| City of license | Coopersville, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Grand Rapids-Muskegon |
| Branding | 105.3 Hot FM |
| Slogan | Today's Hottest Hits |
| Frequency | 105.3 MHz |
| Format | Top 40 (CHR) |
| ERP | 20,000 watts |
| HAAT | 242 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 71090 |
| Callsign meaning | Hot Station or HiTS |
| Former callsigns | WCXT (?-5/4/06) |
| Owner | Cumulus Media |
| Sister stations | WBBL-FM, WJRW, WLAV-FM, WLAW, WTNR |
| Webcast | Listen Live! |
| Website | 1053hotfm.com |
WHTS (105.3 FM), licensed to Coopersville, Michigan, is a Top 40 (CHR) radio station in the Grand Rapids, Michigan market. WHTS is owned and operated by Cumulus Media and transmits with an ERP of 20,000 watts.
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WHTS signed on in the early 1980s from its original city of license of Hart, Michigan. The call letters were WCXT and it had an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts and covered a large amount of West Michigan; although the station mentioned Hart, Muskegon, Ludington and Grand Haven in its top-of-the-hour ID, it could be heard clearly out to Manistee, Big Rapids, and Holland, and across Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. It had various rock formats, including ABC's short-lived Z-Rock format, until 1988 when it shifted to Soft AC as "Light Mix 105.3." As an AC station, WCXT was almost completely automated and voice-tracked except for the morning show, which was hosted by Mark Waters (son of the station's owner Nancy Waters).
In 1999, control of the station was transferred under an LMA (Local Marketing Agreement) to Harbor Pointe Entertainment, which then switched the format to dance CHR as "105.3 The Whip," targeting the Grand Rapids market. 105.3 The Whip consisted mostly of various dance mixes of CHR and Rhythmic CHR hits with a scattering of hits from Billboard's dance charts. A call letter change to WWIP was planned, but never happened. In the fall of 1999 the LMA was canceled due to various legal problems with Harbor Pointe Entertainment, at which time WCXT returned to the AC format under a slightly different slogan/positioner, "105-3, Your More Music Station." Other than the new slogan, the format was more or less exactly the same as before "The Whip" experiment, largely voicetracked and automated and with very few commercials.
In 2001, a construction permit for a new station on 105.3 in Mukwonago, WI (now WLVE) was given the go ahead to sign on. Because WCXT regularly DXed across Lake Michigan in the Milwaukee and Sheboygan areas, the owners of the CP Salem Communications paid the owners of WCXT to downgrade its signal from 100 kW to 28,000 watts.
In late 2004 WCXT was granted a CP to move into the Grand Rapids/Muskegon area.
In early 2005 it was announced that WCXT would be sold to Citadel Broadcasting. Various speculations erupted after this happened. In Winter 2005, the format was flipped to a 100% jockless and commercial free classic country format as "Classic Country 105-3" upon Citadel's takeover of the station. This would turn out to be a filler format until the transmitter move would be finalised.
In late April 2006, the new transmitter and city of license (from Hart to Coopersville) hit the airwaves, and the station began stunting with various sound effects such as drills and hammers, accompanied by announcements that a new station is being built and that classic country had been moved to 92.5 FM (WKOQ, later changing calls to WLAW). A few days later, the stunting switched to "Reality Radio," featuring various Citadel hosts talking about the upcoming format, among other things.
At 7:40 pm on May 2, 2006 the TOH ID for Hot FM was fired up and the first song, Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" was played. Until the midday hours of May 3, the station ran a 20–30 song loop with an extended period of dead air between the songs. This was likely due to a music load and automation problem. WLHT-FM would be added to WHTS's rivalry by late 2006, when it moved to its current hot adult contemporary format. The move towards a top 40 direction would also replace WSNX-FM as the lone contemporary hit radio station in Grand Rapids.
Regarding WLHT-FM's 2010 rebranding as Channel 95.7, retaining the adult top 40 format, the station dropped its adult top 40 lean and now resembles a regular contemporary hit radio station.
Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.[1]
The current line up of air talent is Gravy & Ellen Tailor (6A-10A) Ryan Seacrest (10A-2P) Alabama (2P-6P) Party Paul (6P-11P)
Program/imaging Director: Gravy
General Sales Manager: Russ Hines
On November 22, 2011 it was confirmed that PD/Morning show co-host Ellen Tailor will join Cory Fitz as morning show co-host for Entercome's KKWF 100.7 The Wolf Seattle after a nationwide search. Meenwhile, Gravy, who was assistent Program Director with Ellen Tailor, now takes over as Program/imaging Director.
WHTS has been criticized for having overmodulated and excessively loud processing. When WHTS signed on, crosstown rival WSNX cranked their processing to a much louder level than before.
The WHTS call letters had been on what is now WLKU in the Quad Cities for over 10 years.
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