What is "wmxg"

WMXG (106.3 FM) is a radio station licensed to Stephenson, Michigan and serving south central Upper Michigan, including the cities of Escanaba, Gladstone, Iron Mountain, and Menominee. The station is licensed to Escanaba License Group (ELG), a company owned by the estate of the late Lyle R. Evans (d. 2006), a Green Bay, Wisconsin broadcast executive who was involved in several radio or TV stations in Wisconsin and Michigan, including the launch of what is now Green Bay's NBC affiliate, WGBA-TV formerly known as WLRE-TV.

WMXG was granted a license in October 1999 and commenced broadcasting in March 2000. The station, branded as "Mix 106" and based through studios in Escanaba, originally broadcast a Hot Adult Contemporary music format, with some rock music included in the playlist in its early months. In Fall 2006, "Mix 106" converted to a classic hits format, with some modern rock songs included during evening hours.

In recent years, WMXG has encountered financial and transmission problems. A transmitter failure forced the station off the air on April 25, 2012. ELG requested and was granted by the FCC Special Temporary Authority (STA) to remain off the air due to financial reasons. WMXG resumed limited operations with rock music in late April 2013, meeting the STA's expiration date. Since that time, it is unclear whether ELG has made only periodical, temporary broadcast resumptions in order to meet FCC-dictated deadlines, risking automatic surrender of the station's license if those deadlines are not met. ELG, in requesting previous STAs to keep WMXG off-air, has cited as reasons the station's "next-to-nonexistent business" and continued transmitter problems, as well as failed efforts to resolve the Lyle Evans' estate and seek new ownership for the station. As of December 2015, the station studios remain locked, with no staff anywhere in the State of Michigan.