The airwaves in Grand Rapids just got a little bit funnier.
Nov. 14 marked the birth of a 24-hour comedy radio station in Grand Rapids, Funny 1410 AM.
The Townsquare Media-owned comedy station with the call letters WNWZ replaces the Spanish contemporary hits station, La Maquina Musical.
The launch of Funny 1410 comes just four days after the headliners were announced for LaughFest 2012, allowing stand-up fans to hear the likes of Jim Gaffigan, Kevin Nealon and Whoopi Goldberg before they come to town for the 10-day festival beginning March 8.
"LaughFest set the table for us pretty good on this," said Townsquare Media Operations Manager Jerry Tarrants. "A lot of first-year events on a major platform don't do particularly well, but LaughFest did so well right out of the gate. I think they kind of warmed up the Grand Rapids area for us on this format."
While satellite radio services include stand-up comedy channels in their monthly subscription packages, Funny 1410 features a slightly different presentation that might entice listeners who are already plugged into XM or Sirius. Instead of playing entire stand-up sets on the air, Funny 1410 plays short bits from comedians. In a matter of minutes, you could hear Johnny Carson tell a joke about Ronald Reagan and then listen to Chris Rock explain how to tell if you're in the ghetto.
"It's almost addictive because you'll find yourself saying, 'I wonder who's next?'" Tarrants said. "Because the bits are done in small increments, you're able to enjoy the best from the bit. They even separate the comedians, so you're not hearing George Carlin every 20 minutes."
Think that Dane Cook and Larry the Cable Guy can't deliver the laughs like old-school legends Rodney Dangerfield and Richard Pryor? Worry not, as Funny 1410's joke library extends back to the 1940s, Tarrants said.
"Every week, we're adding 75 to 100 new bits in order to keep building [the library]," he said.
Tarrants said the station's ever-expanding playlist could get even bigger in the near future with the addition of local comedic performances.
"We've been approached by some comedians to host a local thing," he said. "To me, the sky is the limit on the radio station. If someone wants to piece together a local comedy showcase here in town, and we can feature it here on our radio station, by all means we are going to.
"It doesn't need to be stand up, either. It can be funny shows, funny plays. I don't want to be painted into a stand-up corner. If somebody's a humorous writer or a playwright, I definitely want to be able to spotlight them on the radio station."
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