WSRT
| City |
WSRT: Gaylord, Michigan WSRJ: Honor, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
WSRT: Petoskey, Michigan WSRJ: Traverse City, Michigan |
| Branding | ESPN Radio Northern Michigan |
| Frequency |
WSRT: 106.7 MHz WSRJ: 105.5 MHz |
| First air date |
WSRT: 1972 WSRJ: January, 2002 |
| Format | Sports |
| ERP |
WSRT: 100,000 watts WSRJ: 17,000 watts |
| HAAT |
WSRT: 177 meters WSRJ: 112 meters |
| Class |
WSRT: C1 WSRJ: C3 |
| Facility ID |
WSRT: 1159 WSRJ: 82684 |
| Callsign meaning |
WSRT: Soft Rock, Great Talk WSRJ: Soft Rock J |
| Former callsigns |
WSRT: WKPK (10/1/84-9/14/05) WWRM-FM (11/15/82-10/1/84) WWRM (1972-1982) WSRJ: WKVK (1/31/02-9/19/05) WAIR (1/4/99-1/31/02) WIAR (5/22/98-1/4/99) |
| Affiliations | ESPN Radio |
| Owner |
WSRT: Baraga Broadcasting WSRJ: Blarney Stone Broadcasting |
| Sister stations |
WSRT: WGJU, WGZR, WIDG, WTCK, WTCY WSRJ: WFCX, WFDX, WGRY-FM, WKLT, WKLZ-FM, WQON |
| Website | [1] |
WSRT (106.7 FM) is a sports format radio station that broadcasts out of Gaylord, Michigan. The 100,000-watt station is also simulcasted on 105.5 WSRJ Honor/Traverse City. Throughout most of its operational life, it was best known as a CHR/Top 40-formatted station known as WKPK ("The Peak").
The station began in 1972 as WWRM "Warm 107", airing primarily beautiful music, evolving in 1977 into an easy listening format with a mixture of "B/EZ" instrumentals and vocal adult contemporary hits. The station was the brainchild of John DeGroot and Glen Catt, the founder of the Glen's Market supermarket chain. The station's first studio was located on the second floor of the Glen's Market in Gaylord.
DeGroot bought Catt out, however, and in 1984 he switched the format and changed the call letters from WWRM to WKPK in an attempt to go head-on with the highly successful WKHQ. The new station called itself "107 The Peak" (later modified to "106.7 The Peak" to reflect the increasing prevalence of radios with digital readout).
Throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s, KHQ and The Peak would butt heads in the ratings, mainly due to the two being so close to each other on the dial. By the early 90's, KHQ was the more-adult station while The Peak, with several countdown shows daily and "Peak It Or Plunge It", a voting show, was the hit for the younger crowd. The Peak frequently also played both alternative-rock and rhythmic tracks that few other CHR stations, even in major markets, would touch, while WKHQ stuck to the proven mainstream hits and played rap hits at night if at all. One memorable liner from this period stated, "If you stop at '106' [referring to the rounded-up dial position of WKHQ, then as now at 105.9 on the FM dial], you haven't reached 'The Peak.' The difference is .7."
In 1996, DeGroot retired from broadcasting and sold The Peak to Northern Broadcasting, the North Dakotan owners of AOR-formatted WKLT and what is now Classic Hits Music Radio The Fox FM. The ownership change allowed the station, to invest in new equipment, including a new studio. New automation equipment allowed the station to run 24/7 without the need of a night disc jockey, which stood in contrast to the operations of the early 1990s when the station would sign-off at 1 a.m. and return to the air at 5 a.m. The music mix also changed slightly, as The Peak became a somewhat more conventional and more mainstream CHR station, though still playing more rhythmic material and being faster on new music than WKHQ.
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