The station signed on in 1980, but its roots can be traced back to the early 1970s, with the beginning of WVOY, a 5,000-watt daytime-only station at 1270 kHz on the AM dial. WVOY was one of the first all-contemporary-hit-music radio stations in northern Michigan and featured Bill Vogel, John Yaroch, Rick Durkin, and other major-market-quality talent. Despite WVOY's limited signal, the station became extremely popular and gave northern Michigan listeners a taste of the "big city" radio sound. The station was live during morning and afternoon drive, and "live assist" automation using ITC "carousels" and carted music during other time periods.
WKHQ Signs On
After many years of expensive and time-consuming legal wrangling over a hotly contested 100 kW FM license, the station's owners, Tim Ives and Elmo Franklin, sold an interest to former WVOY salesperson and air talent Tim Moore, who had worked with TM Programming Broadcast consultants in the interim since his departure from WVOY in the mid-1970s. Moore later purchased the interests of Ives and Franklin at a pre-arranged contract price. Tim went on to buy stations in Florida. Today Moore is the principal of Audience Development Group, a large programming consulting firm working with stations coast to coast. The call letters Moore chose were WKHQ, named after a legendary Spokane, Washington radio and TV combo, KHQ. The station signed on May 8, 1980, using TM Programming's "Stereo Rock" format, and quickly shot up to the top of the ratings thanks to its polished jocks and upbeat music. In its early years, WKHQ was known as "The Rhythm of the Northwest", and its TM "Stereo Rock" jingles used that slogan. WVOY, in the meantime, flipped to a Music of Your Life format, although the station would return to simulcasting the FM later in the 1980s as WKHQ. The station is now WMKT, "News/Talk 1270." Moore sold the station in the mid-1980s to Midwest Family, only to recover it a few years later. He sold it again to Cadillac Media who also ended up having financial problems, and again became the owner. Midwest then sold to MacDonald Broadcasting in 1994.
WKHQ vs. WKPK
In 1994, KHQ and 1270, now Talk station WMKT, was sold to Trish MacDonald-Garber, who owned WMBN 1340 and WLXT 96.3, a.k.a. Lite 96. With the ownership change, MacDonald-Garber transitioned KHQ to more of a Hot AC, causing rival 106.7 The Peak to boost their teenage audience even further. KHQ's liners would blast The Peak for being "the rap station", while The Peak's liners would blast KHQ for being too corny. As a result, by the late 1990s, KHQ would be a full-blown CHR again, but in the interim, WKPK became the dominant CHR signal and the #1 station in most areas that KHQ had once "owned". In 2000, 106.7 The Peak flipped to Hot AC, leaving KHQ all to itself in the CHR arena. With the format all to itself, KHQ again ventured into Adult CHR territory, with only a limited number of rap tracks. It has been said that part of the reason for this was that in 2001, Williams Chevrolet in Traverse City, one of the station's biggest sponsors, dropped all of their ads because the station played Eminem's "Without Me" early in the morning. The station compromised with the car dealer by only playing rap at night when advertisers weren't making huge buys. The station's most-recognized personality was long-running morning man Bill "The Captain" Vogel, who hosted the station's morning show from 1983 to 2001. While at KHQ, Vogel was known for his on-air signature catchphrase "Get the heck outta bed!". Vogel left KHQ in 2001 to focus on being a talk radio host on the Michigan Talk Radio Network, only to quit due to the network's money troubles. He now owns a successful voice-over business, where he does network spots for CBS and is the announcer for the FOX sketch comedy showMad TV. Original line-up in 1980: Tim Moore-mornings; Mike Daniels-middays; Bob Harper-afternoons; Carey Carlson-nights; John Borders-voice tracked 10p-6a; Bob White-morning news; Cindy Smith-afternoon news. Other personalities in the 1980s: Rob Hazelton, Jim Owen, Chet Jessick, Mark Cage, Mike Sommers; Christopher Knight. The departure of the Captain would be the start of many defections by high-profile personalities, including "Storm" Kennedy, Keith Michaels, Lisa Knight, and Ron Pritchard, who programmed the station for most of the late 1990s through the mid-2000s.
WKHQ Today
Today, WKHQ is still Northern Michigan's #1 rated CHR station Current voice over talent is Chad Erickson, who replaced Randy Cox in April of 2019. Randy Cox was the voice talent of the station after the passing of longtime voice artistBrian James.
Jingles
WKHQ used two jingle packages from JAM Creative Productions with a HLC package prior to its switch to JAM. However, on May 17, 2009 the station began to use ReelWorld One CHR with the Kiss L.A logo. In January 2013, WKHQ revamped its image completely, dropping jingles all together in favor of using sweepers and liners. April 2019 saw the return of Jingles to the station, again utilizing the Kiss LA Logo from Reelworld.
Competition
WKHQ competes with Z-93 WJZQ, the market's only other CHR station.
