WUPS (98.5 FM) is a 100 kW radio station licensed to
Harrison, Michigan
Harrison is a city in and county seat of Clare County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,150 at the 2020 census.
The community was settled as early as 1877 and was named after William Henry Harrison. Harrison is near the j ...
and serving central and northern Michigan. The station, previously owned by Sindy Fuller, through licensee Bridge to Bridge, Inc., was acquired by Black Diamond Broadcast Group, LLC in 2015 and broadcasts a
classic hits format. Black Diamond's purchase of both WUPS and sister station
WTWS
WTWS, known as 92.1 The Twister, is a 920-watt radio station broadcasting at 92.1 FM in Houghton Lake, Michigan, with a country music format.
Formerly licensed to Harrison, Michigan and operated as a satellite of public radio station WVXU Cin ...
was consummated on February 4, 2015 at a price of $1.65 million.
The station signed on in 1961 to complement its sister station,
WHGR/1290 (the callsign stood for Houghton Lake/
Grayling/
Roscommon
Roscommon (; ; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60 road (Ireland), N60, N61 road (Ireland), N61 and N63 road (Irelan ...
). In the beginning, the station, known as WJGS (for owners Jacob and Garnett Sparks), was 19,000 watts. In the 1960s, a fire destroyed the WJGS/WHGR studios right before
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
. They ended up broadcasting from a trailer until a new building was built.
Throughout most of the 1960s and through the 1980s, WJGS was automated
MOR. During the '80s, WJGS was also an affiliate of
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio presenter who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably ''American Top 40'', as well as the weekly syndicated televi ...
's
American Top 40
''American Top 40'' (abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally radio syndication, syndicated, independent song countdown radio programming, radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs (broadcaster), Ron Jaco ...
countdown show.
In 1983, Sparks Broadcasting sold the stations to
Shea Broadcasting, who sold it to
Melling Tool and Die in 1988. WJGS's power was increased to 100,000 watts, flipped to
CHR and became WUPS. The station was named after the
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) is an American multinational corporation, multinational package delivery, shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializi ...
, for their longtime slogan is "We Deliver the Hits".
With its central location in Houghton Lake, WUPS's signal is heard in most of northern and central Michigan, with a coverage area stretching from Indian River southward to Ithaca. WUPS's 100,000–watt signal can reach further south as well. It is common for reception in the mid-Michigan thumb and Saginaw Bay as well, a good 100 miles from its transmitter. For a short time in the early 1990s, the station was simulcasted to the
Traverse City, Michigan
Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, Michigan, Grand Traverse County, although it partly extends into Leelanau County, Michigan, Leelanau County. The city's population was 15, ...
area on WMLB 98.1 (now
WGFN
WGFN (98.1 FM) is a radio station in Northern Michigan that airs a classic rock format under the branding of "The Bear", and is currently owned by Black Diamond Broadcast Holdings, LLC. WGFN is based out of Glen Arbor, Michigan, airing at 98.1 ...
; ironically now a sister station to WUPS).
Throughout most of the 1990s, WUPS's format changed several times:
adult top 40
The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...
,
hot AC
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, ...
, all-1970s, all-1970s-1980s, classic hits/hot AC hybrid and its current format, 1960s-1980s classic hits.
In 1998, John Salov bought out Melling and created a huge controversy in 2001 when he sold WHGR - then satellite-fed
standards Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object t ...
- to
Clear Channel Communications
iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...
for $250,000, making it their first property in northern Michigan. However, they bought out WHGR for only one reason: to shut it down. They wanted to expand their
Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...
station,
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 to 25,000 watts, and the only way to do so was to shut down WHGR. The move stunned many people in the Houghton Lake area who had grown up with the station.
Today, WUPS broadcasts from studios on
M-18/
M-55 in Prudenville, as their old studio was destroyed to make way for a
Wal-Mart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
in Houghton Lake many years ago. The station previously broadcast from the top of
Mid Michigan Community College in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
WUPS recently changed its city of license from Houghton Lake to Harrison with no change in transmitter location or signal. To maintain local radio service to Houghton Lake,
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 ...
sister station
WTWS
WTWS, known as 92.1 The Twister, is a 920-watt radio station broadcasting at 92.1 FM in Houghton Lake, Michigan, with a country music format.
Formerly licensed to Harrison, Michigan and operated as a satellite of public radio station WVXU Cin ...
(The Twister) moved to Houghton Lake.
References
Michiguide.com - WUPS History
External links
*
{{coord, 44.289, N, 84.742, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title
UPS UPS most commonly refers to:
* Uninterruptible power supply, a device which provides continuous power to electronics
* United Parcel Service, an American courier company
UPS or ups may also refer to:
Companies and organizations
United Parcel S ...
Classic hits radio stations in the United States
Clare County, Michigan
Radio stations established in 1961