WIBM

WIBM
City Jackson, Michigan
Branding 95.9 The Power Cow
Frequency 1450 kHz
(also on HD Radio via WKHM-FM-105.3 HD2)
Translator(s) 95.9 W240DG (Jackson)
First air date November 20, 1924
Format Country
Power 810 watts
Class C
Facility ID 9248
Former callsigns WCXI (3/29/94-12/8/95)
WIBM (4/8/87-3/29/94)
WXCM (6/25/80-4/8/87)
Owner Jackson Radio Works
Webcast Listen Live
Website 959thepowercow.com

WIBM is a country music station in Jackson, Michigan. The station broadcasts at 1450 kHz on the AM dial. Jackson Radio Works owns the station along with news/talk WKHM-AM 970 and hot AC WKHM-FM "K105.3". WIBM-AM's programming is also available on FM via translator W240DG at 95.9 MHz, and on WKHM-FM HD-2.

The WIBM call letters were assigned to Jackson, Michigan no later than 1930. Prior to that, the same call letters were assigned to a portable transmitter in Chicago (1926-28). (They were assigned in order of availability, and have nothing to do with IBM. However, in later years, when the station played Top 40 music, they printed record surveys resembling an IBM keypunch card.)

WIBM began broadcasting on November 20, 1924,[1] from the 9th floor of the Blake Building (then known as the Reynolds Building). After several more moves the station began operating out of studios at 2511 Kibby Road in September 1948.

WIBM operated on 1370 kHz until 1941 when it moved to the current 1450 kHz.

Jack Paar, future host of The Tonight Show, was a part-time announcer at the station during the mid-1930s. Another WIBM notable is broadcast consultant Bill Hennes, afternoon drive personality on WIBM during the early 1960s.

In the 1960s and 1970s, WIBM served as the Jackson area's Top 40 music station. Casey Kasem's American Top 40 was heard on WIBM throughout the 1970s.

In 1980, WIBM moved its Top 40 format to its FM sister at 94.1 (now WWDK and no longer co-owned), and the AM station became WXCM with a country music format which continued until 1987, when the station went back to the heritage WIBM calls and became a simulcast of 94.1 WIBM-FM, which by then had an oldies format.

In 1994, WIBM-AM was purchased by Cascades Broadcasting, then owners of WKHM-AM/FM, changed its calls to WCXI and returned to a country format; the WIBM calls returned once again the following year. In 1997 the station picked up the soft AC/easy listening format from sister WKHM-FM after the FM changed to an adult CHR format as "K105.3." WIBM-AM was known as "Easy Relaxed 1450 AM" until adopting the current ESPN Radio sports format in March 1999.

In 2014, WIBM became available on AM station 1450 and FM station 101.9.[2]

One of WIBM's most popular shows on ESPN Radio 101.9FM is "The Nooner" with Greg O'Connor. O'Connor, affectionately known as the GOC, has been hosting his afternoon sports show on WIBM since 2000. [3]

On June 30, 2016 WIBM changed their format from sports (which remains on WKHM-HD3 and W270CJ) to country, branded as "95.9 The Power Cow", simulcast on WKHM-HD2 and translator W240DG 95.9 FM Jackson.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1958, 1959, 1960
  2. ↑ Coming Soon! - WIBM & WKHM
  3. ↑ "Tom and Greg O'Connor, who combined have broadcast on Jackson's airwaves for more than 55 years, named winners of 2010 Al Cotton Award". MLive.com. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  4. ↑ Power Cow Charges Into Jackson, MI Radioinsight - June 30, 2016

Coordinates: 42°13′55″N 84°22′06″W / 42.23194°N 84.36833°W / 42.23194; -84.36833


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