History of WGTO
WGTO was conceived by the owners of KWK, Inc. out of St. Louis. 
1955-WGTO took to the air from The Palm Crest Hotel in Haines City. Licensed to broadcast with 10,000 watts of power at 540 on the dial. The format was Top 40. 
1958-Hubbard Broadcasting moved the station from Haines City to Cypress Gardens
1977-Music format changed to country
1978-WGTO was named Billboard Magazine's "Small Market Station of the Year"
1986-WGTO was sold to Cypress Broadcast, Ltd. and the format was changed to "gospel". 
1990-WGTO sold to Florida Media Inc. (a company owned by two Fort Myers doctors and a lawyer) the studios were moved to Ocoee.
1992-WGTO went to a satellite service, resulting in the layoff of 30 employees including Rocky Dee, Russ Ross (Original Doo-Wop Shoppe), Allan Brady (Music and Memories). Perry Moore would remain at the station in sales.
1994-WGTO was sold to Paxson Broadcasting, the call letters were changed to WWZN and the format became sports talk.

RCA Broadcast News, February 1957:
"WGTO is located in the center of a group of metropolitan areas as contrasted to the more usual establishment of a station in a principal city of its own. Its coverage, on 540 kc, encompasses such major cities as Gainesville, Daytona Beach, Orlando, Lakeland, Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg. This area, covering the more populous sections of Central Florida, extends from Gainesville to Okeechobee and from Gulf to Ocean hence the call letters WGTO.

        WGTO QSL Card 
courtesy of Larry Flegle

Dale Starkey-1955-1958-KSTP, Inc. (Hubbard Broadcasting)

Dar Dodds-1955-1959-Morning Drive-KSTP, Inc. (Hubbard Broadcasting)

George Prescott-1958-Host of "Welcome to Florida Show" from Cypress Gardens/1966-1971-Program Director-KSTP, Inc. (Hubbard Broadcasting)/1973-Promotions Manager-Hubbard Broadcasting

Richard Hart-1958-Farm Director--KSTP, Inc. (Hubbard Broadcasting)/1964-Farm Director-Hubbard Broadcasting/1971-Chief Engineer-Hubbard Broadcasting

Bob Collins-1965-Hubbard Broadcasting

Woody Wooden-1967-1971/ 1975-1984-Sales/1968-Farm News Director-Hubbard Broadcasting In Memory

Larry Green (Larry Cox)-1967-1968-Mid-days/ 1973-1974-News-Hubbard Broadcasting 

Dan Grant-1968-Mid-days-Hubbard Broadcasting

Ronnie Gee (Ron St. John)-1968/1973-Program Director-Hubbard Broadcasting

Jim Kennedy-1970-1971-Weekends-Hubbard Broadcasting

Dave Wright-1972-1973-Hubbard Broadcasting

Terry "The Bird" Slane-1977--Hubbard Broadcasting Terry was named Small Market Broadcast Personality of the Year in 1979-Hubbard Broadcasting

Lee Manning

Jerry Steffen-1990-2008  Biography

Keith Holliday

Henry Jay

Becky Johnson

Jeff Kierce

"Judge Krater"

R.C. Kelley

Carol Lamons

Dave Lane

Jay Menchen

Bob McCord

Allen Rich

Roy Riley

Jack Robertson

Tom Rusk

Dan Sanborn

Harry Sharp

Maris Siegel

Kathi Tanner

Lyle Wood

Roy Beemer

Patricia Madden

Tom Anthony  Biography

Merrill Craig

Jay Cresswell

Clive Thomas Biography

Jerry O'Neill  Biography

Greg Warmoth

Al Brock

Charlie "Rock" Brown

Larry Cox

Allen Shaw, Jr.

Joe Francis-News Director

Other Names in WGTO History

Stanley E. Hubbard-1958-President-KSTP, Inc. (Hubbard Broadcasting)/1969-Chairman of the Board-Hubbard Broadcasting

Hal Meyer-1958-Sales Manager-Hubbard Broadcasting

Spencer Danes-1970-1972-Management-Hubbard Broadcasting

Dick Hart-1958-1971 and 1982-1986-Engineer-Hubbard Broadcasting

Frank Berry-1971-1973 and 1979-1982-Director of Technical Operations--Hubbard Broadcasting
Frank tells us about his time at WGTO-AM. "...During my tenure at WGTO, I replaced almost all of the studio equipment and, when the old RCA BTA 10H transmitter failed, I replaced the transmitter with a Harris MW-1A to provide better nighttime service at their 1kw licensed power level. The night that the old RCA transmitter failed, I put the Gates MW-50 transmitter on the air at its lowest stable power which was about 8kw.  I was able to reduce the output power further by detuning the output network of the transmitter so that it produced about 1kw of power. After we achieved stabile nighttime operation, I called Stanley Hubbard at home and explained that the old RCA transmitter had failed beyond reasonable repair.  Stan authorized me to purchase a Harris MW-1A transmitter. I called Harris and ordered the transmitter and requested rush delivery. We operated in that mode overnight and before pattern change in the morning, I re-tuned the output network so that the station could operate at full power. We went through these detuning/retuning gyrations for two or three days until the new MW-1A transmitter arrived. During the time that it took to receive the new transmitter, we removed the old RCA 10kw unit and moved the nighttime phasor  into its new position...directly beside the soon-to-be-delivered Harris MW-1A. Before moving the phasor, I called our Consulting Engineer, Ogden Prestholdt of A. D. Ring and Associates and told him of my desire to move the phasor.  Mr. Prestholdt told me "absolutely not.  You don't have the knowledge to re-tune the antenna array". I moved the phasor anyway and retuned the array.  It remained stable and within the licensed specifications throughout my tenure at WGTO..."

Bob Kelly-1971-1973-Station Manager-Hubbard Broadcasting-Now owner of Kelly Communications, Inc in Peoria, Illinois

Paul Titchenal-1972-1979-Engineer-Hubbard Broadcasting

Dick Bennick-(Dr. Paul Bearer)1973-1977-Production Director/Sales/1977-1986-General Manager-Hubbard Broadcasting In Memory

Howard Trickey-1973-1978-General Manager-Hubbard Broadcasting  

Lloyd Barham-1978-General Manager-Hubbard Broadcasting

Howard Hoffman-1990-General Manager-Florida Media Inc. 

Keith Feeney-1990-Accounting/Traffic Manager

Bill Patti-1990-Creative Services Director

Bob Johnson-1991-General Sales Manager/General Manager

Jay Waggoner-Chief Engineer 

Nancy Cattarius-Sales

Tommy Kramer-Program Director

John Frost-General Manager  

Thanks to Jay Waggoner for these WGTO photos

                              WGTO FEMA Bomb shelter                                                WGTO phasor 

                                                    
                                                                          
  
  Jay Waggoner at WGTO
photos courtesy of Jay Waggoner