched the programming to One-On-One Sports radio, later becoming ESPN Radio. While Smith was awaiting the engineers to complete the technical portion with an STL capable of reaching Gainesville from Ocala, WGGG went back on the air with a temporary classical music format. Once the two stations were interconnected, Smith was able to extend Floridasportstalk programming throughout North Central Florida, including the entire Gainesville-Ocala Metro and Total Survey Area with a signal from two stations: WMOP-AM 900 Ocala and WGGG-AM 1230 Gainesville. Today WGGG continues to rebroadcast ESPN and local sports programming which originates in Ocala from WMOP. The stations combined to carry NASCAR, Florida Seminoles, Florida Gators (on WMOP), local high school sports and national sports from ESPN. Together the stations are known as ESPN 900 and 1230.

More history from David Reaves
Eventually the City of Gainesville sold WGGG to Quality Broadcasting, Inc., owned by Delray Beach resident Victor M. Knight. Knight owned WDBF-AM 1420 Delray Beach, and WNDB-AM 1150 and WDNJ-FM 94.5 Daytona Beach, Florida. The format remained mostly big bands, adult standards, MOR and news programming, but the CBS Radio network was dropped, leaving WGGG as an independent radio station. Beautiful Music and Classical formatted WRUF-FM 103.7 soon became the area’s CBS affiliate, leaving WGGG without a national network. A power increase was applied for and granted, allowing WGGG to increase its power to 1,000 watts non directional day but remained 250 watts at night. Soon after buying WGGG, Knight began to realize WGGG was experiencing a decline in market share. Additionally, the ever increasing and growing popularity of progressive rocker WGVL-FM 105.5, caused management to seriously consider a new format and marketing strategy for WGGG. In 1968 the MOR and big band tunes were replaced with top 40. The station became known as “Rock 1230”, “G 1230”, “Super G” and “Super GGG”. The strategy was an overnight, but short lived, success. So plans were underway once again to reformat WGGG into a profitable radio station. Because of the growing popularity and market acceptance of Top 40 formatted “Music Radio Eighty-Five, WRUF”, management determined Top 40 would be the best alternative. Former WUWU-AM 1390 “The WOO WOO” morning man S. W. “Boomer” Hough was hired to become WMGG's new morning host and program director. Under Boomer’s programming style, WGGG quickly became the number one radio station in Gainesville, maintaining that position for many years. Seeing an opportunity to get the best return on investment now that WGGG went from “worst to first”, Knight sold WGGG to Chicago radio talk host Howard A. Miller for $1.2 Million in 1978. In MY recollection, the best times WGGG ever had were, by a LONG shot, those that are completely missing or glossed over by Mr. Tyll's account! The rest of the history (before and after these paragraphs) seems correct enough to me, though admittedly I had much less contact with WGGG after I left Gainesville in 1979. The following details are from memory, and to the best of my knowledge. I am certainly open to thoughtful correction, :-) and I would be honored to have some or all of this information fact-checked and incorporated into your website.

From Albert Nelson "...the station was held together and managed by Dolph Chamberlin. Every day was a struggle with some of the equipment which appeared to be from WW2 or the Korean war. I am surprised that nothing has been written about Dolph in the history records. At that time we introduced a mobile unit and on weekends we broadcast from a drive in restaurant, sorority houses and anywhere else where people would have us. Also tried for a while having a remote broadcast from Wolfie's restaurant in downtown Gainesville.

