WHLX

WHLX

City of license	Marine City, Michigan
Broadcast area	AM 1590 (Daytime) (Nighttime) FM 105.5
Branding	Rock 105.5
Slogan	Port Huron's Alternative
Frequency	1590 kHz
Translator(s)	105.5 mHz W288BT St. Clair
Repeaters	WHLS Port Huron
First air date	December 10, 1951
Format	Active rock
Power	1,000 watts (Daytime) 102 watts (Nighttime)
Class	D
Facility ID	56266
Former callsigns	WHYT (11/17/97-9/19/00) WIFN (6/2/93-11/17/97) WSMA (1967-6/2/93) WDOG (1954-67) WSDC (1950-54)
Affiliations	Michigan IMG Sports Network
Owner	Radio First
Website	whls.net

WHLX is an American radio station, licensed to Marine City, Michigan at 1590 kHz on the AM dial, with a power output of 1,000 watts day, 102 watts night. Since 2000 WHLX has been a simulcast of 1450 WHLS in Port Huron. WHLS also has an FM translator, W288BT, which is licensed to St. Clair at operating at 105.5 MHz which simulcasts the station's signal.^[1]

The station currently broadcasts an active rock format branded as Rock 105.5, "Port Huron's Alternative". Rock 105.5 currently competes with K106.3 across the Blue Water Bridge in Sarina. ^[2]

History

The station started as WSDC in 1951, then WDOG and later became WSMA with country music for many years.

Early Years

WHLX first went on the air on December 10, 1951 with the call letters WSDC, operating from its transmitter facility at 5300 Marine City Highway, on the outskirts of Marine City. Doing business as Radio St. Clair, Inc., Jerry Coughlin served as the station's first president and general manager.

By 1954, Coughlin had turned the duties of general manager to sales director John Bell and renamed the station WDOG. Fred Cale assumed sales and management duties by 1960.

First Sale

In February 1967, Coughlin sold WDOG to Sommerville Broadcasting Company, owned by Richard S. Sommerville. He renamed the station WSMA, and adopted a country music format, for which this station would likely best be remembered during its years with independent programming, as it maintained this format and call sign for the next 26 years.

A disadvantage that the station had for much of its history was its geographic separation from more profitable markets. Located about 12 miles from any kind of urban sprawl, it had difficulty attaching itself to another community for more profit potential, as retail business in tiny Marine City was unable to provide a steady source of revenue, even during AM's halcyon years. For a time, WSMA maintained a small sales office in Port Huron, across the street from competitors WHLS and WSAQ. Despite the challenges, WSMA still managed to produce a modest profit during its early years.

The Port Huron office later closed when the station began to fail in the late 80's, not long after coming under the control of a new owner.

Those failures arose out of an overall lack of dependability of the station, often shutting down operations at sunset (even after being granted nighttime power authorization), and sometimes not even going on the air at all during holidays and even some weekends.

Second Sale

On May 17, 1987, Richard S. Sommerville, who by this time owned WCEN-AM/FM in Mount Pleasant, sold WSMA to Frink, Inc., under a land contract agreement to pay for the station in monthly installments of $1,845.00. However, in a letter to the FCC dated November 7, 1990, Washington attorney Earl Stanley stated that Sommerville resumed control of WSMA after Frink Inc. failed to meet its financial obligations, prompting a foreclosure civil action in the Circuit Court of St. Clair County.

Frink Inc. was declared in default on May 7, 1990, and was given 180 days to bring its monetary obligations to Sommerville from that date. Frink was required to pay more than $30,000 in unpaid promissory note payments and real estate taxes, according to court papers, putting its total amount owed to more than $150,000. The debts were not satisfied, and as of November 3, 1990, the 181st day of the notice, Sommerville recaptured the license, and assumed the role of trustee.

Reborn: WIFN-AM

WIFN's two directional antenna broadcast towers, located at 5300 Marine City Highway in Marine City, in 1996. The unused WIFN station remote van sits next to the right tower.

Hoping to restore WSMA to its former glory, broadcasters David Barr and Rick Schremp formed Barr/Schremp Communications in 1993 and took control of WSMA that year. Coincidentally, Barr's father William was the former owner of WATC AM 900 & WZXM FM 95.3 (now 101.5 WMJZ) in Gaylord, 220 miles north of Detroit, before selling it in 1986.

Barr/Schremp Communications changed the station's call letters to WIFN, and began a gradual phase-out of the country music format in favor of personality talk. Under the new format, the station bore such talents such as G. Gordon Liddy, Larry King, Chuck Harder and Sports Byline USA. Ken Hawk and Dave Haze handled news duties, with Marty Simmonds serving as sports director. The station experienced an increase in revenue under the new format and owners.

