Stevie Wonder owns KJLH FM which is a very very well respected radio station. The name of the company Stevie owns is Taxi Productions.
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Report: WDRQ To Be Sold
- Thread starter TheBigA
- Start date
It most certainly will.
Brings to mind listening to WDRQ as a kid in the late 1960s/early 70s when it was an all-talk format. Sounded great on FM. Back when it was all local hosts, lots of fun stuff (not designed to enrage people), and compelling to listen to. Anyone remember Russ Gibb, who hosted an evening shift, and had a column in the Free Press?
93.1 was WJBK-FM, a Storer station, until somewhere around mid-year 1970 when it was briefly WDEE Country until later 1971 when it was bought by Bartell and made part of the trio of early independent FM Top 40 stations in Miami, Detroit and St Louis. WDRQ was pure Top 40 for a number of years. By '78-'79 is was all disco, under ChartCom who bought it from Bartell in 1975.
It was not talk at all in the 60's or 70's.
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Dude, I lived there, and listened to 93.1 doing an all-talk format sometime after 1968 on my brother's stereo. The format may have only lasted a year or two, but it sure made the FM dial come alive.
Granted it's Wikipedia, so accuracy may be off, but Goldilocks94941 may be referring
to a period starting the weekend of June 19-20, 1971:
en.wikipedia.org
As David mentioned, the station known as WDEE-FM had just been sold to Bartell and call letters changed to WDRQ-FM.
Within that excerpt is a reference to Art Vuolo's "The History Of Detroit Radio" which by itself may be worth a listen:
AIRCHECKS LIBRARY: THE ‘HISTORY OF DETROIT RADIO’ – Motor City Radio Flashbacks
and History of Detroit Radio – Motor City Radio Flashbacks
to a period starting the weekend of June 19-20, 1971:
WUFL (FM) - Wikipedia
As David mentioned, the station known as WDEE-FM had just been sold to Bartell and call letters changed to WDRQ-FM.
Within that excerpt is a reference to Art Vuolo's "The History Of Detroit Radio" which by itself may be worth a listen:
AIRCHECKS LIBRARY: THE ‘HISTORY OF DETROIT RADIO’ – Motor City Radio Flashbacks
and History of Detroit Radio – Motor City Radio Flashbacks
Nope. WJBK was a simulcast of the AM at 1500 kHz, and it partially simulcast the AM country briefly until Storer started selling FMs as George did not see a future in them and feared FCC action for owners with an AM, FM and TV in the same market. Bartell bought the station from Storer along with FMs in Miami. Separately they bought one in St Louis specifically to do Top 40, and all three were inaugurated in close proximity.
Here is an ad for AM & FM WDEE from February 1970, indicating it was still country on both bands then.
The sale of WDEE from Storer to Bartell was announced in February 1971 and closed on March 15 per Broadcasting. Storer also sold their Miami FM to Bartell, and changed calls to WMYQ.
The news interval, which was very brief, was a filler to, apparently, allow Bartell to synchronize the Top 40 launches. You could almost call it a stunt. The give-away on this was the synchronized "Q" call letters that "copied" the San Diego AM 1170 "Q" name.
Here is an ad from the brief talk interval from Broadcasting in October 1971
That format lasted less than a year, at which point Bartell launched FM Top 40 in all three new markets rather close together. Don Barrett, who was PD and GM, had been McLendon's national PD for a while and his experience was based in... you got it... Top 40.
A blessed career of being a disc jockey, program director, national program director for legendary Gordon McLendon, and eventual general manager of WDRQ and W4 in Detroit and then launching KIQQ (K-100) in Los Angeles made dreams come true.
The "Q" naming concept, incorrectly called a "format" in nearly-always-wrong-Wikipedia, was simply a very clean Top 40 with fast delivery and very little chatter. WDRQ began Top 40 at the end of April of 1972.
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It did an interim news and "conversation" format from around April 1971 to March 1972 to "fill" time to synchronize the conversion of the "Q" stations in Detroit, Miami and St. Louis. It was not a permanent format.
Hint: they hired a long-time McLendon PD to be in charge, and his experience before and after WDRQ was in Top 40.
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I remember reading in Billboard that WDEE-FM's country format was automated from International Good Music in Bellingham.