From Ron Hayes
In 1966, WGGG was purchased by University Broadcasting Co. The company’s president, Robert (Bob) Brown, had big ideas about promoting the station, capitalizing on the musical tastes of the youthful student population of the University of Florida , and the popularity of the Top 40 format in general. Gainesville already had two Top 40 stations, WDVH, at 980, and WUWU, at 1390. Both of these stations had more powerful signals (at 5,000 watts each), but they were somewhat handicapped by their daytime-only status. University Broadcasting overcame WGGG’s weaker signal disadvantage with some positive improvements in the engineering department. It became the loudest spot on the dial, creating the illusion of a much more powerful radio station. Brown immediately put his plans in place to dominate the market. The CBS affiliation was dropped, and the local news department was beefed up (with three full-time news people on staff, including legendary Gainesville news director, Don Reid.) General Manager Elliott Harris and Program Director Mal Harrison gathered a group of high-powered air personalities, including such names as Jack Shaw, Don Wright, Tommy Woods, Don Steele, Wayne Buttram and Steve “Boom-Boom” Cannon. The station’s continuity writers (Steve Gustafson among them) created local ads with a keen sense of humor for the station’s advertisers, making sure that even WGGG’s commercials were entertaining to listeners. On-air contest/promotions were constant, offering prizes with considerably larger jackpots than those which had previously been common in the market. All of this was designed to attract major attention. The plans worked. WGGG quickly became the top-rated station in the market. Changes were taking place in Gainesville radio. New FM station, WGVL-FM 105.5 came on the air in 1970, with a Country & Western format. A short time later, Top 40 station WDVH-AM 980 finally gave in to WGGG’s dominance, and also switched to Country. WGGG was sold in 1971 to Quality Broadcasting Company, owned by Victor M. Knight of Delray Beach, Florida. The company also operated WDBF-AM 1420 in Delray, WNDB-AM 1150 and WDNJ-FM 94.5 in Daytona Beach. Although Knight himself was well-known as a promoter of American Standards and Big Bands, he wisely continued WGGG’s winning ways as Gainesville’s Top 40 giant. Under Quality Broadcasting, Elliott Harris was General Manager, Pete Winters (aka Pete Sautter) was Program Director, with Don Reid continuing as News Director. An Arbitron audience survey from the period showed WGGG with an incredible 74% share in the six-station market. The company transferred Harris to assume management of its stations in Daytona Beach in 1973, in an attempt to boost sagging ratings there. Victor Knight’s secretary/assistant, Elsie Mercer, was named to replace Harris as WGGG General Manager. Also in 1973, Pete Winters moved into a full-time sales position, and the station’s Music Director, Ron Hayes, was promoted to Program Director. Other on-air personnel included Jason McCrae (formerly of WDVH), Lloyd Hart (formerly known as Dave Carr at WUWU), Don Steele, Jay Stone, and “Diamond Jim” Sibrey. Rather than give in to the competition, three other Gainesville radio stations made moves at this time to try to take at least part of WGGG’s audience. University of Florida’s WRUF made the switch to a Rock format. WUWU-AM 1390, was sold, and its call letters changed to WAKA. Program Director Mike E. Harvey (formerly of Miami’s legendary WFUN) took steps to “freshen up” its Top 40 sound. WGVL-FM 105.5 gave up its country format in favor of Album Oriented Progressive Rock. Over time, these changes, along with WDVH’s increasing success with its modern country sound, began to finally take its toll on WGGG’s hold on the market.

From Kyle Magrill
"My understanding is that the WGGG tower was not bought new in '48. I was told that Gainesville bought the two towers that had supported the original WRUF wire dipole antenna from SW Radio Road on the UF campus, when that was decommissioned. One of the towers went to G(ainesville) P(olice) D(epartment) at the NW 6th Street location where it served for another 40+ years until replaced in the 1990's due to a desire to add cellular antennas at the location. The other tower was put at the 1230 Waldo Road address where its remains still sit today, painted orange and blue. I have letter here somewhere from WGGG where the slogan is "Watching Greater Gainesville Grow". The slogan may have changed over the years.
At age 19, I worked at WGGG in 1980 as the overnight jock and chief engineer. While working there, I was really bothered by the fact that the windows in the studios were cloudy with about 40 years worth of dust trapped between them. The windows between air and production and air and the lobby were double panes and the windows between the air studio and newsroom (formerly the orchestra pit for live broadcasts in the '40s/'50s) were triple panes about 12' long and 3' high. I took it upon myself to remove each window and clean the insides. I then waxed each window using car wax so that dust wouldn't stick. Station manager Tom Calato was amazed that I'd gotten the windows out by myself and put them back, all very clean. During the overnights, we also rewired the studios and rebuilt the, non-functional, Collins 20V-2 standby transmitter into a working spare. It would produce an honest 1kW at 120% modulation, but the tubes would only last about 4 months of fulltime service. You could get about a year out of them at 100% modulation instead of 120%. They lasted forever in standby service.
One night, while I was working, news director Don Reid came into the studio with a serious look on his face. He said that John Lennon had just been shot and was still alive, but was going to die. I asked how he could be sure Lennon wouldn't survive and Reid replied that his long experience was that nobody survived that kind of wound. Sure enough, within the hour, Lennon was pronounced dead.
At that time, WGGG was still the number 1 station in town and made tons of money. Miller's other stations were not doing so well. In addition to the struggling Melbourne cluster, Miller owned WRRR in Rockford, Illinois. Rumor had it that WGGG was the only station to make money and was supporting the entire group. As a result, Miller cut every corner. One afternoon, Tom Calato called me into his office and told me that I had been doing a great job, but I was being laid off because Miller saw no value in being on the air from Midnight to 6am since no spots were sold during that period and there were no ratings either. I pointed out that Gainesville is a college town with a very active night life until at least 2:30am. If the station was off the air when people went to bed, they would wake up with another station. Calato agreed and said he'd argued with Miller that it was a very poor move for the station, but Miller disagreed and I was given one week's severance pay ($150) and sent packing. I returned to WGGG for about 6 months in 1982 as the midday announcer/chief engineer. WYKS was already cleaning WGGG's clock and the handwriting was on the wall. It was very depressing to work there because we all knew WYKS was going to destroy WGGG, no matter what we did. Even in the face of competition from WYKS, Miller would not keep the station on 24 hours. That ratings book, WGGG dropped to a 2.5. WGGG got sold & most of us lost our jobs.
Sometime in the mid 1980s or early '90s, the WGGG studios on Waldo Road were abandoned. About a year later, we heard that the studios had been badly damaged by vandals. Sure enough, someone had taken a baseball bat or crowbar and smashed all of the studio windows that had been so carefully rebuilt just 10 years before. The Collins 20V-2 transmitter's glass front and 4-400 tubes received the same treatment. I heard the Collins was sold for scrap value.

