WHTD
Encyclopedia
WPZR is an urban gospel formatted 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...

 licensed to Mount Clemens, Michigan
Mount Clemens, Michigan
Mount Clemens is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 17,312. It is the county seat of Macomb County.-Early history:...

, and serving the Detroit
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...

 metropolitan area. The station broadcasts with 50,000 watts of power from an antenna located near the intersection of Gratiot Avenue and Fourteen Mile Road in Clinton Township
Clinton Charter Township, Michigan
The Charter Township of Clinton, usually referred to as Clinton Township, is a charter township of Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a part of Metro Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the township had a total population of 96,796, and is Michigan's most populous township...

, Macomb County
Macomb County, Michigan
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 788,149 people, 309,203 households, and 210,876 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,640 people per square mile . There were 320,276 housing units at an average density of 667 per square mile...

, Michigan, and directs its signal mainly toward the north and east to avoid interfering with WWWW-FM
WWWW-FM
WWWW-FM - "W4 Country" - is a country music radio station based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, broadcasting on 102.9 MHz.-Early years:The 102.9 frequency began operations in or on March 1, 1962 as WOIA and was co-owned with WOIB-AM 1290 in Saline, Michigan. Originally, WOIA and WOIB simulcast a middle of...

 102.9 in Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...

.

WPZR is owned by Radio One along with 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...

-FM 105.9 and 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:...

-AM 1200, and is also licensed for 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...

 service.

WBRB-FM

What is now WPZR began life on November 6, 1960, as WBRB-FM, the FM simulcast side of WBRB-AM 1430, also licensed to Mount Clemens and owned by Malrite Communications. For years, WBRB ("Where Better Records Begin") was a full-service radio station targeting Macomb County with local and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 news, weather and information and middle-of-the-road music. During non-simulcast dayparts, WBRB-FM aired Beautiful Music
Beautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...

 programming and some country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 as well.

Eventually, ownership of the AM and FM portions of WBRB was separated, and Gilda Radner
Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...

 and her brother Michael took control of the AM station. WBRB-AM briefly became WWHK with an adult standards
Adult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...

 format in the 1980s, then returned to the WBRB calls. The AM is no longer on the air, having degenerated into a brokered Motivational Talk station before falling silent in 1990.

WLBS/WKSG

In 1979, was sold to Inner City Broadcasting, owners of New York's legendary WBLS
WBLS
WBLS is an urban adult contemporary FM radio station in New York City, operating on 107.5 MHz. WBLS is owned by Inner City Broadcasting Corporation along with sister station WLIB...

, switched to a 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...

 format, and changed its calls to WLBS (complete with a logo similar to that of WBLS). The station evolved into 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...

 by 1981, but success was limited due to the plethora of urban competitors in the market. The station changed to a "Rock of the '80s"-style new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 music format in 1983. During the "New wave" format, WLBS air personalities included now legendary San Diego radio man, Mike "Happy" Halloran, Jason Slaughter, Sergio Dean (of WBLS New York), Tim Dugan, Francis Tinsley and Gerald Mc Bride.

In August 1984, WLBS flipped from new wave to CHR/Top 40
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...

 using a format co-developed by consultant Lee Abrams
Lee Abrams
Lee Abrams is an American media executive who has held a number of posts for large and influential companies, and is generally credited with developing the "Album Oriented Rock" format employed by hundreds of radio stations across the country.-Career:...

. The station was a weak competitor of hit-music format leaders WCZY
WKQI
WKQI — branded Channel 955 — 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...

 and WHYT
WDVD
WDVD is a hot adult contemporary radio station in Detroit, Michigan, broadcasting at 96.3 MHz on the FM dial. WDVD's studios and offices are located in the Fisher Building near downtown Detroit. WDVD's transmitter is located in Oakland County in Royal Oak Township at 8 Mile Road and Wyoming Avenue...

, and so after only three months, the station changed its call letters to WKSG, Kiss 102.7, and adopted a 1950s-1970s 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....

 format called "Kiss of Gold" developed by veteran Detroit programmer Paul Christy. With broadcasters such as Christy, Johnny Molson, and Detroit radio legend Lee Alan (who hosted a syndicated show called Back in the '60s Again), and despite competition in the format from WHND-AM (560), WMTG-AM (1310), and CKLW-FM (93.9) in the late 1980s, WKSG did well until WOMC
WOMC
WOMC is a Classic Hits radio station broadcasting in the Detroit, Michigan, USA area. WOMC's transmitter and studios are located on Woodward Heights . near Interstate 75 in Ferndale, Michigan. WOMC broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 190,000 watts from an antenna height of 361 feet...

