New radio station coming to Tri-Cities

Will Tieman calls Ottawa County's first new radio station in more than 40 years "a natural.' Tieman, who owns WGHN (92.1 FM and 1370 AM) in Grand Haven, recently spent $100,000 in a federal government frequency bidding process to acquire the rights to put 93.1 FM on the air, with the city of license as Ferrysburg. "For us, what a natural,' Tieman said. "It enables us to do things we would like to do, especially at night.'

Mark Brooky

Grand Haven

Jun 11, 2011

One of those things is to be able to broadcast two high school football or basketball games at the same time. Since the AM signal for WGHN drops from 500 watts in the daytime to a weak 22 watts at night, station personnel had to choose whether to broadcast the Grand Haven or Spring Lake game on any particular night.

“The AM signal is challenged at night,” Tieman admits.

Tieman, who also owns the Spartan Sports Network and lives in Lansing, bought the Grand Haven radio stations in 2007. He was told at that time that the 93.1 FM frequency would become available, but — knowing the pace of federal agencies — he thought it would be many years away.

Read more of this story in today's print edition of the Grand Haven Tribune.