WWWW-FM
Encyclopedia
WWWW-FM - "W4 Country" - is a 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...

 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...

 based in Ann Arbor, Michigan
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...

, broadcasting on 102.9 MHz.

Early years

The 102.9 frequency began operations in or on March 1, 1962 as WOIA and was (and still is) co-owned with WOIB-AM
WLBY
WLBY, "Ann Arbor's Business Talk Radio", is a business talk radio station brodacasting from Saline, Michigan. They carry nationally syndicated programs such as Dave Ramsey, The Clark Howard Show, and The Ray Lucia Show. The station is also home to former WAAM morning host Lucy Ann Lance weekday...

 1290 in Saline, Michigan
Saline, Michigan
Saline is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,810.The city is popular for its annual Celtic Festival, which attracts people from all over the United States and its sister cities Brecon, Wales and Lindenberg, Germany...

. Originally, WOIA and WOIB simulcast a middle of the road music format with some Top 40 music played on weekends. The format changed to full-time Top 40 in 1967. In 1970, the stations became WNRS AM/WNRZ FM "Ann Arbor's Winners." The "Winners" airstaff included a young Arthur Penhallow
Arthur Penhallow
Arthur Penhallow is a radio presenter in Detroit, Michigan who hosted afternoons on active rock station WRIF from 1970-2009. On March 30, 2009, WRIF owner Greater Media announced that the station and Penhallow had been unable to come to terms on a new contract. Penhallow was born in Honolulu, Hawaii...

, who later became a fixture at WRIF
WRIF
WRIF — branded 101 WRIF: The RIFF — is a commercial active rock radio station licensed by the FCC to operate in Detroit, Michigan serving surrounding Metro Detroit. The station is currently owned by Greater Boston Radio, Inc. WRIF is a grandfathered Class B station with a signal equivalent to...

 in Detroit for nearly 40 years; at WNRS/WNRZ, his air name was "Cicero Grimes." The WNRS/WNRZ format remained Top 40 at first, but AM 1290's format soon changed to country
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...

; FM 102.9 simulcast the country format during the day and played a progressive rock format
Progressive rock (radio format)
Progressive rock is a radio station programming format that prospered in the late 1960s and 1970s, in which the disc jockeys are given wide latitude in what they may play, similar to the freeform format but with the proviso that some kind of rock music is almost always what is played...

 at night.

WNRZ-FM was a pioneer in the many radio aspects of the industry, and was one of the first FM stations to broadcast discrete Quad using the quadraphonic FM stereo system invented in 1969 by Louis Dorren
Louis Dorren
Louis Dorren is an American engineer.In 1969 Louis "Lou" Dorren invented the Quadraplex system of single station, discrete, compatible four-channel FM broadcasting. He founded Quadracast Systems, Inc...

. Chief engineer Brian Brown designed and built one of the first combination audio equalizer/compressors, which was used to enhance the poor audio quality of the Collins (now Rockwell Collins
Rockwell Collins
Rockwell Collins, Inc. is a large United States-based international company headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, primarily providing aviation and information technology systems and services to governmental agencies and aircraft manufacturers.- History :...

) AM radio transmitter at WNRZ-AM. A second device was installed to process the quadraphonic FM program audio. These units literally caused the audio to "leap out" of the radio, according to industry pundits.

WNRZ-FM changed its format from country to album rock in March 1975 and became known as WIQB, with a call sign which designated the number "103" (the letters I-Q-B were chosen because of their resemblance to the numbers 1-0-3). WIQB heavily promoted its quadraphonic sound, identifying on-air as "QuadRock 103" during the 1970s. (Meanwhile, AM 1290 has since been through a multitude of format changes and is now WLBY
WLBY
WLBY, "Ann Arbor's Business Talk Radio", is a business talk radio station brodacasting from Saline, Michigan. They carry nationally syndicated programs such as Dave Ramsey, The Clark Howard Show, and The Ray Lucia Show. The station is also home to former WAAM morning host Lucy Ann Lance weekday...

, a business-talk station).

In the 1980s WIQB programmed a mixture of album rock and CHR
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...

/Top 40 and was usually the highest-rated station in the Ann Arbor market (jingles of the period touted the fact they were "Ann Arbor's Number One!").

The format then went through several changes through the 1990s, including adult alternative
Adult album alternative
Adult album alternative is a radio format. A spinoff from the album-oriented rock format, its roots trace to the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier freeform and progressive formats....

 during the late 1990s and then active rock
Active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock plays contemporary rock artists with a mix of songs common in the classic rock radio format.-Format background:...

 by the end of the decade. As an active rock station, Rock 103, then owned by Cumulus Broadcasting, suffered from poor ratings and was regularly defeated in its own market by Detroit's WRIF. The station was an afterthought of then-GM Ray Nelson, who along with the sales managers proceeded to change the format to country.

History of "W4"

The WWWW calls were originally used for 106.7
WDTW-FM
WDTW-FM is a classic rock formatted radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications. WDTW-FM is licensed for HD Radio operations; its secondary channel carries Clear Channel's "Pride Radio" format, which features music geared toward the LGBT audience...