The Goat FM Comes To Gainesville/Ocala 11-11-17
Florida SportsTalk, LLC is rebranding WMOP-AM 900, Ocala; WGGG-AM 1230, Gainesville; translator W221DX at 92.1 FM; and WGOT-LP, Gainesville to "Gainesville Ocala All Talk" (The GOAT FM) so that “our branding more accurately reflects our voice, impact, and prominence in the communities we serve.” Your favorite personalities will remain, with one addition; Chip Morris has joined the team and you will begin to hear Chip’s voice on the air and as a representative in the community.

Network Affiliation(s):	CBS
	Associated Press
	Keystone
	ABC
	Mutual Broadcasting System
	United Press International
	ESPN Radio
	NBC Sports

Owner(s):	1946-Alachua County Broadcasting Company
	1958-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (T. K. Cassell)
	1962-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (Holiday Isle Broadcasting)
	1966-University Broadcasting Co.
	1971-Gator Radio, Inc.
	1972-Quality Broadcasting, Inc. (co-owned with WDBF-AM 1420 Delray Beach, WNDB-AM 1150 and WDNJ-FM 94.5
	1977-Miller Broadcasting, Inc. (co-owned with WMMB-AM 1240 and WYRL-FM 102.3 Melbourne) ($1.2 million)
	1981-U. S. Broadcasting Corporation
	1984-American Communications and Television, Inc. (co-owned with WGLV-FM 97.7, WGFL-TV 53, WTMG-FM 95.9
	1986-Gator Broadcasting, Inc. ($500,000)
	1986-Southern Star Broadcasting Group (With WGGG-FM 97.7) ($1.45 million)
	1993-Bloch Broadcasting Co.
	1995-WGGG, LC
	1997-Florida Sportstalk, Inc. ($350,000)
	2013-Florida Sportstalk, LLC.

History Of Call Letters and Formats:	WGGG-1948-Big Bands/MOR/CBS Programming “Watching Greater Gainesville Grow”
	WGGG-1958-Big Bands/MOR/Show Tunes/CBS Network Dramas
	WGGG-1968-Top 40 “Rock 1230” “G 1230” “The Super G” “ Super GGG”
	WGGG-1968-Contemporary Top 40
	WGGG-1972-Top 40/Black
	WGGG-1977-Top 40
	WGGG-1981-Adult Contemporary “Gainesville’s Great Radio Station, WGGG”
	WGGG-1985-Oldies “Oldies 1230 WGGG”
	WGGG-1986-Talk “Talk Radio 1230”
	WGGG-1994-Classical “Culture Radio 1230, WGGG”
	WGGG-1995-Off The Air
	WGGG-1997-Sports Talk “Sportstalk 1230”
	WGGG-1999-Sports Talk “ESPN 1230 WGGG”
	WGGG-2013-Sports Talk "NBC Sports Radio"

