WMKC
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WMKC 102.9 is a radio station in St. Ignace, Michigan. Along with WAVC 93.9 in Mio, it simulcasts a country music format called Big Country 102.9 & 93.9. WMKD 105.5 in Pickford airs mostly the same programming as WMKC and WAVC but IDs separately as "Big Country 105.5." These stations are all owned by Northern Star Broadcasting.
WMKC ("MacKinaC"), owned by Mighty-Mac Broadcasting Corp., signed on in January 1982 by a Lansing doctor, Doc Benson. Benson loved country music and wanted northern Michigan to have a WITL clone for when he traveled up north. He already owned an AM in St. Ignace, WIDG ("Widge By The (Mackinac) Bridge") 940. WIDG aired various formats, but usually was MOR. In December 1979 Doc Benson closed WIDG with a "dark" license until April 12, 1981. He had to bring WIDG-AM back on in order to continue the CP for WIDG-FM. Initially the station was to be WIDG-FM and be automated and be called "Big Country-102 FM." TM Programming was hired to consult the station; they felt the "Big Country" was too "hickish" and insisted on something "slicker." General Manager Rick Stone held a "name the FM" contest in which the winner would win a Big Mac from McDonald's. Joe Raica came up with WMKC, for "MacKinaC", the county of license. The station went on the air in January 1982 with Steve Cook as morning host, Chuck LaTour as newsman, Greg Salo mid-days, Tim O'Brien (Ahlborn)(also PD) afternoons and Joe Raica evenings.
When WMKC signed on, they where known as "103-WMKC", playing an automated country format (TM Country). Mornings were live with the rest of the day voicetracked. Legend has it that Benson, although a huge country fan, hated songs that dealt with immoral issues. It has been reported, for example, that Benson would order his staff to edit "Dueling Banjos" by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell out of the TM reels with a razor blade and a marker because of the song's association with a movie featuring sodomy. However, the staffers would sometimes reportedly slip the song in anyway just for laughs.
In 1985, the station's logo changed to "KC-103." Doc attempted to capitalize on his love for WITL and tried to get the staff to say "KCing while you work" since WITL said "Witl while you work."
In 1987 the station pretty much dumped voice tracking and went live, but still used reel-to-reel music (TM had become TM-Century, then bought Drake-Chenault, so a variety of program consultants and services were used). WIDG changed to WLVM "We Love Michigan" and TM Programming's TM-OR middle of the road format. In 1985, the format, which Doc Benson reportedly hated, was dropped, and WIDG calls returned.
In 1985 Doc obtained the CP (Construction Permit) for a new FM in Cadillac at 107.1 Cadillac, MI. Cadillac previously had a WITW and Doc thought he could capitolize on the 'good will' of the other station's calls and came up with WYTW. It was called Y-107 and ran satellite adult contemporary music for a short period, never once making enough to pay the electric bill. In 1989 WYTW changed to WCKC ("Cadillac KC Country") and simulcast with WMKC and WIDG (which he wouldn't allow to be changed to WMKC-AM). In 1990 a new tower location for WMKC was obtained, moving the stick from Saint Ignace to north of Harbor Springs. The new signal covered much more territory, but lost Sault Ste. Marie (hence the later purchase by Northern Star of WMKD), and because of the new counties added, lost ABC News and Paul Harvey from the station.
In the 1990s, Benson retired, selling WMKC to Straits area broadcast legend Del Reynolds. He would maintain KC Country, although he would change the Cadillac station to a simulcast of his classic rock station, WGFM/WGFN. Benson died in 2005.
In 1998, Reynolds sold his assets to Calibre Communications, which had big plans for their newly-acquired stations. WGFN became The Bear, retaining their classic rock format but adding Bob and Tom for mornings, smooth jazz WJZJ became The Zone, playing watered-down automated alternative rock, and KC Country gave way to K-Garth, stunting with all Garth Brooks music.
Shortly after the K-Garth stunt, 102.9 brought back its regular country format, only as Big Country 102.9. The station's airstaff was canned, only allowing for one DJ, a morning man. Eventually, WMKC brought back a full-time airstaff, though mornings (Young & Verna) and nights (Lia) are syndicated.
The KC Country name did live on for a while as WIDG flipped from satellite-fed oldies "Cool 940" to satellite-fed classic country as "Classic KC Country". After just over one year, the station flipped to Sporting News Radio (formerly One-on-One Sports) as "The Fan".
In 1998, the sale between Calibre and Reynolds failed, and a new company, Northern Star, was formed to take over the stations.
In 2001, WAVC 93.9 dropped its feed of alternative sister WJZJ and flipped to Big Country. 93.9 FM signed on in 1994 as WCLX with an adult contemporary format, relaying the programming of "Sunny 100.7" WCLS-FM (now WWTH) Oscoda. The station soon went silent. In 1997, Todd Mohr purchased WCLX, changed the calls to WAVC, and returned it to the air with a satellite-fed adult alternative format and the name "The River", presumably an imitation of CIDR-FM (also on 93.9) in Windsor, Ontario. Later that same year, Del Reynolds bought WAVC and began using it to simulcast WJZJ, which then aired Jones Radio Networks' smooth jazz format as "Coast FM" (WLJZ 94.5 in Mackinaw City also carried the format). Calibre Communications purchased "Coast FM" in 1998 and flipped it to "The Zone", and WAVC remained part of the "Zone" network until dropping the simulcast to simulcast WMKC in March 2001. WLJZ has since also discontinued its "Zone" simulcast and is now hot AC as "Star 94.5", leaving WJZJ 95.5 as the only remaining "Zone" outlet.
In 2006, Northern Star purchased a former oldies station, WADW 105.5 Pickford (once known as "Memories 105.5", serving the Sault Ste. Marie market), and flipped it to Big Country as well. WADW had been owned by Starboard Media, which had dumped the oldies format and planned to use the station to relay its "Relevant Radio" Catholic religious format, but the Catholic format never made it to air, and during the time Starboard owned WADW, it alternated between periods of silence and playing automated new age music, presumably to keep the license active. Now WMKD competes with CJQM "Q104" for the country audience in the Twin Saults.
