WJZQ
Encyclopedia
WJZQ 92.9 Cadillac/Traverse City is a 100,000-watt radio station
broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR)
format as Z93. It is owned by Ross Biederman's Midwestern Broadcasting, who also owns WTCM-AM
/FM
and WCCW-AM
/FM
, all in Traverse City, MI.
, then at channel 13. It was signed on in 1961 by John Fetzer
, a well-known TV station owner in the midwest and a longtime owner of the Detroit Tigers
baseball
team.
The station's transmitter was on the fabled "Fetzer Mountain" in Osceola County
, which was one of the highest points in Michigan
. Many would claim that you could hear WKJF-FM on a good radio almost anywhere in Michigan.
The station aired beautiful music
, but began simulcasting WWAM's "top-40" format when that station signed on in 1968 http://www.reelradio.com/comment/comment.cgi?jlwwam011869~Joe+Link,+WWAM/WWTV-FM,+Cadillac+Michigan+1969~../gifts/jlwwam011869.html#jlwwam011869. Later, it split from the simulcast and its call letters were changed to WKJF (Kalamazoo
's John Fetzer). In the 1980s, WKJF was airing adult contemporary music. In the early 1990s, the station was sold to Ross Biederman, who flipped the formats of both stations. WKJF-AM became a simulcast of news/talk WTCM
-AM in Traverse City, and eventually standards
, then sports WCCW (AM)
also in Traverse City, and WKJF-FM became a WTCM-FM clone, marketing itself as WTCM though they only simulcasted part of the time, plus WKJF played more classic country
than their Traverse City sister, and referred its own call letters only hourly with the FCC-mandated station identification.
This was not the first time northern Michigan had smooth jazz, as WJZJ
95.5/94.5 (along with WAVC 93.9 Mio) used the Jones feed in the 1990s as "Coast FM". The station flipped to alternative rock in 1998 as The Zone, citing new ownership and low ratings. (WAVC eventually dropped out of the "Zone" network to simulcast country sister station WMKC
102.9 St. Ignace as "Big Country.")
In 2004, it was announced that Ross Biederman was selling WKJF-AM to Good News Media, owners of WLJN
-FM/AM Traverse City, for $80,001 - $1 for the station itself and $80,000 for the land. The station now rebroadcasts Christian talk WLJN-AM as WLJW. In 1982, Biederman donated the original WTCM-AM 1400 to Good News when he moved the station to 580 AM and boosted the station's power to 2,500 watts.
, Barry Manilow
and Olivia Newton-John
mixed with AC currents, a handful of remnants from the jazz format such as Sade
and Anita Baker
, and even the occasional song by a local northern Michigan act.
In early November 2007, WJZQ began playing continuous Christmas music 24/7 - the first time this station had done so - to compete with WLXT
96.3 FM, which has traditionally been northern Michigan's first station to go all-Christmas for the holiday season.
In March 2008, The Breeze shifted its format again, to a Modern AC sound, playing currents and recurrents from 3 Doors Down
, Ferras
, Sara Bareilles
, Amy Winehouse
, Plain White Ts, O.A.R.
and Coldplay
. The station eliminated most of their softer titles from acts such as Kenny G., James Taylor
, Carpenters and George Benson
.
On September 28, 2009, the station shifted towards a Top 40 (CHR)
format, re-named The New Z93 - Today's Best Hits, complete with new imaging and some jock changes. The station now incorporates more rhythmic
and pop material, particularly during the evening hours, from artists such as Britney Spears
, Lady GaGa
, R. Kelly
, The Black Eyed Peas
and T.I.
. With the format shift, the station did not go all-Christmas for the 2009 holiday season, leaving WLXT as the sole all-Christmas station in the market (save for WLXT's Dial Global
America's Best Music
sister station WMBN
).
The station broadcasts from Biederman's Radio Centre building in downtown Traverse City.
The WJZQ calls were formerly used by the station now known as WIIL
in Kenosha, Wisconsin
.
This is the second time Midwestern Broadcasting has owned a Top 40 station with the moniker "Z93". WATZ-FM in Alpena (then at 93.5) was known as "Z93" during its short stint as a Top 40 outlet during the early 1980s.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR)
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
format as Z93. It is owned by Ross Biederman's Midwestern Broadcasting, who also owns WTCM-AM
WTCM (AM)
WTCM is an AM radio station broadcasting in Traverse City, Michigan, operating on 580 kHz. The two stations are owned by Midwestern Broadcasting, which started WTCM-AM in 1940...
/FM
WTCM-FM
WTCM-FM consists of two radio stations: WTCM-FM 103.5 in Traverse City, Michigan and simulcast WBCM 93.5 FM in Boyne City, Michigan. The two stations carry a country music format and are owned by Midwestern Broadcasting. Today, WTCM-FM/WBCM is on or near the top of the Arbitron ratings...
and WCCW-AM
WCCW (AM)
WCCW is one side of a radio combo in Traverse City, Michigan. It is owned by the Midwestern Broadcasting group, which to this day includes the family members of its original partners from the early 1940s, the Biedermans, Kikers and McClays. Midwestern acquired WCCW AM/FM, its long-time "local...
