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WWWW-FM (102.9
MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
), is a commercial
radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...
licensed to
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...
. It is owned by Cumulus Media and it broadcasts a
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
format, known as ''W4 Country''. The studios and offices are on Victors Way in Ann Arbor. WWWW-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 50,000
watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
s, the maximum for this part of Michigan. The
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
is on West Waters Road at South Zeeb Road, west of downtown Ann Arbor.


History


Early years

The station, created by Saline residents (including puppeteer Meredith Bixby and the town's mayor, Henry Leutheuser) signed on the air on January 6, 1958. The original call sign was WOIA and it was co-owned with WOIB in
Saline, Michigan Saline ( ') is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,948 at the 2020 census. The city borders Saline Township to the southwest, and the two are administered autonomously. History Before the 18th cent ...
. Originally, WOIA and WOIB simulcast a full service, middle of the road (MOR) music format with some
Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
music played on weekends. The format changed to full-time Top 40 in 1967. WOIA
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 this time included John Records Landecker, later to become a legend in Chicago radio, and Art Vuolo Jr., later to become known as "Radio's Best Friend". In 1970, the stations became WNRS and WNRZ, "Ann Arbor's Winners". The "Winners" airstaff included Arthur Penhallow, who later became a fixture at WRIF in Detroit for nearly 40 years. At WNRS/WNRZ, his air name was "Cicero Grimes". "Winners" took advantage of Ann Arbor's status as a breakout market for songs that later went on to success in the Detroit market, proclaiming: "Winners Plays... Detroit Watches". The two stations soon separated their programming, with WNRS adopting a
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
format and WNRZ becoming a full-time 24-hour free-form progressive rock station. Former WABX personalities Jerry Goodwin and Ann Christ worked at WNRZ in 1972, and John Sinclair also hosted a Sunday-evening show. The station built up a loyal following in Ann Arbor's "hippie" community, but was financially unsuccessful. That led owner Thomas Boodell to change the station to a simulcast of WNRS's country programming and change the locks at the station to keep the former progressive-rock hosts out of the studio. After a petition to restore the progressive programming generated 10,000 signatures, Boodell relented by reinstating progressive rock on the station nightly from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. This split format continued until November 1974, when the station became again temporarily a full-time simulcast of WNRS as preparations were made for the stations' sale to Community Music Services of
Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...
. At this time, the FM station's facilities were upgraded. WNRZ-FM was a pioneer in the many aspects of the radio industry, most notably improvements to the quadraphonic FM stereo system invented in 1969 by Louis Dorren and improved upon by station chief engineer Brian Brown. The station participated in the National Quadraphonic Radio Committee field trials for the
Federal Communications Commission 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 j ...
(FCC). WNRZ-FM was actually the first FM station to transmit program audio in
quadraphonic sound Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic, also called quadrasonic or by the neologism quadio formed by analogy with "stereo"">portmanteau.html" ;"title="/nowiki>portmanteau">formed by analogy with "stereo" sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 s ...
. Brown also designed and built one of the first combination audio equalizer/compressors, which was used to enhance the poor audio quality of the Collins (now
Rockwell Collins Rockwell Collins, Inc. was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Radi ...
) AM radio transmitter at WNRZ. A second device was installed to process the quadraphonic FM program audio. These units gave the effect of the audio to "leap out" of the radio. Community Music Services took over control of WNRZ in December 1974 and four months later, there was a brief stunting period proclaiming "Something BIG is coming to 103 FM". The station's format was returned to album rock. This time, however, without the free-form elements and with an approved station
playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player, either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs that can be played once or in a loop. ...
. The new call sign was WIQB. The call letters I-Q-B were chosen because of their resemblance to the station's frequency numbers 1-0-3. The first record played on the new ''W-103'' was " You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the
Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
. WIQB heavily promoted its quadraphonic sound, identifying on-air as ''QuadRock 103'' during the 1970s. In 1979, the DJ lineup consisted of John Christian, Randy Z, Jim Dulzo, Chuck Horn and others. As the 1980s dawned, WIQB, under new owner Ernie Winn, modified its format from album rock to a Top 40 - AOR mixture. During the '80s, Rock 103 was usually the highest-rated local station in the Ann Arbor market. Jingles touted the fact the station was "Ann Arbor's Number One!" In 1987, the station boosted power to 50,000 watts, dramatically increasing its coverage area to the west (toward Jackson) and north (toward Fenton), although the station's eastward signal remained impeded in the
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
area by 102.7 FM WKSG (now WDKL). The station went through numerous ownership changes from 1974 onward. During the mid-1990s, WIQB became an adult album alternative station under the ownership of Arbor Radio, LP. In late 1997, Cumulus Broadcasting took control of the station and switched WIQB's format to active rock. WIQB subsequently crashed in the ratings and was regularly defeated in its own market by Detroit's WRIF. With the poor ratings, General Manager Ray Nelson, along with the sales department, proceeded to change the format to country.


History of "W4"

The WWWW call letters were originally used for 106.7 FM (and later 1130 AM) in Detroit. Many Detroit-area radio listeners of the 1970s remember WWWW-FM as a rock station with a slightly progressive lean. It would offer unique programming, such as the "All-Night Album Replay", where several full rock LPs would be played consecutively during a given evening. Print advertising for the station occasionally featured images of Godzilla, the mythical character seen in the Toho-produced Japanese series of feature films. That format would not extend into the 1980s, however. The change to the country format (nicknamed "W4 Country") alienated many former listeners, as reflected in initial ratings changes. It soon acquired an entirely new audience, though a rare few individuals (such as on-air personality Chuck Santoni, who is now at WSAQ-FM in Port Huron) remained with the station. In reality, the station maintained its country format much longer than the previous rock format. In October 2000 "Alice 106.7" finally changed its call letters to "WLLC-FM" while the "WWWW" call letters were moved to 102.9 FM in Ann Arbor to relaunch "W4 Country" on September 29, 2000. The new "W4 Country" soon became a ratings success in Ann Arbor. Arbitron often rates WWWW-FM as the top music station in the market. W4's signal into metropolitan Detroit is impeded by WDKL in Mount Clemens in Macomb County, but it still frequently shows up toward the bottom of the Detroit ratings. W4's signal is much stronger toward the south, west and north of Ann Arbor, and the station gets a listenable signal as far away 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 ...
, Lansing, and Toledo On the top of every hour, the station still uses its W4 jingles from 106.7 in the late 90s.


Changes in 2006

On July 24, 2006, the call letters for 102.9 FM in Ann Arbor were temporarily changed to WFOR-FM, as Clear Channel moved the "WWWW" call letters to the 1310 AM facility in Detroit. One week later, on July 31, 102.9 switched to WWWW-FM, different in only the "-FM" suffix. On September 15, 2006, the WDTW call letters returned to 1310 AM. This sequences of moves of the WWWW call letters were likely due to a swap of the Clear Channel Ann Arbor cluster to Cumulus Broadcasting, which was still pending in late December 2007.


In popular culture

WWWW has been used as the call letters of fictional and satirical radio stations in media from time to time: *On an episode of '' The Great Space Coaster'', Goriddle Gorilla used the call sign for his pathetic attempt to have an all weather radio station. *On Denis Leary's album, '' Merry Fuckin' Christmas'', he satirised a boring soft rock station with the call letters (also calling it "WW2-The Big One", after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
).


References


External links

*
Michiguide.com – WWWW-FM History
{{Cumulus Media WWW-FM Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1962 Cumulus Media radio stations Michigan Wolverines men's basketball 1962 establishments in Michigan