Names In WGGG History
R. M. Chamberlain-1946-President/General Manager-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Leon Mims-1946-Commercial Manager/1950-Promotions Manager-Alachua County Broadcasting Company Inc./1958-Commercial Manager-Radio Gainesville, Inc./1959-Station Manager/Commercial Manager-Radio Gainesville, Inc.
Gordon Hemby-1946-Commercial Manager-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Guy Hamilton-1946-Program Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Clinton Willis-1946-Chief Engineer-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Pierre Bejano-1949-Program Director and did a talk radio regarding recipes with his then mother-in-law/1956-Promotions Manager/Program Director/News Director/Sports director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Lee Shannon-1948-Program Manager/Women's Director--Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Jim Fisher-1948-1953-News Director--Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Stan Reich-1948-1954-Sports Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Scott Sutton-1950-Program Director/1953-News Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Sally Drew-1951-1953-Program Director/Women's Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
W. F. Ferguson-1951-1953-1954-News Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Dave Blount-1951-Promotions Manager/Sports Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Thelma Roberts-1953-1954-Women's Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Morrow Krum-1954-News Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Jack Herring-1954-Farm Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Herman Shonbrun-1954-1955-Sports Director/1955-News Director/Farm Director-Alachua Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Edith Cameron-1954-1955-Women's Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Albert Nelson-1955-Sports Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Jane Mansfiled-1955-Women's Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Dan Lunin-1956-Chief Engineer-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Eloise Cozens-1956-Women's Director-Alachua County Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Vera Beecher--Alachua County Broadcasting Company
Erselle Smith-Alachua Broadcasting Company
Thompson Cassel-1958-Owner/General Manager-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (T. K. Cassell)
Jimmie Bryan-1958-Program Director-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (T. K. Cassell)
Bill Mansfield-1958-Promotion Manager/Program Director-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (T. K. Cassell)
Lotis Adams-1958-Chief Engineer-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (T. K. Cassell)
Windsor Brown-1958-News Director-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (T. K. Cassell)
Carl Swanson-1959-General Manager-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (T. K. Cassell)
Peggy Wiesner1959-Promotion Director-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (T. K. Cassell)
Wynn Brown-1959-News Director-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (T. K. Cassell)
Clifford Waldon-1959-Farm Director-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (T. K. Cassell)
Edna Lambreth-1959-Women's Director-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (T. K. Cassell)
Charles Mackey-1964-President-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (Holiday Isle Broadcasting)
William Minshall-1964-Vice President/General Manager-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (Holiday Isle Broadcasting)
Jim Finch-1964-News Director-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (Holiday Isle Broadcasting)
Gene Bardo-1964-Chief Engineer-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (Holiday Isle Broadcasting)
Pierre Bejane-1965-General Manager-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (Holiday Isle Broadcasting)
Tom Dilley-1965-Chief Engineer-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (Holiday Isle Broadcasting)
Richard Pahalek-1966-Commercial Manager-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (Holiday Isle Broadcasting)
