WWCK (AM)

Infobox Radio station
name = WWCK


city = Flint, Michigan
area = [http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WWCK&service=AM&status=L&hours=D] (Daytime)
[http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WWCK&service=AM&status=L&hours=N] (Nighttime)
branding = SuperTalk 1570
slogan =
airdate = November 11, 1946
frequency = 1570 kHz
format = Talk
power = 1,000 watts (Daytime)
179 watts (Nighttime)
class = D
facility_id = 39679
coordinates = coord|43|00|39|N|83|39|2|W|type:landmark
callsign_meaning = reminiscent of CKLW
former_callsigns = WGMZ (6/18/84-5/17/86)
WWMN (1/1/81-6/18/84)
WLQB (1976-1/1/81)
WCZN (1971-1976)
WMRP (1946-1971)
owner = Cumulus Broadcasting
sister_stations = WDZZ, WRSR, WWCK-FM
webcast =
website = [http://supertalk1570.com/ http://supertalk1570.com/]
affiliations =

WWCK (1570 AM, "SuperTalk 1570") is a radio station in Flint, Michigan broadcasting a talk radio format.

The Cumulus Media-owned station features a roster of mainly syndicated talk show hosts including Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Neal Boortz, and Coast-to-Coast AM as well as local morning talk with Lou Lobsinger and news with Les Root. The station also simulcasts the audio of WNEM-TV's morning show, providing that coverage in the southern part of the area television market - WNEM-AM, which is owned by the television station, broadcasts from the Saginaw area.

History

The station began operations on November 11, 1946. As WMRP-AM (Methodist Radio Parish) in the 1960s, it served as a broadcast ministry of the United Methodist Church, featuring MOR music. The conservative owners of WMRP-AM and WMRP-FM 105.5 refused to allow any cigarette or alcohol advertising on the stations.

The United Methodist Church withdrew support for WMRP-AM/FM in 1971, and the stations were purchased that year by John W. Nogaj, who converted 105.5 to Top 40 and later album rock as WWCK (the calls being a tribute to CKLW in Windsor, Ontario) and installed a country music format on AM 1570 with the new calls WCZN ("Your Country Cousin"). The country format was replaced by oldies as "Solid Gold 16" in 1974. In 1975, following the sale of WWCK and WCZN to Reams Broadcasting, WWCK-FM went full-time album rock, and WCZN picked up the Top 40 format. This was followed by religious programming as WLQB (1976), a female-oriented talk/adult contemporary format as WWMN (1981), and beautiful music/easy listening as WGMZ (picking up the calls and format that were dropped by 107.9 FM when it became WCRZ in 1984).

In 1986, AM 1570 became WWCK-AM and began to simulcast WWCK-FM (which switched from album rock to CHR on January 1, 1989 following the sale of the stations from Reams Broadcasting to Majac of Michigan). Originally a daytime-only station on a Mexican clear channel, a treaty signed between the American and Mexican governments allowed the station to broadcast full time at reduced power at night in 1986. Cumulus Media took control of WWCK-AM/FM in March 2000, and a year later, WWCK-AM dropped its simulcast of the FM station in favor of urban contemporary gospel music via ABC Radio's "Rejoice - Musical Soul Food" network. The current Talk format was adopted on March 1, 2004, allowing Flint to once again have a News/Talk station of its own following WFDF AM 910's move into the Detroit market and metamorphosis into Radio Disney.

Sources

* [http://www.michiguide.com/dials/rad-v/wwckam.html Michiguide.com - WWCK History]

External links

*AMQ|WWCK