WDTW (AM)

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WDTW
Logo of Air America Radio, of which WDTW is an affiliate
City of license Dearborn, Michigan
Broadcast area Detroit, Michigan
Branding 1310 WDTW
Slogan Detroit's Progressive Talk
First air date January 20, 2005 (As Progressive Talk)
Frequency 1310 (kHz)
Format Liberal/Progressive Talk
ERP 50,000 watts
Former callsigns WWWW (July 24th thru Sept. 15th, 2006)
WDTW (2005-2006)
WXDX (2000-2005)
WYUR (1997-2000)
WDOZ (1995-1997)
WMTG (1986-1995)
WNIC (Nov. 1st thru 24th, 1986)
WWKR (1977-1986)
WNIC (1972-1977)
WKNR (1963-1972)
WKMH (1946-1963)
Owner Clear Channel Communications
Website www.1310wdtw.com

WDTW is a Detroit-area radio station, operating at 1310 kHz with 5,000 watts. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications and airs mainly liberal political talk from the Air America Radio network.

Originating as WKMH in 1946, in 1963 it became known as WKNR, the legendary Top 40 'Keener 13' that served the Metro Detroit area in the 1960s and early 1970s. It has undergone a number of format and call letter changes since the end of 'Keener', variously being a simulcast AM source of WNIC, its sister station; a Motown station, WMTG; an all-children's station, WDOZ; a personality/oldies/classical station, WYUR; and a talk station of a number of formats.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Early Years

Prior to their adoption in Cleveland, the WKNR call letters were used at the current WWWW-AM which at the time was owned by Knorr Broadcasting. Keener 13 took to the airwaves on Halloween night in 1963, and 71 days later had moved from last to first in the Detroit radio ratings.

In 1963, Detroit had three top-40 stations, CKLW (800) (which was still four years away from the beginning of its glory days), WJBK (1500) and WXYZ (1270). Each had its share of excellent announcers, but broadcast a wide range of music and suffered from a lack of consistency and definition. The 1310 frequency itself had flirted with a hit-based format under its old calls, WKMH (which had been in place since the station signed on in 1946).

In its early years, WKMH was basically a typical suburban full-service radio station specializing in local news, information, sports, and mainly MOR-oriented pop music. WKMH's most popular personality was Robin Seymour, a pioneering disc jockey in Detroit in terms of playing R&B and rock and roll music on what was otherwise at the time (the mid-1950s) a mainstream white pop station. He had no problem with playing the Crows or Elvis Presley next to Patti Page or Mantovani.

Seymour, along with Mickey Shorr of WJBK and later WXYZ, could be considered to be to Detroit listeners what Alan Freed was to Cleveland listeners of WJW. (Seymour would stay on as WKMH became WKNR before moving across the river to CKLW in Windsor in 1965, and became visible on television as well as the host of the teen dance show "Swingin' Time" on CKLW-TV.)

In the early 1960s, WKMH garnered some notice through personalities such as Lee Alan "On the Horn" and Dave "Sangoo" Prince (both of whom later moved on to competing hit station WXYZ and found even greater success), but on the whole, WKMH was an also-ran in the Detroit market and a weak competitor of WJBK and WXYZ, the dominant choices for hit music in Detroit at the time. Even WKMH was not a 24-hour Top 40 station; it had a jazz show at night hosted by the urbane Jim Rockwell. In addition, WKMH was briefly Detroit's CBS radio affiliate in 1960, after WJR dropped its CBS affiliation to add more local programming. Despite, or some might say because of, this unusual move, WKMH continued to flounder.

For a little more than a year before WKMH became "Keener", the station shifted into an approach called "Flagship Radio", an early version of the adult contemporary format, but this, too, was largely unsuccessful.

[edit] "Keener 13"

Despite the power of WJBK and WXYZ (and, less so, CKLW), consultant Mike Joseph (the same man who, in 1977, birthed the "Hot Hits" concept which would revitalize Top 40 radio over the next decade) came to Detroit in 1963 and figured he could take WKMH back to rock and roll and make the station number one. With WKMH owner Nellie Knorr, he developed the formula that ultimately became a smashing success.

