WTVB (1590 AM) is a regional radio station located in

Coldwater, Michigan Coldwater is a city in Branch County, Michigan, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,945. It is the county seat of Branch County, located in the center of the southern border of Michigan. The city is surrounded by Co ...

. It carries largely

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

and local news and sports, with

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

as its source for national news, and carries Westwood One's Classic Hits Total format.

Midwest Communications Midwest Communications is a Wausau, Wisconsin-based radio broadcasting company. It owns 82 radio stations located primarily within the Midwest United States, in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Illinois and ...

owns WTVB. The call letters originally stood for Twin Valley Broadcasters and are in no way connected to any television station, although the station bills itself as "The Voice of Branch County. The "valleys" mentioned (ironically Coldwater is in one of the highest parts of southern Lower Michigan) are apparently the short Coldwater River and the St. Joseph River in south-central Michigan. WNWN/98.5 "WIN 98-5," licensed to Coldwater and now a country music station primarily targeting the

Battle Creek Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which encom ...

and

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

areas, was originally WTVB-FM at 98.3, the FM signal that duplicated WTVB when FM radio was new. WTVB was known as 16/TVB for many years. Even 20+ years after that campaign was stopped, and WTVB was officially known as AM 1590 WTVB, local community members have been known to still refer to the station as 16/TVB.

Translator

In 2011, Midwest Communications secured an FM translator from Christian broadcaster, Family Stations, Inc., and by January 13, 2012, WTVB was once again broadcasting on FM, at 95.5 MHz. With the addition of the translator, the station was able to provide programming to more areas of Branch County that were not able to receive a reliable signal from AM 1590 at night.

Programming

Local programming on WTVB consists of a morning show, "Midday Journal" and "Evening Journal". The News Department covers Branch County with breaking news and updates. The Sports Department covers local high school sports with up-to-the-minute status updates, and live broadcasts. Traditionally, WTVB follows the Coldwater Cardinals, but will occasionally air sporting events from neighboring cities and villages in the county.

Morning Show

"Delaney in the Morning", with Ken Delaney, is the station's weekday morning show, airing from 6-10AM. Previous show co-hosts have included Heather Daniels, Kevin Ireland, Jim Measel and Gary Hart. The morning show features local news and agriculture reports, horoscopes, a "birthday club" and a Wall Street stock report from various local financial institutions. WTVB is a community-oriented station, and the show also includes various live interviews from community figures.

Midday Journal

The Midday Journal is an hour-long local production, starting at 12:00 noon each weekday. The program partly consists of local news and sports, stock reports and a look in the world of agri-business news, among others.

Evening Journal

The Evening Journal, on-air from 5 to 5:30 each weekday, is designed to be programming to "send you home" after a long workday. The programming includes NASCAR Updates, a look at stocks, and a "Coaches Corner" high school sports segment (except in summer).

Music

WTVB also features the "Greatest

Classic Hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...

of the 60s, 70s, and 80s". Prior to adopting the current classic hits format, WTVB was an affiliate of ABC's

(formerly Oldies Radio) format. Earlier, WTVB was an

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 ...

station with programming fed from ABC's Hits and Favorites (formerly "StarStation") network.

Sports

NASCAR

WTVB carries the Performance Racing Network's "Garage Pass" program, as well as "The Final Lap" from United Stations.

High school sports

High School sports usually dominate the school year at WTVB. The station broadcasts all Coldwater Cardinal football and boys' basketball contests, home and away. They also air many girls' basketball and softball games, as well as baseball in the spring. WTVB is considered the definitive source for Branch County high school sports.

References

Michiguide.com - WTVB HistoryWTVB Website

External links

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TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and ...

Classic hits radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1949 1949 establishments in Michigan Midwest Communications radio stations