History
Classical and Oldies
WFGR signed on the air on August 9, 1992. [4] It was a classical music station throughout the 1990s, broadcasting the "World Classical Network" from WFCC-FM in Chatham, Massachusetts. It changed its format to oldies music as "Oldies 98.7" on October 11, 2004. At that time, Grand Rapids' previous oldies station, WODJ, switched to album rock as 107.3 WKLQ (now WTNR).
When WFGR debuted its oldies format, it was satellite-delivered using ABC Radio's "Oldies Radio" feed. Shortly thereafter, the station debuted a mostly-local lineup of DJs, playing music from the 1960s and early 1970s.
Classic Hits
On June 29, 2009, the station changed its name to "98.7 WFGR" and began playing classic hits, focusing more on the 1970s and 1980s. The change left the Grand Rapids market without a local outlet for 1960s oldies. But a few months later, Grand Valley State University stepped in to fill the void by flipping its WGVU from NPR news and talk to the "Real Oldies" network.
WFGR's wide-ranging classic hits playlist ran for a number of years, becoming increasingly centered on the 1980s as time went by.
On July 3, 2024, the station changed its name once again, calling itself “98.7 the Grand”, focusing on “timeless tracks from the 1970s and 1980s”. The station began to feature music from well-known classic rock artists with multi-generational appeal. [5] [6]
Sports Radio
On December 1, 2025, the station dropped its classic hits format and flipped to sports programming. It rebranded as "Sports Radio 98.7", and became an affiliate of ESPN Radio, the Infinity Sports Network and the Detroit Sports Network. [7]
Following WFGR's sports flip, 101.3 WBFX became the only classic hits station in the Grand Rapids market for several weeks. Then after Christmas, co-owned 100.5 WTRV took up WFGR's previous classic hits format.
Former staff and jingles
On October 5, 2009, The Bob & Tom Show , syndicated from Indianapolis, premiered on the morning lineup, Mondays through Saturdays. The show was added when WBFX (then-operated by Clear Channel Communications) did not renew the contract for the show. On October 5, 2012, three years to the day after their premiere, Bob and Tom were replaced with local talent Andy O' Riley and Dave Kaechele. In late 2013, local midday DJ Matt Hendricks was cut from the staff and replaced with a company voice-tracked personality “Big Joe Henry” based in New Jersey. Andy and Dave were also cut from the staff in January 2014, due to low ratings. In early 2014, part-time DJ Lauren was promoted to middays, and Jo Jo Girard, formerly of WWMX in Baltimore and WSNX-FM in Muskegon was introduced as the new WFGR morning show host.
With the changes in July 2024, there were no remaining local morning show hosts. The station used local staff for announcements in the midday and afternoon time slots. Until the station's flip to sports in December 2025, WFGR carried additional programming from both Compass Media Networks and Premiere Networks, including Casey Kasem's classic episodes of American Top 40 .
During its Classic Hits days, WFGR previously used re-sung versions of cuts from several classic JAM Creative Productions jingle packages from the 1970s and 1980s. Among these was a version of WHTZ New York's legendary "Serving the Universe" top-of-the-hour ID (known as Turbo Z), with "Serving the Universe" replaced by "Serving West Michigan."