Tom Kirby-1966-Promotions Manager-Radio Gainesville, Inc. (Holiday Isle Broadcasting)/1966-Station Manager-University Broadcasting Co.
Robert Brown-1966-President-University Broadcasting Co./1971-President/Station Manager-University Broadcasting Co.
Jack Shaw-1966-Music Director-University Broadcasting Co.
Don Reid-1966-News Director-University Broadcasting Co./1971-News Director-Gator Radio, Inc./1974-News Director-Quality Broadcasting Corp.
Mal Harrison-1966-Program Director-University Broadcasting Co.
Elliott Harris-1966-General Manager-University Broadcasting Co.
Steve “Boom-Boom” Cannon-1966-University Broadcasting Co.
Steve Gustafson-1966-University Broadcasting Co.
George Adkins-1967-University Broadcasting Co.
Victor M. Knight-1971-President/General Manager-Gator Radio, Inc./1972-President-Quality Broadcasting Corp.
Elliott Harris, Jr.-1971-General Sales Manager/1973-General Commercial Manager/Promotions Manager-Gator Radio, Inc.
David Berges-1971-Production Director-Gator Radio, Inc.
Richard Rieke-1971-Operations Manager-Gator Radio, Inc.
Elliot Harris-General Manager-Gator Radio
Pete Winters (Peter Sautter)-1973-Program Director-Gator Radio, Inc./1974-Program Director-Quality Broadcasting Corp.
“Diamond Jim” Sibrey-Quality Broadcasting Corp.
Lloyd Hart-1973-Music Director-Gator Radio, Inc.
Don Steele-1973-Chief Engineer-Gator Radio, Inc./1974-Chief Engineer-Quality Broadcasting Corp.
Elsie Mercer-1974-General Manager-Quality Broadcasting Corp./1977-Commercial Manager-Miller Broadcasting, Inc.
Ron Hayes-1974-Program/Music Director/-Quality Broadcasting Corp.
Craig O'Brien (Craig Butler)-1975-1978-Music Director/Chief Engineer-Quality Broadcasting, Inc.
Howard Miller-1977-President-Miller Broadcasting, Inc.
J. D. Chapman-1977-Music Director-Miller Broadcasting, Inc.
Tom Colato-1977-Operations Manager-Miller Broadcasting, Inc.
Don Hiers-1977-News Director-Miller Broadcasting, Inc.
Mike Scott (Michael Kranitz)-1980-1982-Miller Broadcasting, Inc./U. S. Broadcasting Corporation
Kyle Magrill-1980-Overnights/Chief Engineer-Miller Broadcasting, Inc.
Marc Tyll Biography
Wild Bill Feinberg-1980-Miller Broadcasting, Inc.
Rick Brady-1982-1984-Asst. Program Director/Sports play-by-play-U. S. Broadcasting Corporation Biography
Rick Stacey-1986-Co-Owner-Southern Star Broadcasting Group
David Gregg, III-1986-Co-Owner-Southern Star Broadcasting Group
Frank Boros-1988-Production Engineer-"The Gary Gordon Comedy Show"-Southern Star Broadcasting Group
Irwin H. “Sonny” Bloch-1993-President-Bloch Broadcasting Co. In Memory
John Starr-1994-General Manager/Program Director-Gator Broadcasting Corp.
Liz Mattox-1994-General Sales Manager-Gator Broadcasting Corp.
Jerry Girard-1994-Music Director-Gator Broadcasting Corp.
Mike Jurian-1994-General Manager/General Sales Manager/Program Director-Gator Broadcasting Corp.
Tim McGuire-1994-Chief Engineer-Gator Broadcasting Corp.
Gordon Smith-1997-General Manager-Florida Sportstalk, Inc.
Brady Ackerman-2002-Morning co-host with Larry Vettel-Florida Sportstalk, Inc.
Augie Greiner-2004-Sales Director-Florida Sportstalk, Inc.
Jeff Francis-Chief Engineer-Florida Sportstalk, Inc./2004-Operations Director/Program Director/Chief Engineer-Florida Sportstalk,Inc.
Doug Gillen-2007-General Manager-Florida Sportstalk, Inc.
Jay Mariotti-2013-Genesis Communications
Chip Morris-2017-Spots Talk, LLC
Larry Vettel-Florida Sportstalk, Inc.
Keith Cline-Program Director-Florida Sportstalk, Inc.
Eve Ackerman
Wayne Smith
Sumner Wayne “Boomer” Hough
Dr. Tom Parker (Bill Tilghman)
Dave Matthews (David Hesselink)-Assistant Program Director/3PM-7PM. In Memory
Greg Richards
Gene Deckerhoff-Inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame
Joe MacKay
Mark Andrews
Mike Bonts
Tom Murphy
Jeri Banta
Gary Collins
J. D. on the Radio
Gordon P. Smith
Tommy Woods
Don Wright
Steve Cannon
David Reaves
Ray Sharkey-News Director
"Diamond Jim" Sibrey-Overnights
Ron Riley
Wayne Buttram
Rick Allen
Jason McCrea
Jim Kelly
Jay Stone
Phyllis Hartmann In Memory
Dolph Chamberlin-Station Manager
Greg Strickland-Chief Engineer (at age 16)
Heath Cline

		Abandoned WGGG Studios 2010
Thanks to Bill Watson for this pre 1951 Post Card of the WGGG studios click the photos for full sized view
Flicker user martypantaloons has great photos of the abandoned station here.