Radio station in Coopersville, Michigan
WHTS
(105.3
FM
) is a
commercial
radio station
licensed
to
Coopersville, Michigan
, and serving the
Grand Rapids metropolitan area
. It airs a
top 40 (CHR)
radio format
and is owned by
Cumulus Media
. The studios are on Monroe Center Street NW in Grand Rapids.
WHTS is a
Class B
FM station with an
effective radiated power
(ERP) of 20,000
watts
. It is heard as far north as
Baldwin
, as far south as
Holland
, and as far east as
Edmore
. The
transmitter
tower
is on Alger Road at West 136th Street in
Ashland Township, Michigan
.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
Rock, Soft AC and Dance
[
edit
]
The station
signed on
the air in 1984
; 40 years ago
(
1984
)
. Its original
city of license
was
Hart, Michigan
, and its first
call sign
was WCXT. It had an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts, the maximum permitted for most FM stations. The signal covered a large amount of West Michigan. Although the station mentioned Hart,
Muskegon
,
Ludington
and
Grand Haven
in its top-of-the-hour
station identification
, it could be heard clearly out to
Manistee
,
Big Rapids
, and
Holland
, and across
Lake Michigan
in
Wisconsin
. The original owner was Waters Broadcasting.
WCXT had various
rock
formats, including
ABC
's
heavy metal
Z-Rock
music service. In 1988, it shifted to
Soft Adult Contemporary
as "Light Mix 105.3." As an AC station, WCXT was mostly
automated
and
voice-tracked
except for morning
drive time
, which was hosted by Mark Waters (son of the station's owner Nancy Waters).
On July 2, 1999, control of the station was transferred under a
Local Marketing Agreement
(LMA) to Harbor Pointe Entertainment, which then switched the format to
rhythmic contemporary
and
dance music
as "105.3 The Whip," targeting the Grand Rapids market. 105.3 The Whip played dance mixes of CHR and Rhythmic CHR hits with a scattering of hits from Billboard's dance music charts. A call letter change to WWIP was planned, but never happened.
In the fall of 1999, the LMA was canceled due to legal problems with Harbor Pointe Entertainment. WCXT returned to its AC format under a slightly different slogan/positioner, "105-3, Your More Music Station." Other than the new slogan, the format was much the same as before "The Whip" experiment, largely voicetracked and automated, with few commercials.
Signal downgrade
[
edit
]
In 2001, a
construction permit
for a new station on 105.3 was granted in
Wisconsin
. It would be licensed to
Mukwonago, Wisconsin
, and serve the
Milwaukee metropolitan area
. Because WCXT could regularly be
heard
across
Lake Michigan
in the Milwaukee and
Sheboygan
areas,
Salem Communications
(which owned the Wisconsin station at 105.3) paid the owners of WCXT to downgrade its signal from 100 kW to 28,000 watts, so its signal would not interfere with the Milwaukee-area station.
In late 2004, WCXT was granted a construction permit to move into the
Grand Rapids
-
Muskegon
area. The new city of license became Coopersville and the station's class changed from C to B.
Change in ownership and transmitter
[
edit
]
In early 2005, it was announced that WCXT would be sold to
Citadel Broadcasting
, a forerunner of today's
Cumulus Media
. With the sale came speculation about what would air once the station was newly built near Grand Rapids. In winter 2005, the format flipped to an automated and commercial-free
classic country
sound. The new owners called the station "Classic Country 105.3" with Citadel's takeover. This would turn out to be a filler format until the transmitter move would be completed.
In late April 2006, the new transmitter hit the airwaves. The station began
stunting
with various sound effects such as drills and hammers. Announcements were made that a new station is being built and that classic country had been moved to 92.5 FM (WKOQ, later changing to WLAW). A few days later, the station began calling itself "Reality Radio," featuring various Citadel hosts talking about the upcoming format.
On May 2, 2006 at 7:40 pm, 105.3 relaunched as Top 40 (CHR) "Hot FM." The first song played was "
Bad Day
" by
Daniel Powter
. Until the midday hours of May 3, the station ran a 20?30 song loop with an extended period of dead air between the songs. This was likely due to automation problem. The station picked up the WHTS call letters after
98.9
in
Rock Island, Illinois
, dropped it in 2006. The old WHTS also was a top 40 station.
Citadel merged with
Cumulus Media
on September 16, 2011.
[2]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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