/FM
WCCW-FM
WCCW-FM is an FM combination in Traverse City, Michigan, United States, consisting of WCCW-FM in Traverse City and relaying station WCZW in Charlevoix...
, all in Traverse City, MI.
WWTV-FM and WKJF-FM
WJZQ was originally WWTV-FM, co-owned with WWTVWWTV
WWTV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the northern Lower and eastern Upper Peninsulas of Michigan. Licensed to Cadillac, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter at its studios on 130th Avenue, northeast of Tustin, in Osceola County. At 1,631...
, then at channel 13. It was signed on in 1961 by John Fetzer
John Fetzer
John Earl Fetzer was a radio and television executive who was best known as the owner of the Detroit Tigers from 1961 through the early 1980s.- Biography :...
, a well-known TV station owner in the midwest and a longtime owner of the Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team.
The station's transmitter was on the fabled "Fetzer Mountain" in Osceola County
Osceola County, Michigan
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 23,197 people, 8,861 households, and 6,415 families residing in the county. The population density was 41 people per square mile . There were 12,853 housing units at an average density of 23 per square mile...
, which was one of the highest points in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. Many would claim that you could hear WKJF-FM on a good radio almost anywhere in Michigan.
The station aired beautiful music
Beautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
, but began simulcasting WWAM's "top-40" format when that station signed on in 1968 http://www.reelradio.com/comment/comment.cgi?jlwwam011869~Joe+Link,+WWAM/WWTV-FM,+Cadillac+Michigan+1969~../gifts/jlwwam011869.html#jlwwam011869. Later, it split from the simulcast and its call letters were changed to WKJF (Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo, Michigan
The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to...
's John Fetzer). In the 1980s, WKJF was airing adult contemporary music. In the early 1990s, the station was sold to Ross Biederman, who flipped the formats of both stations. WKJF-AM became a simulcast of news/talk WTCM
WTCM (AM)
WTCM is an AM radio station broadcasting in Traverse City, Michigan, operating on 580 kHz. The two stations are owned by Midwestern Broadcasting, which started WTCM-AM in 1940...
-AM in Traverse City, and eventually standards
Standard (music)
In music, a standard is a tune or song of established popularity.-See also:* Blues standard* Jazz standard* Pop standard* Great American Songbook-Further reading:* Greatest Rock Standards, published by Hal Leonard ISBN 0793588391...
, then sports WCCW (AM)
WCCW (AM)
WCCW is one side of a radio combo in Traverse City, Michigan. It is owned by the Midwestern Broadcasting group, which to this day includes the family members of its original partners from the early 1940s, the Biedermans, Kikers and McClays. Midwestern acquired WCCW AM/FM, its long-time "local...
also in Traverse City, and WKJF-FM became a WTCM-FM clone, marketing itself as WTCM though they only simulcasted part of the time, plus WKJF played more classic country
Classic country
Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country hits from past decades.This genre generally follows one of two formats: those specializing in hits from the 1920s through the early 1970s, and focus primarily on innovators and artists from country music's Golden...
than their Traverse City sister, and referred its own call letters only hourly with the FCC-mandated station identification.
Smooth Jazz 92.9 The Breeze
Plans were announced in the early 2000s to move WKJF-FM's tower to southern Kalkaska County. The move would allow 92.9 to have city-grade coverage in Traverse City. People knew that a new radio station was in the works from the Biederman camp since WTCM-FM's transmitter's not too far from WKJF's. Shortly before the big move, on July 1, 2001, 92.9 The Breeze debuted. The station would start broadcasting from their Kalkaska County facilities in December that year.This was not the first time northern Michigan had smooth jazz, as WJZJ
WJZJ
WJZJ in Glen Arbor, Michigan is an American radio station, which airs a mainstream rock format branded as Real Rock 105.1/95.5...
95.5/94.5 (along with WAVC 93.9 Mio) used the Jones feed in the 1990s as "Coast FM". The station flipped to alternative rock in 1998 as The Zone, citing new ownership and low ratings. (WAVC eventually dropped out of the "Zone" network to simulcast country sister station WMKC
WMKC
WMKC is a radio station licensed to Indian River, Michigan. It airs a country music format called Big Country 102.9. WMKD 105.5 in Pickford airs mostly the same programming as WMKC, but IDs separately as "Big Country 105.5." These stations are all owned by Northern Star...
102.9 St. Ignace as "Big Country.")
In 2004, it was announced that Ross Biederman was selling WKJF-AM to Good News Media, owners of WLJN
WLJN
WLJN are the call letters of 2 radio stations, AM and FM, located in Traverse City, Michigan. Both stations broadcast Christian music and programming. The call letters stand for "We're Lifting Jesus' Name."-History:...
-FM/AM Traverse City, for $80,001 - $1 for the station itself and $80,000 for the land. The station now rebroadcasts Christian talk WLJN-AM as WLJW. In 1982, Biederman donated the original WTCM-AM 1400 to Good News when he moved the station to 580 AM and boosted the station's power to 2,500 watts.
