94.1 WVIC will make its flip to Classic Country “94.1 Duke-FM” on Monday, March 16.
The changes in the Lansing market won’t stop there. Current WVIC afternoon host Parker and middayer Mars will slide over to mornings at sister Classic Hits 92.9 WLMI replacing Tim Barron. WLNS-TV reports that WLMI may be switching to AC in the process.
Original Report 3/6: Midwest Communications is preparing to bring its Classic Country “Duke” brand to a fourth market.
Midwest has registered 941TheDuke.com for Alternative 94.1 WVIC Jackson/Lansing, MI. The brand, named for Midwest President Duke Wright, has been launched over the past year in Appleton/Green Bay, Evansville, and Terre Haute.
This past January Midwest flipped Country 92.1 WQTX to Sports as “The Team“. A move to to Classic Country would once again give Midwest a format competitor to Townsquare Media’s market leading 100.7 WITL.
Kyle G. 
rawmustard 
Cory 
Charles Everett 
Darn. I really like 94.1 WVIC the way it is. Looks like I’ll have to attempt to pick up CIMX-FM 88.7 in Windsor when I wanna listen to some alternative on the radio.
Midwest really has screwed the pooch if this really comes to pass. WVIC spent all that time building up its fanbase who simply can’t get alternative anywhere else over-the-air. If Midwest touches ZOX, I’m done with them.
Sadly, I don’t think ZOX is far behind. They blew up their Terre Haute station last year for Duke as well. I’d be surprised if Duke (or something else) doesn’t enter the Zoo by the end of summer.
It seems to me like the cursed stations in Lansing are WQTX, WLMI, and WVIC. Whether the format is good or not, they can never stay the same for more than 5 years. WLMI’s switch would be useless. There is no where else to go for Classic hits (which by the way, performs well in Lansing), unless you live east of Lansing and can pick up WHMI on 93.5. Plus, we all know that WFMK is, and has always been, one of the top stations in Lansing. Midwest is setting themselves up for failure right there, unless they lean WLMI to gold or rhythmic AC.
Same applies to WQTX. It’s great that the signal reached places that WITL has a hard time reaching (such as the towns between St. John’s and Ithaca), but they still had a minimum chance against WITL. Not to mention you venture into WCEN territory.
And now, with WVIC. Alternative is found nowhere else on the dial in Michigan, unless near a college station or WZOX/CIMX. Not to mention, WVIC’s signal reached from Clinton County to Hillsdale County, expanding the audience. They had a strong suit, and they are ruining it for another country station that’s gunna lose it’s audience in Lansing to WITL, Jackson to WKHM HD2, and Battle Creek to WNWN.
Good luck, Midwest.
The alt-rock audience are getting their music from their phones, NOT from any radio station. 89X is a ratings straggler both in its home market of Windsor and in Detroit.
Name me one alt-rock launch of the past 5 years that’s still around today.
Limiting this to just PPM markets:
101.1 WKQX Chicago
105.7 WRDA Atlanta
107.1 WTSH Atlanta
93.3 KDKB Phoenix
96.3 KTWN Minneapolis
105.7 WBWR Columbus
103.3 WOLT Indianapolis
And that’s not including translators in Minneapolis, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Orlando, Austin, and Raleigh. Some of which are pulling well over a 2 share.