WJKN (1510 AM) is a non-commercial

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 ...

talk radio station 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 ...

United States of America 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 territo ...

. WJKN is owned by Jackson-Lansing Catholic Radio and is rebroadcast on FM translator W227BY at 93.3 FM, also licensed to Jackson.

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 station. Then, in September 2000, the station went dark 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 current 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 WSAE. WJKN was then again dark for several months, and then resurfaced in March 2003 simulcasting 1540

KTGG KTGG (1540 AM) is a radio station broadcasting from Okemos, Michigan, with a Christian radio format of talk and classical music. It is owned by West Central Michigan Media Ministries and airs programming from Strong Tower Radio, a network heard ...

, whose 450-watt signal does not make it far outside of Spring Arbor. 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's FM translator, 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.

Sources

Michiguide.com - WJKN History
{{Coord, 42, 13, 17, N, 84, 26, 8, W, region:US-MI_source:FCC, display=title JKN (AM) Radio stations established in 1963 1963 establishments in Michigan JKN JKN (AM) Catholic radio stations Talk radio stations in the United States Catholic Church in Michigan