WBLV (90.3 FM) and WBLU-FM (88.9 FM), together known as Blue Lake Public Radio, are public radio stations licensed to Twin Lake and Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Owned by the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Blue Lake Public Radio offers a fine arts–oriented format with classical and jazz music as well as selected NPR news programs to Grand Rapids and areas to the northwest along Lake Michigan.

Blue Lake Public Radio began in 1982 with the launch of WBLV, which filled a large gap in NPR coverage. Meanwhile, in Grand Rapids, what is now WBLU-FM was established in 1979 as WGNR by the Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music, a non-degree-granting Christian college, as a student teaching tool. In 1988, Echo Broadcasting acquired WGNR; it was a local ministry rebroadcasting Moody Radio programming and donated it and WXYB in Zeeland to the network in 1991. When the school moved from what had been its campus, it evicted WGNR, and as Moody already had a signal covering Grand Rapids, it sold WGNR to Blue Lake Public Radio.

In January 1980, the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan, announced an expansion program to meet what it saw as increased demand for its camps for youth and to promote itself across the Midwest. Locally, it announced its intention to begin an educational FM radio station by 1981 or 1982.^[3] Blue Lake's plan was in part based on Interlochen Public Radio.^[4] The first director of Blue Lake Public Radio, Angus Forrester, arrived from Interlochen in January 1981.^[5] Even before the camp had a construction permit, it began applying for federal grants to cover construction and operation costs and identified a site near Hesperia, Michigan, suitable to establish a 100,000-watt regional station.^[6] In addition, Blue Lake launched a fundraising campaign,^[7][8] seeking to hedge against possible cuts to the federal grants for which it had applied.^[9]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted the construction permit in December 1981; its projected federal grant had been cut by a third.^[10] With construction in full swing, Forrester nearly died. On December 18, 1981, a furnace being installed malfunctioned, and Forrester and a supervisor were found unconscious after being overcome by carbon monoxide; though he did not die, he resigned before the station started, owing to health problems.^[11]

On July 3, 1982, WBLV began broadcasting during a benefit for Blue Lake featuring comedian Bob Hope.^[12] For most of its four months on the air, the station was unable to air national NPR programming because it lacked a satellite receiving station, owing to the federal cuts; it had to depend on a jazz and classical music library containing only 1,000 records as well as a music syndication service.^[13][14] In 1985, it expanded to a 24-hour broadcast day.^[15]

The station had high turnover in management in its early years. After Forrester departed, four people managed the station in five stints between 1982 and 1985.^[15] This changed in 1987 when program director Buck Matthews was promoted to general manager. Matthews was familiar to West Michigan TV viewers as a weatherman, talk show host, and community relations director for WOOD-TV/WOTV in Grand Rapids.^[16] That same year, WBLV received FCC approval to add 200 feet (61 m) to its tower, extending its range.^[17]

On October 19, 1979, WGNR began broadcasting on 88.9 MHz in Grand Rapids. It was owned by and located at the Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music, a non-degree-granting institution^[18] whose students primarily staffed the outlet and used it as a training tool for Christian ministry. It aired a mix of student-produced music programming and student-produced and syndicated Christian talk and teaching programming.^[19] Originally a 10-watt station, the station increased its power in 1983.^[20] By then, there were seven Christian radio stations in the Grand Rapids area, two of which (WGNR and WCSG at the Grand Rapids Baptist Academy) were owned by educational institutions.^[21] Later that year, WGNR began carrying The Sight Seer, a new local radio reading service, on a subcarrier for the benefit of the blind community.^[22]

Another Christian radio station began broadcasting in the region on January 20, 1989: WXYB 89.3, licensed to Zeeland. It was owned by Echo Broadcasting, whose backers sought to restore the programming of the Moody Radio network to West Michigan. WMBI AM from Chicago had once been audible in this area but was crowded out by new local stations.^[23] Two months before WXYB began, Echo purchased WGNR from the Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music and flipped it to Moody programming.^[24] The addition of WGNR expanded the Echo service area to the east, inland from the lakeshore to include Grand Rapids.^[25]

Echo Broadcasting sold WXYB and WGNR to Moody Radio itself in 1991 for a titular purchase price of $1.^[26] The call letters on WXYB were changed to WGNB after Moody acquired the stations.^[27] While Moody was acquiring the stations, the Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music—where the WGNR transmitter was still located—was looking to move off its campus on Franklin Street, which no longer met its needs or current fire code.^[28] The former campus was sold to Grand Rapids Public Schools, which ordered WGNR to be relocated elsewhere. Moody attempted to relocate the station but found that not only was site selection difficult, WGNB provided adequate coverage of Grand Rapids. As a result, on December 28, 1992, WGNR left the air.^[29] Sight Seer was not broadcast while WGNR was out of service.^[30]

Moody elected to sell WGNR to the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, which desired to improve its signal in parts of Grand Rapids that did not get satisfactory reception of WBLV. It had already identified a new tower site in northeast Grand Rapids to house the station.^[29] The former WGNR, now WBLU-FM, returned to the air at the end of June 1993.^[31]

In 2015, after a lightning strike to WBLV's tower forced reduced power, it was discovered that the 33-year-old mast needed replacement. The station was on reduced power for six months before the new tower was completed and put into service.^[32]

Outside of airing Morning Edition and All Things Considered, most of Blue Lake Public Radio's weekday programming is classical music during the day and overnight with a late-night jazz music block, Jazz from Blue Lake. The station also airs a variety of syndicated classical and jazz music programs.^[33] Blue Lake Public Radio broadcasts the Grand Rapids Symphony and the West Michigan Symphony Orchestra in Muskegon, and during the summer it airs performances from the arts camp's Summer Festival.^[34]

• Official website
• Facility details for Facility ID 5902 (WBLV) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• WBLV in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
• Facility details for Facility ID 5903 (WBLU-FM) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• WBLU-FM in Nielsen Audio's FM station database