WLQV
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2012) |
Christian talk and teaching | |
| Ownership | |
|---|---|
| Owner |
|
| WDTK | |
| History | |
First air date | October 7, 1925 (as WJBK) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | "Love", with "Q" in substitution for the "O" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 42081 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 42°13′52″N 83°11′58″W / 42.23111°N 83.19944°W |
| Translator(s) | 92.7 W224CC (Detroit) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | faithtalkdetroit.com |
WLQV (1500
By day, WLQV transmits with 50,000
History
WJBK
On October 7, 1925, the station first
Following the establishment of the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), stations were initially issued a series of temporary authorizations starting on May 3, 1927.[4] In addition, they were informed that if they wanted to continue operating, they needed to file a formal license application by January 15, 1928, as the first step in determining whether they met the new "public interest, convenience, or necessity" standard.[5] On May 25, 1928, the FRC issued General Order 32, which notified 164 stations, including WJBK, that "From an examination of your application for future license it does not find that public interest, convenience, or necessity would be served by granting it."[6] However, the station successfully convinced the commission that it should remain licensed.
On November 11, 1928, the FRC implemented a major reallocation of station transmitting frequencies, as part of a reorganization resulting from its implementation of General Order 40. WJBK was assigned to 1370 kHz.[7]
In 1940, WJBK was re-licensed to Detroit, broadcasting on 1490 AM. It was owned by John F. Hopkins, with its studios at 6559 Hamilton Avenue.[8]
An FM station at 93.1 was added in 1947, WJBK-FM (now
In 1954, WJBK moved to its current frequency at 1500 AM with 10,000 watts. By this time,
In 1962, WJBK was granted a daytime power increase. It was powered at 50,000 watts by day and 5,000 watts at night.
Then, WKNR "Keener 13" was launched at 1310 AM on Halloween 1963, burying the Motor City's Top 40 competition - including WJBK. It featured a shorter
The WJBK call letters are no longer used in radio; they were retained on WJBK-TV, now owned by Fox Television Stations and airs network programming from Fox, along with a local news operation.
WDEE
At midnight on December 26, 1969, WJBK flipped to a
With only a thousand watts of power, WEXL was unable to compete with 50,000-watt WDEE and left the country format by 1974 for religious programming. WDEE's midday show, "The Fem Forum", in which host Tom Dean fielded calls from female listeners sharing their sexual frustrations, was a controversial feature for its time but also quite popular. Other personalities on the station during the 1970s included morning mainstay Deano Day, Hank O'Neil, Mike Scott, Dave Williams, Bob Burchett, Ray Otis, Randy Price, Doug Smith, Don Thompson, Jimmy Bare, Rosalee, Paul Allen, Bob Day, Ron Ferris, Dan Dixon and Rick Church.
In the early 1970s, WDEE was purchased by Combined Communications, whch in turn was purchased by the Gannett Company. (Previous to Combined ownership, WDEE was part of a broadcast chain owned by Globe Broadcasting, owned by the Harlem Globetrotters.) Also during this time, WDEE-FM changed to news/talk as WDRQ-FM. That lasted until 1972, when Charter Broadcasting bought WDRQ and switched to Top 40, using such memorable slogan as "I Q in My Car". Four decades and several formats later, that station was playing contemporary country music again, under Cumulus Media ownership as "Nash FM" until late 2023 when they were purchased by FLC and changed to a Christian music format.
The WDEE calls later had a brief revival as a daytime-only classic-country music station in Reed City, Michigan, coincidentally also at AM 1500. This station has since gone off the air, but the calls survive on its onetime FM sister station, WDEE-FM, which runs an oldies format as "Sunny 97.3".
WLQV/WCZY
In early 1979, WCAR picked up the country format and became WCXI "Country 11", featuring Deano Day and other former WDEE personalities. In the latter part of 1979, after less than a year, due to a highly directional signal and WCXI overtaking WDEE in the ratings, the country format was abandoned. WDEE's call sign was changed to WCZY and ran a more contemporary version of sister station WCZY-FM's highly rated easy listening music format. About a year later, the call letters changed to WLQV, meant to designate the word "love". It flipped to a Christian radio format.
In 1985, the station made one last return to playing Top 40 music as it became WCZY again. Unlike its first time as WCZY, this time it was a 100% simulcast of the FM station, which by then had changed from easy listening to Adult Top 40. With Z95.5 featuring future Radio Hall of Fame inductee Dick Purtan, much was made of Purtan's "return" to AM radio. However, the simulcast ended during the summer of 1987 when WCZY-AM was sold, returned to a religious format and changed back to the WLQV call letters.
In 1986, Gannett purchased the
Yinger oversaw and completed WLQV's longstanding application for increased nighttime power. In 2003, WLQV began operating with 9 towers at night, 10,000 watts of power, ending an eighteen-year standoff with
Salem ownership
In February 2006, WLQV was sold to
WLQV is the flagship radio voice of University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball, with play-by-play provided by Dan Hasty.[9]
For several years in the 2010s, WLQV was the Detroit-area affiliate of the Rocket Sports Radio Network, broadcasting University of Toledo football and select men's basketball games, as well as the coach's shows for both sports.[10]
On November 18, 2016, sister station WDTK moved its
Antenna system
The station's transmitter is located off Dix Highway (U.S. Route 25), just south of I-75 in Lincoln Park. The station has a highly directional antenna system. There had been 12 towers arranged in 4 parallel sets of 3 towers from the time of the upgrade to 50,000 watts in the early 1960s until the demolition of the easternmost three towers. The original mid-50s Lincoln Park array featured four pairs of two towers.
A view of this array is visible in aerial images and topographic maps of the era. This site is just west of Dix Highway, near its intersection with Emmons Boulevard. In the early 1990s, the easternmost set of towers was taken down to make room for a
See also
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WLQV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ Radio-Locator.com/WLQV
- ^ Radio-Locator.com/W224CC
- ^ "List of broadcasting stations issued temporary permits", Radio Service Bulletin, April 30, 1927, pages 6-14.
- ^ "Extension of Broadcasting Station Licenses", Radio Service Bulletin, December 31, 1927, page 7.
- ^ "Appendix F (2): Letter to and list of stations included in General Order No. 32, issued May 25, 1928", Second Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission for the Year Ended June 30, 1928, Together With Supplemental Report for the Period From July 1, 1928 to September 30, 1928, pages 146-149.
- ^ "Broadcasting Stations", Second Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission (June 30, 1928), page 179.
- ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1944 page 109, Broadcasting & Cable
- ^ University of Detroit Mercy Titans Men's Basketball
- ^ Learfield Sports University of Toledo Rocket Sports Network
External links
- FCC History Cards for WLQV
- WLQV in the FCC AM station database
- WLQV in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- W224CC in the FCC FM station database
- W224CC at FCCdata.org
