WLQV
Encyclopedia
WLQV is a radio station serving the Detroit, Michigan
market. The station's fifty-thousand watt daytime signal enables it to be heard from Michigan's Thumb area down to Northwest Ohio, and from Lansing, Michigan
to Chatham, Ontario
, Canada
. WLQV has a Christian talk format.
on the 1290 AM frequency. Two years later, WJBK moved to 1360 and in 1930, to 1370. In 1940, WJBK was re-licensed to Detroit on 1490 AM. (An FM station at 93.1 was added in 1947, and is now WDRQ
). In the late 1940s, WJBK produced one of Detroit's first radio personalities, or disk jockeys, in Ed McKenzie, known as "Jack the Bellboy". His late afternoon show, which combined the mainstream pop hits of the day with a good amount of R&B (or "race" music as it was referred to at the time), clicked with the youngsters and soon propelled him to #1 in the market. The station also launched the career of Casey Kasem
.
In 1954, WJBK moved to its current dial position at 1500 AM, 10,000 watts. By this time, Storer Broadcasting
owned WJBK-AM/FM and had also signed on WJBK-TV on channel 2 as Detroit's CBS TV affiliate. In 1956, WJBK became the first radio station in Detroit to feature the Top 40 format 24 hours a day; WJBK also published Detroit's first printed survey of the station's most popular songs for distribution at local record stores, dubbed "Formula 45" (which became the station's catchphrase). WJBK's chief competitor in the format during the late '50s and early '60s was WXYZ-AM 1270, and the two stations were frequently neck-and-neck in the ratings. Since WJBK had retained ownership of the "Jack the Bellboy" name after Ed McKenzie left the station, there were several more "Jack the Bellboys" at Radio 15 during the late '50s and early '60s, including Tom Clay
(known for creating a romantic aura on the air), Dave Shafer, and Terry Knight
. Other popular WJBK personalities included longtime morning host Marc Avery and afternoon drive personality Robert E. Lee (who claimed to be an actual descendant of the legendary Confederate Civil War general and opened his show every afternoon with a "Rebel Yell").
In 1962, WJBK was granted 50,000 watts day and 5,000 watts, night.
Then, WKNR "Keener 13" was launched at 1310 AM on Halloween 1963, burying the Motor City's Top 40 competition - including WJBK - in its wake with a shorter playlist and a tighter, more energetic presentation than any other station in the market. WJBK gave up the fight in 1964 and switched to an easy listening
music format. In 1966 the station tweaked to an early version of what would today be called Hot Adult Contemporary, featuring a mix of softer Hot 100 chart hits from the likes of the Mamas & the Papas, B.J. Thomas, Nancy Sinatra
and Bob Dylan
, and select album cuts. Through the changes, ratings remained low. The station made a second attempt at Top 40 in 1969 with a lineup of disc jockeys that included K.O. Bayley, Lee 'Baby' Simms, Jim Hampton and CKLW
mainstay Tom Shannon
, but it lasted only a few months.
The WJBK calls are no longer used in radio but survive on TV, on Detroit's Fox network affiliate
.
format and changed its callsign to WDEE (many joked at the time that the calls stood for "We've Done Everything Else"). Unlike its competitor WEXL
, WDEE featured a slick, contemporary ("countrypolitan") approach to the country format, designed for mass appeal, and was one of the first stations to program country and western music with a Top 40-style presentation. The move paid off with frequent top five showings in the Detroit ratings during the 1970s, and the success of WDEE drove WEXL out of the country format; it changed to religious programming in 1974. WDEE's "Fem Forum" show, in which female listeners called in to share their sexual frustrations with host Tom Dean, was a controversial feature for its time but also quite popular.
In the early 1970s, Combined Communications purchased the station. Combined would eventually be purchased by the Gannett Company. Previous to Combined ownership, WDEE was part of a broadcast chain owned by Globe Broadcasting (the Harlem Globetrotters). Also during this time, WDEE-FM changed to news/talk as WDRQ-FM. Charter Broadcasting would purchase WDRQ
-FM and switch the format to Top 40 in 1972. Four decades and several formats later, that station is now adult-hits "Doug FM."
The WDEE calls later had a brief revival as a daytime-only classic-country music station in Reed City, Michigan
, coincidentally also at AM 1500. This station has since gone off the air, but the calls survive on its onetime FM sister station, WDEE-FM
, which runs an oldies format as "Sunny 97.3."
's highly-rated easy listening
music format ( The two stations were paired in the mid 70s ) . (The change left Detroit without a country music signal temporarily, but in 1979, WCAR-AM
picked up the format and became WCXI, featuring Deano Day and other former WDEE personalities.) After one year, due to a terrible directional signal, the format was abandoned and the calls changed to WLQV (the calls were meant to designate the word "love"), and featured a religious format.
