WTRU – AM

WTRU – AM (AKA WMHG – AM)

WTRU (1956-2/24/89)

WMHG (1600 AM, “Unforgettable Magic”) was a radio station in Muskegon, Michigan. It broadcast a MOR/Oldies format. WMHG used ABC Radio Networks’ satellite-delivered “Timeless Favorites” (formerly known as “Stardust”) format.

It first began broadcasting around 1948 under the WKNK call sign, which stood for the original owner of the station, Nick Kurtis. In 1956, WKNK became WTRU, airing a Top 40 music format that would become legendary in the history of West Michigan radio and dominated the Muskegon market through the mid-1970s. Despite the weak signal, WTRU was once one of the most listened-to and most influential contemporary hits stations in Michigan.^{[citation needed]} In the 1970s, during its peak of popularity, its slogan was “The TRU spirit of America”. During the station’s later years, one of the DJs, Larry Allen, hosted an FM-like program called “Spectrum” on late Saturday nights. This program rivaled the FM stations of the day.^[1] The station’s influence and popularity waned with the waxing of FM radio in the late 1970s—by the end of the 1970s, however, as rock music continued its shift from AM to FM, WTRU had shifted to a full-service adult contemporary format.

The Top 40/CHR format returned to 1600 AM in 1986 as WTRU began to simulcast “Sunny” 104.5 WSNX-FM, taking the WSNX-AM calls to go along with the simulcast. This continued through 1992, when the station became sports-talk WSFN “The Fan.”

In 1996, WMHG was on 107.9 as “Magic 108”. Magic 108 was West Michigan’s only FM R&B and Urban station at the time which was owned by GoodRich Radio. However due to the fall in ratings Goodrich decided to keep the Urban format and move the WMHG calls to 1600 AM which adopted the urban contemporary format with the calls WMHG (“Magic”); Goodrich has obatined the extened Band of 1680 which had more power than 1600, The urban format would move up the AM dial to 1680 and “Magic” would become WJNZ “1680 Jamz”, and 1600 was replaced by ABC’s Stardust format in the fall of 1998.

The “Stardust” format was renamed to “Timeless Favorites” in 2007, by which time the music rotation had moved away from traditional adult standards to soft Top 40 oldies chiefly of the 1960s and 1970s.

WMHG was owned by Cumulus Media but was operated by Clear Channel Communications via a Local Marketing Agreement (LMA).

On January 1, 2008, WMHG went dark permanently, to satisfy conditions related to the existence of WDSS (now WPRR). WMHG ultimately handed in its broadcast license to the FCC on February 29, 2008, and were deleted from the FCC database.

[edit] Sources

• Michiguide.com – WMHG History

[edit] References