WCRZ

WCRZ (107.9 FM, "Cars 108") is a radio station in Flint, Michigan, broadcasting an adult contemporary format. WCRZ is the top-rated heritage station in the market.

History

From its sign-on in 1961 until changing its call letters to WCRZ in 1984, the station was WGMZ with a long-running and successful MOR/easy listening format. Those calls were assumed by an easy-listening station in Tuscola, Michigan three years later, and that station is known today as WWBN, and has been a sister station to WCRZ since the mid-1990s.

Cars 108 has a stable airstaff, with air personalities Rod Prahin, J.Patrick, George McIntyre, Stu Allen, Dale Willis and Wright Wilson all part of the lineup for a decade or more.

Since the mid-1990s WCRZ has been the number one radio station in Flint, off and on, and was the first station in the market to broadcast in high definition. Since then, sister stations WWBN and WRCL have also added HD broadcasting, as has competing station WDZZ.

In the Spring of 1995, WCRZ went off the air for some time due to a vandalizing of their transmitting antenna. During this time, the frequency of 107.9 was dead for roughly a week. However, sister station 101.5 WWBN allowed WCRZ to share signals until repairs were made on the antenna.

WCRZ is the Flint outlet for Delilah's syndicated love-songs show. Prior to this, that shift was manned by the locally-based radio veteran Carey Conley, whose delivery and style was frequently compared to bass singer Barry White, and before that, by Jeff Wade, whose delivery and persona rivaled that of Alan Almond, longtime nighttime air personality at WNIC in Detroit. Cars 108 also features John Tesh during overnight hours.

WCRZ can be heard as far west as Grand Rapids during certain atmospheric conditions.

The station plays classic hits and oldies during the "Cars Classic Lunch" on weekdays, hosted by midday personality J. Patrick (who also hosted "J.'s Jukebox," a Saturday-night oldies show, until that show was canceled in favor of Casey Kasem's American Top 40 - The 80s). Rod Prahin hosts the morning show. Prior to this, morning drive was handled by Johnny Burke, who now handles mornings at WHNN.

Unlike many AC stations, WCRZ does not switch to a wall-to-wall Christmas music format each December, choosing instead to blend Christmas songs in with its regular playlist.

WCRZ's jingle melody was adapted from KVIL in Dallas, Texas. For much of the 1990s, JAM Creative Productions produced WCRZ's jingles; it was JAM that chose to sing the station's nickname, "Cars 108" to the melody of KVIL. For over a decade, however, WCRZ's jingles have been by TM Studios.

Sources

• Michiguide.com - WCRZ History

External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WCRZ
• Radio-Locator information on WCRZ
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WCRZ