WTCM (AM)
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| City | Traverse City, Michigan |
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| Broadcast area | Traverse City-Petoskey |
| Branding | NewsTalk 580 |
| Slogan | 50,000 watts of News, Talk, and Information |
| Frequency | 580 kHz |
| First air date | January 8, 1941 |
| Format | News/Talk/Sports |
| Power | 50,000 watts (Daytime) 1,100 watts (Nighttime) |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 70524 |
| Callsign meaning | W Traverse City, Michigan |
| Former frequencies | 1370 (01/1941-03/1941) 1400 (03/1941-1982) |
| Affiliations | Michigan IMG Sports Network |
| Owner | Midwestern Broadcasting Company |
| Sister stations | WATZ-FM, WBCM, WCCW, WCCW-FM, WJZQ, WRGZ, WTCM-FM, WZTK |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wtcmradio.com |
WTCM is an AM radio station broadcasting in Traverse City, Michigan, operating on 580 kHz. The two stations are owned by Midwestern Broadcasting, which started WTCM in 1941. Today, WTCM, along with sister WTCM-FM is at or near the top of the Arbitron ratings, and are part of a dying breed of family-owned-and-operated radio stations.
WTCM has a news/talk format, carrying syndicated talk shows hosted by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Allen Hunt, and Red Eye Radio, plus local talk hosts Ron Jolly, Colleen Wares, Bill Froehlich, Christal Frost, and Norm Jones. It is an affiliate of ABC Radio.
In 1939, WTCM founder Les Biederman and several of his friends - engineer Bill Kiker and financier Drew McClay among others - wanted to start a radio station, but in an undeveloped radio market. They decided that Traverse City, Michigan was a city destined for growth and had no local radio station, so Biederman and Kiker moved to the city and built the 250-watt transmitter that would be Traverse City's first radio station.
Traverse City "looked like three main streets with false front stores crowded against each other, all built around 1890 and hardly updated since," according to Les.
WTCM initially broadcast from a small studio at the base of the tower on Morgan ("Radio") Hill, west of town. The WTCM control console was hand built by Biederman and Kiker, and served the station from 1940 until its replacement around 1980.
When WTCM signed on in 1941, it was a local channel station at 1370 kc. briefly before moving to 1400 kc on March 29, 1941, due to NARBA. The station was licensed to broadcast 24 hours at 250 watts, but only broadcast from 6 AM to 11 PM. WTCM was an NBC affiliate and like most radio stations at the time, aired block programming - some local shows, network shows, music programs, etc.
They soon outgrew the tiny studio and moved to the Anderson Building in the 100 block of downtown Traverse City in the mid-1940s. Long-time Midwestern employees Kenn Haven and Merlin Dumbrille began working there in the 1940s.
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Wikipedia