New gospel station at AM1120/FM 104.5 out of Douglasville

ajc.com

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho

Posted Friday, May 18, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog 

There's a new gospel station in Douglasville that debuted earlier this month: Heaven AM1120/FM 104.5 (WXJO)

The station's reach on both fronts is limited to the west side of town so it won't compete the way Praise 102.5 does. Praise covers most of metro Atlanta.

It brings back two names familiar to Atlanta gospel radio: Larry Young in the mornings and Reggie Gay mid days. Young had been a morning host and program director at Praise in its earlier days. Gay worked at Kiss 104.1 and started Glory 1340 in the 1990s.

"There's room for another gospel station," said Young, who started earlier this month and noted that he's worked now for eight stations. "I feel good about it."

 Larry Young is back on Atlanta radio.

Credit: Rodney Ho

icon to expand image

Credit: Rodney Ho

Ploener Radio Group General Manager Ronnie Kabansky said AM 1120 and FM 104.5 had been sports talk. He said they flipped to urban gospel because the market is too saturated with sports stations. "It was an easier sell for a local Douglasville station," he said. "We've been urban gospel for about two months and it's doing pretty well."

The FM signal sounds way better, he acknowledged, but the AM signal has a better reach at the moment, Kabanksy said. He hopes to improve the FM signal at some point.