WATZ signed on the air in November, 1946 as a full-service local radio station and was, for many years, the only broadcaster in Alpena.
In 1988, the format of WATZ-FM was changed to country and the signal moved to 99.3 so the station could boost its power from 3,000 to 50,000 watts.
WATZ remained locally owned and operated by the same company that founded it in 1946.
On Tuesday, June 24, 2014 the engineers shut off the WATZ AM 1450 radio transmitter.
WATZ's format and programming were moved to Midwestern Broadcasting's newly licensed WZTK.