The 790 Story
WSGW 790AM went on the air August 11th, 1950 with studios at Genesee and Washington Avenues on the third floor of the Mason Building in downtown Saginaw. The 6 tower directional antenna complex is near Indiantown north of M-81 east of Saginaw. The station was started by John Lord Booth, of Detroit who founded Booth American Company. In 1973 Booth built new studios at 1795 Tittabawassee Road. Then in 1988 the facility was tripled in size with a major expansion. The building which originally housed 2 stations now is home to five stations. The Booth family operated the station for 45 years until 1995 when the station was sold to another Detroit area media family called Fritz Broadcasting. During the period of deregulation just prior to the turn of the century, the station changed hands several times with brief ownerships by 62nd Street Broadcasting, Citadel Communications and Wilks Broadcasting before being bought by the NextMedia in 2002. Digity acquired WSGW in 2014. Alpha Media acquired WSGW in 2016.
Once called “The Mighty 790” the frequency has transmitted many unique programs over the years the most durable of which is “Listen to the Mrs.” the kitchen-to-kitchen network of over the air recipe exchanges now celebrating 60 years. The stations first quarter century featured big band and middle-of-the-road music followed in the 70’s by adult contemporary music. But overnights were reserved for talk with hosts such as Herb Jepko, Larry King, Art Bell and George Noory. In the 80’s Bruce Williams was added to evenings and in the late 80’s WSGW became one of the first stations to air Rush Limbaugh. It was in that time period that WSGW evolved into a fulltime news talk station which remains the stations format to this day. The station has been a Detroit Tiger affiliate for 45 years and also carries the Detroit Red Wings and University of Michigan football and basketball. WSGW has also featured strong farm programming for the Saginaw Valley and Thumb regions since the early seventies. The WSGW news team has won hundreds of broadcast industry journalism awards for its coverage of the market. The station utilizes CBS, AP and Michigan Radio Networks.