One of the few public radio owned Oldies stations will sign-off for good on Friday, January 7 as Grand Valley State University will cease operations of “Real Oldies” 1480 WGVU Grand Rapids/850 WGVS Muskegon MI.
WGVU/WGVS had flipped to Oldies in 2009, becoming at the time the only public radio operation programming a full-time Oldies format. WGVU Public Media intends to surrender both AM licenses and sell the real estate properties hosting their towers. The station will also cease its streaming and simulcast on 88.5 WGVU-HD2 with the shut-off of the AMs.
General Manager James Rademaker wrote the following letter to donors explaining the decision:
Thanks to your valuable partnership, WGVU Real Oldies has been able to connect our West Michigan community to wonderful music and fantastic nostalgic memories.
What began as a one-year experiment back in 2009 has lasted 12 years. Unfortunately, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to end the broadcast and streaming of WGVU Real Oldies. The transmission will end on Friday, January 7th, 2022.
Several factors played into this decision. Unlike when Real Oldies started, there are now two additional commercial station options for fans of oldies’ music on the FM dial. Also, 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. It’s unfortunate, but it is the responsible thing to do for the rest of the WGVU organization and Grand Valley State University.
Grand Valley State University, the license holder of WGVU Public Media stations, will return the 1480 AM and 850 AM licenses to the FCC and has placed the properties in Muskegon and Kentwood up for sale.
The staff of Real Oldies and WGVU Public Media are extremely grateful for the support the listeners have shown over the years. Real Oldies was a one-of-a-kind station thanks to the listeners and the amazing group of DJs that have kept it on the air these past 12 years.
Just because WGVU Real Oldies is going off the air, doesn’t mean WGVU is going away. I invite you to continue supporting our efforts to bring programming that educates, informs, inspires, and entertains, please consider re-directing your gift to WGVU TV, FM or both stations. Please contact Hannah Frain, WGVU Development Data Coordinator at frainhan@gvsu.edu to update your annual gift or your monthly sustaining support. As always, community support has always been the backbone of all we are able to do.