Gallery of Old Michigan Radio Stations

[SolarMax]

Seen on Michigan History FB site.
From WMFK, a photo gallery of radio stations- many exteriors, some staff pics and promotional material.
The radio gallery then segues into one featuring old bowling establishments.
https://99wfmk.com/old-michigan-radio-stations/

[Turkeytop]

Great stuff. Thanks for posting.

[Ben Zonia]

Many of those buildings could have used a good coat of paint.

[SolarMax]

Many of those buildings could have used a good coat of paint.

Well, it's radio, so who'd know?
Maybe they'll get painted if the sales guy can set up a tradeout with the town hardware store.

[paul8539]

They did not include the old WBCM site in Bay City. The original tower is still there, but it was cut down by half years ago and is now a cell phone tower.

[ZenithCKLW]

A photo of radio towers was included, labeled as "Washington MI, 1933". What station would this have been?

[Deleted User 15905]

A photo of radio towers was included, labeled as "Washington MI, 1933". What station would this have been?

I was also wondering that. Could they’ve been WBRB from Mt. Clemens, I know that at one time WBRB had their tower at Hall Road and Hayes before they ended up at Gratiot and 14 Mile.

[ZenithCKLW]

If the picture is WBRB, it’s definitely not from 1933

[Deleted User 15905]

It could be anything back then. Here’s some other possibilities WGHP (WXYZ)1270 from Mt.Clemens up until 1928 when it moved to Fraser and eventually to Detroit. Another possibility is it could be an aircraft beacon. And one more a Police radio transmitter, back in those day the local police occupied 1600 kHz to 1700 kHz. Just a few thoughts.

[Ben Zonia]

The last time I looked, the WBRB original site on Hayes Rd. is still a protected wetland. You can see where the line of towers was. They tiled a drain to try to keep it from flooding, and the scrubby tree roots love it. It still floods. But that may be why they moved. Bill Hennes didn't remember it being there, and Bob Liggett passed away before I had a chance to ask him. Other reasons are that they may have moved is that they wanted to put up a taller tower for WBRB-FM, and the proximity of Berz Macomb Airport wouldn't allow it, and they wanted to be full time, but it was in the wrong direction from Mt. Clemens for night service. Eventually, they went full-time with two more towers for a dog leg three tower using one of the Day towers near Gratiot South of Mt. Clemens, on Pitko St. The WDKL 102.7 antenna was just South of those five towers until recently.

[Ben Zonia]

I wonder if it was a shortwave facility, or Washington, MI isn't the actual location. Looks like that or an FCC Monitoring Station like they had in Allegan. If it was 1933, there were quite a few spies that operated on shortwave, and it might have been a monitoring facility for those. There was one spy near Oscoda as I recall.

Also looks like a late 1940's collocated AM station site with a two tower low dial AM, a three tower inline array with high dial position, and another high dial AM with a four tower parallelogram.

[KeenerGold]

The last time I looked, the WBRB original site on Hayes Rd. is still a protected wetland. You can see where the line of towers was. They tiled a drain to try to keep it from flooding, and the scrubby tree roots love it. It still floods. But that may be why they moved. Bill Hennes didn't remember it being there, and Bob Liggett passed away before I had a chance to ask him. Other reasons are that they may have moved is that they wanted to put up a taller tower for WBRB-FM, and the proximity of Berz Macomb Airport wouldn't allow it, and they wanted to be full time, but it was in the wrong direction from Mt. Clemens for night service. Eventually, they went full-time with two more towers for a dog leg three tower using one of the Day towers near Gratiot South of Mt. Clemens, on Pitko St. The WDKL 102.7 antenna was just South of those five towers until recently.

The east side of the old WBRB site was recently developed, a Hilton Garden Inn and Residence Inn were built on the property.

[paul8539]

Found the spot on Google Maps. For a 'protected wetland', there seem to be plenty of vehicle tracks in the area.

[BFSEsq]

That WYNZ sign right downtown on Michigan Ave in Ypsilanti is so cool. That site now: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wXjXZvgsq2z1XqJs9?g_st=ic

[Ben Zonia]

The last time I looked, the WBRB original site on Hayes Rd. is still a protected wetland. You can see where the line of towers was. They tiled a drain to try to keep it from flooding, and the scrubby tree roots love it. It still floods. But that may be why they moved. Bill Hennes didn't remember it being there, and Bob Liggett passed away before I had a chance to ask him. Other reasons are that they may have moved is that they wanted to put up a taller tower for WBRB-FM, and the proximity of Berz Macomb Airport wouldn't allow it, and they wanted to be full time, but it was in the wrong direction from Mt. Clemens for night service. Eventually, they went full-time with two more towers for a dog leg three tower using one of the Day towers near Gratiot South of Mt. Clemens, on Pitko St. The WDKL 102.7 antenna was just South of those five towers until recently.

The east side of the old WBRB site was recently developed, a Hilton Garden Inn and Residence Inn were built on the property.

From what I can figure, the original WBRB towers were only a few hundred feet from Hayes Rd., where the line of scrubby trees is growing into the drain. I don't know how far the property went back. After a site was built, they often sold off unused portions of the property on the periphery.