WKRK-FM
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| WKRK-FM | |
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| City of license | Detroit, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | [1] |
| Branding | Live 97.1 Free FM |
| Slogan | Live 97.1 Free FM |
| First air date | May 10, 1941 |
| Frequency | 97.1 MHz  |
| Format | Hot Talk |
| Power | 15,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | K-RocK (previous rock format) |
| Former callsigns | WYST (1994-1997) WJOI (1981-1994) WWJ-FM (1948-1981) WENA (1945?-1948) W45D (1941-1945?) |
| Owner | CBS Radio |
| Website | http://www.freefm971.com |
WKRK-FM, currently branded as Live 97.1 Free FM, is an FM talk radio station broadcasting from Detroit, Michigan. It transmits on a frequency of 97.1 MHz . It is a part of CBS Radio.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] W8XWJ & WWJ
What is today WKRK was the first FM radio station in Michigan and the seventh in the United States. The station that would become WKRK began broadcasting as an experimental APEX AM station (called W8XWJ) in 1936. In 1940, the station ceased broadcasting while owner the Evening News Association (parent company of WWJ-AM 950 and The Detroit News) waited for the FCC to approve its move to the newly created FM band. Approval came in late October 1940 and on May 10, 1941 the station (renamed W45D) signed on at 44.5 MHz with 3,000 watts of power. When the FCC created the new 88-108 MHz broadcast band, W45D was moved to 96.9 as WENA in September 1945. By 1948, the station had settled on its present 97.1 home as WWJ-FM, originally simulcasting WWJ-AM. In the 1960s and 1970s, WWJ-FM was one of several stations competing for Detroit's Beautiful Music audience along with WLDM 95.5 (now WKQI) and WJR-FM 96.3 (now WDVD).
[edit] WJOI
In 1981, WWJ-FM changed its calls to WJOI (a.k.a. "Joy 97") and continued playing Beautiful Music as while incorporating more soft Adult Contemporary vocals and Oldies into its music mix. In September 1982, WJR-FM flipped to Top 40 as "Hot Hits" WHYT, and by then, WLDM 95.5 had migrated to Adult Contemporary (as WCZY), as had fellow easy-listening stations WNIC and WOMC. With the Beautiful Music format now all to itself, "Joy 97" remained high in the ratings through most of the 1980s and even reached #1 in the 12+ Arbitron results in 1984. By the early 1990s, however, with the beautiful music format in decline due to aging audience demographics, WJOI had evolved into a very soft Adult Contemporary format, eliminating virtually all of the "elevator music" instrumentals and putting the station in competition with the more popular WNIC (100.3) and WLTI (93.1) for the Adult Contemporary audience.
[edit] WYST
Having lost the Adult Contemporary battle, WJOI became WYST (a.k.a. "Star 97") in September 1994 and featured a 1970s oldies/classic rock format. Despite positioning itself as "The Greatest Hits of the '70s", WYST included a good deal of 1960s and 1980s material in its rotation and focused almost exclusively on Classic Rock, with little in the way of 1970s adult pop, R&B, or disco. WYST was also Detroit's outlet for syndicated morning show host Don Imus.
[edit] WKRK
In February 1997, Imus' show moved to AM sister WXYT-AM 1270 and was replaced on 97.1 FM by Howard Stern. WYST switched its format to Active Rock, taking the calls WKRK and the on-air identifier "K-Rock" in June of that year. Meant to sound harder than WRIF or Detroit's alternative rock stations, "K-Rock" caught the ears of fans of harder rock and metal. Unfortunately, K-Rock's penchant for making fun of WRIF, mostly for long stretches between songs, turned off many a listener just as quickly. Needless to say, their ratings were anemic, and in late August 1998, WKRK repositioned itself as "Extreme Radio" with its format evolving toward Hot Talk. By March of 1999, the majority of the station's music programming on weekdays was gone and the station soon took on the name "97-1: Detroit's FM Talk Station". This was later changed to simply "97-1 FM Talk". WKRK relaunched as "Live 97.1" in May 2003. In August 2004, WKRK became the flagship radio station for the Detroit Lions (previously broadcast duties had been shared with WXYT).
In October 2005, WKRK added the "Free FM" identifier being used by CBS Radio on many of its hot-talk properties across the country. It was also announced that once Howard Stern left for Sirius Satellite Radio on January 3, 2006, 97.1's new morning host would be Rover.
