Mid-West Family Broadcasting will expand the programming of Sports 960 WSBT/96.1 W241AD South Bend IN to what is now Alternative “The New QYQ” 1400 WQYQ/106.1 W291DK Benton Harbor MI on Thursday, February 20.
The move eliminates the format overlap with WQYQ and sister “Live 99.9” WQLQ Benton Harbor/South Bend with listeners being redirected to the other station.
Mid-West Family Broadcasting South Bend/Benton Harbor Content Director Bill Gamble said, “WSBT brings a lineup of strong sports talent, and when paired with WSJM, it strengthens our position in the market, ensuring we remain the go-to source for news & sports information in the region.”
INSTANT INSIGHT: The timing of this move is curious as Mid-West Family just changed the call letters on 99.9 to WYTZ-FM, with “Y Country 97.5” WYTZ Bridgman becoming WRRA-FM. We reported on domains the company reserved in our 2/11 Domain Insight report.
David @ USC 
Lance Venta
Darn, yet another radio source that had new music discovery in its DNA giving way (redirecting) to a station that devotes much of its airtime to hits of yesteryear. The more new music disappears from the airwaves, the more radio is eroding its relevance to younger listeners. Older listeners may offer a bit of a short-term reprieve, but as they age up and die, radio will have no listeners still around to replenish.
Sure, the industry can try to blame technology advancements (streaming) and other options, but recall that radio survived TV and MTV as well as the onset of satellite radio because it adhered to the essence of being a relevant media platform. As the QYQs of the nation disappear, radio slowly continues its descent toward irrelevance, with LPFMs being one of the few rays of hope still to be found on the long cherished Marconi airwaves.
You must’ve missed the part about the station having the exact same format as another station in the cluster…
Lance, you missed my point. Live 99.9 has a heavy focus on older Alt music. QYQ was mostly about new Alt music. QYQ’s positioner was “We stream lots of great new alternative music for free”. The genre may the same… but the ethos is quite different. Rather than focusing on breaking new music as QYQ did, Live subsists mostly on mining the glory of days gone by. It is anything but “the exact same format”. It is akin to saying a CHR and a Classic Hits station are the exact same format. CHR them makes them hits; Classic Hits mines their equity from back in the day.