WGHN-F, WMPA/Grand Haven, MI Evicted From City Tower Site

Evicted

WGHN, INC. AC WGHN-F/GRAND HAVEN, MI and STRONG TOWER RADIO Contemporary Christian WMPA/FERRYSBURG, MI have gone silent after being evicted from their tower by the city of GRAND HAVEN. WGHN’s programming is being aired on the signals of sister Oldies WGHN-A-W235CM and via streaming while the FM is down; The city claims that the stations breached their leases by failing to pay utility bills and fines and for violating a requirement that programming be 75% local.

In a statement released TUESDAY (11/23), WGHN owner WILL TIERNAN called the allegation that the station had not paid its utility bills “unfounded” and traced the situation on a years-ago “mix-up” that resulted in WGHN’s payments being applied to the bills for CENTRAL DISPATCH and the city paying WGHN’s bills for eight years. TIERNAN said that the station had signed a Letter of Understanding in 2021 to pay the difference of $95,956.67 in $1,000 monthly installments over eight years but paused payments “until this situation reaches resolution.” He added that the station “stands firm that it has not violated its Tower Lease Agreement with the City of GRAND HAVEN”; as for WMPA, TIERNAN said that the city alleged that he had sold the station to STRONG TOWER RADIO but that the arrangement is a permissible time brokerage agreement and that there was no mention to WGHN that WMPA was subject to the same requirement that programming be 75% local.

TIERNAN said that WGHN has been given 30 days to remove its equipment from the city site.

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