The Ludington Torch
Out With the Old Radio Station WKLA, In With the New
WKLA to Officially Move to Thompsonville, WLDN to Officially Move to Ludington
Back in August, Synergy Broadcasting, operators of numerous radio stations in the area, declared in a filing with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) the intention to move the WKLA-FM franchise from Ludington to Thompsonville, a small community marginally bigger than Custer, situated in the hinterlands between Manistee and Traverse City.
To take up the vacuum created by moving the area's oldest radio station 70 miles north-northeast, they also declared WLDN, the news talk radio station recently set-up by Synergy officially operating out of Pentwater, would officially move to Ludington. Here was that filing.
In May 2012, Synergy purchased the franchises of WKLA-AM and FM, along with WKZC-FM and WMLQ-FM (Coast FM). Synergy also operated WWKR-FM (K-Rock) and WLDN-FM, which was a start-up franchise at that point. WKLA-FM was started in the early 1970s and is the area’s oldest FM radio station.
Synergy owner, Todd Mohr, said at the time that WKLA was technically not going to move, but that this would be a 'technical facility realignment', a switcheroo effectively keeping one Synergy station in the Ludington area.
“WKLA isn’t actually being moved, it will simply be moved to a different frequency on the dial,” Mohr said. “This is part of a technical facility realignment and will not occur for a year or two. WKLA will remain right here in Ludington, reported the Mason County Press.
Well, the moves have recently been officially recognized by the FCC on December 12, and although WKLA-FM will still have their brick and mortar business behind our Ludington's McDonald's at the Synergy headquarters, they will broadcast out of a tower in Buckley, Michigan, even farther north than Thompsonville, as seen in this FCC document recently updated (and misnamed as Buckeye, Michigan). Administratively, they may have not moved but their tower sure has, as has their listening area.
WLDN, on that very same day, officially got licensed in Ludington, moving from Pentwater (WLDN stats). This is more appropriate, since their tower is at the corner of Inman and Bradshaw Roads in Pere Marquette Township, and a logical move since their call letters now match the City they are in.
WMOM, now becomes the oldest FM station in the Ludington area, the only one independent of the Synergy Group, and whose offices are located in the city limits, but ironically have their tower in the Pentwater area, inside Mason County.
How do you feel about the loss of WKLA-FM to our area, and do you think WLDN-FM is a good replacement for it?
XLFD
I checked back in on this move and found the probable coverage area for the new as-licensed WKLA-FM to-be:
On a good day you should be able to still hear WKLA-FM in northeastern Mason County
Jan 17, 2014
Fred
My Grandfather helped put together WKLA AM with Mr. Ashbauker all thoes years ago to me it is sad to see WKLA leave Ludington. I spent a lot of my summers there and each morning we would listen to the local news weather music obituary report and of course the birthay roll call. What has happened to local radio in the last 2 decades is very sad, when I graduated from Specs Howard in 1985 Northern Michigan Radio was a great place to start your career a chance to do all the jobs and cut your teeth. Now Northern Michigan Radio is either a network of stations simulcasting or stations that get everything off the bird.
Mar 11, 2014
AQUAMAN
Well said both Willy and X. Having limited TV and radio stations was the norm in the old days. And they were both free to all citizens with a radio/tv and antenna. I still favor that concept and ability to have communications. The new way, with many more options, is to pay for XFM serious radio, and of course dish/cable. That's even better, if you want to and can afford it. What I don't like is the concept of being forced to pay to get any communication device to receive a signal. Not everyone can or wants to pay $100/month for receiving their news and tv station. EyE simply states that people that can't afford the luxury of these expensive notions are living in the past. That's a false prophet of information way of thinking imho. If people can't afford that luxury, or simply don't want another $100/month bill to pay, don't they deserve the old alternative? EyE's way of thinking says NO, we have to pay to watch/listen. I guess when a person is down on their luck, they should either have the government sponsor their communications choices, or just go without them. That idea sounds real modern, but it's pure socialism in the making. If free choices become extinct, then this will be the only alternative for most of the poor. And that leads us back to the same false notion that Obamacare has of recent taken us, the workers paying for the non-workers to be equal. I'm pretty sure that the "EyE on Ludington" forum wasn't free on the net, thus, EyE's lack of funding and donations made it bankrupt, not to mention the bankrupt threads that nobody liked either.
Mar 13, 2014