# WMKC

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For the airport serving Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia assigned the ICAO code WMKC, see [Sultan Ismail Petra Airport](/source/Sultan_Ismail_Petra_Airport).

Radio station in Indian River, Michigan, United States

WMKC Indian River, Michigan United States Broadcast area Petoskey, Michigan Frequency 102.9 MHz Branding Big Country 102.9 Programming Format Country Ownership Owner Black Diamond Broadcast Holdings, LLC. Sister stations WCBY, WCHY, WGFE, WGFM, WGFN, WWMK, WTWS, WUPS History First air date January 1982 Former call signs WIDG (9/1/81-12/16/81, CP) Call sign meaning MacKinaC Technical information[1] Licensing authority FCC Facility ID 42141 Class C0 ERP 100,000 watts HAAT 336 meters Links Public license information Public file LMS Webcast Listen Live Website 1029bigcountry.com

**WMKC** (102.9 [FM](/source/FM_broadcasting)) is a [radio station](/source/Radio_station) licensed to [Indian River, Michigan](/source/Indian_River%2C_Michigan). It airs a [country music](/source/Country_music) format called Big Country 102.9. The station is owned by Black Diamond Broadcast Holdings, LLC.

## History: A Dentist's Dream

### Beginnings

WMKC ("MacKinaC"), owned by Mighty-Mac Broadcasting Corp., signed on in January 1982 by a [Lansing](/source/Lansing%2C_Michigan) dentist, [Donald "Doc" Benson](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Donald_%22Doc%22_Benson&action=edit&redlink=1). Benson loved country music and wanted northern Michigan to have a [WITL](/source/WITL-FM) clone for when he traveled up north. He already owned an AM in [St. Ignace](/source/St._Ignace%2C_Michigan), [WIDG](/source/WIDG) ("Widge By The (Mackinac) Bridge") 940. WIDG aired various formats, but usually was [MOR](/source/Middle_of_the_road_(music)). In December 1979 Doc Benson closed WIDG with a "dark" license until April 12, 1981. He had to bring WIDG-AM back on in order to continue the CP for WIDG-FM. Initially the station was to be WIDG-FM and be automated and be called "Big Country-102 FM." TM Programming was hired to consult the station; they felt that the "Big Country" name was too "hickish" and insisted on something "slicker." General Manager Rick Stone held a "name the FM" contest in which the winner would win a [Big Mac](/source/Big_Mac) sandwich from [McDonald's](/source/McDonald's). Joe Raica came up with WMKC, for "MacKinaC", the county of license. The station went on the air in February 1982 with Steve Cook as morning host, Chuck LaTour as News Director, Greg Salo mid-days, Tim O'Brien (Ahlborn) (also Program Director and assistant manager - later General Manager several times) afternoons and Joe Raica evenings.

### WMKC in the 1980s

When WMKC signed on, they were known as "103-WMKC", playing an automated country format (TM Country). Mornings were live with the rest of the day voicetracked. Legend has it that Benson, although a huge country fan, hated songs that dealt with immoral issues. It has been reported, for example, that Benson would order his staff to edit "[Dueling Banjos](/source/Dueling_Banjos)" by [Eric Weissberg](/source/Eric_Weissberg) and [Steve Mandell](/source/Steve_Mandell) out of the TM reels with a razor blade and a marker because of the song's association with a movie (1972's [Deliverance](/source/Deliverance)) featuring [sodomy](/source/Sodomy); however, the staffers sometimes reportedly slipped the song in anyway just for laughs.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

In 1985, the station's logo changed to "KC-103." Doc attempted to capitalize on his love for WITL and tried to get the staff to say "KCing while you work" since WITL said "Witl ["Whittle", like "Whistle"] [while you work](/source/Whistle_While_You_Work) The "KC-ing while you work" was never used on the air unless done sarcastically." [*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

In 1987 the station dropped voice-tracking and added live announcers, but still used reel-to-reel music (TM had become TM-Century, then bought Drake-Chenault, so a variety of program consultants and services were used). WIDG changed to WLVM "We Love Michigan" and TM Programming's TM-OR [middle of the road](/source/Middle_of_the_road_(music)) and [nostalgia](/source/Adult_standards) format. In 1985, the format, which Doc Benson reportedly hated, was dropped, and WIDG calls returned.

