WOOD-FM (106.9

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) 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 licensed to

Muskegon, Michigan Muskegon ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Muskegon County, Michigan, United States. Situated around a harbor of Lake Michigan, Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, and boating. It is the most populous city along Lake Michigan' ...

, serving West Michigan and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. It

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

s 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 ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

with

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

WOOD Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

(1300 AM). The studios and offices are at 77 Monroe Center in Downtown Grand Rapids. Following a local weekday

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

show, "West Michigan's Morning News", the station carries nationally syndicated talk shows from

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 ...

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 ...

Dave Ramsey David Lawrence Ramsey III (born September 3, 1960) is an American radio personality who offers financial advice. He is the founder and CEO of Ramsey Solutions and a co-host of '' The Ramsey Show'', a nationally syndicated radio program. He ...

, Joe Pags, '' The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show'' and '' Coast to Coast AM with

George Noory George Ralph Noory (born June 4, 1950) is an American talk radio, radio talk show host. Since January 2003, Noory has been the weekday host of the late-night radio talk show ''Coast to Coast AM''. The program is radio syndication, syndicated to ...

''. Most hours begin with an update from

Fox News Radio Fox News Radio is an American radio network owned by Fox News. It is syndicated to over 500 AM and FM radio stations across the United States. It also supplies programming for three channels on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. History In 2003, ...

. WOOD-FM has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

of 50,000 watts. Its

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 ...

is off South Hilton Park Road in Muskegon. WOOD-FM broadcasts using

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

technology. Its HD-2

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

carries programming from co-owned WKBZ (1090 AM).

History

The station originally signed on as WMUS-FM in November 1947. It was originally on 100.5 on the FM dial. WMUS-FM was Muskegon's first FM station and came on the air just a few months after its AM sister, WMUS. By 1950, WMUS-FM had gone

dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...

, but the station was revived in November 1962. It had moved to its current frequency of 106.9 MHz and a power of 2,850 watts, gradually increased to the current 50,000 watts over the years. WMUS-FM's original programming consisted of a simulcast of its AM sister station. In 1965, WMUS changed format from middle of the road (MOR) 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 ...

as "Top Gun Radio". Rather than continue to simulcast, WMUS-FM separated programming and adopted the new call sign WFFM. In a "storecast" arrangement with Hasper's, a local grocery-store chain, WFFM aired instrumental

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

music in monaural sound, interspersed with promotional announcements about Hasper's. The WMUS-FM call letters returned to 106.9 in 1970 and the station resumed its simulcast of the AM's country format.

FM stereo FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high-fidelity sound ...

broadcasting was added in 1975. WMUS-AM-FM was the main affiliate and flagship station for the Grand Valley State Laker football radio network. Eventually the AM and FM signals switched roles, with the 50,000-watt stereo FM signal becoming the primary station and AM 1090 becoming the simulcast. The AM-FM simulcast ended in April 2001 when AM 1090 changed to a news/talk format. The AM station took the call sign WKBZ which once belonged to one of WMUS' biggest competitor stations. At noon on January 5, 2011, WMUS-FM ended its country sound. It then switched to a news/talk format, simulcasting sister station

1300 AM. It turned off the stereo equipment and broadcasts in mono, better suited to a spoken word format. At the same time the WMUS calls and format were moved to 107.9 FM. It acts primarily to fill in gaps in the AM station's signal. WOOD had always been all but unlistenable in Muskegon,

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

and other areas west of Grand Rapids.

Signal

The station can be received across all of West Michigan and as far east as Alma, St. Johns, and Northwest Lansing, with reception also possible in Eastern Wisconsin across

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

, especially in Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties. WOOD-FM's short-spaced allocation, lack of stereo limiting its coverage, and higher power means that the Brookfield-licensed WRXS has a much smaller coverage area than most

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

stations due to the heritage of the 106.9 signal in Muskegon.

WSAE WSAE (106.9 FM) is a non-commercial radio station located in Spring Arbor, Michigan. The station is owned by Spring Arbor University. WSAE began broadcasting in 1963 as a 10-watt college station on 89.3 MHz. Power was increased to 1,00 ...

106.9 "Home FM" in Spring Arbor, Michigan, often overpowers the frequency across south-west lower Michigan. On June 21, 2021, a lightning strike at the tower site caused a fire that destroyed the transmitter building, temporarily knocking WOOD-FM off the air.

Programming

WOOD's program director Phil Tower leads an airstaff that includes an

all-news All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and radio syndication, syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news sta ...

morning program, ''West Michigan's Morning News'' with Steve Kelly, Bret Bakita, Lauren Smith, and Rick Albin. ''West Michigan Live'' follows with host Justin Barclay. The rest of the day is filled by:

, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,

, Joe Pags and '' Coast to Coast AM with

''. Most of WOOD Radio's weekday lineup comes from iHeart's Premiere Networks. Weekend programs and hosts include: " Leo Laporte: The Tech Guy", Gordon Deal, " The Weekend with Michael Brown", Bill Cunningham and "Jill On Money". WOOD Radio's local newsroom provides local, regional and national news every day of the week, plus world and national news from

. It also utilizes reports and breaking news coverage through an ancillary affiliation with

CBS News Radio CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

. WOOD Radio is the Grand Rapids home of

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Wolverines football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. It also carries

Grand Rapids Griffins The Grand Rapids Griffins are a professional ice hockey team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They compete in the American Hockey League (AHL), playing their home games at Van Andel Arena. They are the AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings of t ...

ice hockey.

References

External links

WOOD-FM official website
* {{coord, 43.230, N, 86.084, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title OOD-FM News and talk radio stations in the United States Muskegon, Michigan Radio stations established in 1962 IHeartMedia radio stations 1962 establishments in Michigan