Name: terrestrial radio
Age: 100
Occupation: supposed entertainers and informers of the general public
Last Seen: everywhere
Bee-otched For: facing karma
Age: 100
Occupation: supposed entertainers and informers of the general public
Last Seen: everywhere
Bee-otched For: facing karma
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Not all radio stations in big cities have a big city sound.
When I was growing up in northern Michigan in the 1990s, I noticed that some radio stations didn't grow quickly in terms of technology. One station that stood out was Oldies 107.5 WCCW out of Traverse City. Up until the mid-90s, the station was still spinning scratchy vinyl and using tape cartridges for music while other stations evolved into using CDs and CD-fed automation systems. Much of the station sounded muddy. Then again, they were owned by a beer distributor, which said a lot.
In 1996, WCCW was sold to Ross Biederman's Midwestern Broadcasting for $3 million. The station moved from the old Michigan Theatre building to the old Midwestern Cablevision (now a part of Charter) Building, which has long been demolished (in its spot is the Radio Centre, owned by Midwestern). The old 45s and muddy cart of John Phillips' "Mississippi" were replaced with a then-state-of-the-art TM Century CD library.
When I moved to Grand Rapids a few years later, I assumed that all the radio stations in town were out of the Dark Ages. And boy, was I wrong.
I read on social media about WFUR, an old Christian station at 102.9 was just that: old. At night, the music was mostly fed from an old tape-fed automation system. It was clear that they transferred old records to carts and the carts were programmed when a song began and ended. It was interesting, but then again, it was part of the reason why WFUR has long sucked in the ratings.
When Arbitron provided free 12+ ratings for all commercial radio stations in a single market, WFUR was usually dead last in Grand Rapids. There was even a joke that the Grand Rapids Press published pictures of Wiffur's listeners daily. All you had to do was go to the Obituaries page.
In recent years, WFUR has thankfully gone digital. Not only that, they've moved all of their geezer music to their AM sister at 1570 (simulcast on a translator at 92.9). FM 102.9's playlist is mostly typical Contemporary Christian fare from Audio Adrenaline, Big Daddy Weave, Jars of Clay and more.
WFUR has been owned by the Kuiper family since 1950 with the FM signing on in 1960. Many have criticized the Kuipers for being cheap and even treating their employees like shit. Some even wondered when they would sell their stations. Well, very soon, WFUR-FM is going to be sold.
Last week, it was announced that the Kuipers were selling 102.9 to Bible Broadcasting Network for $2.75 million. For years, it was rumored that they would sell, but only to a Christian broadcaster. For shits and giggles, I'm listening to BBN's online stream as I'm typing this. The music they're playing makes any of the nine trillion Hillsong groups sound like Death Metal.
It's expected for the Kuipers to retain WFUR-AM with the 92.9 translator for now, along with 1440 WKPR in Kalamazoo.
Meanwhile in northern Michigan, after 36 years, Northern Broadcast has officially ended broadcasting. On Sunday morning at just after Midnight, the simulcasting Adult Hits duo known as 94.3/92.5 The Fox FM ended broadcast activities with Bryan Adams' 1983 hit "This Time". The stations didn't say goodbye nor even air a top of the hour ID.
But with a pathetic 1.5 in the ratings, did anybody care?
Meanwhile, another one of NBI's old stations have been sold, and it's quite a unique sale. WSRT 106.7 Gaylord has been sold to MacDonald Garber Broadcasting for a mere $215,000. NBI bought the station for $3 million in 1996 from its founder, John DeGroot. Throughout the 80s and 90s, 106.7 was a very successful Top 40 station as The Peak. However, NBI's poor management of the station, which included several unsuccessful format flips caused listeners to alienate the once-popular frequency. The fact that MacDonald Garber owns The Peak's former rival, 106 KHQ is total proof of NBI allowing their competitors to win.
So, how is MacGar affording 106.7? Simple! Just fire KHQ's morning show.
That's right! Rizzo and Jeff were canned on Friday after only a just over a year on the 40-year-old CHR. They did thank the company for allowing them to work there, however.
As for 106.7, there's speculation that MacGar might simulcast flea-powered Adult Hits 104.5 Bob FM out of Traverse City on the 100,000-watt frequency. Another choice might be their Cadillac Country outlet 96.7 The Bull.
NBI - owned by the Gokey family from North Dakota - has been trying to sell their radio stations for years. Their sale to Blarney Stone Broadcasting didn't go through, so they sold four of their six stations one-by-one. Geezer Rock WKLT 97.5 Kalkaska went to Midwestern for $450,000, their former simulcaster WKLZ 98.9 Petoskey went to Educational Media Foundation for $400,000 and will soon be a K-Love affiliate and 94.3 went to Central Michigan University for half a mil. The fates of 105.5 WSRJ Honor and 92.5 WFDX Atlanta are to be certain at this point.
