Radio 102.7 GNI (WGNI)

WGNI (102.7 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Hot Adult Contemporary format. Licensed to Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, it serves the Wilmington area. The station is currently owned by Cumulus Licensing Llc.Prior to the early 1980s, this station played beautiful music and was known as WAAV.The call letters were originally assigned to 1340AM in Wilmington. The station went on the air on Christmas Eve in 1945. The original station was owned by General Newspapers Inc, publisher of the Wilmington Post. The Station was known as "The Rock of Coastal Carolina". Studios were state of the art, suspended studios located in the 200 block of Princess Street in downtown Wilmington.The studios were moved to the Eagle Island transmitter site in the late 1950s, then to 211 North Second Street until the spring of 1992, afterwards they relocated to 1890 Dawson Street and then in July 2001 moved to their current location of 3233 Burnt Mill Road in Wilmington.The FM (102.7) was put on the air in 1971 as WAAV. By this time, the transmitter site had been moved to River Road near Greenfield Lake and the original FM antenna was side mounted on the AM tower. Subsequently, a taller tower was built on the site to house the FM antenna until the station was sold, which then purchased an existing tower south of Wilmington to upgrade their signal.In 1981, WAAV-FM and WGNI-AM were sold to Cape Fear Broadcasting, which was based in Fayetteville with two stations, WFNC-AM and WQSM-FM, once this sale took place, WAAV & WGNI switched call letters and frequencies, WAAV going to 1340, and WGNI to 102.7, in the process WAAV changed to a "Music of Your Life" format and WGNI picked up the Adult Contemporary format[citation needed].In the fall of 1999, Cape Fear Broadcasting announced the sale of their Wilmington and Fayetteville stations to their current owners, Cumulus Media. This sale was challenged by Ocean Broadcasting of Wilmington because it would give Cumulus 6 FMs and an AM in Wilmington, and about 55 percent of market revenue, after selling one of their FM's, a change in the FCC, and other matters, the sale was finally approved in the spring of 2001.The signal can often be received as far away as Raleigh North Carolina during strong times of DXing