WKQI
 | |
| City of license | Detroit, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Metro Detroit Windsor, Ontario |
| Branding | Channel 9-5-5 |
| Slogan | "Detroit's Hit Music" |
| Frequency |
95.5 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | February 12, 1949 |
| Format |
HD2: Spin Cycle Radio |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 130 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 6592 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 42°28′22″N 83°11′59″W / 42.47278°N 83.19972°W |
| Former callsigns |
1985-1989: WCZY-FM 1980-1985: WCZY 1949-1980: WLDM |
| Owner |
Clear Channel Communications (AMFM Radio Licenses, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WDFN, WDTW-AM, WDTW-FM, WJLB, WMXD, WNIC[1] |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.channel955.com |
WKQI (95.5 FM) — branded Channel 9-5-5 — is a commercial pop/CHR radio station in Detroit, Michigan, owned by Clear Channel Communications. WKQI transmits its signal with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts from an antenna 430 feet in height located at the intersection of Greenfield Road and 10 Mile Rd. in suburban Oak Park in Oakland County. It can be heard as far west as Ithaca, Michigan, as far south as Cridersville, Ohio, and as far east as London, Ontario.
History
Beginnings: WLDM
WKQI began as an unaffiliated classical outlet as WLDM-FM in February 1949. Although a few Andre Kostelanetz, Morton Gould, and Percy Faith recordings were played as light music, it was not until the station took up storecasting in 1951 that they and other popular orchestras were heard regularly along with light classical and some classical music as "albums in high-fidelity". Evenings were devoted to concert works. An audience of non-client listeners developed slowly, but when owner Lincoln Broadcasting Company moved the storecast to its subcarrier in late 1957 and rededicated the main channel solely to classical recordings, they raised enough of an outcry that a substantial amount of daytime popular music was eventually restored. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the station enjoyed prestige as the area's premier purveyor of 'good music', adding Broadway showtunes selections from original cast albums, folk music, and 'hi-fi' recordings, and later spoken word and dramatic presentations. WLDM increased power in 1961 and started broadcasting in stereo. Three years later, most of the classical shows were dropped in favor of beautiful music, a move that led to high ratings and greatly increased revenue for the remainder of the decade and through much of the 1970s.
From WLDM to WCZY
By the mid-1970s, Detroit had a glut of beautiful music stations, with WWJ-FM, WJR-FM, WNIC, and WOMC all competing with WLDM for the easy listening audience. After being sold to Combined Communications (which later sold to Gannett Broadcasting in 1981), WLDM changed its call letters to WCZY-FM ("Cozy FM") in 1976.
WCZY-FM's format, under Robert Gaskins, was a steady performer in Detroit's Arbitron ratings during the late 1970s, with popular personalities including Paul Bryon (mornings), Bob Martin (middays) and Al Gauge (afternoons). The station's ratings peak came in the spring of 1980, with WCZY registering a fourth-place showing in the overall 12+ ratings and consistently ranking the highest of Detroit's three beautiful music stations (its competitors at the time were WJR-FM and WWJ-FM, as WNIC and WOMC had evolved into adult contemporary formats by then). During this time WCZY used the services of syndicators Churchill and Schulke (the latter's Schulke II package) for its beautiful music format, but unlike its competitors WJR-FM and WWJ-FM, the station was not fully automated and made use of live announcers.
In 1978, former country station WDEE-AM (1500) was acquired and its call letters changed to WCZY-AM with a similar format. Even though several top rated disc jockeys like Bob Martin were moved to the AM, the poor signal of the station hindered the station from producing the successful ratings the FM station enjoyed. WCZY-AM changed to WLQV-AM (Love Radio) with a Christian religious format put in place.
In 1981, the Combined Communications chain was purchased by the Gannett newspaper chain. Gannett, not satisfied with the revenue the station was already generating, moved WCZY into an adult contemporary format that year in hopes of attracting younger listeners and thus increasing ad revenue; the entire on-air staff was let go, and Dick Purtan was brought in from CKLW to host the station's morning show at the start of 1983. During 1983, the station's music became more and more contemporary; by the end of the year, the format was CHR for all intents and purposes, despite continuing to use the "Cozy FM" moniker. The station's final transformation into "Z95.5" was complete by the fall of 1984. Purtan's morning show kept WCZY high in the overall ratings during this transition period, but advertising revenues did not meet expectations.
All Hits Z95.5
Z95.5 enjoyed a fair amount of ratings success with its CHR format, usually rated in Detroit's top ten Arbitron ratings 12+, though arguably much of the station's high ratings came from Purtan's show. In an attempt to be more palatable to adult listeners, Z95.5 was more of an Adult CHR, avoiding most rap, dance and hard rock songs unless they were successful pop crossovers. Although WCZY's overall 12+ ratings were often better than WHYT's, WHYT was much more popular with teenage and young adult listeners.
For a time, Z95.5 also simulcast its programming again on AM 1500 (WLQV-AM, which once again changed its calls to WCZY-AM, with the station IDing as "Z95.5 and AM 1500") as part of a ploy to "return Dick Purtan to the AM dial." It lasted only a few years before AM 1500 returned to its previous religious format as WLQV.
