WZZM

WZZM

Grand Rapids–Muskegon, Michigan United States
City	Grand Rapids, Michigan
Channels	Digital: 13 (VHF) Virtual: 13
Branding	13 On Your Side
Programming
Affiliations	13.1: ABC for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Tegna Inc. (Combined Communications of Oklahoma, LLC)
History
First air date	November 1, 1962 (61 years ago) (1962-11-01)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 13 (VHF, 1962–2009) Digital: 39 (UHF, 2002–2009)
Call sign meaning	"WZZM" forms an ambigram
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	49713
ERP	24.5 kW
HAAT	324.3 m (1,064 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	43°18′35″N 85°54′45″W / 43.30972°N 85.91250°W / 43.30972; -85.91250
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.wzzm13.com

WZZM (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, serving West Michigan as an affiliate of ABC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station has studios on 3 Mile Road NW in Walker (with a Grand Rapids mailing address), and its transmitter is located in Grant, Michigan.

Channel 13 was inserted into Grand Rapids in 1961; station spacing rules of the time required that the transmitter be to the north of the city, closer to Muskegon. The station went on the air in November 1962 under interim operating authority; four companies jointly owned the station until West Michigan Telecasters was granted the permanent license in 1964 and bought out the others' interim holdings in 1965. Because of the transmitter site restriction, the station did not and does not provide adequate coverage of the southern portion of the market, namely Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the station sought translators to serve those cities, only to have the proposals turned down in order to protect a new station on channel 41 in Battle Creek, WUHQ-TV (now WOTV), which also broadcasts ABC but with separate non-network programming. An attempt to combine WZZM-TV and WUHQ-TV failed in 1991, and WOTV is today co-owned with WOOD-TV, the market's NBC affiliate. Satellite television providers Dish Network and DirecTV provide both stations across the entire market, and WZZM is also on cable in Battle Creek.

In local news, the station had a highly regarded news department from the 1960s through the 1980s; its original news director stayed on for the first 25 years of its history. While the station continues to be competitive, particularly in the Grand Rapids area northward, coverage shortfalls in the south and the aggregate nature of the television market have made WOOD-TV the overall market news leader since the 1990s. The station maintains a lit weather ball displayed near its Walker studios.