WMBN

WMBN ("Michigan's Beautiful North") is an AM radio station broadcasting at 1340 kHz in Petoskey, Michigan, United States. The station, owned by MacDonald-Garber Broadcasting, airs Fox Sports Radio format of sports talk.

WMBN went on the air in April 1947 and is the oldest continuously operating radio station still on the air in Petoskey, though its claim of being "Petoskey's first radio station" is technically incorrect since it was preceded on the air by the short-lived WBBP in the 1920s. The station was founded by Les Biederman and, along with WTCM and WTCM-FM in Traverse City, WATZ in Alpena, and the now-defunct WATC in Gaylord, was affiliated with his "Paul Bunyan Network." It was later sold to MacDonald Broadcasting and then spun off into MacDonald-Garber Broadcasting.

The station bore the call letters WWPZ (known as simply "WPZ" on the air) from 1980 to 1992 and had a very wide-ranging, eclectic pop/rock music format similar to today's Variety Hits concept. The station also aired Detroit Tigers baseball during this time. In 1992, the station returned to the WMBN calls and shifted to Westwood One's "AM Only" format of "Original Hits of the '40s, '50s and '60s," which has evolved over the years into the current "America's Best Music" product.

WMBN is an affiliate of the Grand Valley State Laker football radio network.^[1]

As of January 2, 2012, WMBN dropped music programming entirely and became a sports talk station broadcasting the Fox Sports Radio format, in simulcast with sister station WKAD 93.7 FM in Cadillac.

Sources

• Michiguide.com - WMBN History

External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for WMBN
• Radio-Locator Information on WMBN
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WMBN

Coordinates: 45°20′50″N 84°58′01″W / 45.34722°N 84.96694°W / 45.34722; -84.96694