WMRR (101.7 FM, "Rock 101-7") 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 a

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

format. Licensed to

Muskegon Heights, Michigan Muskegon Heights is a city in Muskegon County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,856 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. The city is surrounded o ...

, it first began broadcasting under the WKJR call sign. WMRR identifies itself hourly with the slogan ''Broadcasting from the Beer Tent Capital of the World''. This reference was coined by then Program Director, Don Beno, and now serves as an unofficial nickname for the city of

Muskegon, Michigan Muskegon ( ') is a city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Muskegon County. Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, pleasure boating, and as a commercial and cruise ship port. It is a popular vacation destination because of the expa ...

History

101.7 began as WKJR-FM in 1974, sister station to the now-defunct WKJR AM 1520. At the time, both stations were formatted with Christian programming and owned by the Kuiper family which also owned WFUR-AM and FM in Grand Rapids and

WKPR WKPR (1440 AM) was a radio station that had served the Kalamazoo, Michigan area. WKPR Kalamazoo began its broadcast life in 1960. An unusual result of the Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an i ...

in Kalamazoo. In the early 1980s WKJR-FM separated programming to air 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 musi ...

format as WABM. The Kuiper family sold the station in 1986 to Goodrich Radio, which at the same time acquired competitor easy listening station 104.5 WQWQ; Goodrich moved the WQWQ calls and format to 101.7 and launched 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 "conte ...

format as "104.5 Sunny-FM" with the calls

WSNX WSNX-FM (104.5 MHz "104-5 SNX") is a Top 40 (CHR) radio station located in iHeartMedia, Inc. Grand Rapids, Michigan headquarters. The station has a Top 40 (CHR) format. The station is licensed to Muskegon, in Western Michigan with the stat ...

. Coinciding with an industry trend away from the Beautiful Music/Easy Listening format as its demographics became older and unsalable, 101.7 WQWQ moved to

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 ...

as WQFN "Fun 101.7" in 1990, back to the WQWQ calls and easy format a year later, and then to Album Oriented Rock as WMRR in 1992.

HD programming

WMRR transmits in

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

and features: *HD1 - a digital simulcast of the traditional analog signal - Rock 101.7. *HD2 - not presently in use. A variety of formats had aired on this channel, but in September 2022, the HD2 service was terminated.

References

External links

*
Michiguide.com - WMRR History
MRR IHeartMedia radio stations Muskegon County, Michigan Classic rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1974 {{Michigan-radio-station-stub