WKBZ

This article is about the station at 1090 AM in Muskegon, Michigan. For prior holders of the call sign, see WSMZ (AM) and WKBZ (1520 AM).

WKBZ

Muskegon, Michigan
Frequency	1090 kHz
Branding	NewsTalk 1090
Programming
Format	News/talk
Affiliations	Fox News Radio Compass Media Networks Premiere Networks
Ownership
Owner	iHeartMedia, Inc. (iHM Licenses, LLC)
Sister stations	WMRR, WOOD-FM, WMUS
History
First air date	1947 (1947)
Former call signs	WMUS (1947–2005)
Call sign meaning	Former call letters of two Muskegon stations, 850 and 1520 AM
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	25087
Class	D
Power	1,000 watts day
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	newstalk1090.iheart.com

WKBZ (1090 AM) is a news/talk radio station in Muskegon, Michigan owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.

History

The current WKBZ is the former WMUS. WMUS began operations in 1947 and became the second radio station serving Muskegon, after the original WKBZ (today's WSMZ); it began as a general-interest independent variety station featuring Associated Press newscasts. WMUS also inaugurated the first FM broadcasts in Muskegon in the summer of 1947, just a few months after the AM signed on, with WMUS-FM at 100.5; the FM station was dark by the start of the 1950s but came back on at its current frequency in 1962.

WMUS moved into a MOR/beautiful music format in the early 1960s, promoting itself as "the AM station with the FM sound" (1). Then in 1965, WMUS changed format to country music using the moniker "Top Gun Radio." A few years later WMUS-FM 106.9 began to simulcast WMUS's country format, and eventually the roles were reversed, with WMUS-FM becoming the primary signal and WMUS becoming the simulcast. This continued until April 2001, when both stations were sold to Clear Channel Communications. The AM facility adopted a news/talk format, while the FM facility remained unchanged. In April 2005, the call sign of WMUS was changed to WKBZ, marking the return of the call letters to the radio market after 4 years of absence. (They had been on the 850 frequency, now WSMZ, from 1926 to 1999, and on 1520 kHzきろへるつ from 1999 to 2001.)

References

• Michiguide.com - WKBZ History
• Michiguide.com - Defunct WKBZ History

External links

• Facility details for Facility ID 25087 (WKBZ) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• WKBZ in Nielsen Audio's AM station database