Funny 1410 AM Debuts in Grand Rapids | Arts & Culture

Written by Patrick Nothaft

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...

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