WDRQ
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| WDRQ | |
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| City of license | Detroit, Michigan |
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| Broadcast area | [1] |
| Branding | 93.1 Doug FM |
| Slogan | We Play Everything |
| Frequency | 93.1 MHz (Also on HD Radio) 93.1 HD-2 Detroit's Party Station Rhythmic Contemporary |
| First air date | July 9, 1947 |
| Format | Variety Hits |
| Power | 26,500 watts |
| HAAT | 204 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 70040 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Former callsigns | WLTI (4/15/85-8/10/96) WDRQ-FM (6/25/80-4/15/85) WDRQ (1972-6/25/80) WDEE-FM (1970-1972) WJBK-FM (1947-1970) |
| Owner | Citadel Broadcasting (Radio License Holding I, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WDVD, WJR |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 931dougfm.com |
WDRQ is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan, The station is currently 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 height located at the intersection of Ten Mile and Greenfield Roads in suburban Oak Park. The station is currently owned by Citadel Broadcasting.
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[edit] History
[edit] WJBK-FM/WDEE
WDRQ originally came to Detroit in 1972 as Detroit's first FM talk radio station, with all-news programming weekdays during morning and afternoon drive-time hours (the station's slogan was "'DRQ Has News For You"). Prior to 1972, the station had been WJBK-FM and then WDEE-FM, mostly simulcasting the programming of then-sister AM 1500. (WJBK-AM was Detroit's first top 40 station, playing hit music from 1956 to 1964.) Soon after WDRQ moved to become a top 40 station, chalking up top 10 ratings and seriously challenging market leader CKLW until they jumped on the all-disco bandwagon in late 1978.
[edit] 93FM WDRQ
The move to disco was not received well in Detroit, and WDRQ tumbled out of the top 20 within a few months. Despite plummeting ratings, WDRQ stuck with all-disco through 1979, returned to top 40 in 1980, then adopted an urban contemporary format (with danceable mainstream hits mixed in) in 1982. The station rebounded nicely, soaring to #2 overall in its debut book with the urban format in the summer of 1982, although the ratings cooled off shortly afterward. "Continuous Music—93FM WDRQ" was a success, and the opening of "Beverly Hills Cop" features an advertisement for this version of WDRQ on a city bus.
[edit] 93.1 The Lite FM
The urban format lasted until 1985 when it was replaced by the light rock station WLTI "93.1 The Lite FM." Its morning drive team of Rogers and Holiday featured comedic "celebrity" drop-ins by the spoofed likes of Rodney Dangerfield, Clint Eastwood and Eddie Murphy as well as original characters like Mr. Action.
WLTI initially positioned itself as a cross between more up-tempo AC competitor WNIC and beautiful music Joy 97, featuring a blend of soft hits and oldies from artists like Barry Manilow, The Carpenters, Anne Murray, Olivia Newton-John, and Frank Sinatra. By 1994, most of the easy MOR artists were gone and WLTI had become more contemporary, but the station could never match WNIC for dominance in the AC market.
The WLTI callsign and radio format were resurrected on a radio station in Syracuse, New York.
[edit] The New DRQ/93.1 DRQ
In July 1996, WDRQ returned to the 93.1 frequency as a Top 40 music station and would remain so for nine years. Initially the station called itself "The New DRQ: Detroit's Station For Women." With only an announcer used for on-air bumper promos, and without any disc jockeys, the station chiefly played a random mix of programmed dance and pop music from late 1980s and early 1990s, with some new music factored in sporadically. More current dance-oriented top 40 music was added to the play list into the fall. By early 1997, a lite mix of pop-friendly R&B and hip-hop music was also adopted to further cement the stations mainstream hook. With this being the first time a top 40/dance music station had been on Detroit radio since the reformatting of 96.3 WHYT two years earlier, DRQ immediately attracted a large listening audience upon its re-launch. Subsequently, the station quickly abandoned the 'for women only' angle and steadfastly recruited a line-up of on-air personalities. The station began calling itself "Detroit's Dance Music Station" (later "Today's Best Music," then "Today's Hit Music," and finally "Detroit's #1 Hit Music Station.")
By 2000, the station had evolved into more of a mainstream top 40 (albeit still geared more toward playing dance music than other like-formatted stations in the area) and was eating away at its adult-leaning top 40 competitor Q95-5. By the final quarter of 2001, both WDRQ and WKQI were leaning very heavily toward Rhythmic CHR. For a time, WDRQ consistently defeated WKQI in the ratings, but after Clear Channel re-launched WKQI as "Channel 9-5-5" in February 2002, WKQI pulled ahead of DRQ—garnering both larger ratings and revenue.
[edit] 93.1 Doug FM
At 1 p.m. EST on April 1, 2005, Disney/ABC Radio (who held the 93.1 FM FCC radio broadcasting license in Detroit) abruptly pulled WDRQ off the air, without any warning being given to the listeners or employees.[citation needed] Some thought this was a bad April Fools prank. This, though, was no joke. DRQ was replaced with a variety hits format - "93.1 Doug FM—We Play…Everything!" The music selection for this format is very broad, similar to that of 96-3 WDVD, 100.3 WNIC, and Magic 105.1, combining a wide variety of songs from the 1960s through the 2000s.
While many former DRQ listeners were both confused by and disgruntled over the format change, Doug FM eventually attracted its own following and began absorbing market share of the other aforementioned radio stations. Its overall ratings, however, have remained more or less the same since before the reformatting. In the meantime, WDRQ's dance music-based format of the late 1990s continues to live on on the station's secondary HD Radio channel, which features a mix of disco and dance hits branded as "Detroit's Party Station."
