Northern Star Broadcasting (formerly known as Calibre Communications) was a radio broadcasting company which owned various radio stations in Michigan from 1998–2016, with offices in Cheboygan and Traverse City.[1] Northern Star was owned by Reynolds Communications, ran by Del & Mary Reynolds.
At one time or another, Northern Star Broadcasting owned eleven stations in Northern Michigan (nine as of 2016) and previously fourteen additional stations in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, exiting Upper Peninsula markets in 2010 & 2011 after selling all but one repeater station to new owners, largely Sovereign Communications of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan in February 2010.[2] Despite the sales, Northern Star's stations in Cheboygan, Mackinaw City, and Indian River could still be heard in much of the Eastern Upper Peninsula.
In May 2016, and due to Northern Star vice president Mary Reynolds' health concerns, Reynolds Communications announced the sale of all but one of Northern Star's remaining radio stations to Black Diamond Broadcast Holdings (who previously owned WUPS in Harrison and WTWS in Houghton Lake) in a transaction worth $1,950,000, with WCKC in Cadillac instead being sold to Up North Radio (who own WCDY in McBain) for $180,000. Despite the sales of their remaining radio stations, Reynolds Communications will retain ownership of these stations' tower sites.[3]
All Northern Michigan stations were sold to Black Diamond Broadcasting in 2016 unless otherwise stated
All of Northern Star Broadcasting's stations in Michigan's Western Upper Peninsula were sold to Sovereign Communications in 2010
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) id:line value:black id:bg value:white
PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1998 till:2016 text: 98.1 WGFN (1998-2016) bar:2 color:tan1 from:1998 till:2016 text: 105.1 WGFM (1998-2016) bar:3 color:tan1 from:1998 till:2016 text: 95.5 WJZJ/WQEZ (1998-2016) bar:4 color:tan1 from:1998 till:2016 text: 102.9 WMKC (1998-2016) bar:5 color:tan1 from:1998 till:2016 text: 107.1 WCKC (1998-2016) bar:6 color:tan1 from:1998 till:2016 text: 1240 WCBY (1998-2016) bar:7 color:tan1 from:1998 till:2013 text: 94.5 WLJZ/WOEZ/WJZJ (1998-2013) bar:8 color:tan1 from:1998 till:2013 text: 93.9 WAVC (1998-2013) bar:9 color:tan1 from:1998 till:2008 text: 940 WIDG (1998-2008) bar:10 color:tan1 from:2001 till:2011 text: 97.9 WIHC (2001-2011) bar:11 color:tan1 from:2001 till:2010 text: 92.3 WJPD (2001-2010) bar:12 color:tan1 from:2001 till:2010 text: 93.1 WIMK (2001-2010) bar:13 color:tan1 from:2001 till:2010 text: 94.1 WUPK (2001-2010) bar:14 color:tan1 from:2001 till:2010 text: 94.3 WZNL (2001-2010) bar:15 color:tan1 from:2001 till:2010 text: 99.5 WNGE (2001-2010) bar:16 color:tan1 from:2001 till:2010 text: 1240 WIAN (2001-2010) bar:17 color:tan1 from:2001 till:2010 text: 1320 WDMJ (2001-2010) bar:18 color:tan1 from:2001 till:2010 text: 1450 WIMQ (2001-2010) bar:19 color:tan1 from:2001 till:2010 text: 99.5 WYSS (2001-2010) bar:20 color:tan1 from:2001 till:2010 text: 1400 WKNW (2001-2010) bar:21 color:tan1 from:2005 till:2010 text: 105.5 WADW/WMKD (2005-2010) bar:22 color:tan1 from:2011 till:2016 text: 97.7 WQEZ/WJZJ/WOEZ/WCHY (2011-2016) bar:23 color:tan1 from:2012 till:2016 text: 100.7 W264CF (2012-2016) bar:24 color:tan1 from:2013 till:2016 text: 106.3 WJZJ/WOEZ (2013-2016)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1998
TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(175,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"Northern Star Broadcasting Timeline"