WBTI

Infobox Radio station
name = WBTI


city = Lexington, Michigan
area = Lexington, Sarnia, Port Huron [http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WBTI&service=FM&status=L&hours=U]
branding = 969 WBTI
slogan = The Blue Water Area's Best Of The 80's, 90's and Now
airdate = 1991
frequency = 96.9 MHz
format = Hot Adult Contemporary
power = 3,000 watts
erp =
class = A
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns = WHYT (8/22/97-11/17/97)
WBTI (6/15/91-8/22/97)
WYDG (2/1/91-6/15/91)
owner = Radio First / Liggett Communications
webcast =
website = [http://www.wbti.net/ http://www.wbti.net/]
affiliations =

WBTI (96.9 FM) is a Hot AC radio station in Lexington, Michigan. It broadcasts on 96.9 MHz with 6,000 and is owned by Radio First. This is the third owner in the station's 15-year history.

WBTI's tower is located in Brockway Township in Saint Clair County off Norman Road. This is unique as the station is licensed to the village of Lexington, in neighboring Sanilac County.

History

WBTI first went on the air in the summer of 1992, owned by Timothy D. Martz of Martz Communications. Martz was a broadcaster with ambitions of purchasing or building a series of American radio stations with the intent of providing quality radio that would also be of value to Canadian citizens. The station boasted a CHR format and the moniker "B96.9, The Killer Bee". Though licensed to Lexington, almost a half hour north of Port Huron, the station maintained its studios and offices in downtown Port Huron, where it would compete with WPHM, WHLS, WSAQ, WIFN, and WGRT.

However, Martz's ownership of the station would be brief, as the station was sold to Hanson Communications, licensee of WPHM, for $325,000 the following year. Satisfied with the Top 40 format already on the air, Hanson Communications opted to leave it alone at first, but the station would gradually move from a CHR to a hot adult contemporary format, which it maintains today.

Station management has been clever in recent years with their on-air legal ID's, doing their best to keep "WBTI-FM Lexington" to the bare minimum (once per hour per FCC regulations) and using "WBTI Port Huron" several times per hour.

Sources

* [http://www.michiguide.com/dials/rad-a/wbti.html Michiguide.com - WBTI History]

External links

*FMQ|WBTI