WJMK (1250
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 an
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, serving the
Saginaw
Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...
/
Bay City,
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 ...
market from its transmitter in
Bridgeport
Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...
, its city of license. WJMK is owned by Northern States Broadcasting. WJMK broadcasts with a power of 5,000 watts daytime, 1,100 watts at night, directed towards the north.
History
As WKNX (1210 AM)
WJMK's history can be traced back as early as April 17, 1947, when the station first signed on the air at 1210 AM as WKNX, owned by Lake Huron Broadcasting. The station was like many of its day, programming a full-service format of music, news, and talk. For many years, it was also a leading
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
hit music station in Saginaw, competing with
WSAM
WSAM (1400 AM) is a radio station licensed to Saginaw, Michigan and broadcasting at 1400 kHz with 1,000 watts of power. The station is simulcasted with FM sister station WSAG-FM at 104.1 MHz and are collectively known as The Bay, in reference ...
(1400 AM) and Flint's WTAC (600 AM, now
WSNL
WSNL (600 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a religious format. Licensed to Flint, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1946.
The original call letters were WFLM, but the station was purchased in December 1946 by George W. Trendle and H. ...
).
Among the station's history was the acquisition of a sister television station in the 1950s, and was also the radio home of 1950s country music artist "Little" Jimmy Dickens. WKNX's resident "legend" would take form of University of Cincinnati graduate Robert Dyer, who joined the station in 1950 and remained a part of its staff for more than half a century.
In 1977, Lake Huron Broadcasting acquired an FM station in the
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...
region of
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
--
WQYK-FM
WQYK-FM (99.5 MHz, currently branded 99.5 QYK) is a commercial country music radio station in Tampa, Florida. It is under ownership of Beasley Broadcast Group. Its studios are in St. Petersburg (city of license) while its transmitter is east of ...
, a station that also carried a country format.
Move to Frankenmuth
The following year, in 1978, WKNX underwent a major change when it was purchased by Radiocom Limited, a company headed by Robert Dana McVay. WKNX's city of license was immediately changed to Frankenmuth, and the station's studios and offices were moved to 306 West Genesee Avenue in Frankenmuth, where it was later joined by a Tuscola-licensed sister FM station, WGMZ-FM (now
WWBN
WWBN (101.5 FM, "Banana 101.5") is a radio station broadcasting mainstream rock to Flint and The Thumb areas of Michigan. Syndicated shows on Banana include the morning comedy program '' The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show'', and music programs '' ...
), which programmed
beautiful music
Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...
. (The WGMZ calls and format moved from 107.9 FM, which became
WCRZ
WCRZ (107.9 FM, "Cars 108") is a commercial radio station in Flint, Michigan, broadcasting an adult contemporary format and switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. WCRZ is the top-rated heritage station in the market. It ...
"Cars 108" in 1984.) By the early 1990s, WKNX-AM was programming
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
music and
adult standards.
Radiocom owned WKNX and leased out WGMZ (which would later become country-formatted WKMF and move its operations to Flint) until 1994, when WKNX was purchased by Detroit-based Bell Broadcasting Company in a frequency swap involving another AM station in Bay City (1250 WXOX), which had been silent since the early 1990s.
Sale to Bell Broadcasting and frequency swap
Bell Broadcasting owned WCHB, an AM station licensed to
Taylor
Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to:
People
* Taylor (surname)
**List of people with surname Taylor
* Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah
* Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron
* Justice Taylor (disambiguation)
Plac ...
, which operated at a daytime signal of 25,000 watts and a nighttime signal of 1,000 watts. WCHB was a talk station targeted to an African-American audience. The company's intent was to acquire WKNX's dial position at 1210 and silence it in order to provide WCHB with a 50,000 watt daytime signal.
WKNX would then acquire the license of WXOX, which had first signed on in 1956 as a station first licensed to Essexville. Over time, the 1,000 watt station, operating at 1250 kHz, began broadcasting from Bay City with its co-owned
Pinconning-licensed FM sister at 100.9. By the end of the 1980s, both stations had separated ownership, ran into financial trouble and fell silent. 100.9 was spun off to a new owner in 1991, but WXOX remained silent.
Bell would then have WKNX assume WXOX's 1250 AM dial position and its abandoned three-tower directional transmitter site in Bridgeport. In January 1997, WKNX signed on at 1250 AM, and 1210 AM was placed at WXOX and assigned the new call letters WJZZ, though it did not sign back on from Frankenmuth or the surrounding area. (The former WXOX calls have since been recycled for a
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
low-powered TV station, now
WTCL-LD
WTCL-LD (channel 6) is a low-power television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with Telemundo. It is owned by Gray Television alongside two full-power sister stations: Shaker Heights–licensed CBS affiliate WOIO (channe ...
.)
The FCC then granted WJZZ a request to change its city of license to Kingsley, a village near
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 ...