-FM 104.3 changed its format from Adult Contemporary to Oldies in 1989.

CD102.7/Z-Rock

In April 1991, WKSG became WXCD, "CD102.7, Detroit's Smooth Sounds," with a new age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...

/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, which returned the format to the Detroit airwaves after 92.3 "The Wave" WVAE had changed to become 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,...

 in late 1989. The station's already-low ratings got even worse, and less than a year later, in March 1992, WXCD became WDZR, airing ABC Radio's satellite-fed Z-Rock format of hard rock and heavy metal. With a playlist that rocked harder than more established AOR outlets WRIF and WLLZ, WDZR achieved decent ratings for a time, but in 1996, ABC, having acquired the assets of Satellite Music Network, discontinued the Z-Rock format.

102.7 The Bear

In November 1996, WDZR changed its calls to WWBR, "102.7 The Bear, Detroit's Rock Animal," keeping the hard-rock format but transitioning to a local air staff with Ted Nugent
Ted Nugent
Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent is an American guitarist, musician, singer, author, reserve police officer, and activist. From Detroit, Michigan, he originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, before embarking on a lengthy solo career...

 as morning personality. "The Bear" eventually evolved into a "Classic Rock That Really Rocks" outlet to compete with softer-edged classic-rock competitor WCSX
WCSX
WCSX is a Detroit-based FM radio station broadcasting a classic rock format. WCSX's transmitter is located in suburban Oakland County in Royal Oak Township near the intersection of 8 Mile Rd. and Wyoming Avenue. WCSX transmits its signal from an antenna 951 feet in height with an effective radiated...

.

The end of "The Bear" came on January 16, 1999, following the station's sale from Allur Detroit to Radio One. At 6:33 p.m., after playing The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...

' "When The Music's Over" (the same song that ended the legendary 99.5 WABX
WYCD
WYCD is a radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is the only country music station in the Detroit area. WYCD's offices and studios are located on Woodward Heights . near Interstate 75 in Ferndale, Michigan...

 rock format in 1984), the station went silent for nearly 20 minutes and then emerged as an Adult Contemporary station.

Kiss 102.7

The first song played was "Just Another Day
Jon Secada (album)
Jon Secada is the self-titled English debut album by pop singer Jon Secada. It sold six million copies worldwide and was certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA. The album peaked at #15 on the Billboard 200 album chart in March 1993. It features four singles that reached the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot...

" by Jon Secada
Jon Secada
Jon Secada is a Cuban-American singer and songwriter. Secada was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Hialeah, Florida. He has won two Grammy Awards and sold 20 million albums since his English-language debut album in 1992. His music fuses funk, soul, pop and Latin percussion...

. They also revived the "Kiss-FM" brand name as "the new 102.7 Kiss FM, with the best variety of light rock from the 80's, 90's and today". The station also picked up Delilah Rene
Delilah Rene
Delilah Rene Luke , almost always known mononymously as Delilah, is an American radio personality, author, and songwriter, best known as the host of a nationally syndicated nightly U.S...

's syndicated nightly request program. The station requested the new calls WKSK but went with WDMK ("Detroit Michigan's Kiss") after failing to secure its first choice. Then, in August 1999, WDMK shifted to an Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...

 format to compete with powerhouse WMXD-FM "Mix" 92.3, retaining the "Kiss" name. The fact that the mainstream AC format lasted only eight months led some to believe that Radio One had always planned to shift the station's format in an R&B direction and used the AC format as a smokescreen to catch WMXD off guard.

As "Kiss 102.7 Detroit's Adult R&B Station," WDMK remained low in the ratings until October 2002, when the station once again shifted format to Rhythmic Oldies
Rhythmic oldies
Rhythmic Oldies is a radio format that concentrates on the rhythmic, disco or dance genres of music. Playlists may span from the 1970s through the early 1990s...

 and hired away longtime WJLB
WJLB
WJLB, is a Clear Channel-owned Urban Contemporary radio station in Detroit that broadcasts on 97.9 megahertz frequency. The station is known on-air as FM98 WJLB. This is the station that began the career of Urban radio legend and video jock, Donnie Simpson...

 personality and 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 John Mason
John Mason (announcer)
John Mason born: Earnest Wooten is the public address announcer for the Detroit Pistons games at The Palace of Auburn Hills. He is known for his colorful introductions, and is credited with coining the popular chant "Deeeeee-troit basketball!" Mason's flamboyant voice has been requested at many...

 to do the morning show. The change brought 102.7 its highest ratings in years, and listeners also welcomed the musical shift to more "old school" R&B as opposed to current hits by neo-soul artists which could already be heard on other stations in the market.