In 1985, the station made one last return to playing Top 40 music as it became WCZY-AM again; unlike its first time as WCZY-AM, this time it was a 100% simulcast of the FM station, which by then had changed from easy listening to adult-oriented CHR
. With Z95.5 featuring future Radio Hall of Fame
inductee Dick Purtan
, much was made of Purtan's "return" to AM radio; however, the simulcast ended during the summer of 1987.
In 1986, Gannett purchased the Detroit News, and under Federal Communications Commission
guidelines against cross-ownership of stations within a market, sold WLQV to former Gannett president Joe Dorton. In 1987, Mike Glinter's Satellite Radio Network purchased WLQV. Jon Yinger's Midwest Broadcasting Corporation, Too., a small chain of religious stations in the Midwest, bought WLQV in December 1993. Under the ownership of Yinger (a former Gannett GSM and GM of Satellite Radio Network), WLQV retained the Christian talk format and generated a loyal following with a niche group of listeners. The station's programming featured nationally-known evangelists and teachers such as Billy Graham
, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, Charles Stanley and others, along with Detroit-area pastors and preachers. This formula stayed in place through the mid 2000s.
Yinger owned WLQV longer than any other owner, with the exception of Storer.
Yinger oversaw and completed WLQV's longstanding application for increased nighttime power. in 2003, WLQV commenced operating with 9 towers at night, 10,000 watts of power, ending an eighteen year standoff with WTOP and KSTP. By this time, Yinger's company would be known as "The Christian Broadcasting System", a group of nine stations and a satellite network. "CBSL" owned WLQV until its sale to Salem.
, the country's top family of Christian-oriented stations; in exchange for a cash sum and two stations in Cincinnati, Ohio
. The station's operations were handled thereafter by a subsidiary of Salem, Caron Broadcasting, who moved the studios from suburban Livonia
to downtown Detroit's Penobscot Building
. In mid-September, 2006 the station moved from the Penobscot Building to its new studio site in Ferndale
. The station's transmitter is located on Dix-Toledo Road just south of I-75 in Lincoln Park
. Except for minor changes in programming and station structure, WLQV still boasts a Christian talk format.
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
market. The station's fifty-thousand watt daytime signal enables it to be heard from Michigan's Thumb area down to Northwest Ohio, and from Lansing, Michigan
Lansing, Michigan
Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...
to Chatham, Ontario
Chatham, Ontario
Chatham is the largest community in the municipality of Chatham-Kent, Ontario. Formerly serving as the seat of Kent County, the governments of the former city of Chatham, the county of Kent, and its townships were merged into one entity known as the Municipality of Chatham-Kent in 1998.Located on...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. WLQV has a Christian talk format.
WJBK
WLQV first signed on as WJBK-AM on October 7, 1925, licensed to nearby YpsilantiYpsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...
on the 1290 AM frequency. Two years later, WJBK moved to 1360 and in 1930, to 1370. In 1940, WJBK was re-licensed to Detroit on 1490 AM. (An FM station at 93.1 was added in 1947, and is now WDRQ
WDRQ
WDRQ is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is branded as 93.1 Doug FM. Doug FM broadcasts from the Fisher Building just north of downtown Detroit and transmits its signal from an antenna 669 feet in length located at the intersection of Ten Mile and Greenfield Roads in suburban...
). In the late 1940s, WJBK produced one of Detroit's first radio personalities, or disk jockeys, in Ed McKenzie, known as "Jack the Bellboy". His late afternoon show, which combined the mainstream pop hits of the day with a good amount of R&B (or "race" music as it was referred to at the time), clicked with the youngsters and soon propelled him to #1 in the market. The station also launched the career of Casey Kasem
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem is an American radio personality and voice actor who is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown show American Top 40, and for voicing Shaggy in the popular Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.Kasem, along with Don Bustany and...
.
In 1954, WJBK moved to its current dial position at 1500 AM, 10,000 watts. By this time, Storer Broadcasting
Storer Broadcasting
Storer Broadcasting, Inc. was an American company which owned several television and radio stations in the northeast United States. It was incorporated in Ohio in 1927, and sold its broadcasting properties in 1983.-1920s—1940s:...
owned WJBK-AM/FM and had also signed on WJBK-TV on channel 2 as Detroit's CBS TV affiliate. In 1956, WJBK became the first radio station in Detroit to feature the Top 40 format 24 hours a day; WJBK also published Detroit's first printed survey of the station's most popular songs for distribution at local record stores, dubbed "Formula 45" (which became the station's catchphrase). WJBK's chief competitor in the format during the late '50s and early '60s was WXYZ-AM 1270, and the two stations were frequently neck-and-neck in the ratings. Since WJBK had retained ownership of the "Jack the Bellboy" name after Ed McKenzie left the station, there were several more "Jack the Bellboys" at Radio 15 during the late '50s and early '60s, including Tom Clay
Tom Clay
Tom Clay was an American radio personality and disc jockey.Clay was born Thomas Clague in New York, and in the 1950s he was popular in the Detroit area on WJBK-AM both as a DJ, and for his on-air comic characterizations; he became a local celebrity...
