WTCM-FM
Encyclopedia
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 http://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/$rol.exe/arb535. WTCM-FM's 100,000 watt signal can be heard south toward Cadillac, MI and Big Rapids, MI at times. During the summer its signal waft
s southeast into southern lower Michigan,(heard in the Tri-Cities mixing with WMUZ-FM in Detroit). This is a good 150 miles from its originating city, Traverse City.
and several of his friends - engineer Bill Kiker and Drew McClay among others - wanted to start a radio station, but in an undeveloped radio market. They decided that Traverse City, Michigan was a city destined for growth and had no local radio station, so they moved to the city and built the 250-watt transmitter that would be Traverse City's first radio station. WTCM initially broadcast from a small studio at the base of the tower. The WTCM-AM control console was hand built by Biederman and Kiker, and served the station until its replacement around 1980.
When WTCM signed on in 1940, it was a local channel station at 1370 kHz briefly before moving to 1400 kHz. The station was licensed to broadcast 24 hours at 250 watts, but only broadcast from 6 AM to 11 PM. WTCM was an NBC affiliate and like most radio stations at the time, aired block programming - some local shows, network shows, music programs, etc.
They soon outgrew the tiny studio and moved to the Anderson Building in the 100 block of downtown Traverse City in the mid =-1940s. Long-time Midwestern employees Kenn Haven and Merlin Dumbrille began working there in the 1940s.
Because WTCM had a limited reach, Biederman wanted to start other small stations aimed exclusively towards the towns they broadcast in. After fighting in World War II
, Biederman started WATT
1240 Cadillac, Michigan
in 1945, WATZ
1450 Alpena, Michigan
in 1946, WMBN
1340 Petoskey, Michigan
in 1947 and WATC 900 Gaylord, Michigan
in 1950, all collectively known as the Paul Bunyan Network. All but WATC are still on the air today, but Midwestern still owns only WTCM and WATZ.
WPBN-TV
7 in Traverse City, just months after the Traverse City market got its first TV station, Sparton's CBS
/ABC
/DuMont
WWTV
13 in Cadillac, now known as 9 & 10. In 1959, WPBN increased its reach to WTOM 4 in Cheboygan
, bringing NBC shows to the eastern upper peninsula.
Big changes came to WTCM and the rest of the Paul Bunyan Network in the 1960s as the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) allowed local channel stations to increase their daytime power to 1,000 watts. All of the local channel stations complied, and boosted their power.
In 1964, long time WTCM air staffer Merlin Dumbrille started hosting the popular "Farm and Orchard Time" program, a WTCM staple since 1941. He retired as host of the show on October 30, 2009.
The Top 40 format was initially successful, but the 1977 format change of WJML
-FM, and the 1980 entry of WKHQ
-FM, both from north of Traverse City but with strong regional signals into the market, caused the predictable result, and listeners gravitated over a period of a couple years to the stereo FM contemporary format signals. WTCM-AM became simulcast to the FM signal not long after that.
WTCM-FM became a country station in the early 1970s, at the urging of WTCM salesman Leon Purchase, a local country musician, who was convinced that a country format would work in rural northern Michigan.
Les traditionally came to the WTCM studio (almost nightly) after the conclusion of the TV 7&4 newscast and recorded an editorial on topics of the day, and these editorials and his strong sense of local stewardship culminated (among other things) into a local college (Northwestern Michigan College
) and other more abstract realities including the city power plant converting from coal to wood as a source of fuel.
In the late 1970s, Les also began plans to increase the power of both WTCM AM and FM. In 1978, Les started turning over more of his duties to his son, Ross Biederman. Because of FCC restrictions and WTCM's growth plans, several properties were sold, including the Petoskey and Cadillac stations (to MacDonald Broadcasting, founded by long-time Biederman broadcast pal Kenneth MacDonald
) and the Gaylord station was sold to William Barr, but fell silent several owners later in the early 2000s due to financial troubles.
