A student project to replace the aging AM carrier current station was started in the fall of 1979 by freshman Richard Kennedy. Tentative approval to move forward on this proposal was passed by the Hope College Student Congress on Monday, November 24, 1980. Under the advice of WZZM-TV Chief Engineer Dale Wolters (his father, Dr. Edward J. Wolters, taught Classics at Hope College for 40 years, retiring in 1966), E. Harold Munn and Associates of Coldwater was retained to do a feasibility engineering study. The application to the Federal Communications Commission was tied up when a newly founded Zeeland-based church attempted to secure the license for 89.9, thus delaying the actual official sign-on date until Friday, September 27, 1985.