WLCM (1390 AM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 ...

licensed to

Holt, Michigan Holt is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Ingham County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The CDP is located within Delhi Charter Township and occupies a majority of the township. The population was 25,625 at the 2 ...

and serving the Lansing-East Lansing metropolitan area. It airs a

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

format and is owned by the Christian Broadcasting System headed by Jon Yinger. The

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s are on Lawrence Highway in

Charlotte, Michigan Charlotte ( ) is a city and county seat of Eaton County, Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 9,299. Charlotte is in the central portion of the county on the boundary between Eaton Township and Carmel Township but is polit ...

. WLCM operates from two

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

locations, both using a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

s to protect other stations on 1390 AM from interference. During the day it broadcasts with 5,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s from Charlotte, using a two-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

. At night, it broadcasts from a 4,500-watt

in Holt, with a four-tower array. The station is in the process of being sold to

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

broadcaster Ave Maria Radio for $200,000.

Programming

Programming for the station comes from the Christian Broadcasting System and includes a mix of shows aimed at a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

audience. Program hosts include

Adrian Rogers Adrian Pierce Rogers (September 12, 1931 – November 15, 2005) was an American Baptist pastor and conservative author. He served three terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1979–1980 and 1986–1988). Early life and educatio ...

, John MacArthur, Charles Stanley,

Joyce Meyer Pauline Joyce Meyer (née Hutchison; June 4, 1943) is an American Charismatic Movement, Charismatic Christian author, speaker, and president of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Joyce and her husband, Dave, have four grown children and live outside St. L ...

, J. Vernon McGee, David Jeremiah, Alistair Begg and

James Dobson James Clayton Dobson Jr. (born April 21, 1936) is an American evangelicalism, evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family (FotF), which he led from 1977 until 2010. In the 1980s, he was ranked as one of the m ...

. It also carries a nationally syndicated conservative talk show hosted by Bill O'Reilly and a health show hosted by Dr. Asa Andrew. Updates are provided by SRN News. WLCM is also an affiliate of the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is a college football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana (CDP), Notre Dame, Indiana, north of the city of South Bend, Indiana. The team plays its home games at the ca ...

radio network.

History

The station signed on the air on . It was founded by McLean and Craig Davids as WCER. The

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

stood for Charlotte and Eaton Rapids. WCER was a typical small town station with middle of the road (MOR) music, local news and features. WCER's FM station at 92.7 later became the original frequency of legendary

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

er WMMQ, and is now

WLMI WLMI is a radio station licensed to Grand Ledge, Michigan, serving Lansing. Owned by Midwest Communications, it broadcasts a classic hits format branded as "Cruisin 92.9". History What is now WLMI began life as WCER-FM at 92.7 FM in Charl ...

at 92.9. In 1979, WCER-FM switched to an

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

Adult Contemporary music 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, sou ...

format with the call sign WMMQ. The following year the AM station was sold to Sharon Communications and the call sign became WGWY. The call letters stood for Where God Wants You and the station had a

Contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

format. In 1983, the format changed to traditional

Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...

. Throughout both formats, the programming included the Farm Report, which gave grain, livestock, and other agricultural pricing and news. There was also local news and sports that included live, on-site broadcasts; music; weather readings from ticker-tape; regional, state, and national news from ticker-tape; and music spun from vinyl 78s and 45s, as well as from cassettes. Pre-programmed shows purchased from sources such as National Public Radio member stations, were played both from cassettes as well as live. Non-musical advertisements were written and performed by staff, which included everyone from the station manager to the receptionist. Air time for the AM station was from 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Throughout this time period, the WGWY and WMMQ shared facilities at the Charlotte studio, although the stations were separately owned and operated. In 1986 the FM call sign was changed to WLNF. ERC Media purchased the station in 1992 and began a short-lived

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 with the call sign WNNY. The next year the station was purchased by Jon Yinger who switched it back to a religious format as WLCM. WLCM stands for Lansing's Christian Messenger. WLCM is in the process of being purchased by

talk radio network Ave Maria Radio for $250,000. The deal also gives Ave Maria right of first refusal to acquire the station's real estate for $200,000. Ava Maria's flagship station is WDEO in Ann Arbor and features programming from the

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic programming. It is the largest Catholic television network in America, and is purported to be "the world's larges ...

network. The purchase brings an end to months of speculation as to which radio station in the market Ava Maria was purchasing.https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/stories/as-catholic-radio-seeks-lansing-station-ex-listeners-urge-caution,100206

References

Sources

Michiguide.com - WLCM HistoryDiane Faulkner
on-air pseudonym at WGWY, Kaye Quinn, was one of the broadcasters on WGWY from 1982 through 1983 and is now a broadcaster a
89.9 WJCT

Radio Reading Service

National Public Radio
affiliate, i
JacksonvilleFlorida

External links

{{Lansing Radio LCM-FM Radio stations established in 1956 1956 establishments in Michigan LCM-FM