WGVS (AM)
 |
|
| City |
WGVU: Kentwood, MI WGVS: Muskegon, MI |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
WGVU: Grand Rapids, MI WGVS: Muskegon, MI |
| Branding | Real Oldies 1480/850 |
| Slogan | The Way Oldies are Meant to be Heard |
| Frequency |
WGVU: 1480 kHz WGVS: 850 kHz (also on HD Radio) |
| First air date |
WGVU: May 22, 1992 WGVS: 1926 |
| Format | Oldies |
| Power |
WGVU: 2,000 watts (Daytime) 5,000 watts (Nighttime) WGVS: 1,000 watts |
| Class |
WGVU: B WGVS: B |
| Facility ID |
WGVU: 24785 WGVS: 33695 |
| Callsign meaning | Grand Valley State University |
| Former callsigns |
WGVU: (?-7/20/92) WAMX WAFT WMAX WGVS: WKBZ (1926-3/1/99) |
| Affiliations | NPR |
| Owner | Grand Valley State University |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | realoldies1480.org |
WGVU-AM is a radio station that serves the Greater Grand Rapids, Michigan area. The main broadcast frequency is 1480 kHz, which is licensed to Kentwood, Michigan, a Grand Rapids suburb. It is simulcast on WGVS-AM 850 kHz, which is licensed to Muskegon. The station's current format is oldies music. Both WGVU and WGVS are owned and operated by Grand Valley State University, along with WGVU-FM and WGVS-FM (which feature a talk/jazz format). Additionally the station's audio simulcasts on the digital subchannels of WGVU/WGVK on channel 35.4/52.4, which features scrolling television schedules along with visual song/artist information for the radio audio.
WGVU began broadcasting on May 22, 1992. The station since its inception has served as a public broadcaster and is a National Public Radio affiliate, with NPR News on the hour (although the station does not air NPR long-form news programming such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered, which were dropped from the schedule with the format change from news/talk to oldies).
AM 1480 was for many years the home of WMAX, which was in the late 1950s and early 1960s the leading Top 40 music station in Grand Rapids. Afterward the station played mostly middle of the road and adult contemporary music (and briefly used the WAFT calls for a time in the late 1960s), although WMAX did briefly return to a Top 40-style presentation from about 1972 to 1975 as "GOOD MAX MUSIC 1480." The station dropped its music format in January 1976 for a news/talk format. WMAX NEWSRADIO 1480 operated as a locally produced all-news radio format from 1976–1984, with a staff of 11 reporters. Later the station dropped the news/talk format for gospel, then contemporary Christian music. For many years WMAX was the Grand Rapids radio home for Detroit Red Wings hockey. WMAX changed transmitter locations (adding a directional night-time signal) and was reassigned from Grand Rapids to Kentwood in 1984. The station went silent until Grand Valley returned it to the air in 1992.
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