The station, originally owned by Storer Broadcasting, first signed on as WJBK-FM in the summer of 1947. The station initially broadcast only six hours per day but implemented 24-hour operations in October 1947. From 1947 to 1966, WJBK-FM programming was strict 100% duplication of the co-owned AM station WJBK, and the FM side continued to simulcast through several programming changes. WJBK was Detroit's first top 40 station, playing hit music from 1956 to 1964.
Easy listening (1964-1969)
After 1964, WJBK-FM fully and then partially simulcast the AM's new easy listening and then MOR format, and its brief return to Top 40 in 1969. Starting in 1966, WJBK-FM began to introduce separate stereo programming for about 50% of the broadcast day, due to new FCC rules which restricted AM/FM simulcasting.
Country (1969-1971)
In late 1969, WJBK-AM-FM became WDEE AM & FM (The Big D) and implemented a country format with a Top 40-style presentation. The AM side quickly returned to high ratings; however, WDEE-FM remained virtually invisible. According to a Billboard magazine article in February 1970, WDEE-FM was on the air from 6am to midnight, duplicating the AM programming from 5pm to midnight and during the day airing separate stereo country programming syndicated by Bellingham, WA-based International Good Music.
Talk (1971-197?)
In 1971, WDEE-FM was sold to Bartell Media Corporation, changed its call sign to WDRQ, and became Detroit's first FM talk radio station. As a stunt to draw attention to the new station and about-to-be launched format, the station ran a weekend-long documentary, The History of Detroit Radio,[2] covering the then-current and past scene of Detroit radio (with special emphasis given to rock and roll stations) put together by longtime radio enthusiast and former Oakland Press radio columnist Arthur R. Vuolo, Jr.
Top 40 (197?-1979)
Ultimately, the news/talk format proved to be unsuccessful and WDRQ switched to Top 40 as The Super Q. Bartell at the time owned such legendary AM Top 40 stations as KCBQ in San Diego and WOKY in Milwaukee. Like those stations, WDRQ used consultant Buzz Bennett's fast-paced "Q" format. Like its rival, CKLWThe Big 8, WDRQ featured a tight playlist which leaned toward R&B and soul records, but unlike The Big 8, WDRQ was not bound by Canadian content regulations requiring them to play a certain percentage of Canadian music in their rotation, which enabled them to play only the top hits and enabled them to make strong ratings inroads against CKLW. By 1977, WDRQ was the number one Top 40 station in Detroit.
WDRQ also became intimately involved in Detroit. It organized its listeners to gather on a Saturday and clean up Detroit parks, and gave free concerts at Belle Isle Park, including one with Detroiter Bob Seger. PD Jerry Clifton kept the excitement level much higher at WDRQ than other stations by having some sort of festival each weekend and mercilessly promoted the upcoming weekend promotion during the week.
CKLW and WDRQ also became personal rivals. CKLW put up a billboard at the cost of several thousand dollars bragging about their latest dominant Arbitron ratings on a major street that all jocks, newsmen and office personnel of WDRQ would see as they pulled into the parking lot of WDRQ. WDRQ did a "black bag" visit to CKLW on a hot Sunday when the jock and board operator were the only one at the station, but because of the hot day, the CKLW jock propped the door open for a breeze, allowing the WDRQ staff to browse around.
Disco (1979-1980)
Then, on January 24, 1979, WDRQ made a format shift to disco as "Disco 93", inspired by the success of the all-disco format at WKTU in New York City. The move to disco was not received well in Detroit, and WDRQ tumbled out of Arbitron's top 20 ratings within a few months.
Top 40 (1980-1982)
WDRQ returned to a mainstream Top 40 format at the beginning of 1980 and made a brief return to the top 10 that spring, but the big story in Detroit radio that year was the meteoric rise of album-rocker WLLZ, and WDRQ's ratings once again began to drop and reached an all-time low of 1.4 in the Winter 1982 Arbitron ratings.
Urban (1982-1985)
In response to this, WDRQ shifted its format to urban contemporary in March 1982, and immediately saw the format change pay off, climbing to a 3.0 share in the Spring 1982 ratings report and to a 6.6 in Summer 1982. "Continuous Music—93FM WDRQ" was a success, and the opening of Beverly Hills Cop features an advertisement for this version of WDRQ on a city bus. Bartell sold the station to Amatuoro Broadcasting in the early 1980s, who later sold it to Keymarket Communications. The original incarnation of Viacom later purchased the station in a trade with Keymarket for a station that Viacom owned in Memphis in the mid-1980s that Keymarket wanted.
