WXYT-FM

Infobox Radio station
name = WXYT-FM


city = Detroit, Michigan
area = [http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WXYT&service=FM&status=L&hours=U]
branding = 97-1 FM The Ticket
slogan = Detroit Sports Talk All Day
airdate = May 10, 1941
frequency = 97.1 MHz HD Radio
97.1 HD-2: WWJ News Radio 950 - All News
format = Sports Talk/Open Phone Lines
power = 15,000 watts
haat = 272 meters
class = B
facility_id = 9618
coordinates = coord|42|28|58|N|83|12|19|W|type:landmark
callsign_meaning = WXYZ (former callsign of AM sister station); Talk (former format for AM sister station)
former_callsigns = WKRK-FM (6/9/97-10/3/07)
WYST (9/2/94-6/9/97)
WJOI (11/30/81-9/2/94)
WWJ-FM (1948-11/30/81)
WENA (1945?-1948)
W45D (1941-1945?)
owner = CBS Radio
sister_stations = WOMC, WVMV, WWJ, WXYT, WYCD
webcast = [http://cbsplayer.streamtheworld.com/index.php?CALLSIGN=WXYTAM Listen live]
website = [http://www.971theticket.com/ www.971theticket.com]
affiliations = Sporting News Radio

WXYT-FM, branded as 97-1 FM The Ticket is an FM station broadcasting at 97.1 MHz, in Detroit, Michigan. Its programming can be found simulcasted on WXYT (1270 AM), a sister station also owned by CBS Radio. WXYT-FM's transmitter is located in suburban Southfield, Michigan at the intersection of 12 Mile and Greenfield Roads and transmits its signal from an antenna 891 feet in height with an effective radiated power of 15,000 watts.

WXYT-FM is the flagship station (along with sister station WXYT-AM) for the Detroit Lions, Detroit Red Wings, and Detroit Tigers. It also carries programming from the Los Angeles-based Sporting News Radio Network.

History

Early History

The station that would become WXYT-FM began broadcasting as an experimental Apex AM station called W8XWJ in 1936. In 1940, the station ceased broadcasting while owner Evening News Association (parent company of WWJ-AM 950 and "The Detroit News") waited for the FCC to approve its move to the newly created FM band. Approval came in late October 1940 and on May 10, 1941 the station (now renamed W45D) signed on at 44.5 MHz with 3,000 watts of power, becoming the first FM radio station in Michigan and the seventh in the United States. When the FCC created the new 88-108 MHz broadcast band, W45D was moved to 96.9 as WENA in September 1945. By 1948, the station had settled on its present 97.1 home as WWJ-FM, originally simulcasting WWJ-AM. In the 1960s and 1970s, WWJ-FM was one of several stations competing for Detroit's Beautiful Music audience, along with 95.5 WLDM and 96.3 WJR-FM.

Joy 97

In 1981, WWJ-FM changed its call letters to WJOI, which helped it distinguish itself more from its AM sister station (which was becoming quite successful with its all-news format). WJOI's format remained Beautiful Music. 96.3 WJR-FM's change to "Hot Hits" WHYT in September 1982 left WJOI (nicknamed "Joy 97") as Detroit's only beautiful-music station (fellow easy-listening stations WNIC, WOMC and WCZY had all evolved to adult-contemporary formats by that time). As a result, WJOI enjoyed consistent top ten showings in the Arbitron ratings through most of the rest of the 1980s, and even reached #1 12+ in the Arbitron results in the spring 1984 book ( [http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB525DF08AA44A4&p_docnum=6&p_queryname=NaN&p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated4&p_nbid=E6AY5EJXMTE4MjE4NDA1Ni40MTg5MzQ6MTo2Om5jZGNwbA 1] ), topping WJR, at a time when the beautiful music format was becoming endangered in other markets. However, most of the station's listeners were older than the demographics usually courted by advertisers, and thus by 1988, the station had become more contemporary-sounding, playing more Soft AC artists and softer rock oldies with fewer instrumentals. By 1993 WJOI was essentially a Soft AC station, but was losing in the Arbitron ratings to AC competitors WNIC and WLTI.

The WJOI call sign is now in use at an AM adult standards music station in Norfolk, Virginia.

tar 97

Losing the Adult Contemporary battle, WJOI became WYST (aka "Star 97") in September 1994 and featured a 1970s oldies/classic rock format. WYST positioned itself as "The Greatest Hits of the '70s," although the station did branch its playlist out somewhat into the late '60s and early '80s. WYST was also Detroit's outlet for syndicated morning show host Don Imus.

