WHSB (107.7 FM, "107.7 The Bay") is a 100,000-watt

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 ...

licensed to

Alpena, Michigan Alpena ( ') is the only city in and county seat of Alpena County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,483 at the 2010 census. After Traverse City, it is the second most populated city in the Northern Michigan region. The city i ...

broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR) format. The station, which began broadcasting in 1964, has featured some type of contemporary music format since at least the early 1970s, and is currently the only radio station in northeastern Michigan playing currently charted pop music.

History

In the 1980s, the station went by the names "WhisBee", "Music 108" and "HSB, The Music Station." In the early 1990s, the station adopted the moniker "Bay 108" (a reference to nearby

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

) and affiliated with "Best Hits, Best Variety", a satellite Hot AC format from ABC Radio. In 1999, WHSB dropped ABC's format in favor of Jones' package and tweaked its identifying moniker from "Bay 108" to the current "107-7 The Bay." On October 23, 2004, Kerwin Kitzman, a longtime popular WHSB disc jockey, sports play-by-play announcer and sales representative, died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 46. A tribute album to Kitzman, ''Teddy Bear Memories'', was recorded at the Spyder Byte recording studio in Alpena, and a memorial fund, the K2 Kids fund, has been set up in his name. In the fall of 2004 the station was sold to Edwards Communications. Past owners have included Huron Shore Broadcasters (the original owners when the station went on the air in the 1960s), WHSB Inc., Daraka Broadcasting, and Northern Radio Network Corporation (from whom Edwards acquired the station along with sister stations WHAK-AM/FM Rogers City and then-WCLS Oscoda in 2004). 107-7 The Bay currently features local personalities from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. The station's local personalities include longtime morning host Darrel Kelly, midday host Max and afternoon drive host Andy. Special weekend programming on Sundays include

American Top 40 ''American Top 40'' (previously abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally syndicated, independent song countdown radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs. The program is currently hosted by Ryan Seacr ...

with

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American media personality and producer. He is the co-host of ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', as well as the host of multiple media shows including ''American Idol'', ''American Top 40'', and '' ...

. WHSB aired the original version of ''AT40'' with

Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably '' American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice Nor ...

in years past starting in 1979. All other programming comes from Westwood One's Hot AC format. WHSB is also the radio home of Alpena High School (the Wildcats) football and hockey.

References

External links

* {{Contemporary Hit Radio Stations in Michigan HSB-FM Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1964