WIMI
Radio station in Ironwood, Michigan
WIMI (99.7 FM, "The Storm") is a radio station broadcasting a classic rock format. Licensed to Ironwood, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1974, with its signal covering most of the western Upper Peninsula and the extreme northern portion of Wisconsin; because of the effects of tropospheric ducting, it is also easily heard across Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota to the point that in 2017, it asked the Federal Communications Commission to move a recently launched VCY America translator on 99.7 in Duluth to move dial positions due to crossover interference (it moved to 97.7).
01History
After years as a construction permit (including briefly being WJMS-FM), WIMI went on the air Thursday, November 13, 1975. Initially, the station ran Drake-Chenault's "Hitparade" format (later Contempo 300); the station used Drake programming well into the 1980s and eventually morphed into an adult hits format. In 2017, the station switched from a variety of adult contemporary formats to classic rock. Local personalities include Bill Swift and Sam Erspamer.
In 2017, the station was fined $4,000 by the Federal Communications Commission for originating programming directly from its translator station in Park Falls, Wisconsin. The translator had aired music while the parent station aired Green Bay Packers games that the Park Falls station could not air for territorial reasons to protect WCQM, that town's affiliate.
In July 2025, it was announced that WIMI (along with its sister stations) would be acquired by Civic Media for $465,000.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “WIMI”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- WIMI-Horizontal-City-Name.svg by Civic Media, Fair use
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.