WFAT (930 AM) is a radio station in

Battle Creek, Michigan Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, Michigan, Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek River, Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle C ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, owned by

Midwest Communications Midwest Communications is a Wausau, Wisconsin-based radio broadcasting company. It owns 82 radio stations located primarily within the Midwest United States, in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Illinois and ...

. Established in 1948 as WBCK, the station airs a

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

format.

History

WBCK began broadcasting July 9, 1948, with a

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

baseball game as its first program. The station was a Mutual affiliate. WBCK featured a full-service

MOR Mor or MOR may refer to: Names and titles * Mór (given name), a list of people named Mór or Mor * Mor (surname), a list of people named Mor or Mór * Mor (honorific), or Mar, in Syriac Radio and television * Middle of the road (music) genre * ...

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 ...

format for years, evolving into

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

by the mid-1990s. The sale of the Battle Creek Radio Group from

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

has been completed. 95.3 WBXX began to simulcast with the news/talk format of AM 930 and WBXX's former

format moved to 104.9 (formerly WRCC). 95.3 FM became the permanent home of WBCK's news/talk format. On March 21, 2008, AM 930 dropped the simulcast with 95.3 FM and started airing a

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

format and became known as Country 93. The format later evolved from classic country to contemporary

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

. On April 10, 2012, WBCK changed their format to

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

, branded as "The Score." Programming came from

CBS Sports Radio CBS Sports Radio is a sports radio network that debuted with hourly sports news updates on September 4, 2012, and with 24/7 programming on January 2, 2013. CBS Sports Radio is owned by Paramount Global and distributed by Westwood One. Programmin ...

. Current Radio assumed the station's license from Cumulus on August 31, 2013.

purchased WBCK for $175,000 on January 23, 2014. The sale was approved by the FCC on March 26, 2014, and was consummated on July 1, 2014.Michiguide.com
reported on May 23, 2014 that Midwest Communications had also purchased a

LPFM Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" (more commonly " ...

translator from the

Calvary Radio Network Calvary Radio Network is a network of Christian radio stations in the Midwestern United States, broadcasting Christian talk and teaching programs as well as contemporary Christian music. The network is based in Valparaiso, Indiana. History In 200 ...

in Battle Creek (W274AQ on 102.7 MHz) for $45,000, with the intention of repeating WBCK. On July 1, 2014, WBCK changed its callsign to WTOU and then went silent on July 3. On February 2, 2015, WTOU returned to the air with a simulcast of urban AC-formatted WNWN 1560 AM. On September 12, 2019, WTOU dropped the simulcast with WNWN/Portage and changed their format to

, branded as ''The Fat One'' under new WFAT calls. The branding and calls were previously used by sister station

WZOX WZOX (96.5 FM) is a radio station in Portage, Michigan. The station currently broadcasts a modern adult contemporary format branded as "Hits 96.5". History Early history 96.5 FM signed on in December 1988 as WLWJ owned by Larry Langford, Jr. La ...

References

Michiguide.com - WBCK History

External links

* * FAT (AM) Radio stations established in 1948 1948 establishments in Michigan Midwest Communications radio stations Classic hits radio stations in the United States {{Michigan-radio-station-stub