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WIOT (104.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to
Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...
, and features a
mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...
format. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., WIOT serves both
Northwest Ohio Northwest Ohio, or Northwestern Ohio, consists of multiple counties in the northwestern corner of the US state of Ohio. This area borders Lake Erie, Southeast Michigan, and northeastern Indiana. Some areas are also considered the Black Swamp a ...
and
Monroe County, Michigan Monroe County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the population was 154,809. The largest city and county seat is Monroe, Michigan, Monroe. The county was establi ...
, as an
affiliate Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation platfo ...
of ''
The Bob & Tom Show ''The Bob & Tom Show'' is a syndicated US radio program established by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 7, 1983, and syndicated nationally since January 6, 1995. Originally syndicated by Pre ...
'' and '' The House of Hair with Dee Snider''. WIOT's studios are located in Downtown Toledo while the transmitter resides in the Toledo suburb of
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
. In addition to a standard
analog transmission Analog transmission is a transmission method of conveying information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that information. It could be the transfer of an analog signal, using an an ...
, WIOT broadcasts over two
HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...
channels and is available online via
iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...
.


History


WTOL-FM and WCWA-FM

In , the station signed on as WTOL-FM. It was the FM
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
of WTOL (now
WCWA WCWA (1230 AM) is a radio station licensed to and serving Toledo, Ohio, airing a sports format. Owned by iHeartMedia, it is the Toledo affiliate for Fox Sports Radio, and the city's second-oldest radio station. History The station signed on i ...
), owned by the family of Toledo prosecutor Frazier Reams. The two stations carried ABC Radio's dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "
Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...
." When network programming shifted from radio to television, WTOL-AM-FM began airing a full service, middle of the road format of popular music, news and sports. By the 1960s, WTOL-FM had its own format of beautiful music with some classical shows on nights and weekends. As a beautiful music station, WTOL-FM played quarter hour sweeps of mostly soft instrumental
cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of popular hits. In 1965, it changed its call letters to WCWA-FM to match its AM counterpart. The
easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...
format ended on Christmas Day in 1972. The station switched to
progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...
as WIOT and has played some format of rock music since.


WIOT

The station's
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
came about from doodles using the frequency numbers 1-0-4-7. Newly appointed operations manager Chuck Schmidt was trying to derive the call letters from its dial position, with 1=I 0=O and 7=T. W-I-O-T. The initial "W" is because the station is east of the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
. It took longtime WIOT engineer Dennis P. Moon to confirm the origin of the call letters. Moon was present when Schmidt created the call sign in 1972 as a derivative on the word "Riot" but with a "W" instead. "Buck and O'Connor" hosted mornings in the early 1980s, Bucky "Buck" McWilliams and Christopher O'Connor. They left WIOT to go to
Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
at WZUU and then
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
at
KDWB KDWB-FM (101.3 MHz) is an commercial radio station broadcasting in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, licensed to suburban Richfield. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, and airs a contemporary hit radio format. KDWB has an effective radi ...
. Other WIOT
disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...
s during the '80s were Terry Sullivan, one half of the Sullivan and O'Connor show, Lee Randall, Joanie Major, Johnny Ballantine, Mohammed, "Larry Wyatt"-Larry Weseman, Donald "Don" Jardine, and WIOT's first male and female morning duo Pat & Jane (Patrick Still and Janet Perry). In the late 1980s, Bob and Brian became the next morning team. They also too left for Milwaukee for work at
WLZR WLZR (1560 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station, city of license, licensed to Melbourne, Florida, and serving the Melbourne-Titusville, Florida, Titusville-Cocoa, Florida, Cocoa area of the Space Coast. It is owned by Cumulus Media ...
. The next morning duo was The WIOT's Dawnbusters A.K.A. Jeffrey Lamb and Mark Benson. Jeff provided all of the voices and skits while Mark was the straight man. Other WIOT DJs during this time in the '90's were Program Director Lyn Casey, Michael "Party!" Young, Don Davis, Dave Duran, Rebecca "Becky" Shock, Dennis O'Brian, with Beth Daniels, and the one and only Will Worster. In 1994, The station introduces the second version of the WIOT Dawnbusters: Karlson and McKenzie. After about two years at WIOT, Karlson and McKenzie left for
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
at
WZLX WZLX (100.7 FM) is a classic rock radio station in Boston, Massachusetts. This station is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. WZLX was one of America's first classic rock FM stations. Its studios are in Medford, and its transmitter is atop th ...
. With their departure, WIOT's new owner Enterprise Media rehired the first WIOT's Dawnbusters team, Jeff and Mark.


Jacor ownership

In 1998, the station was bought by
Jacor Jacor Communications was a media corporation, existing between 1987 and 1999, which owned many radio stations in the United States. In 1998, Jacor was purchased by Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartMedia, for $2.8 billion. Jacor Communicat ...
Media. The new owners tweaked the format a bit, adding more hard rock. Management signed a deal with a syndicated morning show. "
The Bob and Tom Show ''The Bob & Tom Show'' is a syndicated US radio program established by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 7, 1983, and syndicated nationally since January 6, 1995. Originally syndicated by Pre ...
" from
WFBQ WFBQ (94.7 FM, "Q95") is a radio station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, owned by iHeartMedia. The studios are located at 6161 Fall Creek Road on the northeast side of Indianapolis. The transmitter and antenna are located on the north ...
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
began airing on WIOT and continues to this day. In the 1990s, the DJ staff included Susan Gates, Troy Michaels, and Grizzly Brown, while Darrin Arrens was the Program Director. Longtime WIOT DJ Don Davis left the station in 2001 and was replaced by Dave Rossi as PD from
WAVF WAVF (101.7 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Hanahan, South Carolina, and serving the South Carolina Lowcountry and Charleston metropolitan area. It is owned by Saga Communications as part of its Charleston Radio Group, and ai ...
(Wave-FM) in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
. Rossi left in 2003 to head back to South Carolina, Troy Michaels took over the afternoon shift and Grizzly Brown moved up to the evening shift.