In 1982, after years of planning, engineering and FCC permitting, a major change was made to WTCM-AM, which had since started simulcasting with WTCM-FM. The station was moved to its current position at 580 and boosted power to 2,500 watts daytime. The 1400 frequency was donated to a local church, who made the station Traverse City's first religious station, WLJN
(We Lift Jesus' Name). WLJN broadcast from the original WTCM studio on Morgan Hill ("Radio Hill" to the locals), at the base of the 1400 kHz tower.
In the late 1980s, WTCM-AM (and other AMs) were struggling. Although he has Democratic
leanings, Ross Biederman decided to start airing Rush Limbaugh
's program because he thought it would help ratings, and made the station full-time news/talk.
First, WTCM-FM added a rebroadcaster in WBCM 93.5 FM Boyne City. The 93.5 frequency began broadcasting in 1978 and originally programmed a standalone country format as WCLX (with the calls standing for nearby Charlevoix
). (The WBCM calls were used for years at an AM station in Bay City, Michigan
, now WMAX
.) Later, WKJF 1370 Cadillac eventually simulcasted WCCW-AM. WKJF has since been donated to the same ministry that received the original 1400 signal, Good News Media (which changed the calls to WLJW in March 2004 and has since used it to simulcast WLJN-AM
). Also, in the 1990s, Biederman purchased WCCW (AM)
1310 (then standards from ABC's "Stardust
" network, now sports from ESPN Radio) and FM 107.5 (oldies), which had been WTCM's primary local competitor in the "early days" after being founded by a former Midwestern employee, John Anderson, in 1960.
Recently, WTCM-AM boosted its power once again, this time to a full 50 kW daytime, allowing its directional signal to penetrate Canada. They, however, only broadcast with 1,100 watts overnight. Because AM transmits mostly through groundwave signals, and Northern Michigan's terrain is mostly sand, transmission is difficult.
The station started broadcasting from its new home, Biederman's Radio Centre building in downtown Traverse City in 2002. The building also houses his other properties, WCCW-AM/FM (along with recent sign-on WCZW-FM 107.9 Charlevoix, which simulcasts WCCW-FM "Oldies 107-5") and Top 40 WJZQ 92.9 FM (Z93).
Traverse City, Michigan
Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was 14,674 at the 2010 census, with 143,372 in the Traverse...
and simulcast WBCM 93.5 FM in Boyne City, Michigan
Boyne City, Michigan
Boyne City is a city in Charlevoix County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,503 at the 2000 census.Boyne City is at the southeast end of the east arm of Lake Charlevoix, where the Boyne River enters the lake...
. The two stations carry a country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
format and are owned by Midwestern Broadcasting. Today, WTCM-FM/WBCM is on or near the top of the Arbitron ratings http://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/$rol.exe/arb535. WTCM-FM's 100,000 watt signal can be heard south toward Cadillac, MI and Big Rapids, MI at times. During the summer its signal waft
Waft
Waft is a term meaning to carry along gently as through the air. The term is commonly used to describe scents that have diffused in to other parts of a room, or to describe smoke as being seen moving through the air...
s southeast into southern lower Michigan,(heard in the Tri-Cities mixing with WMUZ-FM in Detroit). This is a good 150 miles from its originating city, Traverse City.
Founding
In 1939, WTCM founder Les Biederman of PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and several of his friends - engineer Bill Kiker and Drew McClay among others - wanted to start a radio station, but in an undeveloped radio market. They decided that Traverse City, Michigan was a city destined for growth and had no local radio station, so they moved to the city and built the 250-watt transmitter that would be Traverse City's first radio station. WTCM initially broadcast from a small studio at the base of the tower. The WTCM-AM control console was hand built by Biederman and Kiker, and served the station until its replacement around 1980.
When WTCM signed on in 1940, it was a local channel station at 1370 kHz briefly before moving to 1400 kHz. The station was licensed to broadcast 24 hours at 250 watts, but only broadcast from 6 AM to 11 PM. WTCM was an NBC affiliate and like most radio stations at the time, aired block programming - some local shows, network shows, music programs, etc.
