& 100.3 frequency 1580 khz translator s 100.3 w262bd dimondale first air date september 23 1959 as wjud format urban contemporary gospel power 1 000 watts daytime 3 watts nighttime class d facility id 74002 callsign meaning st. johns former callsigns wlnz 9 13 85 wgzs 9 2 85 9 13 85 wklh 3 85 9 2 85 wvgo 9 83 3 85 wqtk 5 83 9 83 wkzy 11 82 5 83 wqtk 8 81 11 82 wrbj 8 81 wjud 9 59 owner larry & helen harp wayne & elmira hill webcast listen live website joy1580.com wwsj joy 1580 & 100.3 is an am radio station broadcasting from st. johns michigan on 1580 khz featuring a black gospel format . the station transmits with 1 000 watts during the day using a directional antenna that sends the signal primarily to the north and south including lansing michigan . at night it operates with a mere 3 watts but still manages to cover much of clinton county . in the summer of 2010 wwsj began to simulcast on translator w262bd 100.3 fm licensed to dimondale michigan enabling it to get clearer fm coverage of the lansing area day and night . w262bd operates with 22 watts from a transmitter in the heart of lansing ; despite being licensed to dimondale its primary signal contour does not actually reach dimondale . w262bd is owned by educational media foundation and had previously operated using emf s air 1 format ; although emf continues to own the translator it is being programmed by the owners of wwsj . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 the 1980s bring changes 1.3 into the 90s 2 clinton county radio 3 references 4 external links history edit early history edit the station began operation at 10 am on september 23 1959 as wjud . the original owner was justin f. marzke . in the 1960s it was purchased by robert d. ditmer and began operating under the new callsign of wrbj . in 1972 ditmer added wrbj fm on 92.1 mhz now wqtx . during the time the station was owned by robert ditmer it was a true community station playing a variety of music along with local high school sports news and announcements . the 1980s bring changes edit robert ditmer sold wrbj am and fm to r. charles mclravy in 1981 . mclravy changed the call letters of wrbj am fm to wqtk am fm and implemented a country music format which was simulcast on both stations . am 1580 changed calls again in november 1982 this time to wkzy when the station switched to an mor format as cozy 16 . the format did not last long and by may 1983 the station had reverted to the country music format and also back to the wqtk calls . the station implemented al ham s music of your life format in october 1983 this time adopting the call letters wvgo which had recently been dropped by lansing station wvic . by the spring of 1985 the call station s call letters changed again this time to wklh am simulcasting the country music format of fm sister station wklh fm k 92 . in early 1985 mclravy moved the wklh fm studios to the dewitt shopping center although the wklh am studio and transmitter remained on parks road just south of st. johns . mclravy sold wklh am fm to lansing broadcasting associates in july 1985 and on labor day 1985 the format of fm 92.1 was flipped to album oriented rock . the call letters wgzs were applied for and assigned to am 1580 in anticipation of a christian format but the format never materialized . instead wgzs became a simulcast of aor sister station wlnz fm 92.1 . the wgzs call letters although assigned to the station for a short time were never used on the air . lansing broadcasting associates continued to maintain the am studios on parks road mainly because of an fcc requirement that both the am and fm stations originate 50 % of their news and public affairs programming from the st. johns studio . part time employees were paid to operate the st. johns studio and transmitter . in 1986 robert ditmer repurchased the am station now known as wlnz and changed the call sign to wwsj . the station featured country music talk local news and high school sports . during a portion of this time it went by news radio 1580 and featured syndicated talkers phil donahue church harder and jack ellery . by the mid 1990s the station added time brokered tejano music programming to a portion of its broadcast day . into the 90s edit in february 1995 ditmer sold the station to steve and cheryl evans of dewitt michigan who operated the station under the company name mint city radio . wwsj continued with a mix of country music community information tejano music time brokered and talk programs from the usa radio network . the station dropped the country music portion of its format in favor of oldies on labor day 1995 and was rebranded as am 16 the mint . the evans sold the station back to ditmer in august 1996 . shortly thereafter ditmer resold the station to larry harp helen harp wayne hill and elmira hill and it became joy 1580 playing urban christian music . the station still uses the original studios at the transmitter on parks road just south of st. johns . clinton county radio edit clinton county radio was an internet radio station serving clinton county michigan from june 2004 until september 2007 . the station programmed an oldies format which was based upon the format previously programmed by wwsj and was created by former station co owner steve evans who co operated the station along with former wwsj program director dan drolett . the mission of the station was to provide residents of clinton county with programming and services which were no longer being offered by terrestrial radio stations . the station s url was http www.clintoncountyradio.net . clinton county radio offered in addition to oldies from the 1960s and 70 s local weather daily programs from the u.s.d.a. hourly news from the fsn radio network and later the usa radio network nostalgic radio programs under the title radio s golden days and a locally produced program entitled the michigan oldies podcast . through the use of digital automation the station was able to operate with little if any overhead expense . initially the majority of announcing on the station was handled by evans and drolett but mark walton and bryan mix dean were added as staff announcers in 2006 . both provided their services on a volunteer basis . unlike its terrestrial predecessor wwsj clinton county radio was a non profit operation . dan drolett announced the sale of the internet station and its assets to tony clark of rosebush michigan in early september 2007 . 1 the internet stream ceased operations as clinton county radio at midnight on september 30 2007 . references edit mid michigan newsmakers sep 3 2007 . michiguide . retrieved 20 february 2016 . michiguide.com wwsj history history of clinton county 1980 page 314 external links edit query the fcc s am station database for wwsj radio locator information on wwsj query nielsen audio s am station database for wwsj query the fcc s fm station database for w262bd radio locator information on w262bd v t e radio stations in the lansing east lansing michigan market by am frequency 730 870 1110 1180 1240 1320 1390 1580 by fm frequency 88.1 88.5 88.9 89.7 90.5 90.9 92.1 92.9 93.7 94.1 94.9 95.3 95.9 96.5 97.5 98.3 99.1 99.9 100.3 100.7 101.7 105.7 106.1 106.9 by callsign w215ch w240cg w295bp w252cn wbct wdbm wfmk whzz wils witl fm wjim wjim fm wjom wjxq wlmi wkar wkar fm wlcm wlgh wlnz wmmq wqhh wqtx wsrw fm wunn w260bx wvfn wwdk wwsj w262bd wxla nearby radio markets ann arbor battle creek detroit flint grand rapids kalamazoo north central michigan south central michigan tri cities see also list of radio stations in michigan coordinates 42 58 14 n 84 32 59 w 42.97056 n 84.54972 w 42.97056 ; 84.54972 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wwsj & oldid 719930123 categories radio stations in lansing michiganradio stations established in 1959hidden categories coordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view 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