#Wzzm 13 weather live radar license#

While WZZM was on the air, the applicants wrangled at the FCC over permanent authority to run it. Construction rapidly proceeded, and from studios in the Pantlind Hotel downtown, WZZM made its first broadcast on November 1, 1962, an ABC affiliate from the start. The interim station originally chose the call letters WIIM-TV, but WJIM-TV in Lansing objected, resulting in the choice of WZZM as the call sign. Major and Atlas both withdrew in August 1962 the four remaining contenders formed Channel 13, Grand Rapids, Inc., which received interim authority that same month. Days after filing its permanent bid, West Michigan Telecasters also proposed interim operating authority. This meant that the comparative hearing process would run in parallel with construction of the station. In its order assigning channel 13 to Grand Rapids, the FCC indicated its willingness to accept proposals for interim operating authority to hasten the construction of the station. West Michigan was one of six applicants to file by the end of 1961, alongside Atlas (which also owned Grand Rapids-area radio station WMAX) Grand Broadcasting Company, which counted former WLAV and WLAV-TV owner Leonard Versluis among its stockholders as well as former FCC counsel Mary Jane Morris Major Television Company MKO Broadcasting Company and Peninsular Broadcasting Company.

Some of the stockholders were from Muskegon the group promoted the northerly transmitter site as a bonus, noting that there were no local stations in Muskegon and that other communities such as Grand Haven and Holland also were underserved. William Seidman, then on the board of directors of Grand Valley State College and later chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Chamberlain, Jr., whose final application was filed in October 1961. By the end of 1960, three groups had incorporated with an eye toward filing for channel 13, including West Michigan Telecasters, consisting of 24 shareholders and presided by Lewis V. The placement of the channel at Grand Rapids attracted interest even before the insertion was final. The FCC approved this allocation change in 1961 it replaced channel 9 in Alpena with channel 6.

Atlas also proposed moving WWTV in Cadillac to channel 9, where it would still be appropriately spaced to the channel 9 station in Windsor, Ontario. The station would transmit from an area near Muskegon, north of Grand Rapids, where it would be appropriately spaced to channel 13 stations in Toledo, Ohio, and Rockford, Illinois. It applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposing the addition of channel 13 to Grand Rapids. In 1959, the Atlas Broadcasting Company was organized to pursue the addition of a third very high frequency (VHF) station in West Michigan. The Pantlind Hotel in downtown Grand Rapids was the first studio location for WZZM. History Assignment of channel 13 to Grand Rapids construction

The station maintains a lit weather ball displayed near its Walker studios. While the station continues to be competitive particularly in the Grand Rapids area, coverage shortfalls and the aggregate nature of the television market have given the overall edge to WOOD-TV since the 1990s. In local news, the station had a highly regarded news department from the 1960s through the 1980s it had one news director for the first 25 years of its history. Satellite television providers Dish Network and DirecTV provide both stations across the entire market, and WZZM is also on cable in Battle Creek. An attempt to combine WZZM-TV and WUHQ-TV failed in 1991, and WOTV is today co-owned with WOOD-TV, the market's NBC affiliate.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the station's efforts to build additional transmitters to serve those cities were ordered closed to protect a new station on channel 41 in Battle Creek, WUHQ-TV (now WOTV), which also broadcasts ABC but with separate non-network programming. Because of the transmitter site restriction, the station did not and does not provide a signal to the southern part of West Michigan, namely Kalamazoo and Battle Creek.

#Wzzm 13 weather live radar license#

The station went on the air in November 1962 under interim operating authority four companies jointly owned the station until West Michigan Telecasters was granted the permanent license in 1964 and bought out the others' interim holdings in 1965. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station has studios on 3 Mile Road NW in Walker (with a Grand Rapids mailing address), and its transmitter is located in Grant, Michigan.Ĭhannel 13 was inserted into Grand Rapids in 1961 station spacing rules of the time required that the transmitter be to the north of the city, closer to Muskegon. WZZM (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, serving West Michigan as an affiliate of ABC.