WILS
FCC | |
Facility ID | 39537 |
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Class | B |
Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 42°37′19″N 84°38′38″W / 42.62194°N 84.64389°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | 1320wils.com |
WILS (1320
WILS is powered at 25,000
Programming
WILS is home to the locally produced "Morning Wakeup with Mike Austin". It is heard weekdays, focusing on local issues and politics. The program was formerly hosted by Dave Akerly.
WILS's talk radio rival is Townsquare Media's WJIM (1240 AM), also licensed to Lansing. WJIM was WILS's main competitor when both were Top 40 stations in the 1960s and 1970s. Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck aired on WJIM prior to 2013, with both shows now on the WILS schedule.
History
Early years
WILS
In March 1950, the station moved to 1320 AM.[5] It increased power to 1,000 watts with a directional antenna array located at 600 W. Cavanaugh Road. In 1952, the Federal Communications Commission granted WILS another increase in its power, this time to 5,000 watts daytime and 1,000 watts nighttime, using separate directional arrays. In 1966, the studios were moved from downtown to the Cavanaugh Road site, where they remain today.[4]
TV stations
The Lansing Broadcasting Company, original owners of WILS, made two attempts to enter the world of television. The first was an unsuccessful UHF station, WILS-TV, which began broadcasts in 1953. A year later, the company leased it to another group, under which it operated as WTOM-TV until its 1956 demise. By that time, WILS was chasing a VHF allotment to Parma and Onondaga, proposing to share time with a station to be run by Michigan State University.
WILS's second and more successful station, WILX-TV channel 10, went on the air March 15, 1959. It was owned by Jackson Telecasters,[6] a company in which Lansing Broadcasting owned a 50 percent stake, along with WJCO radio (AM 1510, now WJKN).
Top 40 era
WILS was a popular
The WILS call sign was also shared with a sister station at 101.7 FM, WILS-FM (now WHZZ). From 1967 to 1972, WILS-AM-FM simulcast a popular Top 40 format. In 1972, WILS-FM flipped to country music. However Jerry Marshall's morning show, which originated on WILS, continued to be heard on WILS-FM as well. Three years later, in 1975, WILS-FM returned to a twelve hour simulcast of the AM station in the daytime, followed by six hours of progressive rock in the evenings and jazz overnight. The rock format was so popular that WILS-FM completely broke away from the AM station in 1978. The station was dubbed Rockradio WILS 101 FM.
Sentry Insurance and Northstar Broadcasting
WILS and WILS-FM were purchased by Sentry Broadcasting, a subsidiary of the
Sentry Insurance made the decision to divest their radio properties in 1986, leading to the sale of WILS and WILS-FM to Lansing-based Northstar Broadcasting in the fall of that year. WILS switched to an
WILS became the first 24-hour urban contemporary station in the Lansing market as then-competitor WXLA was limited to daytime-only operation. The urban format proved to be a success and continued until 1992, shortly after WXLA launched a sister FM station, WQHH, with a competing urban contemporary format. WQHH proved to be a significant competitor with its FM stereo signal, leading to the eventual end of the urban format on WILS. (WXLA and WQHH would later become sister stations of WILS.)
MacDonald Broadcasting
WILS was purchased by
The station had had this format since the early 1990s and was quite successful in the ratings with it. The Timeless Favorites format moved to sister WXLA after that station was purchased by MacDonald Broadcasting. WILS and WXLA essentially simulcast their programming with separate IDs and imaging until 2006. WILS changed its format to
On January 25, 2008, WILS turned on a new Windsor Township transmitter and became the most powerful AM station in Lansing. The 25,000-watt daytime signal covers much of
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WILS". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ Radio-Locator.com/WILS
- ^ "WILS Lansing Takes Air With 500 W on 1430 Kc" (PDF). Broadcasting. March 3, 1947. p. 36. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ a b FCC History Cards for WILS
- ^ "New Frequency Marks Fourth Year For WILS". The State Journal. March 12, 1950. p. 5:5. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ "WILX-TV Channel 10 Onondaga/Lansing". Station Listings. michiguide.com. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
- ^ "Home". tomotoole.com.
- ^ WLS FM
External links
- WILS in the FCC AM station database
- WILS in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- Michiguide.com - WILS History
- 1320-WILS-AM - More Compelling Talk Radio - Live and Lansing
- FCC History Cards for WILS