As the Noon hour approached in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Classics IV single from late 1970, “Where Did All the Good Times Go?,” segued into “Teach Your Children” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Those songs are “Real Oldies,” and they’ve been a key part of a most unusual noncommercial Class B AM that also offers NPR newscasts.
On Friday, January 7, the station — and its Muskegon simulcast partner — will become the latest operating in the kHz band to call it quits.
As such, Grand Valley State University‘s WGVU-AM 1480 in Kentwood and WGVS-AM 850 in Muskegon are the latest in a flurry of AM radio stations that will be disappearing forever as 2022 begins.
In an announcement released on Wednesday, the school thanked its listeners and supporters for their “valuable partnership.” GVSU then explained that what began as a one-year experiment in 2009 lasted 12 years. “Unfortunately, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to end the broadcast and streaming of WGVU Real Oldies.”
The “experiment” sees WGVU offer NPR hourly newscasts, but introduced by a classic “20/20 News” sounder heard in the Drake-Chenault era of Top 40 radio. The broad playlist ranges from Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools” to Wes Montgomery’s take of the single “Windy.”
Several factors played into the decision to place WGVU and WGVS on their death bed.
“Unlike when Real Oldies started, there are now two additional commercial station options for fans of oldies’ music on the FM dial,” Grand Valley State University said.
In Grand Rapids, market No. 68, Townsquare Media owns WFGR-FM 98.7, home to “Grand Rapids’ Greatest Hits.” The playlist is akin to an Adult Hits “JACK” or “BOB,” with songs from Tom Petty, War, Heart and Hall & Oates kicking off the Noon hour. Across town, iHeartMedia offers listeners “101.3 BIG FM,” a traditional Classic Hits station offering songs from James Taylor, Billy Joel and The Monkees in the noontime hour.
Over in Muskegon, market No. 228, syndicated air personality Jay Coffey can be heard on Cumulus Media‘s WLCS-FM, where the midday selections ranged from “Separate Ways” by Journey to “Dance With Me” by Orleans.
At the same time, WGVU Real Oldies was spinning the fall 1974 release “Nobody” by the Doobie Brothers, one of the act’s more obscure singles, right before “It Takes Two” by Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston.
Listeners in both markets noticed the difference. In Muskegon, the Fall 2020 ratings put 1kw WGVS at a 2.0 share, followed by a 1.4 share in Spring 2021. In Grand Rapids, Class B WGVU, with a 2kw daytime and 5kw nighttime signal, earned a 2.0 share in August 2021.
Alas, that’s not enough to allow Grand Valley State University to invest in their continued operation as it instead focuses its attention on NPR Member station WGVU-FM 88.5.
“With our station’s aging infrastructure and facilities, and increasing dependence on financial support and resources from WGVU and Grand Valley State University, it no longer makes financial sense to keep WGVU Real Oldies going,” the school said. “It’s unfortunate, but it is the responsible thing to do for the rest of the WGVU organization and Grand Valley State University.”
As such, Grand Valley State University will surrender the WGVU-AM and WGVS licenses to the FCC. The school has placed the properties in Muskegon and Kentwood up for sale.
“Real Oldies was a one-of-a-kind station,” the school said, “Thanks to the listeners and the amazing group of DJs that have kept it on the air these past 12 years.”
Unlike noncommercial radio broadcast groups such as IRSC Public Media in the Vero Beach-Stuart-Port St. Lucie, Fla., region, which offers “Pop Favorites” on its WQCS-HD3 signal as “The River,” bringing WGVU Real Oldies to a HD multicast channel was not an option.
For GVSU, school administrators hope that “just because WGVU Real Oldies is going off the air,” listeners continue supporting efforts “to bring programming that educates, informs, inspires, and entertains.”
This would see the re-direction of their Real Oldies donation to NPR and PBS Member stations in the family. As 12:30pm approached, “An Old Fashioned Love Song” could be heard on WGVU-AM & WGVS.
In nine days, the thought of hearing the Three Dog Night track on AM radio in western Michigan will simply be old-fashioned.