Barr and Schremp dissolved their partnership two years after taking control of WIFN, with Schremp pursuing other interests. In 1997 Barr sold the station to Hanson Communications, then-licensee of WPHM-AM and WBTI-FM in Port Huron, one of WIFN's longtime competitors. Given multiple job offers after the sale, Barr then moved north to Traverse City, where he assumed a promotions and marketing role with country music powerhouse WTCM.

"Real Country"

Following completion of the sale in late 1997, country music returned with "Real Country" via satellite from the ABC/SMN radio network, after a brief period of simulcasting with CHR/Hot AC sister station WBTI 96.9 FM. WIFN became WHYT (picking up the calls dumped by Detroit's 96.3 FM, now WDVD) under the "Real Country" format. Hanson Communications also moved the station's on-air operations from its longtime location at 5300 Marine City Highway to its main base of operations at 2379 Military Street in Port Huron.

Most administrative functions were handled by the existing staff of Hanson Communications, and Hanson's sales force dedicated their same aggression to selling WHYT as they did their two other properties.

By 2000, Hanson Communications sold 1590 WHYT to Liggett Communications (now Radio First). Liggett, who was also in the process of acquiring Hanson's competitor, WHLS-AM and WSAQ-FM, decided to co-locate all five stations at 808 Huron Street, which was the main base of operations for WHLS and WSAQ, and had enough space for expansion, unlike the Military Street facility.

"America's Best Music"

The former logo for WHLS, under the "America's Best Music" format

Kool Gold Simulcast logo

Recognizing the opportunity to extend WHLS's signal to the southern Thumb area of Michigan, Liggett Communications abandoned the "Real Country" format and moniker, and simulcast WHLS's programming. WHYT changed its call letters to WHLX, to more closely match that of its sister station. The move allowed WHLS to be heard as far south as Warren, Michigan in Macomb County and as far north as Sandusky, Michigan in Sanilac County. Its directional covers most of Macomb County, eastern Lapeer County, and most of Lambton County Ontario.

In 2000, WHLS's satellite oldies was simulcast over WHLX for the first time. Its format then changed to Adult Standards America's Best Music format in 2001, and back to Oldies using Dial Global's Kool Gold Timeless Classics format in 2009.

"The Cruise"

WHLS logo as "The Cruise"

As of July 2011, WHLS/WHLX have dropped the Dial Global Kool Gold format and transitioned to airing a locally automated classic hits/adult hits format. The local format is branded as "WHLS - The Cruise" and is staffed by Radio First personalities. WHLS/WHLX's new format is a more traditional Classic Hit's mix of the late 1960s, and into the 1980s with some classic rock and roll influences, as well as a few tracks from the 1990s and 2000s up to AC recurrents from artists such as Maroon 5 and Katy Perry. The station also aired locally-oriented talk shows on Saturday mornings and church services on Sunday Mornings. The station airs the syndicated program American Standards By The Sea Saturday mornings. WHLS is also the radio home of the University of Michigan football and also used to broadcast conflicting games that usually would air on sister station WPHM.

The Cruise was killed in 2015 on Monday April 20 at 10:55am, with the last song being Don McLean's American Pie.

New Format "Rock 105.5"

WHLS changed their format to active rock on April 20, 2015 with the first song being Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. The new station is branded as "Rock 105.5", the frequency of the new FM Translator WHLS acquired the following year. The station continues to broadcast on AM 1450 and WHLX AM 1590 but with little to no reference of the station's AM counterparts.^[3]

Technical

WHLS-AM 1450 covers most of St. Clair County, Michigan as well as southern Sanilac County, Michigan with 1,000 watts of power day and night. The transmitter is located on 32nd Street in Port Huron Township, using the same site and same tower as sister station WSAQ.

WHLX-AM 1590 covers the southern portion of St. Clair County and much of Macomb County, Michigan. WHLX broadcasts with 1,000 watts during the day and 102 watts after sunset to protect other larger AM radio stations. WHLX utilizes a two-tower directional pattern pointed towards the north from a transmitter site located along Marine City Highway.

