Dowagiac’s local radio station, WGTO ( FM101 AM 910) has brought the Swap Shop program back to the air weekday mornings from 8:30 to 9:30.

Swap Shop and most of the other local programs had been suspended as the station was unable to pay local hosts due to declining revenues caused in part by a sagging local economy.

Program host Jonathan “Wildman” Wildes says, “It’s great to be back on the air and hearing from all our regulars who used Swap Shop every morning”

Swap Shop returned to the air Monday, Oct.

Station owner Larry Langford, “I am overjoyed that we were able to get the Wildman back on for Swap Shop. He was really missed and I received a lot of mail and calls asking us to do the best we can to restore the show.”

Earlier WGTO added Chieftains football coverage, responding to pleas from listeners to get the team back on air.

Local merchants stepped up to provide sponsorship to broadcast games both home and away.

The good feelings were tempered at the station by the news that sister station WDOW AM 1440 will be signing off in the near future after 50 years of service to Cass County.

Although the station received permission to raise power to more than 2,000 watts, Langford says he realized that as a stand-alone AM station, WDOW was not generating enough local revenue to justify the cost of continued operation.

Langford purchased WDOW studios and license in 2007 and moved WGTO into the Marcellus Highway building.

Said Langford, “This was not an easy decision, WDOW has been the voice of Dowagiac since I was a kid. I even applied for work here as a teenager.

“But the truth is Cass County cannot support a limited power stand- alone AM any longer.” 

WDOW had been AM and FM but former owner Joe Jason sold WDOW FM to LeSea Broadcasting, which currently uses the 92.1 frequency (as WHPD) to duplicate its South Bend Christian format with no Dowagiac- based programming.

The WDOW AM license will be turned into the FCC for cancelation in the coming months.

Langford hopes to restore the WDOW call letters on FM as a non- commercial station in the future.

Langford says resources will now be directed at improving coverage of WGTO FM, which broadcasts 24 hours at 101.1 and on the Internet at wgtoradio.com while still being heard on AM at 910.