WKHQ-FM

Infobox Radio station
name = WKHQ-FM


city = Charlevoix, Michigan
area = Traverse City, Michigan
branding = 106 KHQ
slogan = "Today's Hit Music"
frequency = 105.9 MHz
repeater =
airdate = May 8, 1980
share =
share as of =
share source =
format = Top 40 (CHR)
power =
erp = 100 kilowatts
haat = 272 meters
class = C1
facility_id = 214
coordinates = coord|45|10|49.0|N|85|5|50.0|W
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns = WKHQ (5/8/80-4/8/85)
affiliations =
owner = MacDonald Garber Broadcasting
licensee = MacDonald Garber Broadcasting, Inc.
sister_stations = WATT, WKAD, WLXT, WLXV, WMKT, WMBN
webcast = [http://www.106khq.com/ http://www.106khq.com/]
website =

WKHQ-FM is a 100,000-watt radio station licensed to Charlevoix, Michigan, with main studios located 120 W State St in Traverse City, Michigan. The Top 40 (CHR) station, located at 105.9 MHz, is known to listeners to "106 KHQ, Today's Hit Music".

WVOY-AM

The station signed on in 1980, but its roots can be traced back to the early 1970s, with the beginning of WVOY, a 5,000-watt daytime-only station at 1270 kHz on the AM dial. WVOY was one of the first all-contemporary-hit-music radio stations in northern Michigan and featured Bill Vogel ("The Captain," formerly of Detroit's WDRQ), John Yaroch, Rick Durkin, and other major-market-quality talent.

Despite WVOY's limited signal, the station became extremely popular and gave northern Michigan listeners a taste of the "big city" radio sound. The station was live during morning and afternoon drive (with Vogel and Yaroch), and "live assist" automation using ITC ("The Cart Machine People") "carousels" and carted music during other time periods.

WKHQ Signs On

After many years of expensive and time-consuming legal wrangling over a hotly contested 100 kW FM license (mostly with religious broadcast proponent Roland Cilke), the station's owners, Tim Ives and Elmo Franklin, sold an interest to former WVOY salesperson and air talent Tim Moore, who had worked with TM Programming Broadcast consultants in the interim since his departure from WVOY in the mid-1970s. Moore's parents mortgaged their home and property to help him finance his purchase of stock and finance the expansion of WVOY into WKHQ in 1980. Moore later purchased the interests of Ives and Franklin at a pre-arranged contract price.

The call letters Moore chose were WKHQ, probably named after a legendary Spokane, WA radio and TV combo, KHQ. The station signed on May 8, 1980, using TM Programming's "Stereo Rock" format, and quickly shot up to the top of the ratings thanks to its polished jocks and upbeat music. In its early years, WKHQ was known as "The Rhythm of the Northwest" (referring, of course, to northwestern Michigan), and its TM "Stereo Rock" jingles used that slogan. WVOY-AM, in the meantime, flipped to a Music of Your Life format, although the station would return to simulcasting the FM later in the 1980s as WKHQ-AM. The station is now WMKT, "News/Talk 1270."

Moore sold the station in the mid-1980s to Midwest Family, only to recover it a few years later. He sold it again to another buyer who also ended up having financial problems, and again became the owner. There is considerable speculation that much of the booked "revenue" of the early KHQ was based on "trade-out" advertising, and that these two buyers both depended on somewhat "cooked books" when buying the property and soon found themselves not able to make payments.

WKHQ vs. WKPK

In 1994, KHQ and 1270, now Talk station WMKT, was sold to Trish MacDonald-Garber, who owned WMBN 1340 and WLXT 96.3, aka Lite 96. With the ownership change, MacDonald-Garber transitioned KHQ to more of a Hot AC, causing rival 106.7 The Peak to boost their teenage audience even further. KHQ's liners would blast The Peak for being "the rap station", while The Peak's liners would blast KHQ for being too corny. As a result, by the late 1990s, KHQ would be a full-blown CHR again, but in the interim, WKPK became the dominant CHR signal and the #1 station in most areas that KHQ had once "owned".

In 2000, 106.7 The Peak flipped to Hot AC, leaving KHQ all to itself in the CHR arena. With the format all to itself, KHQ again ventured into Adult CHR territory, with only a limited number of rap tracks. It has been said that part of the reason for this was that in 2001, Williams Chevrolet in Traverse City, one of the station's biggest sponsors, dropped all of their ads because the station played Eminem's "Without Me" early in the morning. The station compromised with the car dealer by only playing rap at night when advertisers weren't making huge buys (and when teenagers were most likely to be listening).

The station's most-recognized personality was long-running morning man Bill "The Captain" Vogel, who hosted the station's morning show from 1980 to 2001 (and had worked at KHQ's predecessor, WVOY-AM, before that). Vogel left KHQ in 2001 to focus on being a talk radio host on the Michigan Talk Radio Network (MTRN), only to quit due to the network's money troubles. He now owns a successful voice-over business, where he does network spots for CBS and is the announcer for the FOX sketch comedy show "Mad TV".

WKHQ Today

Today, WKHQ continues as northern Michigan's only CHR station, and continues to enjoy high ratings.

The music on the station has changed through time - at one point you would not hear artists such as Eminem before 7pm, however now Eminem can be heard during the "90's at noon" hour. Other "rap" artists can be heard during the day, either because of the changes in Top 40 radio overall, or a change of the guard within the programming department. Allaccess.com has reported that as of August 18th 2008, Afternoon Jock Lunchbox is now also Program Director. The same article stated that a new Operations Manager would be named in September. [http://www.allaccess.com/]

According to the latest Arbitron rating numbers, the station has made a return to being Northern Michigan's most listened to station, according to Arbitron. The 12+ ratings show it as #2 overall in the market, but the cumulative ratings show WKHQ as a solid #1. [http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRRatings/DetailsPage.aspx?MID=261&RY=2008&RQ=2&MP=0&OTHER=2&MN=Traverse%20City-Petoskey&MS=MI&MR=193&12P=197600&UP=8/14/2008%2012:00:00%20AM&SU=C&BPER=1.0&HPER=1.5&OPER=&NSD=&CE=0]

Sources

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

External links

*FMQ|WKHQ-FM
*FML|WKHQ
*FMARB|WKHQ