FM Translator

W288BT is a low powered translator at 105.5fm licensed to St. Clair, Michigan. According to the FCC database, the station is owned by Edgewater Broadcasting which previously used the station to broadcast a Christian music format and is currently leased to Liggett Communications as a simulcast of WHLS.^[4]

The FM Translator originally started broadcasting on and off beginning in the summer of 2014 from the Radio First studios in Downtown Port Huron with 250 watts. After the switch from "The Cruise" (which never branded itself as being on FM) to "Rock 105.5" (which only brands itself as being on FM), a construction permit was granted to WHLS to move the translator to their parent station's tower on 32nd Street in Port Huron Township. The station currently broadcasts with only 49 watts but from a much higher tower and covers the immediate Port Huron, Fort Gratiot, and Marysville areas.^[5]

Sources

External links

Query the FCC's AM station database for WHLX

Radio-Locator Information on WHLX

Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WHLX

Radio stations in the Thumb area of east-central Michigan

By FM frequency	88.1 88.3 89.1 89.3 90.7 91.3 91.9 92.1 92.5 96.9 97.7 99.9 102.1 102.3 103.1 103.7 103.9 105.5 106.3 107.1

By AM frequency	660 1070 1230 1340 1360 1380 1450 1530 1590 1610

By callsign	CFGX CHOK CHKS W288BT WBGV WBTI WCZE WDTR WGRT WHLS WHLX WHYT WIDL WKYO WLCO WLEW WLEW-FM WMIC WMPC WNFA WNFR WORW WPHM WPLS727 WQUS WSAQ WSGR-FM WSMB WTGV-FM

Michigan radio markets Battle Creek Detroit Flint Grand Rapids Kalamazoo Lansing-East Lansing Muskegon Traverse City-Petoskey Other Michigan radio regions Alpena Ann Arbor Benton Harbor-St. Joseph Central Michigan Houghton Iron Mountain Jackson Marquette Saginaw-Bay City-Midland Sault Ste. Marie South Central Michigan The Thumb Area See also List of radio stations in Michigan Radio stations in Southwestern Ontario

Radio stations in the Detroit, Michigan market (excluding Canadian stations)

By AM frequency	560 680/690 760 910 950 1030 1090 1130 1160 1200 1270 1310 1340 1400EL 1440 1460 1480 1500 1590 1600 1610

By FM frequency	88.1 88.1 88.1 88.1 88.3 88.3 88.3 89.1 89.3 89.3 89.5 89.5 89.5 → 90.1 (CP) 89.5 89.7 90.3 90.9 91.5 91.7 92.3 92.7 93.1 93.5 93.5/98.3/105.5/106.3/107.1¹ 94.3 94.3 94.7 95.5 96.3 97.1 97.9 98.7 99.5 99.9 100.3 101.1 101.9 102.7 103.5 103.9 104.3 104.7 105.1 105.9 106.7 107.5

NOAA Weather Radio frequencies	162.425 162.450 162.550

Digital radio	560 950 1270 1340 91.7-1 92.3-2 93.1-1 93.1-2 93.1-3 94.7-1 94.7-2 95.5-1 95.5-2 96.3-1 96.3-2 97.1-1 97.1-2 97.1-3 97.9-1 97.9-2 98.3-1 98.7-1 98.7-2 98.7-3 99.5-1 99.5-2 99.5-3 100.3-1 100.3-2 101.1-1 101.1-2 101.9-1 101.9-2 102.7-1 103.5-1 103.5-2 103.5-3 104.3-1 104.3-2 104.3-3 105.1-1 105.1-2 105.9-1 105.9-2 106.7-1 106.7-2 107.5-1

By callsign	KDTI KEC63 W208BB W224CC W228CJ W232CA W252BX W260CB W280EL W284BQ W288BK W292DK W296CG WAHS WBFH WBLD WCAR WCHB WCSX WCXI WDET-FM WDFN WDMK WDRQ WDTE WDTK WDTP WDTW WDTW-FM WDVD WDZH WERW WEXL WFDF WGPR WHFR WHMI-FM WHPR-FM WJLB WJR WKQI WLQV WMGC-FM WMKM WMUZ WMXD WNIC WNZK WOMC WOVI WPHS WPON WPYF269 WPZR WRCJ-FM WRDT WRIF WSMF WSDP WSDS WSHJ WTAC WUFL WUOM WVMV WWJ WXOU WXYT WXYT-FM WYCD

Defunct	WBRB 1430

Michigan radio markets Battle Creek Detroit Flint Grand Rapids Kalamazoo Lansing-East Lansing Muskegon Traverse City-Petoskey Other Michigan radio regions Alpena Ann Arbor Benton Harbor-St. Joseph Central Michigan Houghton Iron Mountain Jackson Marquette Saginaw-Bay City-Midland Sault Ste. Marie South Central Michigan The Thumb Area See also List of radio stations in Michigan Radio stations in Southwestern Ontario Radio stations in Toledo, Ohio ¹ The Detroit K-Love transmitters (such as W296CG) are fed by WMXD-HD2, as stated on their on-air identifications

Coordinates: 42°43′42″N 82°31′15″W / 42.72833°N 82.52083°W / 42.72833; -82.52083