In 1985 Doc obtained the CP (Construction Permit) for a new FM in Cadillac at 107.1 [Cadillac, MI](/source/Cadillac%2C_MI). Cadillac previously had a [WITW](/source/WLXV) and Doc reportedly believed he could capitalize on the "good will" of the other station's calls and came up with WYTW. It was called Y-107 and ran satellite [adult contemporary](/source/Adult_contemporary) music for a short period, but the station was unable to make enough money to pay its expenses. In 1989 WYTW changed to [WCKC](/source/WCKC) ("Cadillac KC Country") and simulcast with WMKC and WIDG (which he wouldn't allow to be changed to WMKC-AM).

### The 1990s to today

In 1990 a new tower location for WMKC was obtained, moving the stick from Saint Ignace to north of Harbor Springs. The new signal covered much more territory, but lost Sault Ste. Marie (hence the later purchase by Northern Star of WMKD), and because of the new counties added, lost ABC News and Paul Harvey from the station.

In 1996, Benson retired, selling WMKC, alongside WCKC and WIDG, to Straits area broadcast legend Del Reynolds. He would maintain KC Country, although he would change the Cadillac station to a simulcast of his classic rock station, WGFM/[WGFN](/source/WGFN). Benson died on May 27, 2005.

In 1998, Reynolds sold his assets to Calibre Communications, which had big plans for their newly acquired stations. WGFN became The Bear, retaining their [classic rock](/source/Classic_rock) format but adding [Bob and Tom](/source/Bob_and_Tom) for mornings, [smooth jazz](/source/Smooth_jazz) [WJZJ](/source/WGFE) became The Zone, playing watered-down automated [alternative rock](/source/Alternative_rock), and KC Country gave way to K-Garth, stunting with all [Garth Brooks](/source/Garth_Brooks) music.

Shortly after the K-Garth stunt, 102.9 brought back its regular country format, only as Big Country 102.9. The station's airstaff was canned, only allowing for one DJ, a morning man. Eventually, WMKC brought back a full-time airstaff, though mornings (Young & Verna) and nights (Lia) are syndicated.

The KC Country name did live on for a while as WIDG flipped from satellite-fed [oldies](/source/Oldies) "Cool 940" to satellite-fed [classic country](/source/Classic_country) as "Classic KC Country". After just over one year, the station flipped to [Sporting News Radio](/source/Sporting_News_Radio) (formerly One-on-One Sports) as "The Fan".

In 1998, the sale between Calibre and Reynolds failed, and a new company, Northern Star, was formed to take over the stations.

In early 2008, WMKC changed its city of license from St. Ignace to the small [Cheboygan County](/source/Cheboygan_County%2C_Michigan) community of Indian River. Some have suggested that an Upper Peninsula city of license made the station unpalatable to listeners and advertisers in the northern Lower Peninsula, and that the change in city of license takes WMKC one step closer to being a "Traverse City" station. WIDG-AM remains licensed to St. Ignace but is no longer co-owned, now airing [Catholic](/source/Roman_Catholicism) programming.

WMKC has also recently reimaged itself as "102.9 Big Country Hits," a reference to sister station [WLJZ](/source/WSBX_(FM)) 94.5 FM's format change to [classic country](/source/Classic_country) as "Big Country Gold." "Big Country Gold" programming is now heard on [WCBY](/source/WCBY) 1240 AM, while WLJZ (now WSBX) now plays classic rock.

## WAVC

From 2001 to April 2010, WMKC programming was also simulcast on WAVC 93.9 FM licensed to [Mio, Michigan](/source/Mio%2C_Michigan). That station is now a simulcast of classic-rock formatted sister station [WGFN](/source/WGFN) 98.1 FM ("The Bear"), leaving WMKC as the sole "Big Country" outlet.

