WHLS

WHLS

City	Port Huron, Michigan
Broadcast area	AM 1450 FM 105.5
Branding	Rock 105.5
Slogan	Port Huron's Alternative
Frequency	1450 kHz
Translator(s)	105.5 mHz W288BT St. Clair
Repeaters	WHLX Marine City
First air date	August 8, 1938
Format	Active rock
Power	1450 AM 1,000 watts 105.5 FM 49 watts
Class	C
Facility ID	73075
Callsign meaning	Wismer & H.L. Stevens (station co-founders)
Affiliations	Michigan IMG Sports Network
Owner	Radio First
Website	whls.net

WHLS is an American radio station, licensed to Port Huron, Michigan at 1450 kHz and owned by Radio First. Since 2000 WHLS has simulcasted its programming on 1590 WHLX in Marine City. WHLS also has an FM translator, W288BT 105.5 MHz, which is licensed to St. Clair, simulcasting the station's signal on the FM dial.^[1]

The station currently broadcasts an active rock format branded as Rock 105.5, "Port Huron's Alternative". Rock 105.5 currently competes with CHKS-FM 106.3 MHz in Sarnia, Ontario.^[2]

History

WHLS logo as "America's Best Music"

WHLS signed on in August 1938 and was for a time the principal Top 40 music station in the Port Huron/Blue Water area, as well as the very first radio station serving St. Clair County. The station was found by the late John Wismer and H.L. Stevens. Wismer operated the station and FM sister WSAQ until his death on September 30, 1999 at age 85. The station was sold to Liggett Communications (also known as Radio First) in 2000 by Wismer's estate. Liggett had also acquired Wismer's crosstown competitor, WPHM and WBTI that same year from Hanson Communications.^[3]

In 2000, WHLS's satellite Oldies was simulcasted 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 return to oldies came after CHOK in Sarnia flipped to a country format.

"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 format ended on April 20, 2015 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 from a religious broadcaster the previous year. The station continues to broadcast on AM 1450 and AM 1590 but with little to no reference of the station's AM counterparts.^[4] Shortly after the format change, many listeners questioned if the annual holiday music would continue... On Christmas Day of 2015 Rock 105.5 started mixing in Christmas music, typically one or two songs on the top of every hour. Rock 105.5 staff claimed they did not want to "bombard listeners with Christmas music"

Airstaff and Lineup

The current lineup (as of August 2015) is as follows.

9AM to 12PM TC
12PM to 6PM Matt Markham
Weekends/Fill-ins Ben Coburn

Local area football can be found at Rock1055.com

Technical

WHLS 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.

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.^[5]

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.^[6] Before the move of the transmitter, the 105.5 FM signal was very choppy, even in Port Huron, and went out in Whadhams. After the move, the 105.5 FM signal, can be heard as far south as St. Clair, as far west as Goodles, and as far north as Lakeport. Occasionally it can be heard as far as Jeddo, and beyond to the corner of Galbrith Line and Wildcat RD. To the west Rock 105.5 tends to interfere with WWCK of Flint, which is also on 105.5 FM. Both W288BT and WWCK of Flint are received in Avoca. Listeners with directional antennas can tune to both with decent reception.

After the move to the WHLS tower, 105.5 FM began broadcasting information that would be received on radio data system (RDS) radios.

One reasoning of Liggett Communications getting the 105.5 FM translator, is due to both WHLS and WHLX having limited nighttime range.

There is also a translator (K280GF) located in Crystal, NV which is licensed to Edgewater Broadcasting, lessee of W288BT, but in no way is affiliated with Liggett Communications.

Sources

External links

Query the FCC's AM station database for WHLS

Radio-Locator Information on WHLS

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

Nearby radio markets Alpena–Tawas City Detroit Flint Lansing Midwestern Ontario North Central Michigan Tri-Cities Windsor-Chatham-Sarnia See also List of radio stations in Michigan Radio stations in Southwestern Ontario

Rock radio stations in the state of Michigan, including Active and Modern Rock

By frequency	1450 1590 89.9 93.3 96.5 97.9 101.1 101.5 105.5

By callsign	WGRD-FM WHLS WHLX WJXQ WRIF WTHS WKQS WWBN WZOX

By city	Grand Rapids Port Huron Marine City Charlotte/Lansing Detroit Holland Midland Tuscola/Flint/Saginaw Portage/Kalamazoo

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Michigan See also active rock classic rock mainstream rock modern rock

Coordinates: 42°58′37″N 82°27′52″W / 42.97694°N 82.46444°W / 42.97694; -82.46444

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