The station was founded by Les Biederman and, along with WTCM and WTCM-FM in Traverse City, WATZ in Alpena, and the now-defunct WATC in Gaylord, was affiliated with his "Paul Bunyan Network."
The station bore the call sign WWPZ (known as simply "WPZ" on the air) from 1980 to 1992 and had a very wide-ranging, eclectic pop/rock music format similar to today's Variety Hits concept.
In 1992, the station returned to the WMBN calls and shifted to Westwood One's "AM Only" format of "Original Hits of the '40s, '50s and '60s," which has evolved over the years into the current "America's Best Music" format.
Is an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, and University of Michigan Football and Basketball.
As of January 2, 2012, WMBN dropped music programming entirely and became a sports talk station broadcasting the Fox Sports Radio format, in simulcast with sister station WKAD 93.7 FM in Cadillac.