## Previous logos

## WMKD

See also: [WMKD](/source/WMKD)

## References

- [Michiguide.com - WMKC History](http://www.michiguide.com/dials/rad-m/wmkc.html)

- [Obituary for Donald "Doc" Benson](http://www.stignacenews.com/news/2005-06-02/Obits/088.html)

## External links

- [Facility details for Facility ID 42141 (WMKC)](https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityDetails.html?facilityId=42141) in the [FCC](/source/Federal_Communications_Commission) Licensing and Management System

- [WMKC](https://www1.arbitron.com/sip/displaySip.do?surveyID=SP26&band=fm&callLetter=WMKC) in [Nielsen Audio](/source/Nielsen_Audio)'s FM station database

v t e Radio stations in Northwest Michigan This region includes the following cities: Traverse City Petoskey Cadillac By AM frequency 530 580 940 1110 1210 1240 WATT WCBY 1270 1310 1340 1370 1400 1610 By FM frequency 88.1 88.3 88.7 89.3 89.9 90.5 90.7 90.9 91.1 91.3 91.5 91.7 91.9 92.3 92.5 92.9 93.5 93.7 94.3 94.5 95.3 95.5 95.9 96.3 96.7 97.5 97.7 98.1 98.9 99.3 100.3 100.9 101.9 102.9 103.5 103.9 104.5 104.9 105.1 105.5 105.9 106.3 WJML WWMK 106.7 107.1 107.5 107.9 WCDY WLJN-FM LPFM 100.1 Translators 92.1 94.7 95.1 97.1 98.3 99.7 100.7 W264CF W264DQ 101.1 102.1 102.3 102.5 103.3 104.1 104.7 106.1 By call sign W221CA W234BU W236BU W246CW W252DA W259AH W264CF W264DQ W266CS W271AG W272CR W273CR W277DY W281CG W284DF W291DE WAIR WATT WAWM WBCM WBLW WBNZ WCBY WCCW WCCW-FM WCDY WCHY WCML-FM WCMV-FM WCMW-FM WFDX WGCP WGFE WGFM WGFN WIAA WICA WIDG WJML WJNL WJOG WJZQ WKAD WKHQ-FM WNHC787 WKLT WLDR-FM WLJD WLJN WLJN-FM WLJW WLJW-FM WLLS WLXT WLXV WMBN WMKC WMKT WNMC-FM WOLW WPHN WQHN WQON WSBX WSRJ WSRT WTCK WTCM WTCM-FM WTCY WTLI WVBI-LP WWMK WWMN WWSS WZTC Defunct WOUF (750 AM) Radio stations in Northern Michigan Alpena-Tawas City Ludington-Manistee Traverse City-Petoskey-Cadillac Other nearby regions Door County North Central Michigan Sault Ste. Marie–Newberry See also List of radio stations in Michigan

v t e Country radio stations in the state of Michigan Country Adrian WQTE Alpena WATZ-FM Ann Arbor WWWW-FM Bad Axe WLEW Big Rapids WWBR Bridgman WRRA-FM Constantine/South Bend IN WGNC-FM Detroit WYCD Escanaba WYKX Flint WFBE Grand Rapids WBCT WTNR Gulliver/Manistique WCMM Harbor Beach WCZE Hastings WBCH-FM Hemlock/Saginaw WCEN-FM Hillsdale WCSR Houghton WHKB Houghton Lake WTWS Indian River/Petoskey WMKC Iron Mountain WJNR-FM Ishpeming/Marquette WJPD Jackson WIBM Kalamazoo/Battle Creek WNWN L'Anse WCUP Lansing WITL-FM Marlette WBGV Marquette WFXD Menominee/Marinette WI WLST Mundy Township WMRP-LP Muskegon WMUS Ontonagon WUPY Port Huron WSAQ Rogers City WRGZ Saginaw/Bay City WKCQ Sandusky WMIC Sault Ste. Marie WMKD Scottville WKZC Tawas City WKJC Three Rivers WRCI Traverse City WTCM-FM Classic country Caro WKYO Cheboyban WCBY Gaylord WSRT Gladwin WGDN-FM Grand Rapids WYGR Iron River WFER Ironwood WJMS Jackson/Lansing WWDK Luna Pier WMIM Manistique WTIQ Newberry WNBY Otsego WAKV Republic/Marquette WUPG Shepherd/Mt. Pleasant WMMI Stephenson/Escanaba WGMV Defunct St. Louis/Alma WMLM Whitehall WLAW-AM WLAW-FM See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Michigan

[45°30′08″N 85°01′44″W / 45.5022°N 85.0289°W / 45.5022; -85.0289](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=WMKC&params=45.5022_N_85.0289_W_type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FCC-LMS-42141_1-0)** ["Facility Technical Data for WMKC"](https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityTechDetails.html?facilityId=42141). *Licensing and Management System*. [Federal Communications Commission](/source/Federal_Communications_Commission).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [WMKC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WMKC) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WMKC?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.