WFER (1230 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a classic country

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

. Licensed to

Iron River, Michigan Iron River is a city in Iron County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 3,007. The city is situated at the southeast corner of Iron River Township, but is administratively autonomous. History A post ...

, it first began broadcasting in 1949. The station is owned by

Morgan Murphy Media The Evening Telegram Company, d/b/a Morgan Murphy Media, is an American television and radio company based in Madison, Wisconsin. The company is named for publisher Morgan Murphy, who expanded the business after he took over from his grandfather, ...

History

WIKB had previously been a simulcast of

WIKB-FM WIKB-FM (99.1 MHz) is a radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to Iron River, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1981. The station is owned by Morgan Murphy Media. History WIKB-FM dropped its former adult contemporary ...

99.1's

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

format until the stations were sold to Heartland Communications. Heartland continued the oldies format on AM 1230 while changing FM 99.1 to

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 ...

as "The Breeze". WIKB soon dropped oldies in favor of

adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...

. In May 2010, former Armada Media CEO Jim Coursolle and his wife Diane closed on a purchase of a two-thirds interest in owner Heartland Communications from Granite Equity Partners. In early June, the Coursolles changed the format of WIKB-FM to

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 ...

, and announced plans to drop the

America's Best Music America's Best Music is the on-air branding of a soft oldies and adult standards 24-hour radio network, formerly known as AM Only. The service is syndicated by Westwood One, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. It was one of the original Transtar Ra ...

adult standards format on AM 1230 (which had changed its calls to WFER in May) in favor of a

conservative talk Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

format featuring personalities such as

Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer. He hosts ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a radio syndication, nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a Hannity, sel ...

Laura Ingraham Laura Anne Ingraham (; born June 19, 1963) is an American conservative television presenter. Gale Biography In Context. She has been the host of '' The Ingraham Angle'' on Fox News Channel since October 2017, and is the editor-in-chief of Li ...

, and

Michael Savage Michael Alan Weiner (born March 31, 1942) known by his professional name Michael Savage, is an American author, political commentator, activist, and former radio host. Savage is best known as the host of '' The Savage Nation'', a nationally ...

. The new format was dubbed "Freedom Talk". A similar format was installed on sister stations

WATW WATW (1400 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station broadcasting a classic country music format under the branding "Bay Country 101.3," formerly broadcasting a conservative news and talk radio show under the branding "Freedom Talk 1400." Licensed ...

Ashland, Wisconsin Ashland is a city in Ashland County, Wisconsin, Ashland and Bayfield County, Wisconsin, Bayfield counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the county seat of Ashland County. The city is a port on Lake Superior, near the head of Chequamegon ...

, WNBI in

Park Falls, Wisconsin Park Falls is a city in Price County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,410 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 2,462 at 2010 United States census, 2010. Located in the woods of north central Wisconsin, primarily ...

, and

WERL The pilgrimage town Werl (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Wiärl'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia and belongs to the Soest, Germany, Soest district in the Arnsberg administrative district. The official name of pilgrimage town has been ...

Eagle River, Wisconsin Eagle River is a city and the county seat of Vilas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,628 at the 2020 census. Because of the many lakes in the area, the city is a popular vacation and retirement destination. The area contai ...

; WATW and WERL formerly aired

Dial Global Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The c ...

's adult standards feed (as did WIKB/WFER) while WNBI was an

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

affiliate. WFER was sold effective June 30, 2015, to

Stephen Marks Stephen Anthony Solomon Marks (born 23 May 1946) is a British fashion retailer and founder, chairman and chief executive of the French Connection brand.Chris Blackhurst'The Big Interview: Stephen Marks' ''London Evening Standard'', 26 May 2009 ...

' Iron River Community Broadcasting Corporation, at a purchase price of $488,000. The sale included WIKB-FM, as well as co-owned

WCQM WCQM (98.3 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Park Falls, Wisconsin, United States, the station is owned by Civic Media. History The station originally went on the air in 1968 as WNBI-FM (after having initi ...

and

WPFP WPFP (980 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a variety hits format. Licensed to Park Falls, Wisconsin, United States, the station is owned by Civic Media. History WPFP changed its format from sports talk to conservative talk on July 1, 2010. ...

. Following the sale, in early July 2015, WFER changed its format to classic hits. Some programming was derived from

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

's Classic Hits-Rock 24/7 format. In September 2023, The Marks Group sold its Michigan broadcasting properties—

WBKB-TV WBKB-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Alpena, Michigan, United States, affiliated with CBS, NBC, American Broadcasting Company, ABC, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Morgan Murphy Media, the station maintains st ...

WBKP WBKP (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Calumet, Michigan, United States, serving the Central and Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan as an affiliate of The CW Plus. It is owned by Morgan Murphy Media alongside Ishpeming-licensed ...

WBUP WBUP (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Ishpeming, Michigan, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Central and Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is owned by Morgan Murphy Media alongside Calumet-licensed CW+ ...

, and the Houghton and Iron River radio stations—for $13.375 million to

. The deal was closed on December 4.

References

Michiguide.com - WIKB History

External links

FER Fer (also known as Fer Servadou, Pinenc, Mansois and several other synonyms) is a red French wine grape variety that is grown primarily in South West France and is most notable for its role in the ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) ...

Classic country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1949 1949 establishments in Michigan Iron County, Michigan {{Michigan-radio-station-stub