WGXI

WGXI (1420 AM) is a radio station licensed to Plymouth, Wisconsin and serving the Sheboygan County area, which features a classic country hybrid format under the branding "Cow Country 1420AM 98.5FM". WGXI is affiliated with the Midwest Farm Report, Bill Baker's Dairy Minute, weather forecasts from WISN-TV in Milwaukee, and carries Plymouth High School boys varsity football. The station's studios are located on WI 57 North just east of Plymouth, with its transmitter behind the studio building. WGXI also utilizes an FM translator station, W253CW (98.5), which also broadcasts from the same facility and allows a clear stereo signal to be carried at all hours throughout most of Sheboygan County.

WGXI
Broadcast areaSheboygan & Sheboygan County
Frequency1420 kHz
BrandingCow Country 1420AM 98.5FM
Programming
FormatClassic country
AffiliationsMidwest Farm Report
WISN-TV (weather forecasts)
Ownership
Owner
  • Stu Muck and David Hendrickson
  • (Galaxie Broadcasting, LLC)
History
First air date
April 1954 (as WPLY)
Former call signs
WPLY (1954-1991)
WJUB (1991-2018)
Call sign meaning
Galaxie Broadcasting (station owner)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID32846
ClassD
Power500 watts day
62 watts night
Translator(s)98.5 W253CW (Plymouth)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen Live
Websitecowcountry.us

Station history

The station flipped to an adult standards format in 2003, shifting to it shortly after WCLB in Sheboygan converted to ESPN Radio and the launch of WSTM, which allowed the offloading of some programming onto that FM signal. WGXI previously aired a Christian format, and as WPLY, adult contemporary, country music and Top 40 formats. It was the AM sister to WXER (104.5), also Plymouth-licensed, from its launch in 1990 until its 1995 sale to other interests who moved the station's broadcast facilities (though not main transmitter) closer to Sheboygan, where a secondary translator was eventually established.

After Evangel Ministries purchased WSTM in early 2017 with the then-WJUB to convert WSTM to its general contemporary Christian "The Family" format, WJUB was considered a surplus asset in the sale and was sold to Galaxie Broadcasting, a company made up of Stuart Muck and longtime WJUB on-air programmer and personality David Hendrickson, who continued to maintain the station's format as-is since Galaxie's purchase was completed.[2] The first effect of the sale was the affiliation with the Marquette basketball network.[3]

In early 2018, the station also filed for an FM translator station with the FCC as part of the agency's January 2018 AM revitalization translator window, transmitting from Plymouth on 98.5 at 250 watts.[4][5] With WCLB signing on their translator in mid-November 2018, WGXI was the last of Sheboygan County's three AM stations to launch an FM translator.

The station changed its call sign to WGXI on April 5, 2018. Galaxie had attempted to re-acquire the former WPLY calls from the Roanoke, Virginia sports radio station that currently holds them, but was refused.

The translator did launch on October 30, 2019; with it, the standards format was dropped for a more FM-viable Soft/Gold AC format, and rebranded as "Love 98.5".[6] After gauging listener feedback during a break in the format between Thanksgiving and Christmas for Christmas music, the station returned a number of standards to its playlist in 2020.

On January 20, 2021, WGXI changed their format to a classic country hybrid, branded as "Cow Country", in honor of Antoinette, the locally known fiberglass Holstein cow statue standing outside the former Plymouth Utilities building downtown.[7][8]

References
  1. "Facility Technical Data for WGXI". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. Jacobson, Adam (10 October 2017). "'The Breeze' Blows Toward A Galaxie". RBR. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  3. Pederson, Jeff (2 February 2018). "Falls radio vet steps into ownership role". Plymouth Review/Sheboygan Falls News. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  4. Venta, Lance (7 February 2018). "Looking At The 873 New Translator Applications". RadioInsight. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  5. Ellis, Jon. "2018 AM Revitalization Translators". Northpine. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  6. Ellis, Jon (30 October 2019). "Wis. Station Changes Format with Launch of FM Signal". Northpine. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  7. Cow Country Herded Into Sheboygan Radioinsight - January 20, 2021
  8. "Antoinette the Cow". Vamonde. Sheboygan County Historical Society & Museum. Retrieved 7 January 2022.

43°44′33″N 87°56′21″W

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