| City of license | WJZJ: Glen Arbor, Michigan WGFM: Cheboygan, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | WJZJ: Traverse City, Michigan WGFM: Petoskey, Michigan |
| Branding | Real Rock 105.1/95.5 |
| Frequency | WJZJ: 95.5 MHz WGFM: 105.1 MHz |
| Format | Mainstream rock |
| ERP | WJZJ: 21,000 watts WGFM: 43,000 watts |
| HAAT | WJZJ: 225 meters WGFM: 295 meters |
| Class | WJZJ: C2 WGFM: C1 |
| Facility ID | WGFM: 15631 WGFM: 56073 |
| Callsign meaning | 'WJZJ: Light JazZ J (previous format) WGFM: Gold F'M - its first name when it became Classic Rock in 1989 |
| Former callsigns | WJZJ: WTHM (4/13/89-3/31/97) |
| Owner | Northern Star Broadcasting |
| Sister stations | WAVC, WCBY, WCKC, WGFM, WGFN, WIDG, WLJZ, WMKC |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | realrockradio.fm |
WJZJ (95.5 FM) in Glen Arbor, Michigan is an American radio station, which airs a mainstream rock format branded as Real Rock 105.1/95.5 (simulcasting on WGFM 105.1 FM in Cheboygan, Michigan). Together, the two signals cover most of the Traverse City-Petoskey radio market.
WJZJ's signal serves primarily the immediate Traverse City area and carries across the waters of Lake Michigan, and can frequently be heard in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and the eastern shoreline of Door County, Wisconsin. WGFM boasts a 100,000-watt signal which easily covers most of northwestern Lower Michigan from Grayling northward and extends into the eastern Upper Peninsula.
WJZJ, along with WAVC 93.9 in Mio and WLJZ 94.5 in Mackinaw City, MI, launched The Zone, Northern Michigan's Modern Rock, in 1998, replacing the low-rated satellite-delivered smooth jazz format "Coast-FM", after having been sold from Del Reynolds to Northern Star Broadcasting.
The Zone was originally adult-leaning, whose core artists included Jewel, Paula Cole, Alanis Morissette, Barenaked Ladies, Sheryl Crow, and Goo Goo Dolls. In its early years, The Zone could be more accurately described as a Modern Adult Contemporary station, and the station, which positioned itself as "Modern Rock" even while it continued to play primarily adult alternative and Hot AC crossover material, received criticism from fans of harder rock for not including harder-edged artists such as KoRn and Limp Bizkit, whose music was rarely played on classic rock-leaning rival WKLT. It was not until 2000 that "The Zone" became a true "modern rock" radio station. The Zone's revamped "modern rock" format borrowed from both "alternative" and "active" rock formats.
After the format change, ratings improved dramatically, but once again soon fell, partially due to a translator station launched on 95.5 in Boyne City, Michigan, only slightly outside 95.5 Glen Arbor's protected signal contour. The Boyne City station relayed Classic Hits-formatted competitor "The Fox" (WFCX-FM 94.3/WFDX-FM 92.5). However, the "Fox" translator moved down to 95.3 FM in December 2006 (and has since switched to relaying talk radio sister station WSRT), alleviating some of the interference to WJZJ in its northern fringe coverage.
WAVC dropped out of The Zone's simulcast in 2000, choosing to simulcast the country station WMKC (102.9 FM, St. Ignace, "Big Country 102.9 & 93.9"). It now simulcasts 98.1 WGFN as part of "The Bear" classic rock network.
On June 5, 2006, the station became an affiliate of Waitt Radio Networks' now-defunct "Alternative Now" format. As a result, the only live and local program the station carried was its morning show, "The Morning Freakshow" hosted by Cartman, Homeless Jake, and Mizz Christal.
On June 26, WJZJ became the sole carrier of The Zone as WLJZ broke the simulcast to switch to Hot AC. After less than two years, it switched to classic country. Since April 2010, WAVC and WLJZ simulcast "Bear" classic rock programming.
On December 28, 2007, the station began broadcasting out of their Traverse City, Michigan studios.
On September 14, 2009, the station began carrying The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show. It was also on that day when they started simulcasting with WGFM 105.1 Cheboygan as Real Rock 105.1/95.5, airing a mix of The Zone's harder rock artists such as KoRn, Metallica and Alice in Chains with harder classic rockers such as Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne and Van Halen. 105.1 carried Bob and Tom due to the duo's ratings in the upper northern Michigan region until August 2 2010, when The Free Beer And Hot Wings Show replaced it on 105.1 as well.
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