If you listen to the History of Detroit Radio documentary, during the segment on CKLW, someone (possibly then-PD Alden Diehl, if I'm not mistaken) says he looks forward to someone doing an aggressive Top 40 format to give his station some real competition (Keener 13 was on life support and 1130 WCAR's attempt at the format didn't last). In hindsight, it seems fairly evident that this was a clue as to the future of the 93.1 frequency.
If you listen to the History of Detroit Radio documentary, during the segment on CKLW, someone (possibly then-PD Alden Diehl, if I'm not mistaken) says he looks forward to someone doing an aggressive Top 40 format to give his station some real competition (Keener 13 was on life support and 1130 WCAR's attempt at the format didn't last). In hindsight, it seems fairly evident that this was a clue as to the future of the 93.1 frequency.
Someone asked if the sale of WDRQ would help WYCD in the ratings. We now have an answer:
www.countryinsider.com
Nielsen: In Detroit, WYCD Gains In Share, Cume With WDRQ Flip.
With Cumulus Media’s sale of country WDRQ Detroit (93.1) to Family Life Radio and the station’s subsequent format switch, Audacy WYCD (99.5) sees its 6+ AQH share rise 6.9-8.0 in
Bear in mind 93.1 dumped country about 11 days into the 7/20 to 8/16 survey period.
Compared to two books ago, WYCD has risen by 2.6 shares. Mid to upper 5s was the typical range for WYCD before DRQ went kaput.
So far, it appears YCD has captured virtually all of the listening that previously went to 93.1. Although not PPM encoded, it's obvious the Windsor country stations have minuscule listenership on this side of the border.
93.1 was such a terribly bland and musically repetitive station that I'm surprised its ratings weren't worse than they actually were. Nudge at Night - I mean Kevin Kennedy - in PM drive on a major market country station in the rust belt? Oy vey. Nights with Elaina is a sleepier show than the "Quiet Storm."
Compared to two books ago, WYCD has risen by 2.6 shares. Mid to upper 5s was the typical range for WYCD before DRQ went kaput.
So far, it appears YCD has captured virtually all of the listening that previously went to 93.1. Although not PPM encoded, it's obvious the Windsor country stations have minuscule listenership on this side of the border.
93.1 was such a terribly bland and musically repetitive station that I'm surprised its ratings weren't worse than they actually were. Nudge at Night - I mean Kevin Kennedy - in PM drive on a major market country station in the rust belt? Oy vey. Nights with Elaina is a sleepier show than the "Quiet Storm."
Sorry, but when I clicked the link, I got a 404 error message saying "the page you're looking for cannot be found."Buyer confirmed - it is Family Life Radio. They own 100 kW blowtorch WUGN in Midland, MI.
Now we know why they dumped their daytime AM and FM translators in Metro Detroit and sold them to Relevant Radio late last year. This deal evidently has been in the works for a while.
Cumulus Media Sells WDRQ Detroit To Family Life Broadcasting System.
Continuing to part with major market signals to raise cash, Cumulus Media has cut a deal to sell “New Country 93.1” WDRQ Detroit to non-commercial religious broadcaster Family Life Broadcastingwww.insideradio.com
Likely the URL addresses expired or just got changed when the stories were updated by InsideRadio.com.
Typing "WDRQ" in the search box for InsideRadio yields the newer links for recent stories about the station:
www.insideradio.com
www.insideradio.com
www.insideradio.com
Typing "WDRQ" in the search box for InsideRadio yields the newer links for recent stories about the station:
Cumulus Media Sells WDRQ Detroit To Family Life Broadcasting System.
Continuing to part with major market signals to raise cash, Cumulus Media has cut a deal to sell “New Country 93.1” WDRQ Detroit to non-commercial religious broadcaster Family Life Broadcasting
Purchase Price For WDRQ Detroit Revealed: $10 Million.
Family Life Broadcasting System will pay $10 million to acquire “New Country 93.1” WDRQ Detroit from Cumulus Media to expand its presence in Michigan. The sale, first reported by Inside
Family Life Radio Closes On WDRQ Detroit.
Family Life Radio has closed on its $10 million purchase of WDRQ Detroit from Cumulus Media. The religious broadcaster immediately changed the call letters to WUFL and placed its network
Hang on.....OK, I've just fished $3.47 out of my couch. Might be enough for WJR. Not sure about WDVD.
I'll email Iggy Pop's management tomorrow morning.
WHAT??!! HOW BIG IS HIS YARD??!!