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WRIF
WRIF (101.1 FM) is a commercial active rock radio station licensed in Detroit, Michigan and serving Metro Detroit as well as Windsor and Southwestern Ontario. The station is currently owned by Beasley Media Group. WRIF is a grandfathered FM station. Under current U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) limits for Class B stations, WRIF, if newly licensed today, would be allowed to broadcast an effective radiated power (ERP) of at most 16,000 watts using an antenna 268 meters high. The station transmitter is in the Detroit suburb of Southfield near the intersection of 10 Mile Road and Northwestern Highway, and transmits its signal from the same tower as its former sister station, WXYZ-TV. WRIF's studios are in Ferndale.
101.1 FM signed on in 1948 as WXYZ-FM. For most of the station's early years, the station was simply a simulcast of WXYZ AM 1270 (now WXYT AM). That changed in 1966, when the FCC decreed separate programming for at least half of the broadcast day on FM stations that had been simulcasts of their AM sisters. WXYZ-FM separated programming and aired first a MOR/adult standards format, then later went to a rock-based Top 40 approach called "Boss 101," which featured mostly harder rock hits with little to no pop or soul product. Then in 1970, the station's then-owner, ABC made WXYZ-FM an affiliate of the "Love" network, a nationally syndicated progressive rock format from ABC that predated today's satellite-fed radio formats (another "Love" affiliate was sister WLS-FM in Chicago). WXYZ-FM hired at least one local jock for this format: Arthur Penhallow.
On February 14, 1971, the station unintentionally changed its call letters to WRIF due to a clerical error by the Federal Communications Commission regarding several call station changes by ABC. ABC had applied for WDAI (for Detroit Auto Industry) for WXYZ-FM, but the FCC assigned those to WLS-FM in Chicago instead. The WRIF calls had been intended for WABC-FM in New York, which instead became WPLJ.
Under the aegis of consultant Lee Abrams, WRIF was a pioneer in the album-oriented rock format, utilizing many elements of progressive rock radio while maintaining a tight, Top-40 style play list. Other ABC stations with a similar sound included WPLJ in New York and WDVE in Pittsburgh. WRIF was not a pure rocker in its early years - you could hear such artists as KC & The Sunshine Band and the Bee Gees alongside Alice Cooper, Traffic, and the Allman Brothers. After 1975, WRIF dropped most of the pop artists to concentrate on rock, but they would play a pop or disco song if it were extremely popular. "Stayin' Alive," for example, got many spins on WRIF in 1977–78.
The 1980s are considered the decade in which there was the most change in the Detroit radio dial. Among other changes, a new rocker was installed on 98.7 FM, WLLZ "Detroits Wheels", and it proved so popular that it took out two other Detroit rock stations. WWWW went country in 1980, and WABX changed to a Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) format called "Hot Rock" in 1983, and then went adult contemporary as WCLS. But WRIF soldiered on, even though it was sold twice in the 1980s and its rock format was on the chopping block more than once (rumors persisted in the late 1980s that the station was to switch to an urban contemporary format, especially after the debut of classic rock WCSX in 1987). In May 2006, WRIF outlasted yet another rock station but with a twist. 106.7 "The Drive" switched to country (this time as "106.7 The Fox") just as it did back in 1980 when it was known as "W4".
WRIF was one of the radio stations in the area that was used on Barden Cablevision's character generated line-up during the 1980s and 1990s. The station also served as a backdrop for the Kevin Costner film The Upside of Anger.[citation needed]
ABC continued to own WRIF until its merger with Capital Cities Communications in 1986. At that time, the station was spun off to Silver Star Communications. The next year, WRIF was sold to Great American Broadcasting (the former Taft Television and Radio, Inc.). Great American Broadcasting declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1993, and subsequently reorganized as Citicasters Communications.
In the early 1990s, the FCC began to permit one entity to own two stations on the same band in the same market for the first time. As a result, in 1994, Greater Media, who already owned Detroit's classic rocker WCSX, purchased WRIF from Citicasters.
