iHeartMedia Albany’s News Radio 810 & 103.1 WGY, is celebrating its 100th Anniversary with a special broadcast and a new podcast series. The celebration will kick off February 20, 2022.
A live celebration will feature m any past and present hosts, news anchors and members of New York’s Capital Region will take part in the special event. A retelling of radio’s first radio drama “The Wolf” will also be presented live from the Kenmore Ballroom in Albany, NY, where WGY has a history of broadcasting from going back to 1923. The event will be heard on the air and on the station’s digital platforms.
“As a long time, Capital Region resident, WGY has had an impact on my life since the early 60’s,” said John Cooper, SVP Programming. “Starting as a listener, it has been an honor and privilege to have been able to work directly with some of the great News/Talk programmers and personalities over my last 22 years. 100 years of service to this community is an amazing milestone. WGY is the go-to station when you need to know.”
WGY kicked off its’ centennial year with a new podcast series called “Wireless: 100 Years of WGY”. The podcast launched January 31 and is hosted by WGY News Anchor Mike Patrick and features intimate and candid interviews with many familiar WGY voices, with new episodes released weekly.
Legendary NBC staff announcer Howard Reig–longtime voice of “Nightly News”–was one of many who got his start at WGY. He was a teacher in the local area in 1943 and looking for a way to supplement his income during the summer, when school wasn’t in session. He was hired as a relief announcer and soon joined the staff full-time. In 1952, the made the move to New York City, and the NBC staff. He finally retired from the network in 2005, and passed away three years later.
WGY was long owned by General Electric, which did a lot of pioneering on the technical side of broadcasting. They had one of the early FM stations, which was used to demonstrate the capture effect on co-channel stations. It was co-channel with W2XMN, Major Armstrong’s FM station in Alpine, NJ and later became WGFM. GE also was an early player in television, establishing WRGB on channel 4 (later moved to channel 6) and setting up the first network link with NBC in New York. On international shortwave, WGY’s sister station was WGEO, which later was moved and became part of the Voice of America.
Happy birthday, WGY!