When I started this blog 21 years ago, I started it because I felt homeless regarding the radio dial in northern Michigan. I'm a new rock guy, but KLT and the now defunct Zone played it too safe. Tool was severely ignored up north while there were five or so stations playing Paula Cole to death. All those years later, Tool has one of the best-selling albums of last year while Cole had to crowdfund her last album.
Also 21 years ago, northern Michigan had five major radio station groups. Now, there's only three with Midwestern and MacGar being the only survivors. Black Diamond - whose portfolio includes Rock 105/95-5, Classic Rock 98.1/95.3 The Bear, Big Country 102.9 and 98.5 WUPS - is definitely the lesser of the evils. Why? They're owned by actual broadcasters and not suits. Yes, they have their faults. Rock 105/95-5 could use a live and local morning show while Cartman focuses on his Wisconsin gigs (and don't get me started on the infamous "pissing on KHQ's van" pic that almost got him fired and made me a bitch on a popular broadcasting message board many, many years ago).
You see, if I learned anything from all those years of blogging, it's that karma's a royal motherfucker. NBI felt it. They bought the successful 106.7 The Peak for $3 million, fucked that station up and now, their whole group might not even get that $3 million back. Matt Hanlon felt it. He fucked over KLQ here in Grand Rapids and then got fired from its parent company, Citadel and then fired from Townsquare for drunk driving. And yes, I gotta mention that old asshole from Texas who sent me a C&D many years ago because he fucked over a TON of folks in Traverse City. Now, his stations are in disarray and even more, he had a heart attack late last year. Tom Devitt couldn't make it as the morning jock at The Zone over 20 years ago. When he ended up working in Michigan's Thumb, he started to harass me and others on a popular radio message board. He even got Smitty on Rock 105/95-5 fired by making a fake audio file of his show and sent it to advertisers while he was doing afternoons on KLT. Now, he's out of a job.
I know, there's internet and satellite radio. They know what they're doing while terrestrial radio shoots themselves in the ass. To me, terrestrial radio is kinda like shopping malls. People say that with Amazon and all their kin, malls are obsolete. Yet, there's still some extremely successful malls. Look at Woodland here in Grand Rapids. Their parent, PREIT dumped over $100 million in renovations after Sears closed. The end result is that there's a ton of new stores and even The Cheesecake Factory. But sadly, the mall business does have its Cumuluses and iHeartMedias. The biggie is Moonbeam Capital. Several of their malls, including Century III in Pittsburgh and Shoppingtown Mall near Syracuse have closed due to their poor upkeep. As a matter of fact, Century III was closed after it violated a fire code.
And I'll let you guess who I'm comparing Moonbeam to.
Radio is a business and it needs to be about people. Look at Grand Rapids: 101.3 has been some sort of Classic Rocker for years and it has no fucking listeners. Why can't iHeart make something out of it? Do they care? It's only real purpose these days is being a pass-through for a shitty morning show out of Cleveland that has no fans in Grand Rapids. Back to northern Michigan: when Blarney Stone was booted from 101.9, why in the fucking hell did they take the format to 94.5 and 106.3? IT HAS NO RATINGS! AC bombed on 106.7, 95.5 and 92.9. Broadcasters need to knock it off with thinking that people up north actually like Maroon 5, Sheryl Crow and Celine Dion.
Here's an idea: how about going to the streets and ASKING people what type of music they enjoy! I'll betcha that people up north wouldn't mind maybe a Classic Country station since WTCM and Big Country do well with newer Country. How about a more-rhythmic-leaning CHR, or a 90s-friendly Classic Hits station that actually plays some of the stuff the old Peak used to play (i.e. 69 Boyz' "Tootsie Roll", Bone Thugs 'N Harmony's "Tha Crossroads" or (dare I say this) "Short Dick Man" by 20 Fingers)?
Same with Grand Rapids. Why isn't there's a real, full-power Urban station here in town? Sorry, but the weak FM translator at 104.9 doesn't count and neither does its originator, 1410 WNWZ since its signal is quite weak, especially at night. I know iHeart won't do it because of 104.5. But Cumulus and the fact that most of their stations are horrible in GR make them a good candidate.
I know there's been a myriad of changes in radio as of late and sadly, they're not all positive. If radio wants people to keep listening, they gotta listen to the people. If GRD didn't play too much butt rock, I'd listen more often, for example. But since Octane on SiriusXM constantly sends me listener panels and I participate, maybe GRD should be more like them and stop pretending that a guy like me likes to listen to "Sweet Home Alabama".
Just think: within a few years, those who actually like that song will be on that same page as WFUR's listeners. That's if the Grand Rapids Press is still around in the future.
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Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com
Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
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