I'm very surprised that no one has mentioned 99.7 WUGN!

That station can be heard regularly from GR's eastern & northern outlying suburbs, east to the thumb, south to all of greater Lansing, and north to almost Grayling.

For non-grandfathered Class B / C2 signals, I definitely agree with the nomination of WKQZ.
WVIC, WRKR, WBBL-FM and WXYT-FM are four others that rank highly with me from an actual coverage vs. expected coverage standpoint.

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Dave & Chuck are two no-talent hacks.

The terrain around the Tri Cities is flatter than what another board poster and I are convinced that the F(50,50) and F(50,10) curves are based on (50 feet from -1.33 SD to +1.33 SD variation). It is a low flat floodplain. That would probably make the Longley Rice predcition a few dB more than the predicted. But there's no way that a measured field of 70 dBu would reach Saginaw from WKQZ under normal propagation conditions, or WHNN in Holly except maybe during temperature inversions. The most extreme case I can recall is from when WKAR-FM was 125 kW from 900 feet and WFMK was 116 kW from 300 feet, and during a temperature inversion approached what I would estimate was close to 70 dBu at 40 miles.

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"I had a job for a while as an announcer at WWV but I finally quit, because I couldn't stand the hours."

-Author Unknown

another good signal is WUFL 96.7 from Albion, it beats up CHYR In the ann arbor area often, usually if you go west on 94 right after Briarwood mall it starts to do that, or once you get into Downtown Ann Arbor..

does it go to Ontario Often, I know WIOG sometimes does, so does WCZE 103.7.

2kw? 2000 watts? Do your research before posting, 48125er. The facts:

Station Status Licensed Class A [Help] FM Station
Area of Coverage View Coverage Map
Effective Radiated Power 4700 Watts
Height above Avg. Terrain 111 meters (364 feet)
Height above Ground Level 81 meters (266 feet)
Height above Sea Level 375 meters (1230 feet)
Antenna Pattern Directional
Transmitter Location 42° 15' 19" N, 85° 40' 58" W
License Granted December 20 2011
License Expires October 01 2012
Last FCC Update December 20 2011


PLUS... there may be a change, but not in the kw...

Status Construction Permit [Help] for a Class A [Help] FM Station
Area of Coverage View Coverage Map
Effective Radiated Power 4700 Watts
Construction Permit Granted November 15 2010
Construction Permit Expires November 15 2013
Last FCC Update November 15 2010


After looking at both maps, I see hardly any change, with the exception of possibly city grade signal upgrade.


My favorite news director of all time said to me once "Find reliable sources before you break breaking news."

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Note to WGN... bring back Steve Cochran ASAP.

WUGN is a regular in Allendale and can be heard in Muskegon, but north of that on 31, WZDR beats them up.

CFPL used to have a great signal, but CJWF really stole some of that territory. It's still good around Port Huron and Sarnia though.

I'm surprised no one said the obvious for best signal- WJR.


Though it's Rossford/Perrysburg, 1520 WNWT has a good northerly signal for 500 watts. Comes in decent in my car even as far north as Plymouth and Northville.


WLBY goes in the worst pile. Even at their microscopic power levels, they don't seem to get out as far as they should.

another good signal is K-Love from 89.1 from Bay City/Saginaw, totally forgot about that one.


heres the the best am signals

WFDF 910-Detroit 50kw
CKLW 800 Windsor 50kw
WJR 760 Detroit 50kw
WWJ 950- Detroit 50kw
WLW 700- Cincinnati 50kw
WBBM 780- chicago 50kw
WGN 720- Chicago- 50kw
WLS 890- Chicago- 50kw
WTAM 1100- Cleveland 50kw
CFZM 740- Toronto
CHHA 1610- Toronto
CKDO 1580- Oshawa, ON
CFCO 630- Chatham-Kent, ON
KXEL 1540- Waterloo, IA
WSB 750- Atlanta, GA
WSM 650- Nashville, TN
WING 1410- Dayton, OH
WCKY 1530- Cincinnati, OH
CBW 990- Winnipeg, MB

WTAM gets murdered around the Detroit area due to WCAR. You need a good radio to sort them out.


WLS has always been a bit of an issue for me. WGN and WBBM come in fine. Sometimes I can even faintly pick them up during the day.

Vinyl 95.3 in Hamilton is quite powerful. 102.5 from Buffalo, NY also gets out well.
Here are some good AM signals (Daytime) :
550 WGR Buffalo
680 News Toronto
700 WLW Cincinnati
News/Talk 1010 Toronto
(Nights) :
650 WSM
700 WLW
780 WBBM
830 WCCO
870 WWL
1000 WMVP
1030 WBZ
1120 KMOX
1530 WCKY

WKAR 90.5 has one hell of an east/westbound signal. I have gotten them in RDS as far away as Capac, Bay City, and Cedar Springs. Their northbound/soundbound signal is less impressive; they can still be heard into northern Indiana and northwest Ohio but with a lot more fading, and going northward you lose them north of Mount Pleasant very quickly, and Gaylord's 90.5 starts coming in around Clare.

Once while getting ready for work in the morning, I was listening to 91.7 WUOM when they went off the air for about 30 seconds, and right there doing their top-of-the-hour ID was WCML Alpena. This was in Saline, only about 10 miles from Ann Arbor. Another monster in the same area is 92.5 WFDX.

WLEW 102.1 in Bad Axe comes regularly from Imlay City to Harrisville, and often beyond. During summer months they often make it as far west as Lansing. WKJC 104.7 in Tawas doesn't do too badly either. I can get them at my grandpa's house in Romeo during the summer months.

I agree with Ed, 1230 WGRY seems to be the worst in terms of AM coverage, but WJNL 1210 isn't much better. Even with 50,000 watts, I have a hard time getting them to stop the Scan on my car radio as close to Traverse City as Williamsburg. WMIC 660 in Sandusky does better with 1,000 watts, thanks to the lower dial position and better soil conductivity.

950 WWJ has an amazing northbound directional signal at night. Due to the directional signal, they disappear quickly west and south of Ann Arbor but can be heard loud and clear in Sault Ste. Marie. Same with 1200 WCHB; I was able to enjoy the nighttime smooth jazz loud and clear in Gaylord this past weekend but can't get it in Whitmore Lake.

Among the major Detroit FMs, the most pathetic signal-wise seem to be WRCJ, Mix 92.3, and Doug FM, IMO.

during the summer in kent county, 92.5 the fox frequently knocks out the outlaw.

I should mention one of the best there is for square milage. AM 540 in Saskatchewan. It is a 50,000 watts CBC Radio One broadcast with a tower in a town called Watrous.
Worst is harder to define, but CKMS in Waterloo, Ontario sounds quite lowsy based on what I've told by someone who used to go to U. of Waterloo.

Doesn't 90.5 run grandfathered power?

About 1210, two words: Roy Henderson. Even though he no longer owns this station, it seems like any station that he is involved in performs much worse than expected. However, 100.1 (which was just upgraded a few months ago) has stopped the scan as far south as West Shore Community College (and there's another 100.1 north of Muskegon as well) and as far east as Caberfae Pines.

Seems to me that the guys building 1210 only had a couple of months to get it on the air. A real fire drill.