The station signed on the air on February 6, 1968, as WTHM-FM. For many years it simulcast its AM sister station WTHM (now as
WLCO). The call letters stood for "
The Thumb" area of east central Michigan. WTHM-AM-FM was a
full-service station featuring
middle of the road (MOR) and
adult contemporary music, along with local news and sports. WTHM-FM allowed Lapeer residents to have local radio service after its
daytime-only AM station was mandated to sign off at sunset. Later on, the call letters were switched to WDEY-AM-FM. The format remained full service AC. WDEY-AM-FM were owned for many years by James Sommerville, who sold both to Covenant Communications in 1991. Five years following the acquisition by Covenant, the FM station, by this time known as WWGZ-FM (Wings 103), had switched to an
album rock format and became more of a regional station, serving listeners in
Flint. The AM station adopted a
sports radio format and the new call letters WLSP. It later flipped to a
talk radio format and then
adult standards prior to becoming an
affiliate of the "
Real Country" network as WLCO. In 1998 WWGZ-FM changed its call sign to WRXF (Radio X) and took on a more
Active Rock/
Heavy metal sound. One Radio X veteran, Tony LaBrie, later became the music director and
DJ at 103.1 FM's sister station
WWBN. Both WLSP-AM and WRXF-FM were sold in December 2001 to Regent Communications (now
Townsquare Media) for $1.3 million. Shortly after the transaction was announced, WRXF ended its independent programming and became a simulcast of its new FM sister station,
WWBN "Banana 101.5". The simulcast ended almost three months later, when 103.1 once again became independently programmed, under its present call letters, format and moniker. Both stations then moved from their longtime location at 286 West Nepessing Street in Lapeer to join their co-owned Regent sister stations at G-3338 East Bristol Road in the Flint suburb of
Burton. U.S. 103.1's format has a base of Classic Rock and
Classic Hits, but the station also plays some
alternative rock and other rock songs from the 1990s. ==Sources==