WHSB
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| City of license | Alpena, Michigan |
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| Broadcast area | [1] |
| Branding | 107-7 The Bay |
| Slogan | The 80's, 90's and Now; Your Music, Your Station |
| Frequency | 107.7 MHz |
| First air date | 1964 |
| Format | Hot Adult Contemporary |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 186 meters |
| Class | C1 |
| Facility ID | 15509 |
| Callsign meaning | Huron Shore Broadcasters (original owner, 1964) |
| Affiliations | Dial Global |
| Owner | Edwards Communications |
| Website | alpenanow.com |
WHSB (107.7 FM, "107-7 The Bay") is a 100,000 watt radio station[1] licensed to Alpena, Michigan broadcasting a hot adult contemporary format. The station, which began broadcasting in 1964, has featured some type of contemporary music format since at least the early 1970s, and is currently the only radio station in northeastern Michigan playing currently charted pop music.
History[edit]
In the 1980s, the station went by the names "WhisBee" and "HSB, The Music Station." In the early 1990s, the station adopted the moniker "Bay 108" (a reference to nearby Thunder Bay) and affiliated with "Best Hits, Best Variety", a satellite Hot AC format from ABC Radio. In 1999, WHSB dropped ABC's format in favor of Jones' package and tweaked its identifying moniker from "Bay 108" to the current "107-7 The Bay."
On October 23, 2004, Kerwin Kitzman, a longtime popular WHSB disc jockey, sports play-by-play announcer and sales representative, died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 46. A tribute album to Kitzman, Teddy Bear Memories, was recorded at the Spyder Byte recording studio in Alpena,[2] and a memorial fund, the K2 Kids fund, has been set up in his name.
In the fall of 2004 the station was sold to Edwards Communications. Past owners have included Huron Shore Broadcasters (the original owners when the station went on the air in the 1960s), WHSB Inc., Daraka Broadcasting, and Northern Radio Network Corporation (from whom Edwards acquired the station along with sister stations WHAK-AM/FM Rogers City and then-WCLS Oscoda in 2004).
107-7 The Bay currently features local personalities from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and airs Dial Global's Hot AC format the remainder of the time. Despite Dial Global's recently changing the sound of its Hot AC format to more of an Adult Top 40 mix and scaling back pre-2000 music to one or two songs per hour, WHSB continues to play a traditional Hot AC mix of hits of the 1980s through today during its local dayparts. The station's local personalities include longtime morning host Darrel Kelly, midday host Andy and afternoon drive host Tim Thomas. Special weekend programming on Sundays includes both the '80s and '90s versions of Backtrax USA and the Hot AC version of American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest. WHSB aired the original version of AT40 with Casey Kasem in years past starting in 1979.
References[edit]
- ^ "WHSB FM 107.7 Alpena - Michiguide.com Dials (G)". Michiguide.com. Retrieved 2010-12-04.
- ^ "Spyder Byte Studios, a 24 track digital recording studio". Spyder Byte Studios. Retrieved 2010-12-04.
External links[edit]
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WHSB
- Radio-Locator information on WHSB
- Query Arbitron's FM station database for WHSB
- 107-7 The Bay Facebook page
Coordinates: 45°03′47″N 83°42′58″W / 45.063°N 83.716°W
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