WGPR
Encyclopedia
WGPR is an FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...

 radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 brodacasting a Mainstream Urban
Mainstream Urban
Mainstream Urban is a term used to describe a radio format similar to an Urban Contemporary format. The format differentiates itself due to two factors: playlist composition and target demographic...

 format. Owned by the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...

 and operated under local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...

 by Radio One, the station operates on 107.5 MHz.

WGPR has a broadcasting range from the north to Flint and Lapeer, and as far west as Fowlerville (60 miles).

Early history

107.5FM WGPR was founded on December 6, 1961, by broadcaster Ross Mulholland, who had worked at WJR
WJR
WJR is a radio station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It broadcasts a news/talk format. It is a class A clear channel station whose broadcasts can be heard throughout most of the Midwest, eastern United States and Canada at night, making it one of the most powerful radio stations in the...

 and several other area stations. The original construction permit for the station bore the call letters WQTI (similar to Mulholland's easy listening-formatted AM station, 560 WQTE (now WRDT
WRDT
WRDT, known on the air as "The Word AM 560, Detroit's Christian Talk", is a radio station licensed to Monroe, Michigan, serving the Detroit metropolitan area. The station broadcasts in HD Radio with 500 Watts daytime power from a transmitter located in South Monroe, MI, and 14 Watts nighttime...

), but the station was never on the air with those calls. Initially, WGPR featured programming similar to that of WQTE. The station was purchased in 1964 by its current owner, the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons (d/b/a WGPR, Inc.), led by William V. Banks, who would serve as president and general manager of WGPR and its sister TV station
WWJ-TV
WWJ-TV, virtual channel 62 , is the CBS-owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan. It is co-owned with Detroit's CW station, WKBD-TV , and the two stations share a studio in Southfield, Michigan, a Detroit suburb....

 (founded in 1975) until his death in 1985. Under the ownership of the Masons, WGPR would transition to chiefly African-American-oriented programming of urban contemporary, R&B, soul, and gospel music, with some ethnic programs in Spanish, Italian, Greek, and other languages, which would remain a part of the station's broadcast schedule into the 1990s.

It is reported that the station's callsign meant, Where God's Presence Radiates, but the original meaning was Grosse Pointe Radio, as the station was originally based out of a studio on Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe Woods
Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan
Grosse Pointe Woods is a suburban city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan, comprising a large portion of the Grosse Pointe communities. The population was 16,135 at the 2010 census...

 when it went on the air in 1961 (the original building still stands and houses a real estate agent). The current studios are located on East Jefferson in Detroit.

The Electrifyin' Mojo was heard on WGPR-FM during the early 1980s.

Once a top-10-rated station in the Detroit market, WGPR was by the end of its run in October 2011 the lowest-rated of Detroit's three urban AC stations, trailing WMXD
WMXD
WMXD is a Clear Channel-owned Urban AC FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, that broadcasts on the frequency of 92.3 MHz. WMXD, which bills itself as "Today's R&B and the Best Old School Jamz," is consistently a very highly rated station in Detroit's Arbitron ratings reports,...

 and WDMK
WDMK
WDMK is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan broadcasting at 105.9 mHz, owned by Radio One. The station is positioned as 105-9 Kiss, Detroit's Best R&B with a current-based Urban Adult Contemporary format playing mostly current R&B with some Neo Soul and a little old school mixed in...

. Nevertheless, the station had a devoted audience, and its ratings were not largely adversely affected by Detroit's switching from Arbitron's diary system to the Portable People Meter
Portable People Meter
The Portable People Meter is a system developed by Arbitron to measure how many people are listening to individual radio stations and television stations, including cable TV. The PPM is worn like a pager, and detects hidden audio tones within a station or network's audio stream, logging each...

 PPM.

The station was co-owned with WGPR-TV channel 62, which the Freemason group established in 1975. On September 29, 1975, Amyre Porter, Doug Morrison and Sharon Crews became the nation's first African-American primetime news team. This station, which would adopt the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 affiliation in 1994 following WJBK
WJBK
WJBK is the Fox–owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan broadcasting on digital channel 7...

's switch from CBS to Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

, was sold to CBS in 1995 and re-called WWJ-TV
WWJ-TV
WWJ-TV, virtual channel 62 , is the CBS-owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan. It is co-owned with Detroit's CW station, WKBD-TV , and the two stations share a studio in Southfield, Michigan, a Detroit suburb....

.

Jazzy 107.5/The Rhythm/The New WGPR

Until October 2011, WGPR featured a mix of Urban Adult Contemporary hits and Urban Oldies. Before June 2008, the station was known as "The Rhythm 107-5" or "The Jazzy 107-5", and for several years featured Smooth Jazz mixed in with its current format. On June 20, 2008, the station reverted to the straight Urban AC format it had aired prior to the introduction of the R&B/jazz hybrid in the early 2000s.