Adult contemporary (1985-1996)
In April 1985, owner Amaturo Radio Group dropped the urban format of WDRQ and changed the call sign to WLTI (initially known as W-Lite, later 93.1 Lite FM).[3] The station initially aired a soft adult contemporary package from Transtar called Format 41 (so named because it consisted of songs meant to appeal to female listeners in their early 40s), described by Amaturo president Monte Lang in an April 20, 1985 Billboard article as "targeted at listeners who prefer Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond and leaning toward easy listening." Despite the success Amaturo had had with Format 41 with its own WJQY in the Fort Lauderdale-Miami market, the Detroit market was already crowded with adult contemporary stations and WLTI failed to attract an audience until the station added local personalities around 1987. DJs such as the morning drive team of Eddie Rogers and Pat Holiday (both veterans of CKLW) – whose show featured comedic "celebrity" drop-ins by the spoofed likes of Rodney Dangerfield, Clint Eastwood and Eddie Murphy, as well as original characters like Mr. Action, enabled the station to hold its own in competition against the other AC stations in the market, including WNIC. Through the early 1990s, the station's music became more contemporary, and the "easy listening" artists were gradually phased out.
Rhythmic (1996-1999)
WDRQ logo from 2000 to 2005
On August 9, 1996, WDRQ returned as a Rhythmic adult contemporary station. The first song on the relaunched "DRQ" was "Brick House" by The Commodores.[4] Viacom sold the station to ABC Radio during this time. Initially, the station called itself "93-1 The New DRQ: Detroit's Station For Women". The station was initially jockless, with only an announcer used for on-air bumper promos. The station chiefly played a random mix of programmed dance, disco and pop music from the late 1970s through the early 1990s, with some new music factored in sporadically. More current dance-oriented Top 40 music was added to the playlist in the Fall, when Program Director Lisa Rodman and Music Director Jay Towers took over programming operations. By late 1996, the station had added a full lineup of personalities, including Marc Mitchell, Sharon Santoni and Trixie DeLuxxe in mornings, Jay Towers in middays, Lisa Lisa Orlando in afternoons, Mark "JoJo" Allen on evenings, and Michael Allen on overnights.
By January 1997, a lite mix of pop-friendly R&B and hip-hop music was also adopted to further cement the station's mainstream hook. With this being the first time a Top 40/dance music station had been on Detroit radio since the reformatting of WHYT two years earlier, WDRQ immediately attracted a large listening audience upon its re-launch. Subsequently, the station quickly abandoned the female-skewing format and promoted itself as a dance music station.
Top 40 (1999-2005)
By April 1999, the station had evolved into more of a mainstream Top 40 format and was eating away at its adult-leaning Top 40 competitor WKQI. The lineup became Jay Towers in the morning, Jamie Reese and Dave Fuller middays, Lisa Lisa in the afternoon, Tic Tak (Mark Allen) at night, and Eric Chase on overnights. By the final quarter of 2001, both WDRQ and WKQI were leaning very heavily toward Rhythmic CHR. For a time, WDRQ consistently defeated WKQI in the ratings, but after Clear Channel re-launched WKQI as Channel 9-5-5 in February 2002, WKQI retook the lead over WDRQ, garnering both larger ratings and revenue. As WKQI became increasingly rhythmic, WDRQ backed away somewhat from its own rhythmic lean, adding more Adult Top 40 songs and 1990s gold from the likes of Alanis Morissette and Third Eye Blind.
