WJZJ

Infobox Radio station
name = WJZJ


city = Glen Arbor, Michigan
area = [http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WJZJ&service=FM&status=L&hours=U]
branding = The Zone
slogan = Northern Michigan's Modern Rock
airdate =
frequency = 95.5 MHz
format = Modern Rock
power = 21,000 watts
erp =
class = C2
callsign_meaning = Light Jazz (previous format)
former_callsigns = WTHM (4/13/89-3/31/97)
owner = Northern Star Broadcasting
sister_stations = WAVC, WCBY, WCKC, WGFM, WGFN, WIDG, WJZJ, WLJZ, WMKC
webcast =
website = [http://www.modernrockthezone.com/ http://www.modernrockthezone.com/]
affiliations =

WJZJ 95.5 in Glen Arbor, Michigan is an American radio station, which airs a modern rock format branded as The Zone. The station serves a small portion of the Traverse City-Petoskey radio market. The radio station's signal carries across the waters of Lake Michigan, and can frequently be heard in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and the eastern shoreline of Door County, Wisconsin.

The station, along with WAVC 93.9 in Mio and WLJZ 94.5 in Mackinaw City, MI, launched The Zone in 1998, replacing the low-rated satellite-delivered smooth jazz format "Coast-FM". Previous to being "Coast FM," WLJZ 94.5 had operated on 94.3 FM as hot AC station WFGE, "Fudgie 94" and as WSSW (the call letters stood for the station's founder, Sonora S. Wray) when it first signed on in 1989, going dark for a short time after that.

The Zone was originally adult-leaning, whose core artists included Jewel, Paula Cole, Barenaked Ladies and The Goo Goo Dolls. In its early years, The Zone could be more accurately described as a Modern Adult Contemporary station, and the station, which positioned itself as "Modern Rock" even while it continued to play primarily adult alternative and pop crossover material, received criticism for not including harder-edged artists such as KoRn and Limp Bizkit, whose music was rarely played on classic rock-leaning rival WKLT. It was not until 2000 that "The Zone" became a true "modern rock" radio station. The Zone's "modern rock" format borrows from both "alternative" and "active" rock formats.

After the format change, ratings improved dramatically, but once again soon fell, partially due to a translator station launched on 95.5 in Boyne City, Michigan, only slightly outside 95.5 Glen Arbor's protected signal contour. The Boyne City station relays Classic Hits-formatted competitor "The Fox" (WFCX-FM 94.3/WFDX-FM 92.5). However, the "Fox" translator moved down to 95.3 FM in December 2006 (and has since switched to relaying AC sister station WSRT), alleviating some of the interference to WJZJ in its northern fringe coverage.

WAVC dropped out of The Zone's simulcast in 2000, choosing to simulcast the country station WMKC (102.9 FM, St. Ignace, "Big Country 102.9 & 93.9").

On June 5, 2006, the station became an affiliate of Waitt Radio Networks. As a result, the only live and local program the station now carries is its morning show, "The Morning Freakshow" hosted by Cartman, Homeless Jake, and Mizz Christal. The station uses Waitt's "Alternative Now" format the rest of the day. However, most of the station's jocks have been reassigned to other positions in the company instead of being let go. On June 26, WJZJ became the sole carrier of The Zone as WLJZ flipped to hot adult contemporary fed from Waitt ("AC Active") as Star 94.5, Today's Best Variety. However, on April 1, 2008, the station switched to Classic Country using Waitt's ("Country Classics") format, and is now known as Big Country Gold.

On December 28, 2007, the station began broadcasting out of their Traverse City, Michigan studios.

Sources

* [http://www.michiguide.com/dials/rad-j/wjzj.html Michiguide.com - WJZJ History]

External links

*FMQ|WJZJ