At 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 27, 1950, Robert Smith, an announcer engineer, pushed a button and the miracle of Marconi came to Gettysburg and the surrounding region. Music was transmitted through the air from a location north of Gettysburg into people’s homes miles away.
Though radio had been around since the early years of the 20th Century, WGET Radio became Gettysburg’s first commercial radio station.
The first thing Gettysburgians heard on their radio station was “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Then Owen Voight, another announcer engineer for the station, stepped up to the microphone in the main studio and said, “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is Radio Station WGET signing on its initial broadcasting day WGET transmits on a frequency of 1450 kilocycles, with a power of 280 watts as authorized by the Federal Communications Commission,” the Gettysburg Times reported.
The commencement of broadcasting from the station followed a day-long open house that saw 3,800 people visit the studio, control room and reception lobby in the small colonial home on Old Harrisburg Road that served as the radio station.
“Words such as—‘truth our guide—the public good our aim’ and the slogan—‘with honor to ourselves and profit to our patrons’—are our inheritance from Robert Harper, our county’s first publisher, who founded the ‘Centinel in 1800.’ These slogans have been and will continue to be the sentiment of every member of the staff of the Gettysburg Times and Radio Station WGET,” Voight said during his on-air remarks.
Cindy Ford, general manager of WGET/WGTY, said in an e-mail that she had been told that the editor of the Gettysburg Times at the time had started the push for a radio station.
Following a half-hour of patriotic music that was meant to allow residents time to locate the new radio station on their radio dials, the dedication program began at 2:30 p.m. For some, it was their first time owning a radio since they hadn’t been able to get local news and information before now.
WGET wasn’t the first radio station in Gettysburg. That honor belongs to WWGC, Gettysburg College’s radio station. Professor Harry F. Bolich was the faculty advisor and R. Hartman was the station manager. 
However, WGET was the first commercial radio station for the county. It would have to be able to use radio technology to make a profit by attracting both listeners and advertisers at a time when a new communications medium was growing. That medium was television.
I.H. Crouse & Son of Littlestown was hired to build the station and Judge W.C. Sheely broke ground for it on April 29, 1950. After the judge turned the first spade full of dirt, Burgess William G. Weaver, Samuel G. Spangler, president of the company; M. C. Jones, Henry M. Scharf and Attorney Franklin R. Bigham all came forward to turn a spadeful of earth on the new project.
The station was built on 4 ¼ acres along the Gettysburg-Harrisburg Road with the building being a simple brick structure 44 x 22 feet in size. The Times and News Publishing Company leased the land from the Adams County Institution District for 15 years at a price of $6,405 to be paid in annual installments of $427.
The 310-foot-tall radio tower was made of three steel tubing legs spaced 15 inches apart with welded cross beams. The tower weighed around 7,000 pounds upon completion and was held in place with three sets of four cables. It was painted with alternating bands of orange and white and for night marking there were two 100-watt bulbs glowing at the top of the tower and at two other levels on the tower.
In 1962, WGET’s FM sister station, WGTY, went on the air with 3,000 watts of power. That increased to 10,000 watts in 1969.
“They felt the need for continued news throughout the day. WGET had a news/sports format, so the owners wanted to have a music format so WGTY was born,” Ford wrote.
Within 20 years, the stations had four towers. The physical size of the station had doubled and the technical equipment in them had quadrupled, according to the Gettysburg Times.
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