WHTD

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**WHTD**

City of license	Mount Clemens, Michigan
Broadcast area	Detroit
Branding	"Hot 102.7"
Slogan	We R Hip-Hop
Frequency	102.7 (MHz)
Format	Urban Contemporary
ERP	45,000 watts
Callsign meaning	W HoT Detroit
Owner	Radio One
Website	http://www.hot1027detroit.com/

WHTD, known on the air as Hot 102-7, We R Hip-Hop, is an urban contemporary radio station licensed to Mount Clemens, Michigan, and serving the Detroit metropolitan area. The station broadcasts with 50,000 watts of power from an antenna located near the intersection of Gratiot Avenue and Fourteen Mile Road in Clinton Township, Macomb County, Michigan, and directs its signal mainly toward the north and east to avoid interfering with Country WWWW-FM 102.9 in Ann Arbor. Despite this strongly directional signal which has poor coverage in much of the western and southwestern Detroit metro, 102.7 FM, which has been through a multitude of failed formats since its sign-on in 1960, is now enjoying its strongest Arbitron ratings in years. WHTD is owned by Radio One along with WDMK-FM 105.9 and WCHB-AM 1200, and is also licensed for HD Radio service.

1 History
2 Then and Now
3 Program Line-Up
4 External links

[edit] History

What is now WHTD began life on November 6, 1960, as WBRB-FM, the FM simulcast side of WBRB-AM 1430, also licensed to Mount Clemens. For years, WBRB ("Where Better Records Begin") was a full-service radio station targeting Macomb County with local and ABC news, weather and information and middle-of-the-road music. During non-simulcast dayparts, WBRB-FM aired Beautiful Music programming.

Eventually, ownership of the AM and FM portions of WBRB was separated, and Gilda Radner and her husband Michael took control of the AM station. WBRB-AM is no longer on the air, having degenerated into a brokered Motivational Talk station before going dark around 1990.

WBRB-FM changed its calls to WLBS (an homage to New York's legendary WBLS, with even a similar-looking logo for a time) and went to a disco music format, evolving into urban contemporary by 1982. With many competitors for the R&B audience in metro Detroit, WLBS was not successful, and changed to a "Rock of the '80s"-style new wave music format in 1983. This was followed, in November 1984, by what would be the station's most successful format yet: oldies of the 1950s and 1960s as WKSG, "Solid Gold Kiss 102.7." With broadcasters such as Paul Christy, Johnny Molson, and Detroit radio legend Lee Alan (who hosted a syndicated show called Back in the '60s Again), and despite competition in the format from WHND-AM (560), WMTG-AM (1310), and CKLW-FM (93.9) in the late 1980s, WKSG did well until WOMC-FM 104.3 changed its format from Adult Contemporary to Oldies in 1989.

In April 1991, WKSG became WXCD, "CD102.7, Detroit's Smooth Sounds," with a new age/smooth jazz format. Less than a year later, in March 1992, WXCD became WDZR, airing ABC's satellite-fed Z-Rock format of hard rock and heavy metal. With a playlist that rocked harder than more established AOR outlets WRIF and WLLZ, WDZR achieved decent ratings for a time, but in 1996, ABC discontinued the Z-Rock format. In November 1996, WDZR changed its calls to WWBR, "102.7 The Bear, Detroit's Rock Animal," keeping the hard-rock format but transitioning to a local air staff with Ted Nugent as morning personality. "The Bear" eventually evolved into a "Classic Rock That Really Rocks" outlet to compete with softer-edged classic-rock competitor WCSX.

The end of "The Bear" came on January 16, 1999, following the station's sale from Allur Detroit to Radio One. At 6:33 p.m., after playing The Doors' "When The Music's Over" (the same song that ended the legendary WABX-FM 99.5's rock format in 1984), the station went silent for nearly 20 minutes and then emerged as an Adult Contemporary station, reviving the "Kiss-FM" brand name and bringing the syndicated love-song dedication phones of Delilah to the Detroit airwaves for the first time. The station requested the new calls WKSK but went with WDMK ("Detroit Michigan's Kiss") after failing to secure its first choice. Then, in August 1999, WDMK shifted to an Urban Adult Contemporary format to compete with powerhouse WMXD-FM "Mix" 92.3, retaining the "Kiss-FM" name. The fact that the mainstream AC format lasted only eight months led some to believe that Radio One had always planned to shift the station's format in an R&B direction and used the AC format as a smokescreen to catch WMXD off guard.

As "Detroit's Adult R&B Station," WDMK remained low in the ratings until October 2002, when the station once again shifted format to Rhythmic Oldies and hired away longtime WJLB personality and Detroit Pistons announcer John Mason to do the morning show. The change brought 102.7 its highest ratings in years, and listeners also welcomed the musical shift to more "old school" R&B as opposed to current hits by neo-soul artists which could already be heard on other stations in the market.

On June 25, 2005, Radio One swapped the formats of WDMK and its hip-hop-formatted sister station WDTJ "105.9 Jamz." The WDMK calls and "old school" format were moved to 105.9, with the "old school" format evolving into a very gold-based Urban AC. Also making the switch was John Mason, who was switched to afternoon drive at the new "105.9 Kiss-FM" as the popular syndicated Tom Joyner morning show also moved to 105.9 from WMXD. 102.7 took on the hip-hop/rhythmic CHR format and the new calls WHTD. Despite 102.7's continued signal difficulties, and despite the ready availability of hip-hop in Detroit on Clear Channel-owned WJLB and WKQI, WHTD saw its ratings rise as the old "105.9 Jamz" audience made the switch.