Adult hits (2005-2013)
93.1 Doug FM logo 2005–2013
At 1 p.m. on April 1, 2005, after playing "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5, WDRQ abruptly changed formats to adult hits, branded as "93.1 Doug FM"; the first song on "Doug" was "Good Times Roll" by The Cars. Many DRQ listeners were both confused and disgruntled over the format change.[5]
By November 2013, WDRQ had languished, ranking 18th in Nielsen Audio ratings for the Detroit market with a 2.5 share. On December 13, 2013 at 9:31 a.m., after playing "Someday" by Sugar Ray, WDRQ flipped to country music as Nash FM 93.1, soft launching with Christmas music by country artists for the holiday season before launching the format outright at 9:31 a.m. on January 2, 2014; the first "official" song under the format was "Radio" by Darius Rucker. The new format would compete primarily with CBS Radio's market-leading WYCD.[7]
On February 18, 2020, WDRQ rebranded as New Country 93.1. The rebranding came alongside changes to its on-air lineup, including afternoon host Bill "Broadway" Bert moving to mornings and joined by former WKQI personality Kristina "Krissy" Williamson (replacing the syndicated Ty Bentli Show).[8]
Sale to Family Life Radio
On June 12, 2023, radio news outlet RadioInsight reported that Cumulus Media was on the verge of selling WDRQ to a Christian-based ownership group. Later that day, the site officially confirmed Cumulus would sell WDRQ to Family Life Broadcasting, which had been founded in nearby Mason, for $10 million. The sale marked the return of their non-commercial Family Life Radio network to the area following the company's sale of previous outlet WUFL (1030 AM) the previous November. With the move, Cumulus Detroit director of FM programming David Corey, who had oversaw WDRQ and WDVD, would depart the company.[9]
On July 31, 2023, Family Life Radio closed on the sale and launched its programming on the station at midnight that night;[10] a call sign change to WUFL took effect on August 10.[11] The following day, Cumulus moved the new country format to WDVD's HD3 channel rebranded as "New Country Detroit".[10]
HD Radio
When WDRQ-HD2 first went on the air in January 2006, it was originally a simulcast of AM talk station WJR. In 2007, the HD2 channel began broadcasting a Rhythmic/Dance format as "Detroit's Party Station", featuring WDRQ's presentation from the mid-1990s. On January 29, 2009, WDRQ's HD2 channel changed to Doug's Wedding Reception, a Doug FM spin-off with an emphasis on party music.[12]
In July 2011, Doug's Wedding Reception switched to a gold-based rhythmic AC format featuring rhythmic oldies and dance music from the '70s, '80s and '90s. In August 2012, the channel flipped to a rhythmic classic hits format inspired by WDRQ's CHR era as 93-1 DRQ, focusing primarily on pop hits spanning from 1996 to 2005. In January 2014, the station shifted to a more rhythmic hot AC format, dropping most of the older dance tracks, but still featuring music of the original DRQ from 1996 to 2005, along with some newer selections as well.
On August 15, 2014, WDRQ-HD2 dropped its rhythmic format in favor of Nash Icon — a complement to the main country format with an emphasis on artists popular from the 1980s through the early-2000s.[13][14] After the switch to Family Life radio, the HD radio channels were turned off.
CKLW is a commercial radio station in Windsor, Ontario, serving Southwestern Ontario and Metro Detroit. CKLW is owned by Bell Media and has a news/talk radio format. It features local hosts in morning and afternoon drive times, with syndicated Canadian hosts in middays and evenings, plus Coast to Coast AM with George Noory overnight. Evening newscasts are simulcast from CHWI-DT Channel 16 CTV Windsor.
KXXR is an active rock/mainstream rock radio station broadcasting to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media, which also owns KQRS-FM. Its transmitter is located in Shoreview, Minnesota. Its studios are in Northeast Minneapolis in the Como district.
WYCD is a commercial radio station licensed to Detroit, Michigan. It broadcasts a country music format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. WYCD's offices and studios are on American Drive in Southfield, Michigan.
WDVD is a hot adult contemporary radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Owned and operated by Cumulus Media, WDVD's studios and offices are located in the Fisher Building in Detroit's New Center district near downtown, while its transmitter is located in Oakland County in Royal Oak Township at 8 Mile Road and Wyoming Avenue.
KJR-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Seattle, Washington. The station is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. The studios and offices are on Elliott Avenue West in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood northwest of downtown. The transmitter is located on Cougar Mountain.
CIDR-FM is a commercial radio station in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, targeting the Detroit–Windsor metropolitan area, with fringe reception into Toledo and Cedar Point/Sandusky in Ohio. It is owned and operated by Bell Media and airs a Top 40/CHR format. The studios and offices are located on Ouellette Avenue in Windsor.