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WRIF
WRIF (101.1 FM) is a commercial active rock radio station licensed in Detroit, Michigan and serving Metro Detroit as well as Windsor and Southwestern Ontario. The station is currently owned by Beasley Media Group. WRIF is a grandfathered FM station. Under current U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) limits for Class B stations, WRIF, if newly licensed today, would be allowed to broadcast an effective radiated power (ERP) of at most 16,000 watts using an antenna 268 meters high. The station transmitter is in the Detroit suburb of Southfield near the intersection of 10 Mile Road and Northwestern Highway, and transmits its signal from the same tower as its former sister station, WXYZ-TV. WRIF's studios are in Ferndale.
101.1 FM signed on in 1948 as WXYZ-FM. For most of the station's early years, the station was simply a simulcast of WXYZ AM 1270 (now WXYT AM). That changed in 1966, when the FCC decreed separate programming for at least half of the broadcast day on FM stations that had been simulcasts of their AM sisters. WXYZ-FM separated programming and aired first a MOR/adult standards format, then later went to a rock-based Top 40 approach called "Boss 101," which featured mostly harder rock hits with little to no pop or soul product. Then in 1970, the station's then-owner, ABC made WXYZ-FM an affiliate of the "Love" network, a nationally syndicated progressive rock format from ABC that predated today's satellite-fed radio formats (another "Love" affiliate was sister WLS-FM in Chicago). WXYZ-FM hired at least one local jock for this format: Arthur Penhallow.
On February 14, 1971, the station unintentionally changed its call letters to WRIF due to a clerical error by the Federal Communications Commission regarding several call station changes by ABC. ABC had applied for WDAI (for Detroit Auto Industry) for WXYZ-FM, but the FCC assigned those to WLS-FM in Chicago instead. The WRIF calls had been intended for WABC-FM in New York, which instead became WPLJ.
Under the aegis of consultant Lee Abrams, WRIF was a pioneer in the album-oriented rock format, utilizing many elements of progressive rock radio while maintaining a tight, Top-40 style play list. Other ABC stations with a similar sound included WPLJ in New York and WDVE in Pittsburgh. WRIF was not a pure rocker in its early years - you could hear such artists as KC & The Sunshine Band and the Bee Gees alongside Alice Cooper, Traffic, and the Allman Brothers. After 1975, WRIF dropped most of the pop artists to concentrate on rock, but they would play a pop or disco song if it were extremely popular. "Stayin' Alive," for example, got many spins on WRIF in 1977–78.
The 1980s are considered the decade in which there was the most change in the Detroit radio dial. Among other changes, a new rocker was installed on 98.7 FM, WLLZ "Detroits Wheels", and it proved so popular that it took out two other Detroit rock stations. WWWW went country in 1980, and WABX changed to a Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) format called "Hot Rock" in 1983, and then went adult contemporary as WCLS. But WRIF soldiered on, even though it was sold twice in the 1980s and its rock format was on the chopping block more than once (rumors persisted in the late 1980s that the station was to switch to an urban contemporary format, especially after the debut of classic rock WCSX in 1987). In May 2006, WRIF outlasted yet another rock station but with a twist. 106.7 "The Drive" switched to country (this time as "106.7 The Fox") just as it did back in 1980 when it was known as "W4".
WRIF was one of the radio stations in the area that was used on Barden Cablevision's character generated line-up during the 1980s and 1990s. The station also served as a backdrop for the Kevin Costner film The Upside of Anger.[citation needed]
ABC continued to own WRIF until its merger with Capital Cities Communications in 1986. At that time, the station was spun off to Silver Star Communications. The next year, WRIF was sold to Great American Broadcasting (the former Taft Television and Radio, Inc.). Great American Broadcasting declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1993, and subsequently reorganized as Citicasters Communications.
In the early 1990s, the FCC began to permit one entity to own two stations on the same band in the same market for the first time. As a result, in 1994, Greater Media, who already owned Detroit's classic rocker WCSX, purchased WRIF from Citicasters.
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