Although it was granted a construction permit on September 17, 1987, the station did not sign on the air until September 24, 1992, with its original analog transmitter along State Highway 109 in unincorporatedSumner County between Portland and Gallatin. It was built and signed on by Sonlight Broadcasting Systems, a broadcast ministry based in Mobile, Alabama, and co-founded by television producer Paul Crouch Jr. and attorney and broadcaster Jay Sekulow. All of Sonlight's stations were affiliated with TBN, which was co-founded by Paul Crouch Jr.'s parents Paul Sr. and Jan. As a TBN affiliate, WPGD carried most of the network's schedule while opting out at times to air alternate programming.
In 1997, WPGD was sold, along with the rest of Sonlight's stations, to All American TV (not to be confused with an unrelated television syndication company of a similar name), a minority-owned firm with close ties to TBN;[2] the sale to All American made the station a full-fledged affiliate of the network. WPGD became a TBN owned-and-operated station in 2000, when TBN purchased all of All American's stations.[3]
TBN-owned full-power stations permanently ceased analog transmissions on April 16, 2009.[4]
Former translator
At one point during the 1990s, WPGD also operated a low-powertranslator, W36AK, serving Nashville proper due to the main transmitter's location, until it was discontinued at an unknown date.[5][6]