Saturdays were "Old School" Saturdays, featuring a wide variety of R&B, soul and dance-oriented oldies. Genres played on OSS included disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

, 1980s electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

, dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...

, Motown Sound, urban oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....

, and 1970s R&B. This program was prone to technical errors. These errors included skipping CDs, varying volume levels between tracks, a song ending midway through and sometimes accidental but simultaneous mix-in of multiple song tracks. Sundays were devoted mostly to gospel programming.

According to the September 2011 PPM Ratings release, WGPR ranked #20 (2.1) in the Detroit market.

Hot 107-5

On October 21, 2011, Radio One, which locally owns WCHB
WCHB
WCHB is an American AM radio station licensed to Taylor, Michigan, at 1200 kHz, and serving the Detroit market. Owned by Radio One, WCHB identifies as NewsTalk 1200 WCHB and airs a News/Talk format.-AM 1440 WCHB:...

 1200 AM, WDMK
WDMK
WDMK is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan broadcasting at 105.9 mHz, owned by Radio One. The station is positioned as 105-9 Kiss, Detroit's Best R&B with a current-based Urban Adult Contemporary format playing mostly current R&B with some Neo Soul and a little old school mixed in...

 105.9 FM and WHTD
WHTD
WPZR is an urban gospel formatted radio station licensed to Mount Clemens, Michigan, and serving the Detroit metropolitan area...

 102.7 FM, announced that they will operate WGPR effective immediately, under a local marketing agreement filed with the Masons group, bringing an end to the Masons group's broadcasting endeavors after 47 years. On Monday, October 24, 2011 at Midnight (after the conclusion of its Sunday Gospel Music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 programming), Radio One discarded the Urban AC format on WGPR in preparation to move the Urban Contemporary
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...

 and "Hot" branding from WHTD, which was to adopt the Gospel music and "Praise 102.7" branding. The last regular R&B song played on WGPR (at 5:57 am on Sunday October 23) was Jill Scott
Jill Scott
Jill Scott is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, poet, and actress. In 2007, Scott made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog and in Tyler Perry's feature film, Why Did I Get Married? That year, her third studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3, was released on...

's "Golden
Golden (Jill Scott song)
Golden was the first single released by American soul and R&B singer-songwriter Jill Scott, from her third album Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2. The song peaked at 59 on the UK Singles Chart.-Tracklisting:US 12" PromoUK Maxi-Single...

". At midnight on Monday, October 24, 2011, following Alexander Zonjic's Sunday-night smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....

 show, WGPR began playing "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday
It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday
"It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" is an R&B song written by Motown husband-and-wife songwriting team Freddie Perren and Christine Yarian for the 1975 film Cooley High. In the film, the song is performed by Motown artist G.C. Cameron, whose rendition peaked at number 38 on the Billboard R&B...

" by Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men is an American R&B vocal group best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are the most successful R&B group of all time, having sold more than albums worldwide. In the 1990s, Boyz II Men found fame on Motown Records as a quartet, but original member Michael McCary...

 continuously interspersed with announcements directing WGPR listeners to WDMK.

Local Community Backlash

There has been severe outrage from the local Detroit community over the Masons decision to turn over 107-5 to Radio-One which is based in Lanham, MD who on most of their Urban Stations sound similair and are Syndicated such as WMMJ
WMMJ
WMMJ is a top rated station Urban Adult Contemporary radio station owned by Radio One in the Washington, D.C. market. It is licensed to Bethesda, but its transmitter is located in Tenleytown...

 and WZAK
WZAK
WZAK is a commercial FM radio station in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, broadcasting at 93.1 MHz with an Urban Adult Contemporary format. WZAK is Cleveland FM affiliate for Tom Joyner's syndicated morning show and Michael Baisden's Love Lust and Lies afternoon show.WZAK began as an ethnic radio station,...

. WGPR was the last local Music format which had an extensive playlist and all Local DJ.s including John Mason
John Mason
Captain John Mason was born at King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, and educated at Peterhouse College, Cambridge. He was a sailor and colonizer. Mason was appointed the second Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland's Cuper's Cove colony in 1615, succeeding John Guy. Mason arrived on the island in 1616...

 who has been a Local Detroit Personally for over 20 years and also the Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...

 announcer. Even though Radio does own WDMK
WDMK
WDMK is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan broadcasting at 105.9 mHz, owned by Radio One. The station is positioned as 105-9 Kiss, Detroit's Best R&B with a current-based Urban Adult Contemporary format playing mostly current R&B with some Neo Soul and a little old school mixed in...

 105.9, which has encouraged WGPR listeners to move over to 105.9, most of their line up is Syndicated and their Playlist is very restricted.

