WMAX (1440 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 radi ...

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- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

format. It is co-owned with WDEO 990 AM in

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti (), commonly shortened to Ypsi, is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Township and on the west, south, an ...

, and features the same programming from the

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 network.

History

Licensed to

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metrop ...

, it first began broadcasting in 1925 as WSKC at 1150 kHz, with its call sign reflecting its ownership by the World's Star Knitting Co. It was the first radio station in the Tri-Cities and first Michigan radio station north of Flint. In 1930, the call sign changed to WBCM, followed by a shift in frequency in 1941 to 1440 kHz. WBCM served the Bay City area as a local station for many years with a variety of formats including MOR and

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, ...

. WBCM began experimenting with FM radio in 1947, one of the first in the region. WBCM-FM was located at 96.1 mHz and broadcast from an over 300 foot (90m) Blaw-Knox tower at the station's Bay City east side studio on Tuscola Rd, initially signing on in 1947. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, 96.1 FM broadcast a

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 mu ...

format. Purchased by Liggett Communications earlier in 1973, on August 27, 1973 the FM calls were changed to WHNN and the station adopted a

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 "cont ...

format as "Super Win". Later, Liggett built a new FM tower location in Quanicassee to alleviate a short spaced situation with WHTC-FM Holland, and the power was upped to a legal maximum of 100,000 watts. In February of 1978, Liggett changed the AM format to country, and the call letters to WRDD (Big Red Radio),https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Archive-RandR/1970s/1978/RR-1978-12-15.pdf and also built a new 5 KW AM directional transmitter site for the station along M-84 in southern

Frankenlust Township, Michigan Frankenlust Township is a civil township of Bay County, Michigan, Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2020 United States census, 2020 Census placed the population at 3,672. This is a 3.1% increase from the 3,562 recorded at the 2010 Unite ...

. Upon license approval of the new AM facility, he sold WRDD to a local broadcast concern who returned the call letters to WBCM. The station would go through another ownership change and change of call letters briefly to WUNI (You and I) to WMAX in 1992 and simulcast sports-talk station

WTRX WTRX (1330 AM, "Sports XTRA 1330") is an American radio station broadcasting a sports format in Flint, Michigan. It is the Flint affiliate for Michigan Wolverines football and men's basketball, and CBS Sports Radio. Its studios are located in ...

of Flint. WMAX is of no relation to

WMAX-FM WMAX-FM (96.1 Hertz, MHz) is the callsign of a radio station owned by iHeartMedia located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The studios and offices are located at 77 Monroe Center in Downtown Grand Rapids while its transmitter is located near Felch St an ...

96.1, an IHeartMedia-owned radio station in

Holland, Michigan Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River (formerly known locally as the Black Ri ...

. The simulcast only lasted about ten years when it was then sold to the current Catholic radio operator. WMAX is also the former call sign of an AM station at 1480 kHz in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

(now WGVU-AM). Until April 2018, WMAX's programming was simulcast on WHHQ AM 1250, a station based 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 ...

that covered much of the same broadcasting area as WMAX.

References

Sources

Michiguide.com - WMAX History

External links

MAX Catholic radio stations Radio stations established in 1925 MAX {{Michigan-radio-station-stub