WIDG

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WIDG
City of license St. Ignace, Michigan
Broadcast area St. Ignace/Mackinac Straits area and Sault Ste. Marie in northern Lower Peninsula and eastern Upper Peninsula
[1] (Daytime)
[2] (Nighttime)
Branding Baraga Radio
Slogan The Catholic Light for Northern Michigan
Frequency 940 kHz
First air date 1966
Format Religious- Catholic talk and teaching
Power 5,000 watts (Daytime)
4 watts (Nighttime)
Class D
Callsign meaning The Widge by the Bridge
Former callsigns WLVM (7/30/82-5/6/85)
WIDG (1966-7/30/82)
Affiliations EWTN Global Catholic Radio
Ave Maria Radio (originating station WDEO in Ypsilanti)
Owner Baraga Broadcasting
Sister stations WTCY (originating station)
W236BZ(FM translator at 95.1 mHz)
Webcast Listen Live
Website The Catholic Light dot com

WIDG (940 AM) is a radio station licensed to St. Ignace, Michigan, broadcasting a Catholic religious format. Until October 2008, the station was owned and operated by Northern Star Broadcasting and had aired ESPN Radio under the brand name AM 940 The Fan. The station then went silent for a short period and returned to the air in December 2008, simulcasting originating station WTCK 90.9 FM in Charlevoix and later WTCY 88.3 FM in Greilickville and serving Traverse City.. WIDG was previously owned by Northern Star Broadcasting and now owned by Baraga Broadcasting. The sale was approved by the FCC in October 2008. (see WIDG history page). WIDG then became of a repeater of WTCK (then based at Indian River) from 2008 until the spring of 2015. Its main studio is now located in Traverse City...as such the originating station is now WTCY.

WIDG is simulcast locally on FM translator W236BZ at 95.1 mHz.

History

Founded in 1966 by Donald E. Benson's Mighty-Mac Broadcasting Company, the station was known for many years as "Widge by the Bridge" and aired mainly middle of the road music, at times a blend of top 40.

The nickname "Widge by the Bridge" was coined by a longtime friend of station founder Donald E. Benson, a Lansing-based dentist who thought WITL-Lansing's slogan "Whittle while you work" was something that WIDG needed. The original CP for the station had the call letters WSTI, "St. Ignace" but Benson felt the call letters looked like "Stye". In 1979, Benson obtained a dark license and kept the station dark until April 1981. WIDG returned with an MOR format until a format change to Big Band and standards and the call letters WLVM ("We Love Michigan", with the station's music format provided by TM's "TMOR" package). In 1985, the station returned to the WIDG calls with a top 40 oldies format until 1988, when WIDG simulcast sister FM's WMKC St. Ignace and WCKC-Cadillac's country music format.

Eventually, in the early 1990s, WIDG once again adopted separate programming from WMKC, airing first oldies (as "Cool 940") and then classic country (as "Classic KC Country") before the sports-talk format was introduced. WIDG was initially an affiliate of One-on-One Sports (which later became Sporting News Radio) before switching to the ESPN Radio feed.

WIDG operates with an omnidirectional antenna and with very low power after local sunset to avoid interference with the now-defunct CINW (formerly CBC Radio-owned CBM-AM) in Montreal. In WIDG's heyday, it constantly fought for a good signal into the north and was stymied by 10 kW CKCY-920 Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. WIDG's signal was obliterated by CKCY north of Rudyard. When CKCY went dark, WIDG finally got the full potential of its 5 kW signal and can be heard well into the province of Ontario.

Though CINW (the former CBC Radio-owned CBM) has been silent since 2010, WIDG must still power down from 5,000 watts to 4 watts at sunset per FCC rules.

Baraga Broadcasting's other stations

FM translators

New studios, offices in Traverse City

Baraga's main studio and offices were originally located at WTCK's studio at Indian River, Michigan near The Cross in the Woods Catholic Shrine. It also airs national programming from EWTN Global Catholic Radio and Ave Maria Radio based at WDEO in Ypsilanti.

In the fall of 2014, Baraga Broadcasting announced plans for a new website The Catholic Light Dot Com which is now online and was used in transition from its former Indian River location to new studios in Traverse City, Michigan thus making WTCY (licensed to Greilickville) which serves Traverse City the new originating station.

References

External links

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