WIDG (940 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 ...

licensed to

St. Ignace, Michigan St. Ignace is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Mackinac County. The city had a population of 2,452 at the 2010 census. St. Ignace Township is located just to the north of the city, but the two are administered autono ...

, broadcasting a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

format. Until October 2008, the station was owned and operated by

Northern Star Broadcasting Northern Star Broadcasting (formerly known as Calibre Communications) was a radio broadcasting company which owned various radio stations in Michigan from 1998–2016, with offices in Cheboygan, Michigan, Cheboygan and Traverse City, Michigan, Trav ...

and had aired

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...

under the brand name ''AM 940 The Fan''. The station then went silent for a short period and returned to the air in December 2008, simulcasting originating station

WTCK WTCK (90.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Catholic religious format. Licensed to Charlevoix, Michigan, United States, the station is currently owned by Relevant Radio and currently airs programming from the network. The station's former o ...

90.9 FM in

Charlevoix Charlevoix ( , ) is a cultural and natural region in Quebec, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River as well as in the Laurentian Mountains area of the Canadian Shield. This dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands ...

and later

WTCY WTCY (88.3 FM) is a Catholic radio station licensed to Greilickville, Michigan serving the Traverse City area of the northwestern region of Michigan's lower peninsula. It began as an FM repeater of WTCK 90.9 FM in Charlevoix with main studios ...

88.3 FM in Greilickville and serving

Traverse City Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

.. WIDG was previously owned by Baraga Broadcasting and now owned by Relevant Radio. Its main studio is now located in

, as such the originating station is now

. WIDG transmits from a single guyed omnidirectional antenna at 1230 Old Portage Trail in St. Ignace.

History

Founded in 1966 by Donald E. Benson's Mighty-Mac Broadcasting Company, WIDG was just the second radio station to launch in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan (following

WSOO WSOO (1230 AM) is a radio station in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The station airs a gold-based soft adult contemporary format during daytime hours, featuring music from the 1960s through the 2000s, and features paranormal talk programming in la ...

in Sault Ste. Marie.) The station was known for many years as "Widge by the

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

" and aired mainly middle of the road music, at times a blend of top 40. The nickname "Widge by the Bridge" was coined by a longtime friend of station founder Donald E. Benson, a Lansing-based dentist who thought WITL-Lansing's slogan "Whittle while you work" was something that WIDG needed. The original CP for the station had the call letters WSTI, "St. Ignace" but Benson felt the call letters looked like "Stye". In the late 1970s, Benson obtained a construction permit for an FM station that would become

WMKC WMKC (102.9 FM) is a radio station licensed to Indian River, Michigan. It airs a country music format called Big Country 102.9. The station is owned by Black Diamond Broadcast Holdings, LLC. History: A Dentist's Dream Beginnings WMKC ("MacKina ...

. Construction on the new FM station began shortly after the license was granted on July 30, 1979; and in December of that same year, Benson also obtained a dark license for WIDG and kept the station dark until April 1981, when he was required to return WIDG to the air in order for WMKC to come on the air. WIDG returned with an MOR format until a format change to Big Band and standards and the call letters WLVM ("We Love Michigan", with the station's music format provided by TM's "TMOR" package). In 1985, the station returned to the WIDG calls with a top 40

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 until 1988, when WIDG simulcast sister FM's WMKC St. Ignace and WCKC-Cadillac's country music format. Eventually, in the early 1990s, WIDG once again adopted separate programming from WMKC, airing first oldies (as "Cool 940") and then

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 ...

(as "Classic KC Country") before the sports-talk format was introduced. WIDG was initially an affiliate of One-on-One Sports (which later became

Sporting News Radio SportsMap is a sports radio Radio network, network that is distributed by Gow Media. The SportsMap Radio Network supplies its network affiliates with a 24-hour schedule of sports programming, including call-in shows and sports updates. Over its h ...

) before switching to the ESPN Radio feed. WIDG operates with an omnidirectional antenna and with very low power after local sunset to avoid interference with the now-defunct

CINW CINW was the final call sign used by an English language AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, which, along with French-language sister station CINF, ceased operations at 7:00 p.m. ET on January 29, 2010. Owned and operated by Corus Quebec, ...

(formerly

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

-owned CBM-AM) in Montreal. In WIDG's heyday, it constantly fought for a good signal into the north and was stymied by 10 kW CKCY-920

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is at the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants ...

. WIDG's signal was obliterated by CKCY north of Rudyard. When CKCY went dark, WIDG finally got the full potential of its 5 kW signal and can be heard well into the province of Ontario. Though CINW (the former

-owned CBM) has been silent since 2010, WIDG must still power down from 5,000 watts to 4 watts at sunset per FCC rules. On December 11, 2019, WIDG and its sister stations were acquired by Immaculate Heart Media, bringing Relevant Radio programming to Northern Michigan.

FM translators

* W221CA 92.1 mHz in Gaylord

New studios, offices in Traverse City

Baraga's main studio and offices were originally located at

's studio at

Indian River, Michigan Indian River is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Cheboygan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,950 at the 2020 census. The CDP is located in Tuscarora Township between Burt Lake and Mu ...

near The

Cross in the Woods The Cross in the Woods is a Catholic shrine located at 7078 M-68 in Indian River, Michigan. It was declared a national shrine by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on September 15, 2006. At 55 feet tall, it is the second l ...

Catholic Shrine. It also airs national programming from

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...

Global Catholic Radio and Ave Maria Radio based at WDEO in Ypsilanti. In the fall of 2014, Baraga Broadcasting announced plans for a new websit
The Catholic Light Dot Com
which is now online and was used in transition from its former Indian River location to new studios in

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

thus making

(licensed to Greilickville) which serves Traverse City the new originating station.

References

Michiguide.com - WIDG History

External links

Relevant Radio
* Picture of studio 197

{{coord, 45, 51, 44, N, 84, 46, 55, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title Radio stations in Michigan, IDG Catholic radio stations Radio stations established in 1966 1966 establishments in Michigan

IDG International Data Group (IDG, Inc.) is a market intelligence and demand generation company focused on the technology industry. IDG, Inc.’s mission is centered around supporting the technology industry through research, data, marketing technol ...

Relevant Radio stations

History

FM translators

New studios, offices in Traverse City

See also

References

External links