WSPT AM was the second station to be licensed in the county, in 1948. Originally the station was called WTWT, but changed its call letters to incorporate a local theme, Schuh said. As listeners began to tune in to FM stations outside the county, WSPT took to the FM airwaves in 1961.

That station, originally owned by Ralph and Rosa (Bartell) Evans, was sold in the 1960s to a corporation of investors including former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren E. Burger and current Justice Harry A. Blackman, said Schuh. “Now that’s a little piece of history that not too many people know,” he said. The station has switched hands several times since, briefly under the ownership of Sentry Insurance, and ultimately purchased by Americus, the current owners.

WYTE and WMGU entered the broadcasting race several years later. WMGU has since gone off the air.

The campus station, WWSP, went on the air as WSUS for Wisconsin State University Stevens Point.“They must have begun in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s as a little low-power radio station, primarily to teach students about broadcasting,” said Schuh. “But they’ve come along, and become a good force for the community. “They’re claim to fame is, of course, the trivia contest.”

While today’s broadcasts give updates on current events, Schuh said early programming didn’t cover news. “If we look at (local radio stations) as news media, that didn’t begin until 1965 with any significance,” he said. “Weather and entertainment happened earlier. “Radio was more of an entertainment medium in those days.”