City Sandusky, Michigan Branding WMIC 660 AM First air date June 27, 1968 | Broadcast area [1] (Daytime) Frequency 660 kHz | |
Slogan The Thumb's Information Station | ||
WMIC (660 AM) is a news/talk and country radio station licensed to Sandusky, Michigan. WMIC signed on the air at 1560 kHz on June 27, 1968, and changed its frequency to the current 660 in 1987, serving Sandusky, the Thumb and the Blue Water area of Michigan. Part of WMIC 660's success is mostly due to the large area the station covers. WMIC covers the complete Thumb area of Michigan, unlike any other area station. Also, WMIC can be heard from both sides of Lake Huron, Standish and Oscoda to the west, and London, Ontario to the east. On clear weather days, the station can be heard as far away as Roscommon, Ann Arbor, and Lansing.
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WMIC has two co-owned FM sister stations, Light and Easy Listening 97.7 WTGV-FM and Country 92.5 WBGV; the stations are locally owned and operated by Sanilac Broadcasting.
WMIC carries 1,000 watts operating during the day only. The station signs off between sunset and sunrise to protect WFAN New York, a 50,000 watt clear channel radio station. In the late evenings and early mornings, they interfere with each other.
History
WMIC was first granted a construction permit to operate at 1560 kHz on May 10, 1965, and at a thousand watts maximum power. The station was authorized to operate only from sunrise to sunset, protecting WQXR. Transmitter facilities were constructed along Cooper Road near M-19, about a mile and a half south of Sandusky. Shortly before sign-on, the station set up studios at 19 South Elk Street in downtown Sandusky [2].
The call letters were assigned that October. Unforeseen delays resulted in extensions being granted, pushing its actual sign-on date to 1968. Prior to sign-on, the station was granted pre-sunrise authority of 500 watts, which allowed it to sign on two hours before local sunrise, keeping its sign-on time consistent to 6:00am daily.
In 1969, George Benko, a Croswell resident, bought into Sanilac Broadcasting Company. He and his family still control the station today.
In 1971, WMIC-FM signed on the air, giving Sandusky radio listeners local service after sunset, but this would change six years later, when both entities would separate programming and WMIC-FM would become WTGV.
In 1987, WMIC moved to the stronger dial position of 660 kHz, but retained its same power values and daytime-only status.
Programming
WMIC has faced tough competition in the Thumb Area Radio Region, due to its full service format. WLEW in Bad Axe also features a show similar to "Swap Shop", and features a more music-intensive country format. WPHM in Port Huron carries a news/talk format, including Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, as well a morning show similar to WMIC's. WPHM is also on the air 24 hours a day allowing them to carry Coast to Coast AM. Larger FM country stations, like WKCQ in Saginaw and WSAQ in Port Huron provide competition. Nevertheless, WMIC has still found an audience of loyal listeners.