WIBM

WIBM

File:Wibm.jpg
City of license	Jackson, Michigan
Branding	ESPN 101.9 FM & 1450 AM
Frequency	1450 kHz
First air date	November 20, 1924
Format	Sports
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)
Affiliations	ESPN Radio
Owner	Jackson Radio Works
Website	espnradio1450.com

WIBM is an ESPN Radio branded Sports Talk 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 W270CJ at 101.9 MHz, and on WKHM-FM HD-3.

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, 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 will be available on AM station 1450 and FM station 101.9.

References

• Michiguide.com - WIBM History
• MLive - WIBM History
• Broadcasting Yearbook 1938, 1943

External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for WIBM
• Radio-Locator Information on WIBM
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WIBM