KTGG (1540
AM) is a
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
broadcasting from
Okemos, Michigan
Okemos ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Ingham County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population of the CDP was 21,369 at the 2010 census. Okemos is located mostly within Meridian Charter Township, with a small portion extending sout ...
, with a
Christian radio
Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk progra ...
format
Format may refer to:
Printing and visual media
* Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements
* Paper formats, or paper size standards
* Newspaper format, the size of the paper page
Computing
* File format, particular way that informatio ...
of talk and
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
. It is owned by West Central Michigan Media Ministries and airs programming from
Strong Tower Radio
Strong Tower Radio is a non-profit network of Christian radio stations in Michigan and Illinois. Much of Strong Tower Radio's programming is from 3ABN.
Stations
Strong Tower Radio operates a total of 14 radio stations and 1 television station ...
, a network heard on about a dozen radio stations around
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
and one in
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
.
Because
AM 1540
The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1540 kHz: 1540 AM is a United States clear-channel frequency. KXEL Waterloo, Iowa, and ZNS-1 Nassau, Bahamas, share Class A status on 1540 AM.
Argentina
* LU 28 in General Madariaga, B ...
is a
clear channel frequency reserved for
Class A stations
KXEL in
Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls ...
, and
ZNS-1
ZNS-1 (branded as ''Radio Bahamas'') is the oldest broadcast station in the Bahamas. It has a News/ Talk format, and broadcasts on 1540 kHz and 104.5 MHz in Nassau, with a repeater in Freeport on 107.7 MHz. It is under ownership of the Bro ...
in
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...
, KTGG is a
daytimer
A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-coun ...
station. To avoid interference, it must
sign off
A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...
at night. By day it broadcasts at 450
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
s and during
critical hours Critical hours for radio stations is the time from sunrise to two hours after sunrise, and from two hours before sunset until sunset, local time. During this time, certain American radio stations may be operating with reduced power as a result of S ...
(just before sunrise and just after sunset) it is powered at 219 watts.
Until August 2014, KTGG was
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
on
AM 1510
The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1510 kHz: 1510 AM is a North American (U.S.) clear-channel frequency. WLAC in Nashville, Tennessee, is the dominant Class A station on 1510 AM. KGA Spokane had been a Class A station, ...
WJKN in
Jackson, Michigan
Jackson is the only city and county seat of Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 33,534, down from 36,316 at the 2000 census. Located along Interstate 94 and U.S. Route 127, it is approxi ...
. WJKN has since been sold to Jackson-Lansing Catholic Radio.
Unusual call sign
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
s beginning with K are only supposed to be issued to stations west of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
, so it was surprising that the call letters KTGG were issued for this new station in 1980. Some believe this occurred when someone at the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) read "MI" (the postal abbreviation for Michigan) on the station's application and mistook it as the abbreviation for
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
or
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. KTGG thus became the first new station east of the Mississippi with a "K" call sign in decades. The river was first used as the divider between K and W call signs in 1922. Stations such as
KYW in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
(originally in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
) and
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
's
KDKA have retained their heritage call letters because they
signed on
Signing may refer to:
* Using sign language
* Signature
A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...
before 1922.
However, KTGG wasn't the last broadcaster with this distinction. A new station in
Napeague, New York
Napeague (, ) is a census-designated place (CDP) that roughly corresponds to the hamlet with the same name in the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The CDP population was 200 at the 2010 census.
Napeague is locat ...
, was originally dubbed KCBE in 2008 by the FCC, before changing to
WEGB
WEGB (90.7 FM, "Faith FM") is a radio station licensed to Napeague, New York and serves eastern Long Island. It broadcasts a Christian radio format and is under ownership of the Community Bible Church.
The station was assigned the current WEGB ...
in 2009. Since then, several non-commercial religious radio stations east of the Mississippi have gone on the air with K call letters. In most cases it was because their
construction permit
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
and call letters were issued for a location west of the Mississippi but the owner relocated the station to east of the Mississippi before it was built. Most of them are owned by the
Educational Media Foundation
Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville.
EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest ...
, the Hispanic Family Christian Network or Holy Family Radio.
History
AM 1510 was a
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
station for over three decades under several call signs, including WJCO, WDJD, and WHBT. The WJKN calls were adopted in 1995 and the format changed to a
full-service combination of news, talk and
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
music. In 1998, WJKN phased out music programming and became a predominantly news-talk station. Then, in September 2000, the station went
dark
Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown.
Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lum ...
after owner Coltrace Communications (the owner of
WUPS
WUPS (98.5 FM) is a 100 kW radio station licensed to Harrison, Michigan and serving central and northern Michigan, with its chief focus on the Mount Pleasant area. The station, previously owned by Sindy Fuller, through licensee Bridge to Bri ...
in
Houghton Lake) sold the land on which the station's towers were located to a developer. Shortly afterward, Coltrace donated WJKN to its former owner,
Spring Arbor University
Spring Arbor University (SAU) is a private Free Methodist university in Spring Arbor, Michigan. Developing from an earlier academy and junior college, in 1963 it began offering bachelor's degrees. Attaining university status in 1994, it is the ...
, which returned the station to the air briefly in late 2001 and early 2002 with a simulcast of 106.9
WSAE). WJKN was then again dark for several months, and then resurfaced in March 2003 simulcasting KTGG, whose 450-watt signal does not make it far outside of Spring Arbor. In July 2016, KTGG was sold to West Central Michigan Media Ministries for $230,000. KTGG, as of June 2017, is broadcasting a simulicast of Strong Tower Radio 91.9 WGCP-FM Cadillac, Michigan. KTGG remains on after sunset with 185 watts during
critical hours Critical hours for radio stations is the time from sunrise to two hours after sunrise, and from two hours before sunset until sunset, local time. During this time, certain American radio stations may be operating with reduced power as a result of S ...
.
WJKN sale and KTGG format change
In April 2014, it was announced that Spring Arbor University was selling WJKN 1510 to Jackson-Lansing Catholic Radio (d/b/a Good Shepherd Radio). This was the Catholic broadcaster's second go at getting a radio station in the Jackson area, as they had been in the process of buying the now-defunct WJKQ 88.5 FM when that station's license was revoked by the FCC. The sale was completed in August 2014. WJKN and FM translator 93.3 W227BY began airing a Catholic talk format identifying as Good Shepherd Catholic Radio. W227BY was also formerly owned by Spring Arbor University and operated out of
Somerset, Michigan
Somerset Township is a civil township of Hillsdale County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,532 at the 2020 census.
Communities
* Bakers was a station on the Detroit, Toledo and Milwaukee Railroad at . Storekeeper Don H. Ellio ...
as a translator of
WSAE 106.9 FM.
Effective November 12, 2015, Spring Arbor University consummated the sale of KTGG to West Central Michigan Media Ministries for $230,000. In December 2014, KTGG dropped its previous Christian inspirational music format and became the new home of "The Message," the Christian music and teaching format formerly heard on sister station
WJKN-FM
WJKN-FM (89.3 FM, "The Arbor FM") is a non-commercial radio station located in Spring Arbor, Michigan. The station is owned by Spring Arbor University, a religious university associated with the Free Methodist Church.
WJKN-FM began broadcasting ...
89.3, which at that time became a simulcast of WSAE's "Home.FM" programming. Like the former inspirational music format, 'The Message" features music programming hosted by Spring Arbor students.
Translators
External links
Michiguide.com - KTGG History
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{{Religious Radio Stations in Michigan
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Radio stations established in 1985
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1985 establishments in Michigan
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