WMKC (102.9FM) is aradio station licensed toIndian River, Michigan. It airs acountry music format called Big Country 102.9. The station is owned by Black Diamond Broadcast Holdings, LLC.

WMKC ("MacKinaC"), owned by Mighty-Mac Broadcasting Corp., signed on in January 1982 by aLansing dentist,Donald "Doc" Benson. Benson loved country music and wanted northern Michigan to have aWITL clone for when he traveled up north. He already owned an AM inSt. Ignace,WIDG ("Widge By The (Mackinac) Bridge") 940. WIDG aired various formats, but usually wasMOR. In December 1979 Doc Benson closed WIDG with a "dark" license until April 12, 1981. He had to bring WIDG-AM back on in order to continue the CP for WIDG-FM. Initially the station was to be WIDG-FM and be automated and be called "Big Country-102 FM." TM Programming was hired to consult the station; they felt that the "Big Country" name was too "hickish" and insisted on something "slicker." General Manager Rick Stone held a "name the FM" contest in which the winner would win aBig Mac sandwich fromMcDonald's. Joe Raica came up with WMKC, for "MacKinaC", the county of license. The station went on the air in February 1982 with Steve Cook as morning host, Chuck LaTour as News Director, Greg Salo mid-days, Tim O'Brien (Ahlborn) (also Program Director and assistant manager - later General Manager several times) afternoons and Joe Raica evenings.

When WMKC signed on, they were known as "103-WMKC", playing an automated country format (TM Country). Mornings were live with the rest of the day voicetracked. Legend has it that Benson, although a huge country fan, hated songs that dealt with immoral issues. It has been reported, for example, that Benson would order his staff to edit "Dueling Banjos" byEric Weissberg andSteve Mandell out of the TM reels with a razor blade and a marker because of the song's association with a movie (1972'sDeliverance) featuringsodomy; however, the staffers sometimes reportedly slipped the song in anyway just for laughs.^{[citation needed]}

In 1985, the station's logo changed to "KC-103." Doc attempted to capitalize on his love for WITL and tried to get the staff to say "KCing while you work" since WITL said "Witl ["Whittle", like "Whistle"]while you work The "KC-ing while you work" was never used on the air unless done sarcastically."^{[citation needed]}

In 1987 the station dropped voice-tracking and added live announcers, but still used reel-to-reel music (TM had become TM-Century, then bought Drake-Chenault, so a variety of program consultants and services were used). WIDG changed to WLVM "We Love Michigan" and TM Programming's TM-ORmiddle of the road andnostalgia format. In 1985, the format, which Doc Benson reportedly hated, was dropped, and WIDG calls returned.

In 1985 Doc obtained the CP (Construction Permit) for a new FM in Cadillac at 107.1Cadillac, MI. Cadillac previously had aWITW and Doc reportedly believed he could capitalize on the "good will" of the other station's calls and came up with WYTW. It was called Y-107 and ran satelliteadult contemporary music for a short period, but the station was unable to make enough money to pay its expenses. In 1989 WYTW changed toWCKC ("Cadillac KC Country") and simulcast with WMKC and WIDG (which he wouldn't allow to be changed to WMKC-AM).

In 1990 a new tower location for WMKC was obtained, moving the stick from Saint Ignace to north of Harbor Springs. The new signal covered much more territory, but lost Sault Ste. Marie (hence the later purchase by Northern Star of WMKD), and because of the new counties added, lost ABC News and Paul Harvey from the station.

In 1996, Benson retired, selling WMKC, alongside WCKC and WIDG, to Straits area broadcast legend Del Reynolds. He would maintain KC Country, although he would change the Cadillac station to a simulcast of his classic rock station, WGFM/WGFN. Benson died on May 27, 2005.

In 1998, Reynolds sold his assets to Calibre Communications, which had big plans for their newly acquired stations. WGFN became The Bear, retaining theirclassic rock format but addingBob and Tom for mornings,smooth jazzWJZJ became The Zone, playing watered-down automatedalternative rock, and KC Country gave way to K-Garth, stunting with allGarth Brooks music.

Shortly after the K-Garth stunt, 102.9 brought back its regular country format, only as Big Country 102.9. The station's airstaff was canned, only allowing for one DJ, a morning man. Eventually, WMKC brought back a full-time airstaff, though mornings (Young & Verna) and nights (Lia) are syndicated.

The KC Country name did live on for a while as WIDG flipped from satellite-fedoldies "Cool 940" to satellite-fedclassic country as "Classic KC Country". After just over one year, the station flipped toSporting News Radio (formerly One-on-One Sports) as "The Fan".

In 1998, the sale between Calibre and Reynolds failed, and a new company, Northern Star, was formed to take over the stations.

In early 2008, WMKC changed its city of license from St. Ignace to the smallCheboygan County community of Indian River. Some have suggested that an Upper Peninsula city of license made the station unpalatable to listeners and advertisers in the northern Lower Peninsula, and that the change in city of license takes WMKC one step closer to being a "Traverse City" station. WIDG-AM remains licensed to St. Ignace but is no longer co-owned, now airingCatholic programming.

WMKC has also recently reimaged itself as "102.9 Big Country Hits," a reference to sister stationWLJZ 94.5 FM's format change toclassic country as "Big Country Gold." "Big Country Gold" programming is now heard onWCBY 1240 AM, while WLJZ (now WSBX) now plays classic rock.

From 2001 to April 2010, WMKC programming was also simulcast on WAVC 93.9 FM licensed toMio, Michigan. That station is now a simulcast of classic-rock formatted sister stationWGFN 98.1 FM ("The Bear"), leaving WMKC as the sole "Big Country" outlet.

• Michiguide.com - WMKC History
• Obituary for Donald "Doc" Benson

• Facility details for Facility ID 42141 (WMKC) in theFCC Licensing and Management System
• WMKC inNielsen Audio's FM station database

45°30′08″N85°01′44″W / 45.5022°N 85.0289°W /45.5022; -85.0289

• Radio stations in Michigan
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• 1982 establishments in Michigan

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