It seems like dozens if not hundreds of stations on the AM dial across America are celebrating 100 years on the air in 2022. Add WGR to the list. The Buffalo station first signed on in 1922.
The station officially crossed the century mark on Sunday.
Buffalo’s first radio station was WWT. The Department of Commerce and Labor granted a license to launch the station to McCarthy Bros. & Ford, a dealer of electrical equipment in April of 1922. It was out of business by October.
WGR started life as an experimental station owned by Federal Telephone & Telegraph Company. The station was known simply as 8XAD. On May 22, 1922, it became the first commercially licensed station to offer uninterrupted service to Western New York.
The station flipped from news to sports in 2000 and has been in the format ever since. It is the flagship partner of both of Buffalo’s major pro sports teams, the Bills of the NFL and the Sabres of the NHL.
