WPON
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| WPON | |
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| City of license | Walled Lake, Michigan |
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| Broadcast area | [1] (Daytime) [2] (Nighttime) |
| Slogan | Talk 'n Rare Oldies |
| Frequency | 1460 kHz |
| First air date | December, 1954 |
| Format | Oldies/Talk/Ethnic |
| Power | 1,000 watts (Daytime) 760 watts (Nighttime) |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | Pontiac |
| Owner | Birach Broadcasting |
| Website | http://www.wpon.com/ |
WPON is a radio station in the Detroit market, broadcasting at 1460 kHz from a 6-tower array in Walled Lake, Michigan. WPON was founded in September 1954, with studios in Pontiac, Michigan, and towers located at the corner of Square Lake Road and Telegraph Road in neighboring Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
The station was owned for many years by Chief Pontiac Broadcasting, broadcasting such formats as top-40 and Country music. Broadcasting at 1000 watts omnidirectional, the station covered the majority of Oakland County. The station was sold in 1986 to Algis Zaparakis, who in turn sold the land containing the tower array in Bloomfield Hills to developers, and moved the tower array to a swamp near Wolverine Lake in Walled Lake, Michigan. The move forced WPON to change its power to 1000 watts directional daytime, and 760 watts directional nighttime. This change in power saw many of WPON's listeners unable to pick up the station's signal in much of it's former coverage area. The format was changed to ethnic in 1986, and stayed this way until the station was purchased in 1995 by Foreign Radio Programs, Inc. Under the leadership of station manager Marie Fotion, WPON started a semi-successful "Talk and Oldies" brokered radio format in 1997, specializing in hard-to-find oldies from the 1950s through the early 1970s. More recently the station has also begun airing pre-rock "traditional" pop/nostalgia hits from the early and mid-1950s mixed in with the rock and roll oldies, possibly to appease fans of CKWW-AM, a former adult standards station which now also plays rock oldies.
WPON was again sold in 2003 to Birach Broadcasting Corporation, who closed the old Bloomfield Hills studios and moved operations to Birach headquarters located in the Town Center Plaza in Southfield, Michigan.
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[edit] Shows, Hosts and DJ's
Through the years, WPON was home for many of to metro-Detroit area's finest on-air talent, aspiring and seasoned alike.
For many years, "Crazy Al" a/k/a Alan Schmitz hosted the morning show "Crazy Al's Radio Party" along with Larry Mathews and others. The program saw a variety of guests from the community as well as moderately popular "oldies" musicians. Crazy Al, known for his wildly over-the-top personality brought rare oldies and talk to the community until Al and the gang left WPON in May 2004, shortly after the sale of the station to Birach Broadcasting Corporation. Al continues broadcasting his show via [3] [1]
Travel aficionado, Michael Dwyer hosted weekly radio program "Travel and Adventure" for many years. Dwyer, a freelance travel columnist in Detroit, brought his love for traveling to the airwaves of WPON. Dwyer also worked as a board operator, and like many others, left the station shortly after being sold. Dwyer, along with Jimmy James, and Ted Eberly were said to have left WPON in July of 2004 because an agreement could not be reached between them and new owner Birach Broadcasting. [2]
One of WPON's most popular programs was also the most out of place. A weekly professional wrestling talk program called "Inside the Ring", later renamed to "The Ringside Edge" after merging with another Detroit wrestling show, "The Ryan Smith Show," frequently brought in record numbers for the station, particularly in the online-listener base. Hosts Q-Ball, Ryan Smith and Mojo (not to be confused with 95.5's Mojo), were mainstays at WPON from 1999-2001 until a disagreement over content saw the trio leave for internet radio.
[edit] Sources
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WPON
- Radio Locator Information on WPON
- Query Arbitron's AM station database for WPON
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