WICA (FM)

WICA (91.5 FM) is a radio station in Traverse City, Michigan. The station is owned by Interlochen Center for the Arts, and is the flagship station of Interlochen Public Radio's "IPR News Radio" network, consisting of NPR news/talk programming.

Main article: Interlochen Public Radio
WICA
CityTraverse City, Michigan
BrandingIPR News Radio
Frequency91.5 MHz
First air dateSeptember 13, 2000
FormatPublic radio; News/talk
ERP4,000 watts
HAAT228 meters (748 ft)
ClassC3
Call sign meaningInterlochen Center for the Arts
AffiliationsIPR, NPR
OwnerInterlochen Center for the Arts
Websitehttp://www.interlochen.org/ipr/

History

WICA 91.5 FM began broadcasting on September 13, 2000. On a historical note, this call sign was used by a station in Northeastern Ohio until the mid-seventies. At 4,000 watts, its signal does not have nearly the reach of sister station WIAA, presumably to protect WMHW-FM in Mount Pleasant.

When WICA signed on, all NPR news and talk programming moved there from WIAA and satellite station WICV. This left Cadillac, the second-largest city in IPR's coverage area, without a clear signal for most NPR programming. WICA's grade B signal just misses Cadillac, and it can only be reliably heard on car radios in Cadillac itself and much of the southern portion of the market. Partly to alleviate this problem, Interlochen signed on WLMN in Manistee in August 2010. However, WLMN's signal doesn't reach Cadillac.

In the spring of 2011, a third IPR News Radio signal began operations with the sign-on of WHBP 90.1 FM in Harbor Springs, Michigan, expanding the network's reach to include the Petoskey, Charlevoix and Mackinaw City area.

References


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