Hot 102-7

On June 25, 2005, Radio One swapped the formats of WDMK and its hip-hop-formatted sister station WDTJ "105.9 Jamz." The WDMK calls and "old school" format were moved to 105.9, with the "old school" format evolving into a very gold-based Urban AC. Also making the switch was John Mason, who was switched to afternoon drive at the new "105.9 Kiss-FM" as the popular syndicated Tom Joyner
Tom Joyner
Thomas "Tom" Joyner is an American radio host, host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and also founder of REACH Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com.-Early life:...

 morning show also moved to 105.9 from WMXD. 102.7 took on the urban mainstream format and the new calls WHTD and moniker "Hot 102-7".

On April 19, 2007, HOT 102-7 re-branded itself as HOT1027Detroit.com (now HotHipHopDetroit.com) while re-launching its website to focus merging newer interactive technologies with traditional radio. They, along with KBXX
KBXX
KBXX is a Houston-based radio station with an urban contemporary musical format. It is owned by Radio One. Its transmitter is located in Missouri City, Texas. 97.9 The Box is currently the only station that plays hip hop and modern R&B music in the Greater Houston area after the demise of KPTY in...

, were Radio One's first stations to re-brand themselves with a new corporate initiative. The station was among the first in Detroit to use text messaging for radio contests (text-to-win instead of call-in-to-win). They also added podcasting features, instant messaging to the on-air personality, live chats and other features to the website. Ratings remained roughly the same, but website traffic grew close to those of its competitors.

For a brief period in 2007, the station carried the syndicated afternoon show The Wendy Williams
Wendy Williams (radio host)
Wendy Williams Hunter is an American media personality and New York Times bestselling author. She calls herself the "Queen Of All Media" and hosts her own syndicated talk show, The Wendy Williams Show. Williams has gained notoriety for her on-air spats with celebrities...

 Experience,
and Wendy hosted her first Dons & Diva's Party outside of New York City in Detroit that same year.

In April 2009, WHTD dropped the "Detroit.com" portion of their moniker, and reverted back to just "Hot 102-7".

Hot 102-7 currently ranks at #20 (2.5) in the Detroit market according to the November 2010 PPM Ratings release.

Praise 102.7

On October 21, 2011, Radio One announced that they will operate WGPR
WGPR
WGPR is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan brodacasting a Mainstream Urban format. Owned by the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons and operated under local marketing agreement by Radio One, the station operates on 107.5 MHz....

, a station owned by a local Freemasons group, effective immediately, under a local marketing agreement. On Monday, October 24, 2011 at 12 Midnight, Radio One discarded the Urban AC format on WGPR. Two days later, Radio One moved 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. WHTD became Urban gospel as "Praise 102.7" on October 31, 2011 at Midnight.

The call letters on 102.7 changed from WHTD to WPZR at the same time as the format switch. The WHTD calls are now located at an AM 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...

.

Summer Jamz

Since 1997, the station hosts Detroit's signature annual hip hop/R&B summer concert called Summer Jamz. At its peak as a free event during the first eight years, Summer Jamz attracted crowds of 20-30,000 people while located at Detroit's Hart Plaza. As a ticketed event in 2006, the event attracted over 15,000 at the Michigan State Fair
Michigan State Fair
-History:The first official Michigan State Fair was held in 1849, which is claimed by the state of Michigan to be the oldest state fair in the United States. The first fair was held in Detroit, Michigan. Subsequent fairs were held in other cities until it received its permanent home in 1905 at the...

. The 10th anniversary show in 2007, the station hosted hosted Summer Jamz in Pontiac, MI's, much smaller amphitheatre and played to a seated capacity crowd of nearly 4,000. The event is expected to return to Michigan State Fair
Michigan State Fair
-History:The first official Michigan State Fair was held in 1849, which is claimed by the state of Michigan to be the oldest state fair in the United States. The first fair was held in Detroit, Michigan. Subsequent fairs were held in other cities until it received its permanent home in 1905 at the...

's larger capacity venue for future shows.

Sources

  • Michiguide.com - WHTD History
  • WLBS Kissed by Gold: Detroit's WKSG Focuses on Local Color by Moira McCormick, Billboard magazine, November 17, 1984

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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