Q95/Q95-5
Despite Z95.5's high ratings, the station still wanted to attract more older listeners in the hope of attracting more advertising dollars, and so in 1989, WCZY changed its calls and moniker to WKQI, "Q95," dropped hard rock and rap product from its playlist, and added more gold from the 1970s and 1980s. Detroit based AC radio consultant Gary Berkowitz was the original Q95 program director, which also included (in addition to Dick Purtan) air personalities Kevin O'Neill and Michael Waite (formerly of rival WHYT).
Q95 started as an Adult CHR, but by late 1990, had shifted to mainstream adult contemporary to challenge incumbent AC outlets WNIC and WLTI. The station's ratings continued to be respectable throughout the 1990s. Dick Purtan was an investor in the new station and stayed on as Q95's morning host until 1996, when he left for WOMC.
Following Purtan's departure, WKQI became "Q95-5, Detroit's Continuous Hit Music Station," hired former Partridge Family star Danny Bonaduce as the morning show host, and shifted back to an Adult CHR presentation, adding alternative-pop artists such as Alanis Morissette, Sarah McLachlan, Joan Osborne, Live, and BoDeans which the station had not played previously. For most of the late 1990s, WKQI was a heavily dayparted station, being a fairly conservative Hot AC during the day but taking more of a CHR approach at night, while still shying away from most urban music and rap except for artists with mainstream pop appeal such as Will Smith, Toni Braxton, and Ghost Town DJs.
Top 40 Wars: WKQI vs. WDRQ
Danny Bonaduce kept WKQI's morning ratings high, but after he departed in 1998, the station began to falter. ABC/Disney-owned rhythmic-based rival WDRQ took advantage of WKQI's weak spots by moving to a more mainstream Top 40 format with a hotter, more energetic presentation than WKQI. WDRQ also gained an advantage on WKQI, which remained a fairly conservative station musically, by emphasizing the then-hot teen-pop movement and stars like Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Spice Girls, and *NSYNC. By the summer of 2000, Q95-5 had sunk to fourteenth place in the ratings, while WDRQ had charged into the top ten (though WKQI still outbilled 'DRQ by a fair margin).
By 2000, the station was owned by AMFM; Clear Channel took control of the station that year when it merged with AMFM. WDRQ continued to win the CHR battle against WKQI for a few more years.
Channel 9-5-5
On February 4, 2002, at 10 AM, Clear Channel re-launched WKQI as "Channel 9-5-5" and began to move the station in a more rhythmic direction to compete more directly with WDRQ. WKQI soon took the ratings lead over 'DRQ. WDRQ's falling ratings culminated in its format switch to "Variety Hits" as "Doug-FM" on April 1, 2005, which left WKQI to have the CHR market to itself in Detroit. Subsequently, WKQI reclaimed its top 10 showing in Detroit's Arbitron ratings.
The station currently competes for the CHR audience with CBS Radio's 98-7 Amp Radio and Cumulus Media's Hot AC-formatted 96.3 WDVD, which bills itself as "Today's Best Hits Without the Rap".
Channel 9-5-5 currently ranks at #13 (3.6) in the Detroit market according to the November 2012 PPM ratings release.[2]
HD Radio
In 2008, WKQI's HD2 subchannel began carrying the Dance Top 40 Club Phusion format, which is part of Clear Channel's Format Lab. It previously had aired a "New CHR" format. WKQI billed Club Phusion as "Bomb Squad Radio" (named after its own stable of club DJs). The station now carries an alternate dance mix-show format from Clear Channel's iHeartRadio on its HD-2 signal, known as Spin Cycle Radio, which features continuous mix-show programming from a nationwide stable of club DJs. WKQI also formerly offered Clear Channel's Pride Radio format, featuring a mix of mostly dance music oriented toward the LGBT audience, on an HD3 subchannel.
On-air staff
The current lineup (as of August 5th, 2013) is as follows
- Morning Show (5 am-10 am): Mojo In The Morning - "Mojo", "Spike", Shannon Murphy, Rachel Giordano, Randi Richmond & Christopher "Slim" Arafat,
- Mid-Days (10 am-3 pm): Nessa Diab
- Afternoon Drive (3 pm-7 pm): Billy The Kidd
- Nighttime (7 pm-12 am): Stick
- Overnights (12 am-5 am): Nessa Diab
- Friday Night (10 pm-1 am): V-Night Club Fridays - Sam "Stick" Day & DJ Whip
- Saturday Night (10 pm-1 am): Live from Elektricity Nightclub - Stick & Boji
- Sunday Night (10 pm-1 am): Live from Elektricity Nightclub - Stick & DJ Paul Martindale
- Weekend's/Fill-ins: Chad "Tanner" Haney, Tim "Goose" Lock, Abdul "Ace" Montaser, Slim and Sassy
- The Bomb Squad: DJ Shortstop, DJ Paul Martindale, DJ David B, and DJ Whip
- Program Director: Tony Travatto
- Assistant PD/Music Director: Sam "Stick" Day
- Station Voice: Dr. Dave Ferguson/Angie Taylor
See also
References
- ↑ "Station Search: Detroit". ClearChannel.com. Clear Channel Communications. 2011. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
- ↑ Detroit PPM ratings from Radio-Info
External links
- Official website
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WKQI
- Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WKQI
- Radio-Locator information on WKQI
Aerial photo of WKQI transmitter from Google Maps
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