Transmitter and studios

In September 2019 WIOT's transmitter site was named the Dennis P Moon Transmitter Site, in honor of engineer Denny Moon's 50 years at the station. Prior to its home on South Superior, the station was located on the third floor of Fort Industry Square. The station's early studios were at 604 Jackson Street, the site of the former News-Bee building and what is now One Government Center. The longtime owner of WIOT and WCWA was Reams Broadcasting, begun by Fraser Reams Sr. and later by his son, Fraser Junior. Reams also owned WTOL-TV. WTOL-FM's tower was shared with
WTOL-TV WTOL (channel 11) is a television station in Toledo, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc., which provides certain services to Fox affiliate WUPW (channel 36) under a joint sales agreement (JSA) with American S ...
Channel 11.


Broadcast area

At 50,000 watts on a tower in
height above average terrain Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it is ...
(HAAT), WIOT is slightly overpowered. At that height, the power should be around 45,000 watts but WIOT is grandfathered at the higher power. The station serves Toledo and
Northwest Ohio Northwest Ohio, or Northwestern Ohio, consists of multiple counties in the northwestern corner of the US state of Ohio. This area borders Lake Erie, Southeast Michigan, and northeastern Indiana. Some areas are also considered the Black Swamp a ...
. But with a good radio its signal also reaches
Downtown Detroit Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a Neighborhoods in Detroit, residential area of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Locally, "downtown" tends to refer to the 1.4 square mile region bordered by M-10 (Michigan high ...
, along with Detroit's southern and western suburbs, as well as most of
Essex County, Ontario Essex County is a primarily rural county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada comprising seven municipalities: Amherstburg, Kingsville, Ontario, Kingsville, Lakeshore, Ontario, Lakeshore, LaSalle, Ontario, LaSalle, Leamington, Ontario, Leamington, Tec ...
, including
Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...
and Leamington. The signal reaches as far south as
Marion, Ohio Marion is a city in Marion County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in north-central Ohio, approximately north of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population was 35,999 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down slig ...
and
Bucyrus, Ohio Bucyrus ( ) is a city in Crawford County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in northern Ohio approximately 28 miles (45 km) west of Mansfield, Ohio, Mansfield and southeast of Toledo, Ohio, Toledo. The population was 1 ...
and into
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
as far north as
Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
, Lapeer, and
Port Huron Port Huron is a city in and seat of government of St. Clair County, Michigan, United States. The population was 28,983 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the west by Port Huron Township, but the two are administered autonomously. Por ...
before it starts to interfere with
Woodstock, Ontario Woodstock is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The city has a population of 46,705 according to the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 Canadian census. Woodstock is the seat of Oxford County, Ontario, Oxford County, at the head of the Thames River, On ...
's
CIHR-FM CIHR-FM is a Canadian radio station broadcasting at 104.7 FM in Woodstock, Ontario. The station plays an adult contemporary format branded as ''104.7 Heart FM'' and is owned by Byrnes Communications Inc. CIHR also broadcasts HD Radio, with the se ...
, which is also on 104.7 FM. WIOT also experiences some interference from
Geneva, Ohio Geneva is a city in northwestern Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,924 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area, northeast of Cleveland. The area which would become Geneva was originally se ...
's WKKY, which is also on 104.7, near the
Wheatley, Ontario Wheatley is a community in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, within the municipality of Chatham-Kent. It lies about east of Leamington. Nearby parks include Two Creeks Conservation Area, which has 15 km of hiking and bicycling paths, Kopegaro ...
and Comber, Ontario areas (mostly in the southeastern corner of Essex County).


Translator interference

During 2011, WIOT was also experiencing interference from
FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...
W284BQ in Detroit, which was simulcasting
WGPR WGPR (107.5 FM) is a commercial radio station in Detroit, Michigan, broadcasting an urban contemporary radio format. Owned by the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons, its studios and offices are on East Jefferson Avenue on Detroit's ...
's ''The Oasis''
Smooth Jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...
subchannel. The translator was on 104.7, the same frequency as WIOT. In May 2011, WIOT filed a complaint with the
FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...
. The complaint said that W284BQ interferes with WIOT in the Michigan portion of their broadcast area. WIOT had also solicited comments and reception reports from listeners in the affected area.
Martz Communications Group Martz Communications Group is an American radio broadcasting company, which operates three radio stations in the St. Lawrence River area of New York and one in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company, which also operates under the names Radio Power a ...
, which owned the translator station and programs ''The Oasis'', soon established a website.http://www.savetheoasis.com/ It explained the station's position on the issue, stressing that WIOT should not get special treatment on the grounds that it is an Ohio radio station which does not serve Detroit. However, WIOT's protected contour does serve parts of the Detroit area, in part due to its grandfathered status. On October 18, 2011, the FCC sided with Clear Channel on the issue, and ordered W284BQ to cease operation immediately. Martz would later apply with the FCC to relocate W284BQ to 93.9. But that potentially would interfere with Windsor, Ontario station
CIDR-FM CIDR-FM (93.9  FM, ''93.9 Virgin Radio'') is a commercial radio station in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, targeting the Detroit–Windsor metropolitan area, with fringe reception into Toledo and Cedar Point/Sandusky in Ohio. It is owned and oper ...
, ending that plan. It later attempted to move to 93.5 before giving up on the concept altogether.


References


External links


104.7 WIOT
{{Clear Channel 1949 establishments in Ohio Mainstream rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1949 IOT IHeartMedia radio stations