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WDKL
WDKL (102.7 FM, K-Love) is a contemporary Christian formatted radio station licensed to Mount Clemens, Michigan, and serving the Detroit metropolitan area. The station is owned by Educational Media Foundation. The station broadcasts with 36,000 watts of power from an antenna located Northeast of the intersection of Gratiot Avenue and Fourteen Mile Road in Clinton Charter Township, Macomb County, Michigan, and directs its signal mainly toward the north and east to avoid interfering with WWWW-FM in Ann Arbor.
WDKL is licensed for HD Radio service, carrying Air1 and K-Love 2000s on its subchannels.
WDKL began life on November 6, 1960, as WBRB-FM, the FM counterpart of Mount Clemens AM station WBRB (1430 AM) and owned by Malrite Communications Group. WBRB-FM was among the first stations to be directly built directly from the group-up by Malrite, which was originally a 50-50 partnership between Milton Maltz and Robert Wright; Wright divested his stake in the company by 1971. WBRB and WBRB-FM simulcast a full-service radio outlet throughout the daytime targeting Macomb County with a mixture of music and local news bulletins. During non-simulcast dayparts (as WBRB was only licensed to broadcast during the day), WBRB-FM aired beautiful music programming and some country music.
In 1978, Malrite put both stations up for sale. The FM outlet was first to find a buyer: Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, owners of New York's legendary WBLS. The next year, the call sign was changed to WLBS, which was switched to a disco and jazz format. WLBS during its disco phase was programmed by WBLS's Frankie Crocker. The station evolved into urban contemporary by 1981, but success was limited due to the station's weak signal. The local stations in Detroit of a similar format pounced on this weakness; urban competitors such as WJLB and former Top 40 station WDRQ in the market took the lead. Leadership in New York called for a change, and the station switched to a "Rock of the '80s"-style new wave music format in June 1982. This format was groundbreaking and innovative thanks to music director Robin Yarborough, who introduced many New Wave artists to the area. Limited success followed, but again, signal limitations were a big problem.
In August 1984, WLBS flipped from New Wave to Top 40/CHR using a format co-developed by consultant Lee Abrams. The station was a weak competitor of hit-music format leaders WCZY and WHYT, and so after only three months, the station changed its call letters and moniker to WKSG, Kiss 102.7, and adopted a 1950s-1970s oldies format called "Kiss of Gold" developed by veteran Detroit programmer Paul Christy. With broadcasters such as Christy, Johnny Molson, and Detroit radio legend Lee Alan (who hosted a syndicated show called Back in the '60s Again), and despite competition in the format from WHND, WMTG, and CKLW-FM in the late 1980s, WKSG did well until WOMC changed its format from Adult Contemporary to Oldies in 1989.
In April 1991, WKSG became WXCD, CD102.7, "Detroit's Smooth Sounds," with a new age/smooth jazz format, which returned the format to the Detroit airwaves after WVAE had changed to become WMXD in late 1989. The new age format barely registered at all in the ratings, and less than a year later, on March 13, 1992, WXCD became WDZR, airing ABC Radio's satellite-fed Z-Rock format of hard rock and heavy metal. With a playlist that rocked harder than more established AOR outlets WRIF and WLLZ, WDZR achieved decent ratings for a time, but in 1996, ABC, having acquired the assets of Satellite Music Network, discontinued the Z-Rock format.
In November 1996, WDZR changed its calls to WWBR, 102.7 The Bear, "Detroit's Rock Animal," keeping the hard-rock format but transitioning to a local air staff with Ted Nugent as morning personality. "The Bear" eventually evolved into a "Classic Rock That Really Rocks" outlet to compete with softer-edged classic-rock competitor WCSX.
The end of "The Bear" came on January 16, 1999, following the station's sale from Allur Detroit to Radio One. At 6:33 p.m., after playing The Doors' "When The Music's Over" (the same song that ended the legendary WABX rock format in 1984), the station went silent for nearly 20 minutes and then emerged as an Adult Contemporary station.