WKQI is a commercial radio station licensed to Detroit, Michigan, featuring a top 40 (CHR) format known as "Channel 955", pronounced "nine-five-five". Owned by iHeartMedia, the station serves Metro Detroit and much of Southeast Michigan and southwestern portions of Ontario, including Windsor. The station's studios are located in Farmington Hills, while the transmitter is located in Oak Park, Michigan. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WKQI broadcasts over HD Radio using the in-band on-channel standard, and is available online via iHeartRadio.
WOMC is a commercial radio station licensed to Detroit, Michigan. It airs a classic hits radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. The transmitter and studios are both located on American Drive off 11 Mile Road in Southfield, Michigan.
KFRG is a commercial radio station licensed to San Bernardino, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. KFRG airs a country music radio format calling itself "K-FROG" and is believed to be the original "Frog" station under previous owner Keymarket. The brand name has been subsequently licensed by Keymarket to dozens of American radio stations.
Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adult contemporary formats in practice. It typically focuses on genres such as disco, classic hip-hop, dance pop, and house music of the late 1980s/early 1990s.
WDTW is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Dearborn, Michigan, and serving the Detroit metropolitan area. Owned by Pedro Zamora, the station broadcasts a Spanish-language radio format branded as La Z 1310. It features Regional Mexican, Spanish-language Contemporary Hits and Mexican Pop. The studios and offices are on Goddard Road in Taylor, Michigan.
WLLZ is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Detroit, Michigan. It is owned by iHeartMedia and it broadcasts a classic rock radio format, focusing mostly on active rock titles from the 1980s and 1990s. Its studios are in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills on Halsted Road.
WXYT is a commercial radio station licensed to Detroit, Michigan. It airs a betting-oriented sports radio format known as "The Bet Detroit". Most programming comes from the BetQL and CBS Sports Radio networks. During College football season, WXYT airs live play-by-play from the Central Michigan University Chippewas football team. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves Metro Detroit and much of Southeast Michigan. The studios and offices are on American Drive off 11 Mile Road in Southfield.
WRDT is a commercial radio station licensed to Monroe, Michigan, and serving Metro Detroit. It is owned by Crawford Broadcasting and it broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format. The studios and offices are on Capitol Avenue near Burt Road in the Weatherby section of Detroit.
WMXD is a commercial radio station in Detroit, Michigan, owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station operates with 45,000 watts of power from an antenna located on the Cadillac Tower building in downtown Detroit. The studios and offices were housed for years at Detroit's Penobscot Building until November 2009, when they were moved to the Clear Channel Communications, studios in Farmington Hills.
WLQV is a commercial radio station licensed to Detroit, Michigan. It is owned by the Salem Media Group and broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format. It uses paid brokered programming where hosts buy time on the station and may seek donations to their ministries during their programs. Religious leaders heard on WLQV include David Jeremiah, John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, Jim Daly, Tony Evans and Charles Stanley. The studios are on Radio Plaza in Ferndale, Michigan.
WFLZ-FM is a commercial radio station in Tampa, Florida. It airs a contemporary hit radio radio format and is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. The station's studios and offices are located on Gandy Boulevard in South Tampa. Local DJs are heard on weekdays, with syndicated shows, including American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest, the iHeartRadio Countdown, the Remix Top 30 with Hollywood Hamilton and On The Move with Enrique Santos, heard on weekends.
WLQR was a commercial radio station that was licensed to Toledo, Ohio at 1470 AM, and broadcast from 1954 to 2016. The station broadcast with a power output of 1,000 watts. It had a different signal pattern during the day than it did at night, using a directional antenna. The transmitter and four towers were located on Pickle Road, east of Toledo, in Oregon, Ohio. The studios at the transmitter site are no longer in use, since the WLQR/WTOD studios have been moved to the Cumulus Toledo-Cluster facility in South Toledo.
KWYL is a commercial FM radio station licensed to South Lake Tahoe, California, and serving the Reno metropolitan area. The station broadcasts in full 5.1 digital surround sound and has a rhythmic contemporary radio format. It is owned by Cumulus Media. The studios and offices are located on Plumb Lane in South Reno.
WBCK is a radio station in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States, owned by Townsquare Media. WBCK has a news-talk format.
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