WDRC-FM

WDRC-FM

City of license	Hartford, Connecticut
Broadcast area	Hartford, Connecticut
Branding	102.9 DRC FM Hartford's Big D
Slogan	Good Time Rock 'n Roll!
Frequency	102.9 MHz (also on HD Radio) 102.9-2 FM 103 Big D Oldies 102.9-3 FM WDRC (AM) simulcast
First air date	October 26, 1959 (first broadcast at current frequency)
Format	Classic Hits
ERP	19,500 watts, Stereo
HAAT	247 meters
Class	B
Facility ID	7718
Callsign meaning	Doolittle Radio Corporation (founder of AM sister station)
Owner	Buckley Broadcasting Corporation
Website	drcfm.com

WDRC-FM, known as 102.9 DRC FM, is a radio station based in Bloomfield, Connecticut, which primarily serves the Hartford market. DRC-FM broadcasts an oldies format, at a frequency of 102.9 MHz. Owned by Buckley Broadcasting, the station offers a late 1960s/early 1970s based oldies format mixing in moderate amounts of late 70's music, a handful of 1980s songs, and a rather small helping of pre 1964 oldies—mostly during specialty shows such as that of 'Rockin' Ron Sedaille. The station has offered oldies for over 20 years but did lean classic hits during much of 2006.

History

WDRC-FM was America's first commercial FM radio station, launched as W1XPW on May 13, 1939. In 1941, the call sign was changed to W65H, and finally became simply WDRC FM two years later (though for a brief time in the 1950s it was WFMQ, before switching to its current 102.9 MHz frequency).

In 1973, the station began calling itself "Big D 103," and employed a Top 40 format. In 1977, the station flipped to album rock, with a much deeper playlist than its rivals, WCCC and WHCN. However, by 1979, the station leaned Rock/AC and than abruptly flipped back to Top 40, in early 1980. By 1984, WDRC-FM was an oldies based Adult Contemporary station but only played oldies on the weekends. Due to the positive feedback, in 1986 WDRC-FM became an oldies station full-time. At that point, the station focused on the hits of 1964 to 1969 with about four songs per hour from the 1955-63 era. The station also played about one song from the early 1970s per hour. The AM station also offered oldies until 1990. Core artists included The Beatles, The Four Seasons, Elvis Presley, Supremes, Everly Brothers, Temptations, The Hollies, Righteous Brothers, Dion, and many others. The station also had quite high ratings even being number one at least a few times.

The format continued throughout the 1990s and into the 21st Century virtually unchanged. In 2001, WDRC-FM began playing several songs from the 1970s per hour adding artists like Billy Joel, Doobie Brothers, Eagles, James Taylor, and others into the mix. At that time they were playing music from throughout the 1970s. The station also began adding about a dozen or so songs from the 1980s by oldies artists playing about one every couple hours. They also began decreasing music from the pre 1964 era.

In August 2000, WDRC stopped using the "Big D 103" name and became known as Oldies 102.9 DRC-FM. The station stopped referring to themselves as Oldies a short time later. They later completely eliminated all the pre 1964 oldies and added a lot of 1980s music to the mix, becoming more of a classic hits station. The station also became heavily based in the 1970s playing only a few 1960s songs per hour along with about the same amount of 1980s hits. They continued streaming more traditional oldies online to appease oldies fans.

In the winter of 2007, WDRC-FM slowly phased out most of the 1980s music, cutting that back to about one every couple hours. The station also increased the 1964 to 1969 product making those songs core hits once again on a gradual basis. The amount of 70's music was cut back slightly to about 5 per hour. The station even brought back select songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, playing them about once every 90 minutes. By 2008, the station did begin increasing 80's songs to about one per hour. Its HD-2 station now plays a blend of 50's and 60's oldies focusing on the pre 1964 era.

Currently, the main station identifies itself as "Good Time Rock 'n' Roll", while occasionally throwing in the "Big D" moniker. Its music playlist is once again focused on 60's from 1964 on, while also emphasizing 70's hits and including a few 80's songs. Jingles were also reintroduced in 2008. In late 2008, the station started adding reverb to the audio chain as well as improving the audio processing, thus improving the overall audio quality of the station.^{[citation needed]}

HD Broadcasts

In 2008, DRC-FM recently implemented HD, HD2, and recently HD3.

HD2

HD2 carries Big D that uses old DRC-FM jingles and plays mostly 50s to mid 60s oldies that the main channel does not (though the main channel plays a handful of such songs). They also mix in a moderate amount of mid to late 60s oldies as well. Combined, the main and subchannel play a full spectrum of oldies.

HD3

HD3 carries WDRC-AM's broadcast.

http://www.talkofct.com/affiliates/

References

External links

• official DRC-FM site
• official Buckley Radio site
• comprehensive WDRC reference site
• DRC-FM HD Radio page
• Last 25 Songs Played with on-air Personalities personal favorite albums.
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WDRC
• Radio-Locator information on WDRC
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WDRC