In September 2006, Rover's Morning Glory was taken off of the lineup for WKRK, and it's morning spot was replaced by Opie and Anthony (in what is being called a "Tame simulcast version" with O&As employer XM Radio[citation needed]) due to the low ratings generated by Rover.
In October 2006, Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" Radio Show was cancelled and "Motor City Middays" was extended to 9am-3pm with the final hour a rebroadcast of selected segments from previous shows)
On December 28, 2006, station management announed the termination of on-air talent Rob Parker and Mark Wilson (of "Parker and the Man") as well as the termination of Michelle McKormick, one of the hosts of "Motor City Middays." On January 8, 2007, the termination of Jessica Hall (producer/call screener for "Motor City Middays") was announced as well.
On March 9, 2007, WKRK Management announced that it had signed WTWR Monroe/Toledo Radio personality "Johny D" to host a new show to follow "Opie And Anthony" beginning April 2, 2007, moving "Motor City Middays" to 11am-3pm with new co-host Shila Nathan from WKRZ in Scranton, Pennsylvania taking over the co-host duties from Bill McAllister, who resumes producer duties for "MCM". [2]
Additionally, staring on March 11, 2007, WKRK added a 2-hour video gaming radio show called "PWNED RADIO," hosted by Bill Doyle and tech wiz Shane Hamelin.
97.1 FM is legally WKRK-FM, since WKRK-AM is a country music radio station in Murphy, North Carolina (not co-owned). The WJOI calls are now used by an AM adult standards music station in Norfolk, Virginia, and the WYST calls belong now to an adult contemporary music station serving the Bloomington, Illinois market.
[edit] Sports on WKRK
WKRK "Live 97.1 Free FM" is the Flagship station for the Detroit Lions and also is the broadcast home for NFL Playoffs and Super bowl coverage from CBS Radio's Westwood One.
WKRK carries programming from the Chicago based Sporting News Radio Network, and will be carrying both Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings games in a simulcast deal with WXYT and the Illiches that was announced on January 11, 2006.[3]
On January 26th, WKRK broadcasted its first Detroit Red Wings game, at the St. Louis Blues. The station's website shows that they are going to be broadcasting all the games throughout the season.[4]
[edit] Show lineup
[edit] Weekdays
- 6am - 9am: Opie and Anthony
- 9am - 11am The Gospel According To Johnny D
- 11am - 3pm: Motor City Middays with Jay Towers,Shila,And Bill McAllister
- 3pm - 7pm: Deminski & Doyle with Jeff Deminski & Bill Doyle
- 7pm - 11pm: various programming provided by Sporting News Radio
- 11pm - 1am: The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly (on taped delay)
- 1am - 3am: LoveLine with Dr. Drew Pinsky
- 3am - 6am: The Tom Leykis Show (on taped delay)
[edit] Saturday
- 7am - 10am: Bob Baurer's Outdoor World
- 10am - 12pm: AutoScoop with Adam Goldfein
- 12pm - 3pm: Hamtramck House Party
- 3pm - 4pm: Findling Law Show
- 4pm - 5pm: The Careful Capitalist
- 5pm - 6pm: You, the Owner's Manual with Dr. Michael Roizen (provided by the Health Radio Network)
- 6pm - 8pm: Smoke This! with Cigar Dave (on taped delay)
- 8pm - 11pm: Best of the Tom Leykis Show
- 11pm - 6am: Hamtramck Houseparty - The Music
[edit] Sunday
- 6am - 10am: various programming provided by Sporting News Radio
- 10am - 12pm: Hardcore Mortage Show
- 12pm - 3pm: various programming provided by Sporting News Radio
- 3pm - 7pm: The Tom Leykis Show (on taped delay)
- 7pm - 9pm: PWNED RADIO Video Gaming Radio show hosted by Bill Doyle and Shane Hamelin
- 9pm - 10pm: various programming provided by Sporting News Radio
- 10pm - 12am: SpeedFreaks
- 12am - 1am: Sporting News Radio
- 1am - 3am: LoveLine with Dr. Drew Pinsky
- 3am - 6am: Rebroadcast of Friday's Tom Leykis Show
[edit] Sources
[edit] External Links
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