Classic Hits Station Now on Both Sides of Lake Superior

The only commercial radio station on Minnesota’s North Shore is now simulcasting a Classic Hits/Oldies format based on the other side of Lake Superior.

WVVE/95.3 (Grand Marais, MN) is rebroadcasting Baroka Broadcasting’s “Oldies 102.9,” which is also heard on W275CR/102.9 (Hurley-Ironwood) and WHRY/1450 (Hurley-Ironwood). The simulcast takes advantage of the fact that radio signals travel easily across Lake Superior: North Shore residents are already used to listening to larger Ironwood stations (among others) and WVVE’s signal also travels nicely to Ironwood and surrounding areas.

WHRY’s sister station, “Mix 106.9” (WUPM Ironwood) announced the addition on Facebook Saturday:

The new simulcast does not involve a license transfer; WVVE remains owned by Shire & Shore Communications.

Here’s an audio sample from Sunday afternoon:

95.3 signed on in 1999 as WXXZ and had rebroadcast Duluth stations for most of its life, mostly Classic Rocker KQDS-FM. Red Rock Radio sold the station to Midwest Communications in 2016. Midwest then sold it to Aurora Broadcasting/Shire & Shore in 2017, and the new owner launched an Adult Alternative format in 2018. However, WVVE went silent over the winter due to transmitter problems.

This summer, an application was filed with the FCC to transfer WVVE to Wisconsin-based Zoe Communications, and Zoe’s WGMO/95.3 (Spooner) was very briefly rebroadcast on WVVE. The FCC approved the sale in August, but it did not consummate.

WVVE broadcasts with 63kW/209m (class C1) from Lutsen, delivering a listenable signal to most of the lakeshore areas in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin except for the Duluth-Superior, in addition to the western lakeshore of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The only other local signals in Grand Marais and Cook County, which has a population of just over 5,000 people, are all non-commercial outlets. They are two full-power Minnesota Public Radio stations, two Christian radio translators, and WTIP/90.7, which carries local news and programming. The MPR stations and WTIP launched around the same time as WXXZ.