WNEM (AM)
Encyclopedia
WNEM AM 1250 is an all-news radio
station for the Saginaw
–Bay City
area. It is currently owned by the Meredith Corporation
. Although licensed to Bridgeport
, WNEM currently operates from the WNEM-TV
studios in downtown Saginaw at 107 Franklin Street. The station operates from its transmitter facilities in Bridgeport.
-AM 600.
Among the station's history was the acquisition of a sister television station in the 1950s, and was also the radio home of 50's country music artist "Little" Jimmy Dickens. WKNX's resident "legend" would take form of Ohio State University 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
region of Florida
-- WQYK-FM
, a station that also carried a country format.
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 joined by a Tuscola-licensed sister FM station, WGMZ-FM (now WWBN
), which programmed beautiful music
. (The WGMZ calls and format moved from 107.9 FM, which became WCRZ
"Cars 108" in 1984.) By the early 1990s, WKNX-AM was programming big band
music and adult standards
.
Radiocom owned WKNX and leased WGMZ (which would later became 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 90's.
Bell Broadcasting owned WCHB, an AM station licensed to Taylor, 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 the silent 1,000 watt WXOX-AM 1250 in Bay City and assume that dial position, as well as its abandoned three-tower directional transmitter site. In January 1997, WKNX signed on at AM 1250, and AM 1210 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 FCC then granted WJZZ a request to change its city of license to Kingsley, a village near Traverse City, 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-AM (now WJNL
).
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. 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. 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.
In the Summer of 2004, the parent company of WNEM-TV, Meredith Corporation
, purchased WKNX. Soon after the purchase, the call sign was changed to "WNEM-AM" and shifted its studios to the television studio building in Saginaw. Unlike its TV counterpart, however, the AM station does not serve Flint or areas south of Saginaw County, due to the directional antenna
array beamed towards the north. The station is also simulcasted via the Internet
on WNEM's website, except for sports coverage.
The former WXOX calls have since been recycled for a Cleveland
low-powered TV station, WXOX-LP
.
The AM station now broadcasts at a power of 5000 watts daytime, 1100 watts at night, also directed towards the north. The FCC granted WNEM-AM permission in January 2006 to operate at the new power levels with the addition of a fourth tower in its directional antenna pattern. WNEM-AM's primary programming are repeats and simulcasts of channel 5's newscasts, plus syndicated regional sports and additional programming. WNEM picked up Detroit Red Wings hockey coverage in late 2005, making it mid-Michigan's only source of NHL hockey. Saginaw-based WSGW (790 AM) has decided to pick up the Red Wings in the fall, leaving some question whether WNEM will continue to air the team.
In a coincidental situation, WNEM rival WEYI-TV
is descended from the former WKNX which is today's WNEM radio.
All-news radio
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcast of news.All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried in some form on both major US satellite radio networks...
station for the Saginaw
Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town and manufacturing center. Saginaw and Saginaw County lie in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan...
–Bay City
Bay City, Michigan
Bay City is a city 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 is the principal city of the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Saginaw-Bay City-Saginaw Township North...
area. It is currently owned by the Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation
The Meredith Corporation is a media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions, National Media and Local Media.-History:...
. Although licensed to Bridgeport
Bridgeport, Michigan
Bridgeport is an unincorporated community in Bridgeport Charter Township, Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also a census-designated place for statistical purposes. The population was 7,849 at the 2000 census. Bridgeport is also the name of a post office with ZIP code 48722...
, WNEM currently operates from the WNEM-TV
WNEM-TV
WNEM-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Flint/Tri-Cities market in Michigan. It is licensed to Bay City, and broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 22 . Owned by the Meredith Corporation, the station has studios on North Franklin Street in downtown Saginaw, as...
studios in downtown Saginaw at 107 Franklin Street. The station operates from its transmitter facilities in Bridgeport.
History
WNEM-AM's history can be traced back as early as April 17, 1947, when the station first signed on the air as AM 1210 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 hit music station in Saginaw, competing with WSAM-AM 1400 and Flint's WTACWSNL
WSNL 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 of 1946 by George W. Trendle and H. Allen Campbell, who changed the call letters to WTCB and made...