(known for creating a romantic aura on the air), Dave Shafer, and Terry Knight
Terry Knight
Terry Knight , born Richard Terrance Knapp, was an American rock and roll music producer, promoter, singer, songwriter and radio personality, who enjoyed some success in radio, modest success as a singer, but phenomenal success as the original manager-producer for Grand Funk Railroad and the...
. Other popular WJBK personalities included longtime morning host Marc Avery and afternoon drive personality Robert E. Lee (who claimed to be an actual descendant of the legendary Confederate Civil War general and opened his show every afternoon with a "Rebel Yell").
In 1962, WJBK was granted 50,000 watts day and 5,000 watts, night.
Then, WKNR "Keener 13" was launched at 1310 AM on Halloween 1963, burying the Motor City's Top 40 competition - including WJBK - in its wake with a shorter playlist and a tighter, more energetic presentation than any other station in the market. WJBK gave up the fight in 1964 and switched to an easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
music format. In 1966 the station tweaked to an early version of what would today be called Hot Adult Contemporary, featuring a mix of softer Hot 100 chart hits from the likes of the Mamas & the Papas, B.J. Thomas, Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, and select album cuts. Through the changes, ratings remained low. The station made a second attempt at Top 40 in 1969 with a lineup of disc jockeys that included K.O. Bayley, Lee 'Baby' Simms, Jim Hampton and CKLW
CKLW
CKLW is a 50,000 watt AM radio station broadcasting on 800 kHz and located in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and serving Windsor and Detroit. Additionally, its signal can be heard as far west as Belding, Michigan; as far east as Batavia, New York; as far south as Edgewood, Kentucky; and as far...
mainstay Tom Shannon
Tom Shannon
For the artist see Tom Shannon Thomas John Shannon was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1927 until his death. He was variously a member of the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Labor Party .Shannon was born in Redfern, New South Wales...
, but it lasted only a few months.
The WJBK calls are no longer used in radio but survive on TV, on Detroit's Fox network affiliate
WJBK
WJBK is the Fox–owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan broadcasting on digital channel 7...
.
WDEE
Toward the end of 1969, WJBK changed to a contemporary country musicCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
format and changed its callsign to WDEE (many joked at the time that the calls stood for "We've Done Everything Else"). Unlike its competitor WEXL
WEXL
WEXL is an Urban Gospel station at 1340 AM licensed to Royal Oak, Michigan and broadcasting in the Detroit area. It's known as Glory 1340 and owned by Crawford Broadcasting with WMUZ 103.5 FM and WRDT 560 AM.-History:...
, WDEE featured a slick, contemporary ("countrypolitan") approach to the country format, designed for mass appeal, and was one of the first stations to program country and western music with a Top 40-style presentation. The move paid off with frequent top five showings in the Detroit ratings during the 1970s, and the success of WDEE drove WEXL out of the country format; it changed to religious programming in 1974. WDEE's "Fem Forum" show, in which female listeners called in to share their sexual frustrations with host Tom Dean, was a controversial feature for its time but also quite popular.
In the early 1970s, Combined Communications purchased the station. Combined would eventually be purchased by the Gannett Company. Previous to Combined ownership, WDEE was part of a broadcast chain owned by Globe Broadcasting (the Harlem Globetrotters). Also during this time, WDEE-FM changed to news/talk as WDRQ-FM. Charter Broadcasting would purchase WDRQ
WDRQ
WDRQ is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is branded as 93.1 Doug FM. Doug FM broadcasts from the Fisher Building just north of downtown Detroit and transmits its signal from an antenna 669 feet in length located at the intersection of Ten Mile and Greenfield Roads in suburban...
-FM and switch the format to Top 40 in 1972. Four decades and several formats later, that station is now adult-hits "Doug FM."
The WDEE calls later had a brief revival as a daytime-only classic-country music station in Reed City, Michigan
Reed City, Michigan
Reed City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 2,430. It is the county seat of Osceola County.It is the home town of author Timothy James Bazzett.-Geography:...
, coincidentally also at AM 1500. This station has since gone off the air, but the calls survive on its onetime FM sister station, WDEE-FM
WDEE-FM
WDEE-FM is a radio station licensed to Reed City, Michigan, with studios in Big Rapids. The station plays oldies of the 1950s through the 1980s.-Beginnings as WDEE-AM:...
, which runs an oldies format as "Sunny 97.3."
