WICA (FM)

WICA

Traverse City, Michigan
Frequency	91.5 MHz
Branding	IPR News Radio
Programming
Format	Public radio; News/talk
Affiliations	IPR, NPR
Ownership
Owner	Interlochen Center for the Arts
History
First air date	September 13, 2000
Call sign meaning	Interlochen Center for the Arts
Technical information
Class	C3
ERP	4,000 watts
HAAT	228 meters (748 ft)
Links
Website	http://www.interlochen.org/ipr/

WICA (91.5 FM) is a radio station in Traverse City, Michigan. The station is owned by Interlochen Center for the Arts, and is the flagship station of Interlochen Public Radio's "IPR News Radio" network, consisting of NPR news/talk programming.

Main article: Interlochen Public Radio

History

WICA 91.5 FM began broadcasting on September 13, 2000. On a historical note, this call sign was used by a station in Northeastern Ohio until the mid-seventies. At 4,000 watts, its signal does not have nearly the reach of sister station WIAA, presumably to protect WMHW-FM in Mount Pleasant.

When WICA signed on, all NPR news and talk programming moved there from WIAA and satellite station WICV. This left Cadillac, the second-largest city in IPR's coverage area, without a clear signal for most NPR programming. WICA's grade B signal just misses Cadillac, and it can only be reliably heard on car radios in Cadillac itself and much of the southern portion of the market. Partly to alleviate this problem, Interlochen signed on WLMN in Manistee in August 2010. However, WLMN's signal doesn't reach Cadillac.

In the spring of 2011, a third IPR News Radio signal began operations with the sign-on of WHBP 90.1 FM in Harbor Springs, Michigan, expanding the network's reach to include the Petoskey, Charlevoix and Mackinaw City area.

References

• Michiguide.com - WICA History

External links

• IPR
• ‹The template FMQ is being considered for deletion.› WICA in the FCC FM station database
• WICA in Nielsen Audio's FM station database