Spring 2008 Phase I Arbitron Rating: #13 (2.6)
[edit] Former Personalities
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This section may contain information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter. Please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information. (talk) |
[edit] Early/mid-1970's original DRQ Jocks:
- Joey Ryan
- Al Casey
- Bill Bailey (formerly of WLS Chicago, now Program Director/PM Drive at WLHT Grand Rapids, MI)
- "Rockin" Ron Baptist
- Ken Levine ("Beaver Cleaver")
- Don Cristi
- Howard Hoffman
- Ted Ferguson ("China Jones")
- Jonnie King
- Bill Vogel (as "Jack O'Neill," later a longtime morning fixture at WKHQ in Northern Michigan as "The Captain")
- Mick Rizzo
- Brian White
- Jerry St. James
- Spanky "The Kid" Lea
- Kevin Jaxon
- Larry Hudson
- Mike Vaughn (Now "Michael Right" at KXRA-FM in Alexandria, MN.)
- Doug Banks
[edit] Late 1970's DRQ Jocks:
- Jim Harper (Now mornings at Magic 105.1)
- Jerry St. James
- Zack Burns
- Don Riley
- Jay Michaels
- J.C. Floyd
- Jim Ryan
- Mike Vaughn
- Don Geronimo
- Barry Chase
- Kim Carson
- Tom Jeffries
- Scott Moore (Now weekends at Oldies 104.3)
- Eddie Rogers (formerly of CKLW)
- Brother John
[edit] 1980's DRQ Jocks:
- Kim Carson (now at WLHT)
- Chris O'Brien
- Kevin O'Neill (now afternoons at 100.3 WNIC)
- Art Morrison
- Jay Michael McKay
- Valery Fox
[edit] Light FM Jocks 1980's-1990's:
- Kim Carson
- Rogers and Holiday (Eddie Rogers and Pat Holiday)
- Jeff Silvers
- Barry Zate
- Tom Summers
- Doug Boynton
- Gail McKnight
- Dave Welling
- Julie Foster
- Rob Bennett
- Kim Stewart
[edit] WDRQ Jocks 1990's-2005:
- Brent Carey
- Keith Curry (now PD at WDKS Evansville)
- "Trixie DeLuxxe" (replaced Lynne Woodison in the morning show slot partnered with Joe Mama)
- Domino
- Jake Edwards (now Mid-Day host on WDRQ's sister station 96.3 WDVD)
- Dave Fuller (Now the afternoon drive at Star 105 in Toledo, Ohio. He is also working weekends for 99.5 WYCD)
- Gelman
- Steve Grunwald (Now mornings on 99.5 WYCD)
- Crystal Harris
- Mile High (now the Night Show host on WIOG in Saginaw, MI)
- Hugh Holesome
- Rachael Hunter (now mornings on 99.5 WYCD)
- Jason "The 300-Pound Intern" (Now mornings on 99.5 WYCD as Jason The 300 lb Cowboy)
- Rob Kelley (now doing nights as Rob Kruz on Q104 WQAL Cleveland)
- Clark Kent (now the Monkeyboy on WYSP, Philadelphia)
- J-Kruz (now Program Director at X 107.1FM in the Grand Cayman Islands)
- "Joe Mama" (replaced Lynne Woodison in the morning show slot partnered with Drag Queen Trixe Deluxxe.)
- Man @ Large (now PD at KFAT in Anchorage Alaska)
- Lisa "Lisa Lisa" Orlando(also the announcer of The Detroit Shock of the WNBA and a veteran of the former WHYT during the '80s and early '90s, Now weekends for Oldies 104.3)
- Terri McCormick (now Midday host at KKMG in Austin, TX)
- Chad Mitchell (Formally of Mojo In The Morning on Channel 9-5-5. Now mornings at 106.7 The Fox.)
- Ol' Dirty (Matt Vaughn) Now Weekends & Fill-in for 99.5 WYCD)
- Lisa Rodman (One of 93.1 DRQ's Program Director who came from Cleveland, Ohio's WZJM to engineer 93.1 DRQ's revival)
- Jamie Reese (Su-Anna) (former nighttime host at 99.5 WYCD between 1996-1998)
- Stick
- Tic Tak (Mark Allen) (moved to WIOQ in Philadelphia To form the Freak Show with former WDRQ interns Mikey and Big Bob now doing mornings at WKST Pittsburgh [2], then back to Detroit to move to 93.1 DRQ's rival station WKQI, Resigned to move to afternoons at WKSC in Chicago. After a brief run at that station, complete with multiple firings and re-hirings, he moved to Peoria, Illinois to assist in the launch of a new Top 40 station, 98.5 KISSFM (WPIA). He then left for 95.7 The Wolf in San Francisco, but left that station after only three months, supposedly because he did not reach their demographics.
- Jay Towers (hosted DRQ's Jay Towers and the Morning Revolution - Now mornings at 97-1 FM The Ticket. He is also a weekend TV reporter on Fox 2 News)
- Renee Vitale (now working weekends at sister station 96.3 WDVD)
- Lynne Woodison - Hosted the first morning show on the "new" WDRQ in 1996, she was canned after only a month and replaced by Joe Mama and Trixie DeLuxxe. Now mornings on 94.7 WCSX
[edit] Old Logo
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WDRQ
- Radio Locator information on WDRQ
- Query Arbitron's FM station database for WDRQ
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