They soon outgrew the tiny studio and moved to the Anderson Building in the 100 block of downtown Traverse City in the mid =-1940s. Long-time Midwestern employees Kenn Haven and Merlin Dumbrille began working there in the 1940s.
Because WTCM had a limited reach, Biederman wanted to start other small stations aimed exclusively towards the towns they broadcast in. After fighting in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Biederman started WATT
WATT
WATT is a radio station broadcasting a news-talk-sports format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945.-External links:...
1240 Cadillac, Michigan
Cadillac, Michigan
Cadillac is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is the county seat of Wexford County. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 10,000. The city is situated at the junction of US 131, M-55 and M-115...
in 1945, WATZ
WATZ (AM)
WATZ is a radio station broadcasting an News-Talk format. The station is licensed to the city of Alpena, Michigan, it serves the Alpena metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in 1946 and has maintained the WATZ call sign since it signed on...
1450 Alpena, Michigan
Alpena, Michigan
Alpena is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Alpena County. It is considered to be part of Northern Michigan. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is located in the city. The population was 10,483 at the 2010 census...
in 1946, 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...
1340 Petoskey, Michigan
Petoskey, Michigan
Petoskey is a city and coastal resort community in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,080. It is the county seat of Emmet County....
in 1947 and WATC 900 Gaylord, Michigan
Gaylord, Michigan
Gaylord is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 3,681. It is the county seat of Otsego County. The city is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gaylord; it is by far the smallest settlement serving as the location of an active Roman...
in 1950, all collectively known as the Paul Bunyan Network. All but WATC are still on the air today, but Midwestern still owns only WTCM and WATZ.
1950s and 1960s
In 1954, Biederman signed on NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
WPBN-TV
WPBN-TV
WPBN-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Northern Lower and Eastern Upper Peninsulas of Michigan that is licensed to Traverse City. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 47 from a transmitter east of Kalkaska...
7 in Traverse City, just months after the Traverse City market got its first TV station, Sparton's CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
/ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
/DuMont
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
WWTV
WWTV
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...
13 in Cadillac, now known as 9 & 10. In 1959, WPBN increased its reach to WTOM 4 in Cheboygan
Cheboygan, Michigan
Cheboygan is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 5,295. It is the county seat of Cheboygan County....
, bringing NBC shows to the eastern upper peninsula.
Big changes came to WTCM and the rest of the Paul Bunyan Network in the 1960s as the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) allowed local channel stations to increase their daytime power to 1,000 watts. All of the local channel stations complied, and boosted their power.
In 1964, long time WTCM air staffer Merlin Dumbrille started hosting the popular "Farm and Orchard Time" program, a WTCM staple since 1941. He retired as host of the show on October 30, 2009.
1970s
WTCM-AM became contemporary (as "14-T") in 1975 under the supervision of long-time Traverse City broadcaster Jerry Meyer, and saw major changes in the airstaff, including morning show host Kenn Haven moving to news. In 1977 former WCCW afternoon host Lin McNett ("Michael O'Shea") became WTCM-AM's program director and morning personality.The Top 40 format was initially successful, but the 1977 format change of WJML
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....
-FM, and the 1980 entry of WKHQ
WKHQ
WKHQ-FM is a 100,000-watt radio station licensed to Charlevoix, Michigan, with studios located on U.S. 131 South Petoskey, Michigan and 8th Street in Traverse City, Michigan...
-FM, both from north of Traverse City but with strong regional signals into the market, caused the predictable result, and listeners gravitated over a period of a couple years to the stereo FM contemporary format signals. WTCM-AM became simulcast to the FM signal not long after that.
WTCM-FM became a country station in the early 1970s, at the urging of WTCM salesman Leon Purchase, a local country musician, who was convinced that a country format would work in rural northern Michigan.
