WJZQ Totally Explained

Everything about Wjzq totally explained

WJZQ 92.9 Cadillac, MI is a 100,000-watt radio station broadcasting a hot adult contemporary format as 92.9 The Breeze. Previously, the station had programmed smooth jazz, airing a satellite-delivered format from Jones Radio Networks. It is owned by Ross Biederman's Midwestern Broadcasting, who also owns WTCM-AM/FM and WCCW-AM/FM, all in Traverse City, MI.

WWTV-FM and WKJF-FM

WJZQ was originally WWTV-FM, co-owned with WWAM 1370 and WWTV channel 13. It was signed on by Sparton Corporation in the 1950s and was purchased by John Fetzer, who changed the call sign to WKJF (Kalamazoo's John Fetzer). Fetzer was a well-known TV station owner in the midwest and a longtime owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball team.
The station's transmitter was on the fabled "Fetzer Mountain" in Osceola County, which was one of the highest points in Michigan. Many would claim that you could hear WKJF-FM on a good radio almost anywhere in Michigan.
The station aired beautiful music, and by the 1970s was a CHR. In the 1980s, WKJF was airing adult contemporary music. In the early 1990s, the station was sold to Ross Biederman, who flipped the formats of both stations. WKJF-AM became a simulcast of news/talk WTCM-AM in Traverse City, and eventually standards, then sports WCCW-AM also in Traverse City, and WKJF-FM became a WTCM-FM clone, though they only simulcasted part of the time, plus WKJF played more classic country than their Traverse City sister.

Smooth Jazz 92.9 The Breeze

Plans were announced in the early 2000s to move WKJF-FM's tower to southern Kalkaska County. The move would allow 92.9 to have city-grade coverage in Traverse City. People knew that a new radio station was in the works from the Biederman camp since WTCM-FM's transmitter's not too far from WKJF's. Shortly before the big move, on July 1, 2001, 92.9 The Breeze debuted. The station would start broadcasting from their Kalkaska County facilities in December that year.
This wasn't the first time northern Michigan had smooth jazz, as WJZJ 95.5/94.5 (along with WAVC 93.9 Mio) used the Jones feed in the 1990s as "Coast FM". The station flipped to alternative rock in 1998 as The Zone, citing new ownership and low ratings. (WAVC eventually dropped out of the "Zone" network to simulcast country sister station WMKC 102.9 St. Ignace as "Big Country.")
In 2004, it was announced that Ross Biederman was selling WKJF-AM to Good News Media, owners of WLJN-FM/AM Traverse City, for $80,001 - $1 for the station itself and $80,000 for the land. The station now rebroadcasts Christian talk WLJN-AM as WLJW. In 1982, Biederman donated the original WTCM-AM 1400 to Good News when he moved the station to 580 AM and boosted the station's power to 2,500 watts.

Format shift

When The Breeze started broadcasting from their new facilities, ratings for the station skyrocketed, though they've tapered off since then. In response, the station added local, yet voicetracked personalities, cut back on the Jones Smooth Jazz satellite programming to only nights and weekends, and evolved its playlist during local dayparts to Soft Adult Contemporary. Before long, the Jones Smooth Jazz programming was completely gone from 92.9 and it was one-hundred-percent locally programmed, with personalities from sister stations WTCM-FM and WCCW-FM providing voicetracking duties for WJZQ.
   In early November 2007, WJZQ began playing continuous Christmas music 24/7 - the first time this station had done so - to compete with WLXT 96.3 FM, which has traditionally been northern Michigan's first station to go all-Christmas for the holiday season.
   As of March 2008, The Breeze has shifted its format again, to a more Hot AC sound, playing currents from 3 Doors Down, Ferras, Sara Bareilles and Mariah Carey. The station has eliminated most of their softer titles from acts such as Kenny G., James Taylor and George Benson. This could be a response to their Fall 2007 Arbitron book where they only registered a 1.4 for ages 12+.
   The station broadcasts from Biederman's Radio Centre building in downtown Traverse City.

Sources

Michiguide.com - WJZQ history

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