WTKA
 |
|
| City | Ann Arbor, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
[1] (Daytime) [2] (Nighttime) |
| Branding | Sports Talk 1050 WTKA |
| Slogan | The Leaders and Best |
| Frequency | 1050 kHz |
| First air date | 1945 |
| Format | Sports |
| Power | 10,000 watts (Daytime) 500 watts (Nighttime) |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 47116 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 42°08′46″N 83°39′36″W / 42.14611°N 83.66000°W |
| Callsign meaning | The TalK of Ann Arbor |
| Former callsigns | WPZA (12/87-2/93) WPAG (1945-12/87) |
| Affiliations |
CBS Sports Radio Michigan IMG Sports Network |
| Owner |
Cumulus Broadcasting (Cumulus Licensing LLC) |
| Sister stations | WLBY, WQKL, WWWW-FM |
| Website | wtka.com |
WTKA is a radio station located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that broadcasts on 1050 AM. Day power is 10 kW, night power is 500 W. The station covers most of southeast Michigan.
First on-air as WPAG in 1945, the station was the first licensed to Washtenaw County, with studios on the third floor of the Hutzel Building, at the corner of Main at Liberty Streets in Ann Arbor. (Currently, a digital service called A3 Radio netcasts from the old WPAG studios.) Owned by brothers Paul and Art Greene, the call letters WPAG were selected to reflect their names. (For many years there was a ladies lingerie and apparel store down on the Hutzel Building's first floor, which caused long-time University of Michigan football broadcaster Bob Ufer to joke that WPAG really stood for "Women's Panties And Girdles".) WPAG also briefly operated a television outlet, WPAG-TV on channel 20 in the 1950s.
In the 1960s, WPAG was one of several stations in the Ann Arbor featuring Top 40 musical fare. One of its most popular personalities was Dave Pringle, who later became a fixture on Detroit radio on various stations under the name "Dave Prince" (he adopted the name because Billboard magazine misprinted his name as "Dave Prince" instead of "Dave Pringle" in one issue, and he thought "Prince" sounded better). The station is also notable for being possibly the first to play Bob Seger; in 1961, Seger convinced the station to play a demo of "The Lonely One," a song he had recorded with his group at the time, the Decibels.
By 1970, WPAG had transitioned to a full-service format featuring MOR/adult contemporary music. The station remained successful until the late 1970s, when a recession led to declining business and forced the laying off of several employees. An early 1980s change to a satellite-delivered big band/nostalgia format garnered the station increased audience, but from advertiser-unfriendly older demographics. After a return to the station's longtime AC format proved unsuccessful, WPAG made a switch to country music after Christmas of 1985. The new "1050 Country", consulted by Ed Buchanan of Grand Rapids' successful WCUZ, was intended as a cosmopolitan variant of the country format for Ann Arbor and mixed in compatible soft rock titles by artists such as Bob Seger and Crosby, Stills and Nash alongside current and classic country hits.
...
Wikipedia