WDKL
WDKL (102.7 FM, K-Love) is a contemporary Christian formatted radio station licensed to Mount Clemens, Michigan, and serving the Detroit metropolitan area. The station is owned by Educational Media Foundation. The station broadcasts with 36,000 watts of power from an antenna located Northeast of the intersection of Gratiot Avenue and Fourteen Mile Road in Clinton Charter Township, Macomb County, Michigan, and directs its signal mainly toward the north and east to avoid interfering with WWWW-FM in Ann Arbor.
WDKL is licensed for HD Radio service, carrying Air1 and K-Love 2000s on its subchannels.
WDKL began life on November 6, 1960, as WBRB-FM, the FM counterpart of Mount Clemens AM station WBRB (1430 AM) and owned by Malrite Communications Group. WBRB-FM was among the first stations to be directly built directly from the group-up by Malrite, which was originally a 50-50 partnership between Milton Maltz and Robert Wright; Wright divested his stake in the company by 1971. WBRB and WBRB-FM simulcast a full-service radio outlet throughout the daytime targeting Macomb County with a mixture of music and local news bulletins. During non-simulcast dayparts (as WBRB was only licensed to broadcast during the day), WBRB-FM aired beautiful music programming and some country music.
In 1978, Malrite put both stations up for sale. The FM outlet was first to find a buyer: Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, owners of New York's legendary WBLS. The next year, the call sign was changed to WLBS, which was switched to a disco and jazz format. WLBS during its disco phase was programmed by WBLS's Frankie Crocker. The station evolved into urban contemporary by 1981, but success was limited due to the station's weak signal. The local stations in Detroit of a similar format pounced on this weakness; urban competitors such as WJLB and former Top 40 station WDRQ in the market took the lead. Leadership in New York called for a change, and the station switched to a "Rock of the '80s"-style new wave music format in June 1982. This format was groundbreaking and innovative thanks to music director Robin Yarborough, who introduced many New Wave artists to the area. Limited success followed, but again, signal limitations were a big problem.
In August 1984, WLBS flipped from New Wave to Top 40/CHR using a format co-developed by consultant Lee Abrams. The station was a weak competitor of hit-music format leaders WCZY and WHYT, and so after only three months, the station changed its call letters and moniker to WKSG, Kiss 102.7, and adopted a 1950s-1970s oldies format called "Kiss of Gold" developed by veteran Detroit programmer Paul Christy. With broadcasters such as Christy, Johnny Molson, and Detroit radio legend Lee Alan (who hosted a syndicated show called Back in the '60s Again), and despite competition in the format from WHND, WMTG, and CKLW-FM in the late 1980s, WKSG did well until WOMC changed its format from Adult Contemporary to Oldies in 1989.
In April 1991, WKSG became WXCD, CD102.7, "Detroit's Smooth Sounds," with a new age/smooth jazz format, which returned the format to the Detroit airwaves after WVAE had changed to become WMXD in late 1989. The new age format barely registered at all in the ratings, and less than a year later, on March 13, 1992, WXCD became WDZR, airing ABC Radio's satellite-fed Z-Rock format of hard rock and heavy metal. With a playlist that rocked harder than more established AOR outlets WRIF and WLLZ, WDZR achieved decent ratings for a time, but in 1996, ABC, having acquired the assets of Satellite Music Network, discontinued the Z-Rock format.
In November 1996, WDZR changed its calls to WWBR, 102.7 The Bear, "Detroit's Rock Animal," keeping the hard-rock format but transitioning to a local air staff with Ted Nugent as morning personality. "The Bear" eventually evolved into a "Classic Rock That Really Rocks" outlet to compete with softer-edged classic-rock competitor WCSX.
The end of "The Bear" came on January 16, 1999, following the station's sale from Allur Detroit to Radio One. At 6:33 p.m., after playing The Doors' "When The Music's Over" (the same song that ended the legendary WABX rock format in 1984), the station went silent for nearly 20 minutes and then emerged as an Adult Contemporary station.