WCAR
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| WCAR | |
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| City of license | Livonia, Michigan |
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| Broadcast area | [1] (Daytime) [2] (Nighttime) |
| Branding | Detroit Catholic Radio |
| Frequency | 1090 kHz |
| First air date | October 23, 1963 |
| Format | Religious; Catholic-based talk/sermons |
| Power | 250 watts (Daytime) 500 watts (Nighttime) |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | Car (a reference to Detroit) |
| Former callsigns | WIID (?-7/18/79) WIID (?-?) WTAK (?-?) WERB (?-?) |
| Owner | 1090 Investments |
| Website | http://www.catholicradio.org/ |
WCAR (a.k.a. Michigan Catholic Radio) is currently 1090 AM, in the Detroit market, a 24-hour Catholic radio station based out of Livonia, Michigan. The station airs a variety of talk show programs concerning the Catholic faith, including nationally syndicated content from the Eternal Word Television Network, but also some content from locals.
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[edit] History
For almost 40 years, from 1939 until 1978, the WCAR callsign was associated with 1130 AM. Starting in the early '70s, it was also used with WCAR-FM at 92.3. For many of those years, WCAR AM/FM was owned by H.Y. "Hy" Levinson and played middle of the road or "good music". In the early 1970's, declining ratings finally forced Hy to switch to a Top 40 format, which also failed and was soon replaced by a myriad of other formats (including adult contemporary, album rock, and all-news) through the rest of the seventies. Many of the best-known names in Detroit broadcasting had stints at WCAR, including Paul Christy, Steve Hunter, Dave Prince, Jim Harper, Dave Shafer,and Warren Pierce. The WCAR callsign finally disappeared in 1978 when 1130 AM and 92.3 FM were renamed WCXI AM/FM. Both stations have been through several changes of ownership but continue to operate: 1130 AM is now WDFN and 92.3 FM is WMXD.
1090 AM was originally WERB in Garden City, Michigan, co-owned with the now-defunct WBRB 1430 AM in Mount Clemens and airing a full-service middle of the road format aimed at the western suburbs of Wayne County. Around 1970, WERB became WTAK, notable for being the Detroit area's first all-talk radio station; Detroit radio legend Tom Clay was one of the WTAK hosts. For years afterward, the bulk of AM 1090's programming, as WIID and later (starting in 1979) WCAR, consisted of ethnic programming and some English-language talk. During the mid-1990s, WCAR 1090 was also briefly the Detroit affiliate station for Radio AAHS, a now-defunct nationwide radio network featuring music and stories for young children, and then (after Radio AAHS shut down) a simulcast of the Minneapolis-based dance music station Beat Radio (which replaced AAHS on all of the former AAHS frequencies).
Much of WCAR's programming is simulcast on sister station WOAP 1080 AM in the Lansing area.
[edit] Current Programming
Currently, WCAR features many programs from the nationally-syndicated EWTN radio network, including shows featuring Mother Angelica, Fr. John Corapi, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, and Ray Guarendi. Several EWTN television shows are also simulcated, including The World Over and Life on the Rock. WCAR also broadcasts programs featuring residents of the Metro Detroit area, including Dr. Monica Miller and Archbishop of Detroit Adam Cardinal Maida.
