WGEM signed on January 1, 1948; its debut was hampered by an ice storm that forced the station off the air just twenty minutes into its first broadcast.

[10] It shifted to adult contemporary in 1980;[11] in the early 1990s, the station again changed formats, this time to talk radio.

[14] However, much of WGEM-FM's primarily news-oriented local programming, as well as Paul Harvey and NBC Nightly News, continued to be simulcast on the AM station for several years thereafter;[15][16][17] this was finally largely phased out in 2005.

[22] The AM 1440 facility went off the air June 24, 2022,[23] after equipment failures,[22] including the loss of WGEM's primary and backup transmitters; its programming would continue on the 98.9 translator.

[24] On February 16, 2023, Gray Television announced that WGEM and the translator would be shut down entirely effective March 1; the sports format moved to WGEM-FM, replacing its news/talk programming.