-AM 600.
Among the station's history was the acquisition of a sister television station in the 1950s, and was also the radio home of 50's country music artist "Little" Jimmy Dickens. WKNX's resident "legend" would take form of Ohio State University 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
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and estuary along the Gulf of Mexico on the west central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay."Tampa Bay" is not the name of any municipality...
region of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
-- WQYK-FM
WQYK-FM
WQYK-FM is a commercial country music radio station in Tampa, Florida. It is currently under ownership of CBS Radio.-External links:*...
, a station that also carried a country format.
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 joined by a Tuscola-licensed sister FM station, WGMZ-FM (now WWBN
WWBN
WWBN , is a radio station broadcasting rock music to Central Michigan and The Thumb areas of Michigan. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and is a member of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters...
), which programmed beautiful music
Beautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
. (The WGMZ calls and format moved from 107.9 FM, which became WCRZ
WCRZ
WCRZ is a radio station in Flint, Michigan, broadcasting an adult contemporary format. WCRZ is the top-rated heritage station in the market.-History:...
"Cars 108" in 1984.) By the early 1990s, WKNX-AM was programming big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
music and adult standards
Adult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...
.
Radiocom owned WKNX and leased WGMZ (which would later became 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 90's.
Bell Broadcasting owned WCHB, an AM station licensed to Taylor, 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 the silent 1,000 watt WXOX-AM 1250 in Bay City and assume that dial position, as well as its abandoned three-tower directional transmitter site. In January 1997, WKNX signed on at AM 1250, and AM 1210 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 FCC then granted WJZZ a request to change its city of license to Kingsley, a village near Traverse City, 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-AM (now WJNL
WJML
WJML consists of AM stations WJML 1110 in Petoskey, Michigan and WJNL 1210 in Kingsley, Michigan. Both stations are owned by Rick Stone, and both stations have simulcast the same programming, with a mixture of liberal talk format and conservative talk....
).
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. 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. 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.
In the Summer of 2004, the parent company of WNEM-TV, Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation
The Meredith Corporation is a media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions, National Media and Local Media.-History:...
, purchased WKNX. Soon after the purchase, the call sign was changed to "WNEM-AM" and shifted its studios to the television studio building in Saginaw. Unlike its TV counterpart, however, the AM station does not serve Flint or areas south of Saginaw County, due to the directional antenna
Directional antenna
A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates greater power in one or more directions allowing for increased performance on transmit and receive and reduced interference from unwanted sources....
array beamed towards the north. The station is also simulcasted via the Internet
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
on WNEM's website, except for sports coverage.
The former WXOX calls have since been recycled for a Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
low-powered TV station, WXOX-LP
WXOX-LP
WXOX-LP is a low-power television station operating on analog channel 65. The station is currently licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, and airs Home Shopping Network programming. Since October 27, 2009, the station has been off the air after losing its tower lease. The station will remain off-the-air...
.
The AM station now broadcasts at a power of 5000 watts daytime, 1100 watts at night, also directed towards the north. The FCC granted WNEM-AM permission in January 2006 to operate at the new power levels with the addition of a fourth tower in its directional antenna pattern. WNEM-AM's primary programming are repeats and simulcasts of channel 5's newscasts, plus syndicated regional sports and additional programming. WNEM picked up Detroit Red Wings hockey coverage in late 2005, making it mid-Michigan's only source of NHL hockey. Saginaw-based WSGW (790 AM) has decided to pick up the Red Wings in the fall, leaving some question whether WNEM will continue to air the team.
In a coincidental situation, WNEM rival WEYI-TV
WEYI-TV
WEYI-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Flint/Tri-Cities market that is licensed to Saginaw. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a 193 kilowatt, high transmitter at its studios on West Willard Road in Vienna Township along the Genesee and...
is descended from the former WKNX which is today's WNEM radio.
Personnel
- Wes Goheen and Steve Duncan co-host Friday Night Lights, a post game/scoreboard show heard after WNEM's coverage of high school football.
- And in 2010 Goheen and Duncan have a segment on My5 TV's 5th Quarter show,a high school football show with scores and highlights.