WGWE

WGWE is an FM radio station licensed to Little Valley, New York. The station, with a tower atop Fourth Street in the village of Little Valley, broadcasts on 105.9 MHz.

WGWE operated from February 1, 2010 to March 31, 2021 under the ownership of the Seneca Nation of New York (through holding company Seneca Broadcasting LLC) and carried a classic hits format. In September 2021, after the Senecas turned off the station's transmitter, it sold the station to Paul Izard, who operates an electronic dance music service targeting the Buffalo market with a rimshot signal. Its studio is based in South Buffalo with some programming originating from a location in Lime Lake.

History[]

Seneca Nation era[]

WGWE's logo as a Seneca Nation-owned classic hits station, along with its mascot Rocky the Rockin' Raccoon.

The Seneca nation had been attempting to enter the radio business for several years prior to WGWE's founding. In the immediate years before acquiring the station, it was applying for noncommercial licenses to operate out of its capital of Irving; mutual exclusivity conflicts with out-of-town religious broadcasters prevented these proposals from reaching the air.

The Seneca nation purchased WGWE's construction permit from Randy Michaels's holding company Radioactive, LLC in early 2009 and signed on February 1, 2010.^[1] The first song played on WGWE was "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow," a song by Peter La Farge about the Senecas' opposition to the Kinzua Dam that was performed by Johnny Cash on Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian; it would continue to be played every Friday at noon through its entire existence. Originally a locally originated automated station for its first several months, the station began broadcasting what was then Citadel Media's Classic Hits Radio satellite format in late June 2010 in all shifts except weekday mornings and noon; the station disaffiliated from Classic Hits Radio in 2016. Mike "Smitty" Smith, former disc jockey at WPIG, was the station's first manager, hosting the morning drive time show and noon call-in request hours from studios inside the former Uni-Mart in Salamanca. Additional local hosts were added several months later.

Casey Hill and Jesse Garon, both of whom had previously worked with Smitty at WPIG, also held shifts at WGWE for several years before leaving Western New York. Former KFXM disc jockey "Double-D" Danny Dare also worked at the station for short stints in fall 2014 and in 2015. After Hill's and Garon's departures, for a brief time in the mid-2010s, dayparts outside of morning drive and noon were held by younger disc jockeys, including Erika J, JB's Jukebox, and the Austin Hill Show. Engineer Ace Boogie also held an afternoon drive airshift. Under Smith, the station used minimal jingles and an open-ended playlist ranging from the 1930s to the 1990s.

Smith retired from radio in 2016 to pursue the office of (and eventually serve four years as) mayor of Salamanca. Chris Russell, who had been program director at the cluster of WQRS and WGGO, took over as manager and morning drive host. Russell overhauled and streamlined the station's format into a more professionally styled presentation and more narrowly defined (but still slightly eclectic)^[2] playlist, also adding a roster of syndicated programming (much of it brought over from WGGO) on weekends, including reruns of Wolfman Jack and That Thing with Rich Appel.^[2] Under Russell's five-year tenure, the station's on-air lineup added market veteran Cindy Scott and held over Brett Maybee and Miss B from the Smitty era.

Throughout its existence, a portion of its programming was set aside for Native American content, including daily airings of National Native News and a local show devoted to native music, "Gae:no'." The station was also a partner for the Native American Music Awards, airing several ceremonies. The station also carried a roster of mostly local sports that included Buffalo Bandits indoor lacrosse, St. Bonaventure Bonnies women's basketball (the station was also slated to carry the college's men's lacrosse team but shut down before that team began play), high school athletics, Southern Tier Diesel adult amateur football, Olean Oilers collegiate summer baseball, and youth football and lacrosse.

With Seven Mountains Media buying out all three of WGWE's privately held competitors—Community Broadcasters, Andrulonis Media and Sound Communications;^[3][2] the Seneca Nation announced on March 1, 2021 that it would be shutting down WGWE on March 31, a decision made directly by the Seneca Nation council.^[4] In its filing with the FCC, the Seneca Nation noted that it had sustained "long-term losses" operating the station, which had escalated into "financial distress" during the COVID-19 pandemic. The filing requested a suspension of operations, which would allow up to one year for the Seneca Nation to either relaunch or sell the station.^[5] WGWE ended programming at 10:09 p.m., with a farewell statement from Russell, a montage of end-themed songs, a final playing of "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow," and ending programming with Van Halen's cover of "Happy Trails."

"Gae:no'" was later picked up for syndication through Native Voice One.^[6]

Energy Radio[]

In September 2021, the Seneca Nation sold the WGWE license to Paul Izard for $25,000. Izard operates Energy Radio Buffalo, an electronic dance music webcaster.^[7] Izard began incorporating references to Little Valley and the 105.9 frequency into the online station's bumpers ahead of the terrestrial station's relaunch.

References[]

External links[]

• WGWE in the FCC FM station database
• WGWE on Radio-Locator
• WGWE in Nielsen Audio's FM station database

Coordinates: 42°13′59″N 78°47′46″W / 42.233°N 78.796°W / 42.233; -78.796