 FM (and later 1130
WDFN
WDFN is a sports-talk radio station in the Detroit, Michigan, market. It broadcasts in the AM radio band at 1130 kHz. WDFN is owned by Clear Channel Communications, and until the end of the 2008-09 NBA season, was the flagship station for the Detroit Pistons....

 AM) 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...

. Many Detroit-area radio listeners of the 1970s remember WWWW-FM as a rock station with a slightly progressive bent, and one which would offer unique programming, such as the "All-Night Album Replay," wherein several full rock LPs would be played consecutively during a given evening. Print advertising for the station occasionally featured images of Godzilla, the mythical character seen in the Toho-produced Japanese series of feature films. That format would not extend into the 1980s, however. The change to the country format (nicknamed "W4 Country") alienated many former listeners, as reflected in initial ratings changes, and soon acquired an entirely new audience, though a rare few individuals (such as on-air personality Chuck Santoni) remained with the station. In reality, the station maintained its country format much longer than the previous rock format. In October 2000 "Alice 106.7" finally changed their call letters to "WLLC-FM" (not to be confused with yet another previous Detroit FM rock station, WLLZ-FM) and the "WWWW" call letters were moved to 102.9 FM in Ann Arbor to relaunch "W4 Country" on September 29, 2000.

The new "W4 Country" soon became a ratings success in Ann Arbor. Arbitron often rates WWWW-FM as the top-rated music station in the market 12+; it is usually second place overall, behind only Detroit's 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...

. Among local stations in Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County, W4 is the highest-rated commercial station, although it has been reported that if non-commercial stations were counted, NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

 station WUOM would come out on top.

W4's signal into metropolitan Detroit is impeded by WHTD
WHTD
WPZR is an urban gospel formatted radio station licensed to Mount Clemens, Michigan, and serving the Detroit metropolitan area...

 (102.7 MHz) in Mount Clemens in Macomb County, but it still frequently shows up toward the bottom of the Detroit ratings. W4's signal is much stronger toward the west and north of Ann Arbor, and the station gets a listenable signal as far away as Flint
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...

, Lansing
Lansing, Michigan
Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...

 and 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...

.

Changes in 2006

On July 24, 2006, the call letters for 102.9 FM in Ann Arbor were temporarily changed to WFOR-FM (there is a 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...

-owned TV station in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

 with the WFOR
WFOR-TV
WFOR-TV, virtual channel 4.1 , is the CBS owned-and-operated station in Miami, Florida. WFOR shares its TV studio facilities with sister station WBFS-TV in Doral, near Miami International Airport, and its transmitter is located in Miramar.WFOR-TV also previously had two translator stations in the...

 call letters), as Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...

 moved the "WWWW" call letters to the 1310 AM
WDTW (AM)
WDTW is a Detroit-area radio station, operating at 1310 kHz with 5,000 watts. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications and airs mostly syndicated progressive talk radio programs....

 facility in Detroit. One week later, on July 31, 102.9 switched to "WWWW-FM" - different in only the "-FM" suffix. On September 15, 2006, the WDTW call letters returned to 1310 AM
WDTW (AM)
WDTW is a Detroit-area radio station, operating at 1310 kHz with 5,000 watts. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications and airs mostly syndicated progressive talk radio programs....

.

This sequences of moves of the WWWW call letters were likely due to a swap of the Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...

 Ann Arbor cluster to Cumulus Broadcasting, which was still pending in late December 2007 . Clear Channel had intended to hold onto the "WWWW" calls, though that is now unclear as 106.7 FM
WDTW-FM
WDTW-FM is a classic rock formatted radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications. WDTW-FM is licensed for HD Radio operations; its secondary channel carries Clear Channel's "Pride Radio" format, which features music geared toward the LGBT audience...

's call letters have remained WDTW-FM.

Airstaff

The current lineup (as of August 25, 2011) is as follows
  • Morning Show (5 a.m - 10 a.m): Breakfast With Bubba - Brian "Bubba" Cowan & Lori Rigato
  • Mid-Days (10 a.m - 3 p.m): Mandy Cooke
  • Afternoon Drive (3 p.m - 7 p.m): TBA
  • Nighttime (7 p.m - Midnight): CMT Radio Live - Cody Alan
  • Overnights (12 a.m - 5 a.m): After Mid-Nite - Blair Garner
    Blair Garner
    Blair Garner is an American radio personality. According to his After MidNite with Blair Garner show website, he purchased his first car at age 12. He is the host of the syndicated radio programs After MidNite with Blair Garner and The Blair Garner Show...

  • Weekend's/Fill-ins: Ryan Albig and Kyle Bogenschultz
  • Program Director/Music Director: Brian "Bubba" Cowan
  • Imaging Director: TBA
  • Station Voice: Randy Reeves

  • On August 25, 2011 afternoon host Adam Rey exited.

External links

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