| City of license | Alpena, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | [1] |
| Branding | NewsTalk AM 1450 |
| Slogan | The Talk of Alpena |
| Frequency | 1450 kHz |
| First air date | November 1946 |
| Format | News-Talk |
| ERP | 1,000 watts |
| HAAT | 257.0 meters |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 71109 |
| Owner | Midwestern Broadcasting Company (WATZ Radio, Inc.) |
| Sister stations | WATZ-FM, WBCM, WCCW, WCCW-FM, WCZW, WJZQ, WRGZ, WTCM, WTCM-FM |
| Website | watz.com |
WATZ (1450 AM, "WATZ AM 1450") is a radio station broadcasting an News-Talk format. The station is licensed to the city of Alpena, Michigan, it serves the Alpena metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in 1946 and has maintained the WATZ call sign since it signed on. The station is currently owned by Midwestern Broadcasting Company.
WATZ AM signed on the air in November, 1946 as a full-service local radio station and was, for many years, the only broadcaster in Alpena. In the late 1960s, WATZ-FM signed on as an adult contemporary station at 93.5 FM. By this time, the format of WATZ-AM was primarily country. In 1988, the format of WATZ-FM was canged to country and the signal moved to 99.3 so the station could boost its power from 3,000 to 50,000 watts. For the next several years, WATZ-FM and WATZ-AM simulcasted the same programming. In the mid-90s, WATZ-AM was broken off from WATZ-FM and given its current news/talk format.
WATZ remains locally owned and operated by the same company that founded it in 1946.
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