WMKD

WMKD
Pickford, Michigan;
Frequency	105.5 MHz
Branding	Country 105
Programming
Format	Country
Ownership
Owner	Sovereign Communications
History
First air date	January 2001
Former call signs	WADW (7/9/93-11/7/05)
Call sign meaning	MacKinac (similar to former sister station WMKC)
Technical information
Facility ID	59529
Class	C1
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	77 meters
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	country105fm.net

WMKD (105.5 FM, "Country 105," formerly known as "Big Country 105.5") is a country music formatted radio station serving Pickford, Michigan and the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan & Ontario markets. WMKD's 55,000-watt signal covers most of the eastern Upper Peninsula and far northern lower Michigan.

Although a construction permit for 105.5 WADW was granted in 1993, the station did not sign on until 2001. WADW was originally known as "Memories 105.5" and aired a mix of oldies from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, marking the first time an oldies station had been on the air in the Sault Ste. Marie area. The station was soon sold to Starboard Media and was taken silent while Starboard prepared to broadcast its Relevant Radio Catholic religious format on 105.5. WADW broadcast intermittently through the next three years, alternating between periods of silence and automated new age/smooth jazz music. In the summer of 2005, Starboard sold the station to current owners Northern Star Broadcasting, who changed the call-sign to WMKD in November of that year, and briefly turned it into a simulcast of Traverse City modern rock station WJZJ. The station debuted it's current country music format a few months later, maintaining a similar playlist & branding as WMKC in St. Ignace/Indian River. Northern Star Broadcasting sold the station to Sovereign Communications in 2010.[1]

Syndicated programming at WMKD includes the morning drive program Big D and Bubba and The Lia Show, while the station also broadcasts NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and Pickford Panthers local high school football games. Local on-air personalities include DJ Allan Gibbs (also of Newberry oldies station WNBY-FM) and chief meteorologist Karl Bohnak, who also provides weather reports on other Sovereign stations.