, located on the other side of Michigan. The move allowed WJZZ to increase its power from 10,000 to 50,000 watts, as it was no longer in the path of WCHB. WJZZ was later sold and later became WLDR (now
WJNL
WJNL (1210 AM) is a radio station airing a news-talk format, licensed to Kingsley, Michigan and serving the Traverse City area. The station is owned by Mitten News LLC, and is part of a simulcast with 1110 WJML in Petoskey, Michigan, WHAK 960 in ...
).
Sale to Frankenmuth Broadcasting
WKNX continued its format of middle-of-the-road music under the moniker "Memories 1250". Six months after the frequency change, WKNX was sold by Bell Broadcasting to Frankenmuth Broadcasting, a company owned by WKNX announcer John Blehm and his wife Kathy, who were committed to keeping the station in Frankenmuth. Four years later, the music became more rock-and-roll oldies-based and also added religious-based talk programming during the daytime hours.
WKNX was granted permission to broadcast at night two years later with a power output of 129 watts, directional. Concurrent with the application, WKNX moved its studio and office operations from Frankenmuth to its transmitter facility at 2850 Gabel Road in Bridgeport Township. In January 2004, Frankenmuth Broadcasting applied for a power increase from 1,000 to 5,000 watts. Two months later, Frankenmuth Broadcasting entered into an agreement to sell WKNX to the Meredith Corporation for $1.1 million.
WNEM-AM
In the summer of 2004, the parent company of
WNEM-TV
WNEM-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Bay City, Michigan, United States, serving northeastern Michigan as an affiliate of CBS and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on North Franklin Street in ...
,
Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned magazines, television stations, websites, and radio stations. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more ...
, purchased WKNX. Soon after the purchase, the call sign was changed to "WNEM" and shifted its studios to the television studio building in downtown Saginaw at 107 North Franklin Street. Unlike its TV counterpart, however, the AM station does not serve Flint or areas south of Saginaw County, due to the
directional antenna
A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performance ...
array beamed towards the north. The station was also
simulcasted
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, simultan ...
via the Internet on WNEM's website, except for sports coverage. In a coincidental situation, WNEM-TV rival
WEYI-TV
WEYI-TV (channel 25), branded on-air as NBC 25, is a television station licensed to Saginaw, Michigan, United States, serving northeastern Michigan as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Howard Stirk Holdings, which maintains a shared services ...
was founded as WKNX-TV, a sister station to WKNX radio; it was sold off in 1972. This also once again gave WNEM-TV a radio sister, which they lost in 1969 when Gerity Broadcasting, which owned WNEM-FM (now
WIOG
WIOG (102.5 FM) is a radio station airing a Top 40 (CHR) format, licensed to Bay City, Michigan and serving the Greater Tri-Cities areas.
History
From the 1970s until September 1986, WIOG operated on 106.3 MHz licensed to Saginaw. 106. ...
), sold WNEM-TV to Meredith.
The FCC granted WNEM permission in January 2006 to operate at the new power levels with the addition of a fourth tower in its directional antenna pattern. At one point programmed as an
all-news station, WNEM's primary programming later consisted of simulcasts of WNEM-TV's newscasts,
syndicated talk shows (including ''
Michael Patrick Shiels in the Morning'', ''
The Neal Boortz Show'', and ''
The Dave Ramsey Show''),
and syndicated regional sports and additional programming. WNEM picked up
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
coverage in late 2005, making it mid-Michigan's only source of
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
hockey. Following the station's sale and format change, coverage of Red Wings games moved to
WSGW.
The station was not profitable, as it had a poor signal in which it would drop from a daytime high of about 5,000 to 1,000 watts at night. Meredith looked for a buyer to no avail, thus looking to donate the station instead. By May 1, 2013, with Meredith giving up ownership, the station went dark.
WHHQ
On May 30, 2013, Meredith had donated WNEM radio's license, equipment, tower and land to Ave Maria Communications, which currently brokers all its Catholic-related programming on
WMAX (1440 AM) in Bay City. The station changed its call sign to WHHQ on June 18, 2013. The two stations were to be complementary programmed. WHHQ simulcasted WMAX's programming, despite its considerable overlap of the parent station's coverage area. Ave Maria Radio later moved the studios to A-M Church Supply at 3535 Bay Road in Saginaw Township.
WJMK
On April 4, 2018, WHHQ was sold for $175,000 to Northern States Broadcasting Corporation. The station changed call letters to WJMK (last used by
104.3 FM in Chicago) on April 3, 2018, and picked up the
MeTV FM
MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television progra ...
easy oldies format originating on
WRME-LP
WRME-LD (channel 33) is a low-power television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, affiliated with Jewelry Television. The station's audio channel, transmitting at 87.75 MHz (or VHF channel 6), lies within the FM band; as a result, WR ...
(87.7 FM) in Chicago run by Weigel Broadcasting. The station is simulcasted on FM translator station W257EO at 99.3 MHz, which can be picked up in the immediate Saginaw area.
References
External links
WNEM History
*
*
{{Oldies Radio Stations in Michigan
JMK (AM)
Radio stations established in 1956
1956 establishments in Michigan
Oldies radio stations in the United States