WSNX-FM

WSNX-FM
City of license Muskegon, Michigan
Broadcast area Muskegon-Grand Rapids-Holland
Branding 104.5 WSNX
Slogan West Michigan's Party Station
Frequency 104.5 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date November 18, 1971
Format Top 40 (CHR)
ERP 32,000 watts
HAAT 189 meters
Class B
Facility ID 24644
Callsign meaning Sunny 104.5 FM (former branding)
Former callsigns WSNX (2/20/86-5/1/86)
WQWQ-FM (1971-1986)
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
(CC Licenses, LLC)
Sister stations WBCT, WBFX, WMAX-FM, WOOD, WSRW-FM, WTKG
Webcast Listen Live!
Website 1045snx.com

WSNX-FM ("104-5 WSNX") is a Top 40/Rhythmic radio station located in iHeartMedia, Inc. Grand Rapids, Michigan headquarters. The station has a rhythmic-leaning Top 40 (CHR) format. The 104.5 dial position is licensed to Muskegon, in Western Michigan with the station serving the Grand Rapids area, and is one of two contemporary hit radio stations in Grand Rapids].

History

104.5 FM, what is now WSNX began life as Beautiful Music station WQWQ (the "Q" stood for "Quality") in 1971. Goodrich Radio Marketing purchased the frequency in 1984 and quickly changed the Beautiful Music format to Top 40 and used the moniker "Sunny-FM" on-air. (The WQWQ calls and easy-listening format moved to 101.7 FM and continued there until the station became WMRR.) Goodrich Radio located the studios at 875 E. Summit in Norton Shores, just outside Muskegon. The antenna was upgraded to get a city-grade signal into Grand Rapids.

WSNX moved to Grand Rapids (at 2610 28th Street) in 1996, where it was occupying the same offices of sister station (107.3) WODJ Oldies format and (1140) WKWM Urban AC. It would also drop the "Sunny FM" moniker and simply go by "104.5 WSNX". It was around this time that the CHR formatted station added an apparent hip-hop or urban feel musically, as well as adding local music.

During the late 1980s, WSNX was one of several competing CHR stations in the area, with the dominant WGRD and WKLQ. By the mid-1990s, WGRD had switched to alternative rock and WKLQ had long since switched to album-oriented rock, and the CHR battle was between WSNX and Federated Media's adult-leaning "Mix 96" (WAKX). In 1998, Clear Channel purchased 96.1 from Federated Media and flipped it to "Continuous Hit Music I-96" as WVTI. Goodrich aimed WSNX directly at I-96, competing with them on the air and through promotions. The station identified itself as "Grand Rapids' Hottest Music: 104.5 WSNX".

WSNX moved again to downtown Grand Rapids after it was purchased by Clear Channel Radio in 1999, and took the "Continuous Hit Music" moniker and a slightly more mainstream, though still rhythmic-leaning, CHR format, as I-96 was retooled as a Hot AC to compete with 95.7 W-Lite. In 2006, the station dropped the "Continuous Hit Music" slogan, and the point from "104.5" and the station simply branded itself as "104-5 WSNX", virtually the same time when contemporary hit radio rival WHTS was launched. In 2011, the station has started using the "West Michigan's Party Station" slogan, but this is not used on-air and only used on the station's website.

WSNX was the first radio station in both the Grand Rapids and Muskegon markets to broadcast in HD Radio, as it does today. Its HD2 subchannel originally carried the Dance Top 40 "Club Phusion" format, but switched to urban in late 2009. The HD2 is a rebroadcast of Clear Channel's iHeartRadio mainstream urban format known as "The Beat."

Airstaff

midnight - 5am: Deuce

6am - 10am: Morning After

10am - 2pm: Shmitty

2pm - 6pm: Mayhem

6pm - midnight: Mike at Night

References

External links

Coordinates: 43°12′14″N 86°01′44″W / 43.204°N 86.029°W / 43.204; -86.029

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