WHTS
WHTS (105.3-FM) Coopersville, MI is a Adult leaning CHR radio station in the Grand Rapids market. It is owned and operated by Citadel Communications and transmits with an ERP of 20,000 watts.
History
WHTS signed on in the early 80s from its original city of licence of Hart, MI The call letters were WCXT and it had an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts and covered a large amount of West Michigan. It had various rock formats until sometime in the late 80s when it shifted to Soft AC as "WCXT Light Mix 105.3" This format continued until 1999 when the station was LMAed to Harbor Pointe Entertainment which then switched the format to dance CHR as "105.3 The Whip" targeting the Grand Rapids market. 105.3 The Whip consisted mostly of various dance mixes of CHR and Rhythmic CHR hits. The call letters were originally going to switch to WWIP but it never happened. In the fall of 1999 the LMA was canceled at which time WCXT returned to the AC format under a slightly different slogan/positioner "105-3 Your More Music Station"
In 2001, a CP for a new station on 105.3 in Mukwonago, WI (now WFZH) was given the go ahead to sign on. Because WCXT regularly DXed across Lake Michigan in the Milwaukee area, the owners of the CP Salem Communications paid the owners of WCXT to downgrade its signal from 100kw to 28,000 watts.
In late 2004 WCXT was granted a CP to move into the Grand Rapids/Muskegon area.
In early 2005 it was announced that WCXT would be sold to Citadel. Various speculations erupted after this happened. In Winter 2005 the format was flipped to a 100% jockless and commercial free classic country format as "Classic Country 105.3" upon Citadel's takeover of the station. This would turn out to be a filler format until the transmitter move would be finalised.
In late April 2006, the new transmitter and city of licence hit the airwaves stunting with various sound effects such as drills and hammers with announcements that a new station is being built and that classic country is on 92.5. A few days later, the stunting switched to "Reality Radio" featuring various Citadel hosts talking about the upcoming format among other things.
At 7:40PM on May 2nd 2006 the TOH ID for Hot FM was fired up and the first song Daniel Powter - Bad Day was played. Until the midday hours of May 3rd, the station ran a 20-30 song loop with an extended period of dead air between the songs. This was likely due to a music load and automation problem.
Hot FM is currently PDed by Darrin Arriens.
Airstaff
Before the launch of Hot FM, it was announced that longtime WLHT morning hosts Dave & Geri would be doing mornings on Hot FM as of July. Their first Hot FM show was July 24th 2006, and they are on air from 5:30 to 10. They are joined by their producer, Casey, and afternoon host Blaze (2-7).
Processing
WHTS has been criticized for having overmodulated and excessively loud processing. When WHTS signed on crosstown rival WSNX cranked their processing to a much louder level then before.
Call Sign History
The WHTS call letters had been on what is now WLKU in the Quad Cities for over 10 years.