WGTK-FM

Bob Jones University (BJU) applied for an AM license in May 1948. It was granted a construction permit with a new station signing on the air on September 15, 1949. The call sign was WMUU and it broadcast at 1260 kilocycles (today's WPJF). The programming was sacred and classical music, along with dramatic readings, and evangelical Christian preaching. The call letters stood for "World's Most Unusual University", an early promotional slogan of BJU. Bob Jones, Sr., the founder of BJU, intended the station to operate independently by accepting advertising rather than being supported by the university, but he did not expect the station to make a profit. The AM station eventually increased its power from 1,000 to 5,000 watts.

An FM station was added, signing on the air on August 15, 1960 (August 15, 1960).[2] The call letters were WMUU-FM. In 1965, it became the second FM stereo station in South Carolina. In 1963, WMUU-FM became one of the most powerful FM stations in South Carolina, radiating 100,000 watts and increasing its listening radius from fifty to a hundred miles. Bob Jones University also bought WAVO 1420 AM in Atlanta but later sold it in order to focus on the Greenville station.

In 1973, the WMUU building on the BJU campus was demolished to build Founder's Memorial Amphitorium, completed in 1973. For several years, the studios were located in the FM transmitter building on Paris Mountain.[3] WMUU-AM-FM eventually moved to 920 Wade Hampton Boulevard, and BJU transferred ownership of the station to the Gospel Fellowship Association, its missionary arm, headquartered in the same building. WMUU became an independent corporation, although it maintained a close relationship with BJU, and most of its employees were graduates.

Many faculty members in the university's Fine Arts division participated in the station's early operation. For the first year, Bob Pratt served as a temporary manager. He was succeeded by James Ryerson who was station manager for nearly three decades. Jim Dickson, who had earlier managed WAVO, became manager in 1979, and Paul Wright took his place in 1996.[4]

Bob Jones University eventually devoted the FM station to beautiful music, Sacred Christian music and preaching,[5] with the AM station airing preaching and some religious music. In 2008, WMUU-FM sold its AM station, which became WPJF, a station with a Spanish Christian format. Some of the programming heard on AM 1260 moved to WMUU-FM, airing late nights.

On August 24, 2012, Bob Jones III announced the sale of WMUU-FM to Salem Communications, co-founded by BJU graduate Stuart Epperson. The sale price listed with the FCC was $3 million. The terms were $1 million in cash and $2 million in a promissory note.[6] Salem introduced a conservative talk format on December 3, 2012.[7]

In 2013, the older religious and beautiful music format was moved to internet streaming while the FM station aired all talk programming. Most of it is from the co-owned Salem Radio Network. On February 11, 2013, Salem Communications changed the call letters of the station to WGTK-FM. At the time, Salem also owned WGTK (970 AM) in Louisville, Kentucky, which carried a similar format.

On August 23, 2023, an FCC filing disclosed that Salem would sell WGTK-FM, along with WRTH and WLTE, to the Educational Media Foundation for $6.775 million. EMF will take over operations before the sale's closure by a local marketing agreement, at which time the station will flip to EMF's K-Love network.[8][9]