Format shift
When The Breeze started broadcasting from their new facilities, ratings for the station skyrocketed, though they have tapered off since then. In response, the station added local, yet voicetracked personalities, cut back on the Jones Smooth Jazz satellite programming to only nights and weekends, and evolved its playlist during local dayparts to Soft Adult Contemporary. Before long, the Jones Smooth Jazz programming was completely gone from 92.9 and it was one-hundred-percent locally programmed, with the playlist including "middle of the road" artists such as Carpenters, Barbra StreisandBarbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
and Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
mixed with AC currents, a handful of remnants from the jazz format such as Sade
Sade Adu
Helen Folasade Adu OBE , is a British singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the Brit and Grammy Award winning English group Sade.-Biography:Sade was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria...
and Anita Baker
Anita Baker
Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
, and even the occasional song by a local northern Michigan act.
In early November 2007, WJZQ began playing continuous Christmas music 24/7 - the first time this station had done so - to compete with WLXT
WLXT
WLXT in Petoskey, Michigan, is an adult contemporary-formatted radio station that broadcasts with 100,000 watts, covering most of northern Michigan. It is owned by Trish MacDonald-Garber, whose family has owned the station for over 30 years.-WMBN-FM:The station signed on in the late 1960s at 96.7,...
96.3 FM, which has traditionally been northern Michigan's first station to go all-Christmas for the holiday season.
In March 2008, The Breeze shifted its format again, to a Modern AC sound, playing currents and recurrents from 3 Doors Down
3 Doors Down
3 Doors Down is an American rock band from Escatawpa formed in 1996. The band consists of Brad Arnold , Matt Roberts , Todd Harrell , Chris Henderson , and Greg Upchurch ....
, Ferras
Ferras
Ferras Alqaisi , known as Ferras, is a Jordanian-American Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter who has signed with EMI as part of Capitol Records.-Career:Ferras grew up feeling out of place in a small Illinois town called Gillespie...
, Sara Bareilles
Sara Bareilles
Sara Beth Bareilles is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She achieved mainstream success in 2007 with the hit single "Love Song", which brought her into the number one spot on the Billboard Pop 100 chart. She has sold over 1 million records in the United States alone and has been...
, Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...
, Plain White Ts, O.A.R.
Of a Revolution
O.A.R. is an American rock band composed of Marc Roberge , Chris Culos , Richard On , Benj Gershman , and Jerry DePizzo...
and Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
. The station eliminated most of their softer titles from acts such as Kenny G., James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
, Carpenters and George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
.
On September 28, 2009, the station shifted towards a Top 40 (CHR)
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
format, re-named The New Z93 - Today's Best Hits, complete with new imaging and some jock changes. The station now incorporates more rhythmic
Rhythmic Contemporary
Rhythmic contemporary, also known as rhythmic top 40, rhythmic contemporary hit radio or rhythmic crossover, is a music radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary rarely uses rock music or country music in its airplay, but it may...
and pop material, particularly during the evening hours, from artists such as Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, Lady GaGa
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
, R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
, The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas are an American pop group , formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. The group includes rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide...
and T.I.
T.I.
Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr. , better known by his stage name T.I., is an American rap artist, film and music producer, actor and author. He is also the founder and co-chief executive officer of Grand Hustle Records....
. With the format shift, the station did not go all-Christmas for the 2009 holiday season, leaving WLXT as the sole all-Christmas station in the market (save for WLXT's Dial Global
Dial Global
Dial Global is a radio syndication company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Triton Media Group and is a sister company to Townsquare Media, both of which are owned by Oaktree Capital Management....
America's Best Music
America's Best Music
America's Best Music is the on-air branding of an adult standards 24-hour radio network, known internally as Adult Standards and formerly known as AM Only, currently owned by Dial Global. It was one of the original Westwood One's Transtar networks...
sister station WMBN
WMBN
WMBN is an AM radio station broadcasting at 1340 kHz in Petoskey, Michigan, United States. The station, owned by MacDonald-Garber Broadcasting, airs Dial Global's satellite-delivered America's Best Music format of adult standards and soft adult contemporary oldies.WMBN went on the air in April...
).
The station broadcasts from Biederman's Radio Centre building in downtown Traverse City.
The WJZQ calls were formerly used by the station now known as WIIL
WIIL
WIIL is a radio station in Kenosha, Wisconsin that plays Active Rock music and serves Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee Counties in Wisconsin, and northern suburbs of Chicago. The call letters stand for Wisconsin and Illinois, as Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, the station's transmitter location, is...
in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha is a city and the county seat of Kenosha County in the State of Wisconsin in United States. With a population of 99,218 as of May 2011, Kenosha is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Kenosha is also the fourth-largest city on the western shore of Lake Michigan, following Chicago,...
.
This is the second time Midwestern Broadcasting has owned a Top 40 station with the moniker "Z93". WATZ-FM in Alpena (then at 93.5) was known as "Z93" during its short stint as a Top 40 outlet during the early 1980s.