WYSS
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| City | Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Sault Ste. Marie (MI-ON) |
| Branding | "99.5 Yes FM" |
| Slogan |
"Sault Sainte Marie's New Hit Music Station!" "All the Hits for Sault Sainte Marie!" |
| Frequency | 99.5 MHz FM |
| Format | Top 40 (CHR) |
| Language(s) | English |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 77 meters |
| Class | C1 |
| Facility ID | 977 |
| Callsign meaning | From the "YES-FM" branding |
| Former callsigns |
WSMM (1972-3/1981) WLXX (3/1981-3/1986) |
| Affiliations |
The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show American Top 40 Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 |
| Owner | Sovereign Communications |
| Sister stations |
AM: WKNW, WNBY, WSOO FM: WMKD, WNBY, WSUE |
| Website | YesFM.net |
WYSS is a radio station broadcasting at 99.5 FM in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Branded as "99.5 Yes FM," the station has had a Top 40 (CHR) format since 1986. The station's slogans are "Sault Sainte Marie's Hit Music Station" and "All the Hits for Sault Sainte Marie." Programming on Yes FM includes American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest, Rick Dees' Weekly Top 40, Party Playhouse with Jackson Blue and Open House Party. WYSS also carries Lake Superior State University Lakers hockey broadcasts, becoming the Lakers' official on-air home in 2009. The music is a mix of hits from the 1990s through today, and is highly gold/recurrent oriented.
WYSS is currently owned Sovereign Communications, who acquired it and fellow Sault stations WKNW and WMKD from Northern Star Broadcasting in 2010.[1] After the February 9, 2010 sale announcement and management change, some positions at the stations were eliminated as part of Sovereign's consolidation of its new and old Sault radio operations (see Infobox); morning host/program director Tim Ellis and John "Johnny G" Gilbert (an original 1985 "Yes FM" staffer) were among those retained by Sovereign and remaining on Yes FM.[2][3] Additionally, the station added the syndicated The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show to its morning drive-time slot in March 2010.
History
The station took to the air in July 1972 with 3,000 watts at 92.7 FM as WSMM, owned by Lock City Broadcasting, becoming the first FM radio statio in the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan market. The station programmed a format of MOR and country music. Lock City sold WSMM to Chippewa Broadcasting in 1974, and a few years later the station moved from 92.7 to 99.5 with a dramatic power increase to 26,500 watts. During the late 1970s, the station featured a soft rock format. As WLXX (1981-1986), the station continued with its AC format and eventually added nighttime Top-40 programming, competing with CKCY.
"Yes FM" was born on February 1, 1985 when Delbyco Broadcasting (Del Reynolds and Byron Bordt) purchased WLXX, changed the call letters to WYSS, and initiated a full-time Top-40/contemporary hit radio format in Sault Ste. Marie. In May 1986, Tim Martz Martz Communications Group (d/b/a Algoma Broadcasting) continued the success of "Yes FM". CKCY was forced off the air permanently in the early 1990s. Martz also brought the talk radio format to the Twin Saults in 1990 with the sign-on of an AM sister station, WKNW. Martz sold WYSS/WKNW to Chicago-based Marathon Media which it held for a short while before selling to Northern Star Broadcasting in 2001. Under Northern Star's ownership, WYSS migrated to a Hot AC format for a time in the 2000s, but has since returned to its previous CHR presentation.
References
- ↑ "Sovereign Communications acquires more radio stations", from Soo Evening News, 2/9/2010
- ↑ "Radio jobs lost in transition", from Soo Evening News, 2/10/2010
- ↑ "Major shake-up in Sault radio", from sootoday.com, 2/10/2010
External links
- Yes FM official website
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WYSS
- Radio-Locator information on WYSS
- Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WYSS
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Coordinates: 46°23′49″N 84°23′53″W / 46.397°N 84.398°W