WAAM
| |
---|---|
Branding | WAAM Radio |
Programming | |
Format | Talk radio |
Network | Fox News Radio |
Affiliations | Compass Media Networks Genesis Communications Network Premiere Networks Salem Radio Network Westwood One |
Ownership | |
Owner | Coolarity A2, LLC |
History | |
First air date | October 1948 |
Former call signs | WHRV (1948–1963) |
Call sign meaning | W Ann Arbor Michigan |
Technical information | |
Facility ID | 72276 |
Class | B |
Power | 5,000 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°11′32″N 83°41′9″W / 42.19222°N 83.68583°W |
Translator(s) | 92.7 W224ED (Ann Arbor) |
Links | |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | waamradio.com |
WAAM (1600
WAAM transmits with 5,000
Programming
Two local shows are heard each weekday. Steve Gruber hosts morning
History
Recent history
Whitehall Broadcasting sold WAAM to Big D Broadcasting in August 2003.[3] WAAM was purchased by Coolarity A2, LLC. in May 2011.[4] Thayrone's wife and business partner Linda Hughes was WAAM's General Manager at the time of her passing in March 2018.[5]
Early history: WHRV
The station signed on as WHRV in October 1947, and originally served as the Ann Arbor market's ABC Radio affiliate. WHRV was a typical full-service radio station of its day, with a wide variety of music ranging from pop vocals to rock and roll to Southern gospel, and a heavy commitment to local news and sports play-by-play. Ollie McLaughlin, a black DJ on WHRV, is credited for helping to discover early 1960s rocker and Michigan native Del Shannon, and, after he left the station in 1961, helped launch the careers of several other Michigan artists, including Barbara Lewis, The Capitols, and Deon Jackson.
WAAM in the 1960s
The station was sold in 1963 and that fall changed its calls to WAAM, which during the late 1940s and 1950s had been assigned to a
The WAAM studios were almost completely destroyed by a fire in September 1968, forcing the station to broadcast from a trailer in its parking lot for over a year. The station moved into new studios in 1969 and at that time dropped all rock programming to become a full-time MOR ("middle-of-the-road") station. It took several years, however, for the station to fully recover from the fire, as it did not return to its full licensed power of 5,000 watts until early 1973, broadcasting with only 250 watts non-directional in the meantime.
Top 40 era (1972–76): Super WAAM
By early 1972, WAAM was being operated by a trust following the 1970 death of owner Frank Babcock (also a prominent voiceover artist), and the station's music had become more contemporary. Immediately upon the sale of the station in May 1972, WAAM began to transition to a full-time "
The 1980s and 1990s: more changes
In 1976, WAAM was sold again and transitioned from ""
Lloyd Johnson (d/b/a Whitehall Broadcasting) acquired the station in 1983 and switched the station's music back to a more Middle of the Road presentation soon afterward. The format shift accompanied Ann Arbor radio legend's Ted Heusel moving to WAAM from 1050
WAAM attempted to move to Oak Park, but that was dismissed. http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=11457
See also
References
- Michiguide.com - WAAM History
- WAAM: 50 Golden Years, a documentary put together in 1997 to celebrate the station's 50th anniversary; narrated by Jim Heddle
- Notes
- ^ [Radio-Locator.com/WAAM]
- ^ Radio-Locator.com/W224ED
- ^ "Michiguide.com News Archives 1999-2004: 2003: August 2003 Archives". www.michiguide.com. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
- ^ "Conservative radio host Thayrone and business partner acquire WAAM 1600". AnnArbor.com. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
- ^ "Linda Hendrick Hughes, 54, was the Heart of WAAM Radio". mlive. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
External links
- WAAM in the FCC AM station database
- WAAM in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- W224ED in the FCC FM station database
- W224ED at FCCdata.org
- WAAM Radio website: https://www.waamradio.com/
- WAAM LIVE online: https://www.mainstreamnetwork.com/listen/player.asp?station=waam-am&listen=Listen+Live
- Many of WAAM's Local hosts Shows are available as Podcast: https://www.waamradio.com/podcasts/