Will Tieman’s WGHN Inc. has agreed to a $100,000 settlement with the city of Grand Haven MI over a dispute that led to AC 92.1 WGHN-FM Grand Haven and 93.1 WMPA Ferrysburg MI being evicted from its tower site last November.
MLive reports that the settlement agreement calls for WGHN to make an $18,000 lump sum payment on Monday, July 10, and pay another $84,539 over the next five years with $2,000 monthly payments for the next twelve months and $1,000 monthly payments until the amount is paid in full. The $18,000 was due to failing to comply with their lease contract that dated back to 1984, which showed the company failed to comply with an agreement to locally originate 75% of the programming on the two stations, placed additional antennas/cameras on the tower without the city’s consent, and selling WMPA without the city’s consent. A $420,000 sale of WMPA to West Central Michigan Media Ministries in March 2022 is still awaiting closing. The remaining $84,539 is from the unpaid electric bills.
After going silent at the time of the eviction, WGHN-FM and WMPA would resume operation at the end of January from a new location after getting an expedited CP grant from the FCC.