WATZ-FM (99.3 FM, "99.3 WATZ") is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

broadcasting a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format. The station is licensed to the city of Alpena. WATZ has been assigned the same call sign since it signed on in the late 1960s. The station, along with sister station WZTK, is currently owned by Midwestern Broadcasting Company. From 2006 to 2020, the station simulcasted on Rogers City-based station

WRGZ WKLT 97.5 Kalkaska (Traverse City), WBCM 93.5 Boyne City (Petoskey) and WRGZ 96.7 Rogers City (Alpena) are classic rock-leaning mainstream rock stations simulcasting as "KLT The Rock Station". The stations serve all of northern lower Mic ...

at 96.7 FM.

WATZ history

WATZ signed-on the air in 1967, as 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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

station at 93.5 FM, known for several years as "Z93." In 1988, the format of WATZ-FM was changed to country and the frequency-signal moved to 99.3 so that the station could boost its power from 3,000 to 50,000 watts. For the next several years, WATZ-FM simulcasted the long-time country music format of sister station WATZ AM. In the mid-90s, WATZ AM had switched to a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

format while WATZ-FM retained the country format. WATZ-FM became a 24-hour broadcaster in 1999, using a satellite feed from

Jones Radio Networks Jones Radio Networks & Jones Media Group were branches of Jones International before being sold to Triton Media Group. JRN and JMN provide local radio stations with satellite-delivered formats. They also offer other services to local radio su ...

from 11 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Prior to this, the station went off the air at 1 a.m.

WATZ today

WATZ-FM remains locally owned and operated by the same company that founded the AM station in 1946. All of its programming from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays, and during the day on weekends (except for syndicated shows such as '' Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40'') is broadcast from the station’s studios in downtown Alpena.

References

Michiguide.com - WATZ-FM History

External links

* * {{coord, 44.857, N, 83.543, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title ATZ-FM Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1967 1967 establishments in Michigan