WTKG
WTKG is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk/sports format. Licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, and now owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., Previous to adopting the current calls and format in 1997, the station played country under the WJEF and WCUZ calls.
History
The station began as WJEF on February 8, 1945, with studios located on the 10th floor of the Pantlind Hotel in Downtown Grand Rapids. Its power at that time was 250 Watts. It would be Grand Rapids' third radio station, after WOOD and WLAV. WJEF was a sister station to WKZO in Kalamazoo; both stations were owned by John Fetzer. In 1951, WJEF would gain an FM sister station in WJEF-FM 93.7.The AM station was sold to Pathfinder Communications in 1973 and would take on the WCUZ call sign on June 18, 1973. WCUZ, and later WCUZ-FM, would be Grand Rapids' only country music station until 1992 when WBCT ended WCUZ's hold on the Grand Rapids country music radio audience. During the early 1980s the station would begin broadcasting in AM stereo with the Magnavox system. However AM Stereo broadcasting would end when the Motorola C-QUAM standard won out.
In 1992 WCUZ's former sister station WJFM would also be sold by Fetzer Broadcasting. WJFM flipped to a country format as WBCT and went head to head with WCUZ. In the end WBCT would win out, likely due to the facts that WBCT has a grandfathered 320,000 watt superpower signal and because they targeted the younger generation of listeners recently discovering country music.