- WLBY
Infobox Radio station
name = WLBY
city =Saline, Michigan
area = [http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WLBY&service=AM&status=L&hours=D] (Daytime)
[http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WLBY&service=AM&status=L&hours=N] (Nighttime)
branding = Ann Arbor's Progressive Talk Radio
slogan =
airdate = 1958
frequency = 1290kHz
format = Talk
power = 500watt s (Daytime)
26watt s (Nighttime)
class = D
facility_id = 41081
coordinates = coord|42|12|17|N|83|47|19|W|type:landmark
callsign_meaning = Liberal
former_callsigns = WHNE (7/02-8/04)
WCAS (3/01-7/02)
WYBN (10/99-3/01)
WDEO (?-10/99)
WAMX (3/93-?)
WIQB (2/92-3/93)
WNRS (2/70-2/92)
WOIB (?-2/70)
WOIA (1958-?)
owner =Cumulus Broadcasting
sister_stations =WQKL ,WTKA ,WWWW-FM
webcast =
website = [http://www.1290wlby.com/ http://www.1290wlby.com/]
affiliations =Air America Radio WLBY, "
Ann Arbor 's Liberal Talk Radio", is aprogressive talk radio station brodacasting fromSaline, Michigan . They carry programs from theAir America Radio network. WLBY is owned byCumulus Media .History
1290 on the AM dial has had quite a varied history since it first signed on in 1958 as WOIA. In 1962, WOIA jumped to the
FM dial (102.9) and the AM signal was re-dubbed WOIB. (For more on the FM station, seeWWWW-FM .) After several years as a MOR outlet, WOIA/WOIB began to simulcast aTop 40 format in 1967. OnFebruary 14 , 1970, both stations were re-branded as "The Winners", with the 1290 calls changed to WNRS. Initially the "Winners" retained the WOIA/WOIB Top 40 format but later switched to country; WNRZ-FM also played progressive rock for a time while the AM side continued with the country format.In 1975, WNRZ-FM brought the "Winners" simulcast to an end when it changed to
album oriented rock as WIQB. WNRS-AM continued on with country and later a fairly successfulOldies format under the moniker "Ann Arbor's Solid Gold." The oldies format continued until 1992, when the oldies format moved to new sister station WAMX-FM 107.1 asWQKL (or "Kool 107"). AM 1290 picked up WAMX'sNew Age /Adult Contemporary format and later the WAMX calls, after briefly using the call letters WIQB-AM.More changes followed: in the early-1999,
Tom Monaghan bought the station and changed it to an all-Catholic format and changed the calls to WDEO; later that year, the religious programs (and the WDEO calls) were shifted to the former WWCM at 990 AM, and 1290 changed formats again: now, under new owners Cumulus, it was "WYBN, Your Business News".In May 2000,
Clear Channel Communications acquired Cumulus' Ann Arbor stations, including WYBN. The following year, Clear Channel switched it to WCAS, with anadult standards format dubbed "American Music Classics." Then, in July 2002, 1290 saw the revival of "Honey Radio", an all-oldies format that was popular on the former WHND-AM (nowWRDT ) in the 80s and 90s; now the calls were WHNE (also the calls of WHND's old FM outlet in the 1970s, nowWCSX ). "Honey Radio" took the "Real Oldies" approach that Clear Channel tried atWSAI Cincinnati, WRLL Chicago and several other AM stations, playing mostly 1950s and 1960s hits with very limited post-1970 material. The format was AM 1290's most successful in some time but lasted only about two years, until August 2004, when WHNE became WLBY -- the tenth set of call letters the station has used.In December 2006, Cumulus reacquired Clear Channel's Ann Arbor stations, including WLBY, as part of a multi-station swap. Cumulus' future plans for WLBY remain unknown at present, although Cumulus has said it does not plan to change the formats of any of its Ann Arbor stations.
ources
* [http://www.michiguide.com/dials/rad-j/wlby.html Michiguide.com - WLBY History]
External links
*AMQ|WLBY
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