WLQV/WCZY-AM
In 1977, the station's call sign was changed to WCZY-AM and ran a more contemporary version of sister station WCZY-FMWKQI
WKQI — branded Channel 955 — is a commercial pop/CHR radio station in Detroit, Michigan, owned by Clear Channel Communications. WKQI transmits its signal with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts from an antenna 430 feet in height located at the intersection of Greenfield Road and 10 Mile...
's highly-rated easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
music format ( The two stations were paired in the mid 70s ) . (The change left Detroit without a country music signal temporarily, but in 1979, WCAR-AM
WDFN
WDFN is a sports-talk radio station in the Detroit, Michigan, market. It broadcasts in the AM radio band at 1130 kHz. WDFN is owned by Clear Channel Communications, and until the end of the 2008-09 NBA season, was the flagship station for the Detroit Pistons....
picked up the format and became WCXI, featuring Deano Day and other former WDEE personalities.) After one year, due to a terrible directional signal, the format was abandoned and the calls changed to WLQV (the calls were meant to designate the word "love"), and featured a religious format.
In 1985, the station made one last return to playing Top 40 music as it became WCZY-AM again; unlike its first time as WCZY-AM, this time it was a 100% simulcast of the FM station, which by then had changed from easy listening to adult-oriented CHR
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
. With Z95.5 featuring future Radio Hall of Fame
Radio Hall of Fame
The National Radio Hall of Fame is a project of the Museum of Broadcast Communications.Although no physical building currently exists to house it, the National Radio Hall of Fame is a project of Bruce DuMont, CEO of the currently homeless Museum of Broadcast Communications, and is purported to be a...
inductee Dick Purtan
Dick Purtan
Dick Purtan is a former American radio personality. His last radio job was as the morning radio show host on Oldies 104.3 serving the Detroit, Michigan U.S. radio market. Purtan was also a disc jockey at WKNR-AM, WXYZ-AM, CKLW-AM and WCZY-FM which became WKQI-FM in 1989...
, much was made of Purtan's "return" to AM radio; however, the simulcast ended during the summer of 1987.
In 1986, Gannett purchased the Detroit News, and under Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
guidelines against cross-ownership of stations within a market, sold WLQV to former Gannett president Joe Dorton. In 1987, Mike Glinter's Satellite Radio Network purchased WLQV. Jon Yinger's Midwest Broadcasting Corporation, Too., a small chain of religious stations in the Midwest, bought WLQV in December 1993. Under the ownership of Yinger (a former Gannett GSM and GM of Satellite Radio Network), WLQV retained the Christian talk format and generated a loyal following with a niche group of listeners. The station's programming featured nationally-known evangelists and teachers such as Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, Charles Stanley and others, along with Detroit-area pastors and preachers. This formula stayed in place through the mid 2000s.
Yinger owned WLQV longer than any other owner, with the exception of Storer.
Yinger oversaw and completed WLQV's longstanding application for increased nighttime power. in 2003, WLQV commenced operating with 9 towers at night, 10,000 watts of power, ending an eighteen year standoff with WTOP and KSTP. By this time, Yinger's company would be known as "The Christian Broadcasting System", a group of nine stations and a satellite network. "CBSL" owned WLQV until its sale to Salem.
WLQV Today
In the February of 2006, WLQV was sold to Salem CommunicationsSalem Communications
Salem Communications is a U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher specializing in evangelical Christian and conservative political talk radio. It owns 99 commercial radio stations, 65 of which are in the top 25 markets. Salem is the fifth largest U.S....
, the country's top family of Christian-oriented stations; in exchange for a cash sum and two stations in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. The station's operations were handled thereafter by a subsidiary of Salem, Caron Broadcasting, who moved the studios from suburban Livonia
Livonia, Michigan
Livonia is a city in the northwest part of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Livonia is a very large suburb with an array of traditional neighborhoods connected to the metropolitan area by freeways. The population was 96,942 at the 2010 census, making it Michigan's 9th largest...
to downtown Detroit's Penobscot Building
Penobscot Building
The Greater Penobscot Building, commonly known as the Penobscot Building, is a skyscraper and class-A office building in downtown Detroit, Michigan. Rising 566 feet , the 47-story Penobscot was the tallest building in Michigan from its completion in 1928 until the construction of the Renaissance...
. In mid-September, 2006 the station moved from the Penobscot Building to its new studio site in Ferndale
Ferndale, Michigan
Ferndale is adjacent to the cities of Detroit to the south, Oak Park to the west, Hazel Park to the east, Pleasant Ridge to the north, Royal Oak Township to the southwest, and Royal Oak to the north....
. The station's transmitter is located on Dix-Toledo Road just south of I-75 in Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park, Michigan
Lincoln Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It lies in an area of cities and communities known as Downriver. The population was 38,144 at the 2010 census . The settlement was organized as a village in 1921, and reorganized as a city in 1925. The area was originally home to...
. Except for minor changes in programming and station structure, WLQV still boasts a Christian talk format.