WVIC

WVIC (94-1 Alternative Radio, formerly known as "94-1 The Edge") is a radio station broadcasting a modern rock format. Licensed to Jackson, Michigan, it first began broadcasting on July 14, 1958 as WMKZ-FM^[1] simulcasting WIBM-AM. The station broadcasts from a tower near Springport, Michigan. The station can be heard from Kalamazoo to Ypsilanti, and from Alma, Michigan to Angola, Indiana. From October 15, 2007, to August 17, 2009, the station aired a low-rated soft adult contemporary format as "Soft Rock 94.1", and previous to that, the station aired a variety of formats including classic hits, country, and oldies.

WVIC's format changed from classic hits to AC at 7 p.m. on October 15, 2007, at which time the station went into Delilah's syndicated love-songs program. WVIC's format also included the Bob and Sheri morning show. In 2007, WVIC was also the first radio station in the Lansing market to change to an all-Christmas music format for the holiday season, as competitor WFMK had never done so in the past.

However, the station was unable to make any inroads against WFMK, and at 9 a.m. on August 17, 2009 the station flipped to a modern rock format as "94.1 The Edge," reviving the format and moniker used for years on sister station 92.1 WWDX (now WQTX).

The WVIC call sign was used for many years by AM 730 (now WVFN) and WVIC-FM 94.9 (now WMMQ) in East Lansing, as the market's dominant Top 40 music station from the 1970s through the early 1990s.

Prior to the now-defunct classic hits format, from 1995 to 2001, 94.1 had programmed country music in competition with longtime Lansing market leader WITL, first as WBHR "The Bear" and then as WXIK "Kix 94."

After spending most of the 1960s in simulcast with WIBM-AM under various call signs (including WMKZ, WIBM-FM, and WBBC), 94.1 separated programming from the AM station in the late 1960s and adopted a separate MOR format, returning to the WBBC calls, and then changing to beautiful music as WHFI in 1974. In 1980 the station returned to the WIBM-FM calls, picking up the Top 40 format (including weekly broadcasts of Casey Kasem's American Top 40) from then-sister WIBM-AM 1450, which flipped to a country format at that time as WXCM. After moving to its current tower site in 1982, WIBM-FM changed its format to gold-based adult contemporary (as "I-94" and then "94 Gold"). Eventually the station's format became all-oldies as "Oldies 94.1," with which the station was successful for a number of years until its 1995 switch to country as WBHR. AM 1450 regained the WIBM calls and simulcast Oldies 94.1 from 1987 to 1994, at which time the station was sold to Cascades Broadcasting, then-owners of Jackson's other heritage radio station, WKHM - permanently separating ownership of AM 1450 and FM 94.1.

WVIC, as well as WJXQ, WQTX and WLMI, has been sold from Rubber City Radio Group to Midwest Communications based in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Bronco Radio Network

WVIC is an affiliate of the Western Michigan University "Broncos Radio Network" and carries all of the Broncos football and men's basketball games.

Sources

• Michiguide.com - WVIC History

References

1. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1958

External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WVIC
• Radio-Locator information on WVIC
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WVIC