On October 26, 2011, at 5pm, WGPR became "Hot 107-5", with Big Greg being the first DJ on air. The WHTD call letters did not move with the frequency shift; those call letters now belong to an AM radio station in Toccoa, Georgia
Toccoa, Georgia
Toccoa is a city in Stephens County, Georgia, United States located approximately from Athens and approximately northeast of Atlanta. The population was 9,323 at the 2000 census...

.

The Oasis, The Bone, and La Jefa

On April 20, 2011 WGPR launched its HD2 and HD3 digital subchannels with a smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....

 format on WGPR-HD2 as The Oasis, and modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...

 on WGPR-HD3 as The Bone—these subchannels are programmed by the Martz Communications Group
Martz Communications Group
Martz Communications Group is an American radio broadcasting company, which operates three radio stations in the St. Lawrence River area of New York; one in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and two in Detroit, Michigan...

. Martz owns the low-powered translators (through licensee Radio Power, Inc.) that rebroadcast the HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...

 signals for those without an HD Radio receiver—104.7 FM W284BQ rebroadcasts The Oasis, while 94.3 FM W232CA rebroadcasts The Bone.
The Oasis programming comes from Broadcast Architecture's Smooth Jazz Network, featuring Kenny G
Kenny G
Kenneth Bruce Gorelick , better known by his stage name Kenny G, is an American, adult contemporary and smooth jazz saxophonist. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him breakthrough success in 1986...

 as morning show host with Detroit radio veteran Sandy Kovach (formerly of the late smooth jazz V98.7) as cohost. As of May 1, the station had added an HD-4 channel with regional Mexican
Regional Mexican
Regional Mexican is a radio format for music radio, typically defined to include Banda, Ranchera, Mariachi and Norteña. It is the most popular radio format targeting Hispanic Americans in the United States....

 programming branded as La Jefa, but as of July, the HD-4 is no longer on the air and "La Jefa" is available only as an Internet stream.

Martz's operation of WGPR's HD subchannels is not affected by the LMA agreement with Radio One.

The Oasis vs. WIOT

In March 2011, Martz filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 (FCC) to relocate the frequency of W284BQ, from 104.7 MHz to 93.9 MHz. The application was approved in August 2011. If built, the transmitter will interfere with Windsor, Ontario
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...

 station CIDR-FM
CIDR-FM
CIDR-FM is the callsign for a radio station, broadcasting at 93.9 FM in Windsor, Ontario. The station broadcasts a adult album alternative format using the brand name 93-9 The River. It is owned and operated by Bell Media. It is one of the few commercial adult album alternative stations in Canada...

 in much of the Greater Detroit area, though the licensee contends that the transmitter will be directional, as to not interfere with CIDR-FM on the Canadian side of the border.

In May 2011, Toledo
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...

 station WIOT
WIOT
WIOT is a FM radio station in Toledo, Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts at 104.7 MHz.WIOT was Toledo's first FM rock station when it went on the air December 25, 1972, replacing a beautiful music/classical format. The call letters stood for "In Our Time"...

, which also broadcasts on 104.7 MHz, filed a complaint with the FCC, saying that W284BQ interferes with WIOT in the Michigan portion of their broadcast area. WIOT had also solicited comments and reception reports from listeners in the affected area.

Martz would soon after establish a website, http://www.savetheoasis.com/, which explains the station's position on the issue, stating that WIOT should not get special treatment on the grounds that it is an Ohio radio station that serves no part of Detroit (though the statement is not exactly true, as the station is interfering with listeners inside WIOT's protected signal contour) and that Clear Channel's motive was to try to remove competition, as Clear Channel owns two of the heritage adult-oriented radio stations in Detroit, WMXD and WNIC
WNIC
WNIC is an American radio station based in Detroit, Michigan broadcasting at 100.3 MHz FM. WNIC's studios and offices are located in Farmington Hills, MI. WNIC's transmitter is located near Schoolcraft and Livernois Avenue in the City of Detroit on the near west side. WNIC broadcasts with an...

.

The Oasis' web site mentioned that they and Clear Channel planned to undergo mutual testing in order to alleviate the interference problems, but as of June 2011, The Oasis claimed that Clear Channel had broken the commitment to work together for a resolution. With the dispute still unresolved as of July 2011 and with the construction permit to move to 93.9 (where it will clash with CIDR) approved, the future of 104.7 The Oasis remains dubious.

On October 18, 2011, the FCC ordered W284BQ to cease operation immediately. Oasis programming continues for the immediate future over WGPR HD-2 and 1047theoasis.com. The translator has filed to move to 93.5 FM; however, a K-LOVE
K-LOVE
K-LOVE is a Contemporary Christian music radio programming service in the United States operated by the Educational Media Foundation. As of January 2011, K-LOVE's programming is carried on over 440 FM stations and translators in 45 states. K-LOVE claims an audience of 250,000 people each week via...

repeater has also applied to use this frequency.
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