Les traditionally came to the WTCM studio (almost nightly) after the conclusion of the TV 7&4 newscast and recorded an editorial on topics of the day, and these editorials and his strong sense of local stewardship culminated (among other things) into a local college (Northwestern Michigan College
Northwestern Michigan College
Founded in 1951, Northwestern Michigan College, known as NMC to local residents, is a community college in Traverse City, Grand Traverse County, Michigan. Its annual enrollment is around 5,100 students...
) and other more abstract realities including the city power plant converting from coal to wood as a source of fuel.
In the late 1970s, Les also began plans to increase the power of both WTCM AM and FM. In 1978, Les started turning over more of his duties to his son, Ross Biederman. Because of FCC restrictions and WTCM's growth plans, several properties were sold, including the Petoskey and Cadillac stations (to MacDonald Broadcasting, founded by long-time Biederman broadcast pal Kenneth MacDonald
Kenneth MacDonald
Kenneth MacDonald was an English actor who was best known for the parts of Gunner Nobby Clark in It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Mike Fisher in Only Fools and Horses.-Personal life:...
) and the Gaylord station was sold to William Barr, but fell silent several owners later in the early 2000s due to financial troubles.
1980s
In 1980, Les Biederman traded WPBN-TV to US Tobacco for stock, and became its largest individual shareholder.In 1982, after years of planning, engineering and FCC permitting, a major change was made to WTCM-AM, which had since started simulcasting with WTCM-FM. The station was moved to its current position at 580 and boosted power to 2,500 watts daytime. The 1400 frequency was donated to a local church, who made the station Traverse City's first religious station, 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:...
(We Lift Jesus' Name). WLJN broadcast from the original WTCM studio on Morgan Hill ("Radio Hill" to the locals), at the base of the 1400 kHz tower.
In the late 1980s, WTCM-AM (and other AMs) were struggling. Although he has Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
leanings, Ross Biederman decided to start airing Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
's program because he thought it would help ratings, and made the station full-time news/talk.
1990s - present
With FCC restrictions lessening, it created opportunities for the younger Biederman to rebuild the Paul Bunyan Network. In the 1990s, he purchased or erected several stations in other northern markets, and designed them to rebroadcast his Traverse City signals.First, WTCM-FM added a rebroadcaster in WBCM 93.5 FM Boyne City. The 93.5 frequency began broadcasting in 1978 and originally programmed a standalone country format as WCLX (with the calls standing for nearby Charlevoix
Charlevoix, Michigan
Charlevoix is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 2,994. It is the county seat of Charlevoix County....
). (The WBCM calls were used for years at an AM station in Bay City, Michigan
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...
, now WMAX
WMAX (AM)
WMAX is a radio station broadcasting a Catholic religious format. It is co-owned with WDEO 990 AM in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and features the same programming from the EWTN Global Catholic Radio network...
.) Later, WKJF 1370 Cadillac eventually simulcasted WCCW-AM. WKJF has since been donated to the same ministry that received the original 1400 signal, Good News Media (which changed the calls to WLJW in March 2004 and has since used it to simulcast WLJN-AM
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:...
). Also, in the 1990s, Biederman purchased 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...
1310 (then standards from ABC's "Stardust
Timeless (radio network)
Timeless was a 24-hour satellite music service of Citadel Media . It has distributed a mix of soft oldies and adult standards to radio stations around the USA...
" network, now sports from ESPN Radio) and FM 107.5 (oldies), which had been WTCM's primary local competitor in the "early days" after being founded by a former Midwestern employee, John Anderson, in 1960.
Recently, WTCM-AM boosted its power once again, this time to a full 50 kW daytime, allowing its directional signal to penetrate Canada. They, however, only broadcast with 1,100 watts overnight. Because AM transmits mostly through groundwave signals, and Northern Michigan's terrain is mostly sand, transmission is difficult.
The station started broadcasting from its new home, Biederman's Radio Centre building in downtown Traverse City in 2002. The building also houses his other properties, WCCW-AM/FM (along with recent sign-on WCZW-FM 107.9 Charlevoix, which simulcasts WCCW-FM "Oldies 107-5") and Top 40 WJZQ 92.9 FM (Z93).