WYST is now a country music station in the Bloomington, Illinois market, branded as "107-7 the bull".

97-1 K-Rock/Live 97-1 Free FM

In February 1997, Imus' show moved to AM sister WXYT 1270, making room for Howard Stern. WYST switched its format to Active Rock, as "97ROCK" (later taking the calls WKRK and the on-air identifier "97-1 K-Rock" in June of that year). Competing with WRIF (Detroit's other active rock station), "K-Rock" caught the ears of fans of harder rock and metal. Unfortunately, K-Rock's penchant for making fun of WRIF, mostly for long stretches between songs, turned off many a listener just as quickly. Ratings continued to be less than impressive, and in late August 1998, WKRK repositioned itself as "Extreme Radio" with its format evolving toward Hot Talk.

By March 1999, the majority of the station's music programming on weekdays was gone and the station soon took on the name "97-1: Detroit's FM Talk Station". This was later changed to simply "97-1 FM Talk". WKRK relaunched as "Live 97.1" in May 2003. In August 2004, WKRK became the flagship radio station for the Detroit Lions.

In October 2005, WKRK added the "Free FM" identifier being used by CBS Radio on many of its hot-talk properties across the country. Once Howard Stern left for Sirius Satellite Radio on January 3, 2006, WKRK began simulcasting Rover's Morning Glory. Rover continued as the morning show until September 2006, when low ratings lead to a switch to syndicated Opie and Anthony.

Detroit's Sports Powerhouse/97-1 FM The Ticket

On October 1,2007, at 3pm, WKRK ended its eight year run as a hot talk station, in favor of an all-sports format, starting with "The Sports Inferno" with Mike Valenti and Terry Foster. The station began simulcasting with 1270 WXYT, and changing it calls to WXYT-FM. Of its "Free FM" lineup, Jay Towers and Bill McAllister remain, but both of them came in a few months after the station flipped to sports.

On November 6, 2007 1270 AM and 97.1 FM changed their names again from "Detroit's Sports Powerhouse 97-1 FM & 1270 AM" to "97-1 FM The Ticket." The 1270 AM frequency is only mentioned at the top of the hour. Another change was the names of the midday show "The Big Show" and afternoon show "The Sports Inferno". Both of the shows names were dropped and now the shows are named by the hosts last name, with the midday show now being "Karsch & Anderson", and the afternoon show now named "Valenti & Foster". A few months later, current morning show "Motor City Mornings" changed the name of the show to "Jay Towers & Bill McAllister Mornings". This was all done to "promote the personalities".

On February 4, 2008, The Ticket went with an "open phone lines" format, meaning anyone can call in and discuss any topic whether it's sports related or not.

Airstaff

The current lineup (as of April 2008) is as follows

* Morning Show: Jay & Bill Mornings - Jay Towers, Bill McAllister & Sara Fouracre
* Mid-Days: Karsch & Anderson - Doug Karsch & Scott "The Gator" Anderson
* Afternoon Drive: Valenti & Foster - Mike Valenti & Terry Foster
* Evenings: Caputo & Fithian - Pat Caputo & Dennis Fithian
* Nighttime: Sporting News Radio - Todd Wright
* Overnights: Sporting News Radio - David Stein
* Broadcast Teams:
** Detroit Lions: Dan Miller and Jim Brandstatter with Tony Ortiz
** Detroit Red Wings: Ken Kal and Paul Woods
** Detroit Tigers: Dan Dickerson and Jim Price
* Weekend/Contributing Hosts:
** Remodel It Right - Chad Schmidt
** Lesson on Golf - Jeff Lesson
** Bob Bower's Outdoor Life - Bob Bower (AM Only)
** Jason Muhme
** Jeff Riger
** Drew Sharp
* Program Director: Tom "Evil Bigby" Bigby

Current Station Rating

97-1 The Ticket currently ranks at #11 in the Detroit market according to the Summer 2008 Phase II ratings release.

According to a preliminary Arbitron report released September 16, 2008.
NOTE: these ratings are separate from its simulcast on 1270 AM

Logo gallery

Sources

* [http://www.michiguide.com/dials/rad-v/wxytfm.html Michiguide.com - WXYT-FM History]

External links

*FMQ|WXYT-FM
*FML|WXYT
*FMARB|WXYT