Harman Patil (Editor)

WSUE

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Branding
  
Rock 101

First air date
  
1978

Frequency
  
101.3 MHz

City
  
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Broadcast area
  
Sault Ste. Marie (MI-ON)

Slogan
  
The Sault's Rock Station

WSUE is a radio station in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, broadcasting at 101.3 FM. Currently owned by Sovereign Communications, the station broadcasts an album-oriented rock (AOR) format with the brand name Rock 101. WSUE features a similar brand identity and playlist as Sovereign Communications' other rock stations in the Upper Peninsula, WUPK in Marquette and WIMK in Iron Mountain, and since 2010, is the only FM rock radio station directly serving Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula or Ontario's Algoma District.

WSUE launched in 1978 as a middle of the road station owned by the Miami County Broadcasting Company. The station was sold to Fabiano-Strickler Communications in 1981, who operated it as a country and later adult contemporary station until switching to its current album-oriented rock format in 1989. The station was sold, along with AM sister station WSOO, to Sovereign Communications in 2003.

WSUE is easily heard in both the Eastern Upper Peninsula and in the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario market, due to its proximity to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. As a result, WSUE covers and advertises bands, concerts, and events in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario frequently. The station can be heard throughout much of the Central Algoma region of Ontario, and can be heard into the Lower Peninsula of Michigan as far south as Cheboygan, Michigan and surrounding areas. Though WSUE has had no direct competition in the Sault Ste. Marie radio market since 2010, Cheboygan mainstream rock station WGFM does get reception in much of WSUE's coverage area, as do some Northern Michigan classic rock stations.

WSUE is the current radio home for regular season & playoff games of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League, who are based across the border in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Nationally syndicated programming on WSUE includes rock radio programs Eddie Trunk Rocks, In the Studio with Redbeard, and Time Warp with Bill St. James, as well as The Chop Shop & The Core, which are both syndicated from Detroit rock station WRIF. Locally produced programming includes Scott & Brian in the Morning on weekday mornings and The Hair Scare on Saturday nights.

Current on-air talent includes program hosts Scott Cook (also a DJ at sister station WYSS) & Brian Davie, DJs Allison "Alli J" Miller and Mark SanAngelo (both also on-air talent at WNBY-FM and WMKD), chief meteorologist Karl Bohnak (who also serves the same duties at other Sovereign stations), and Soo Greyhounds play-by-play announcer Gerry Liscumb, Jr. Pre-recorded bumpers from Nikki "At Night" Peterson (an on-air personality at WUPK & WIMK) and former DJ/producer John Delise are used during the station's nighttime timeslots, while WSOO DJ John Bell provides news reports during Scott & Brian in The Morning. Current Sault Ste. Marie City Commissioner Ray Bauer is among WSUE's former DJs, while former Sovereign Communications vice president Tom Ewing was the station's long time news anchor.

References

WSUE Wikipedia