in 1950, all collectively known as the Paul Bunyan Network. All but WATC and WATZ are still on the air today, WATT and WMBN were sold to MacDonald Broadcasting, with Midwestern holding on to WTCM. 1950s and 1960s In 1954, Biederman signed on NBC WPBN-TV 7 in Traverse City, just months after the Traverse City market got its first TV station, Sparton's CBS/ABC/DuMont WWTV 13 in Cadillac, now known as 9 & 10. In 1959, WPBN increased its reach to WTOM 4 in Cheboygan, bringing NBC shows to the eastern upper peninsula. Big changes came to WTCM and the rest of the Paul Bunyan Network in the 1960s as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allowed local channel stations to increase their daytime power to 1,000 watts. All of the local channel stations complied, and boosted their power. In 1964, long time WTCM air staffer Merlin Dumbrille started hosting the popular "Farm and Orchard Time" program, a WTCM staple since 1941. He retired as host of the show on October 30, 2009. Long time Midwestern employee Bill Gravelin also started working for the station in the 1960s and was the "late night" host of Traverse Citys first "top 40" music in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Daytime at WTCM in this period was mostly "middle of the road" or "MOR" music featuring artists such as Frank Sinatra, Mario Lanza and others. It is a local legend (urban myth?) that the Beatles and other "early rock" was seldom played in the market at this time other than late at night. 1970s WTCM became contemporary (as "14-T") in 1975 under the supervision of long-time Traverse City broadcaster Jerry Meyer who came from WCCW by the hand of General Manager Jack Walkmeyer, and who soon hired Flint, MI talent Jon McRae as the first program director of the fledgling contemporary radio effort. A difficult but necessary task was moving "old school" morning show host Kenn Haven to a role as news director. Havens’ now-dated morning news and music show featured bits such as "first call" and "last call" to breakfast, and use of the NBC "Chime" and a hand bell. McRae lasted but a short time, finding frustration in many aspects of bringing a 1960s MOR station into the 1970s. Meyer soon also departed, to purchase "Murray Boat & Motor" on the Boardman River (then moving it), then become news anchor for WWTV