One of the factors involved instituting a shorter playlist - only 31 records plus one "key song" of the week and a liberal sprinkling of oldies - than was typical for most top 40 stations at the time (many stations, including Detroit's own WJBK and CKLW, had playlists with as many as 80 to 100 songs listed). Thus, WKNR was able to focus primarily on the songs that were the hottest sellers locally, which meant they played more "hits" and fewer "stiffs." In addition, WKNR played the hits 24 hours a day, as opposed to the other hit stations in Detroit which were loaded with non-music full-service features (especially on weekends).

It worked: "Keener 13" was born on Halloween night of 1963 and got attention right from the beginning with the "Battle of the Giants", a feature which invited listeners to call in and pick their favorite oldies. The song with the most votes was played over and over until another song received more votes.

Of course, Keener 13 was more than just a music box - the station had a heavy news commitment, with "Contact News" at :15 and :45 past the hour every hour. The WKNR news team delivered the top stories of the day in a professional, non-sensational manner (as opposed to CKLW's "blood-and-guts" "20/20 News") and even released a "Year in Review" album each year which was made available to area schools.

For four years, despite a weak signal which missed most of the east side of the metro area (especially at night), WKNR was the preeminent rock radio station in the Motor City. It did serious damage to both WJBK and WXYZ and eventually drove both stations out of rock and roll into Middle-of-the-Road formats (WJBK in 1964, and WXYZ in early 1967).

Keener featured popular personalities like Dick Purtan, Bob Green, Gary Stevens (later of New York's legendary WMCA), J. Michael Wilson, Scott Regen, Ted Clark and Jim Jeffries, and a mix of music that included a number of local acts including many of Detroit's Motown superstars. Scott Regen's "Motown Monday" features included live concerts from the Roostertail supper club featuring superstar acts like the Supremes and The Four Tops. Dick Purtan honed the wry, sardonic sense of humor that has made him a fixture on the Motor City airwaves for four decades, first on WKNR (and later at WXYZ, CKLW and WCZY-FM/WKQI, and now at "Oldies 104.3" WOMC).

WKNR's dominance was challenged when Bill Drake and Paul Drew used the Keener principles at Windsor's CKLW beginning in April of 1967. With 50,000 watts behind it, The Big 8 became the number one Top 40 station, and some of Keener's top DJs, including Dick Purtan and Scott Regen, eventually moved over to CKLW. As FM radio grew in popularity, the Keener sound faded into history, though WKNR did not go down without a fight, hanging on for five more years after the Big 8 stole their thunder.

[edit] Later Years

Finally, the station changed formats and call letters in April of 1972, becoming easy-listening WNIC. It has been through several unsuccessful formats since, including an attempt to revive the "Keener 13" brand name in 1977 with an adult-based Top 40 format and the new calls WWKR. Today, WKNR's 1310 frequency is home to WDTW (AM), owned by Clear Channel Communications. The station features a news-talk format.

The stations call letters temporarily changed to WWWW on July 24th, 2006 as part of a station swap between Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media in the Ann Arbor and Canton, Ohio markets. On September 15th, 2006 the call letters were changed back to WDTW.

WKNR also had an FM sister at 100.3 that spent most of the 1960s simulcasting the AM signal before changing to a progressive rock format in 1969, in response to the popularity of progressive WABX (99.5). WKNR-FM changed to an early form of the Adult Contemporary format in 1971 as "Stereo Island" and then went easy listening as WNIC-FM along with the AM in 1972.

WNIC-FM's format eventually evolved back into Adult Contemporary and became a ratings leader in Detroit. AM 1310 has been in and out of simulcasting WNIC-FM between failed formats over the past 35 years. Some of the other formats AM 1310 has tried since the second attempt at "Keener 13" include:

  • WMTG - "Motown Gold"/Rhythmic Oldies, 1986-1991
  • WDOZ - Children's, 1994-1996 (affiliated with the Radio AAHS network and then with KidStar after AAHS went under)
  • WYUR - "Your Radio Station"/Personality News-Talk/Adult Standards/Classical, 1997-2000
  • WXDX - "The X"/Sports Talk (Fox Sports Radio), 2000-2002
  • WXDX - "The X"/Talk (mostly syndicated), 2002-2005

Detroit's WKNR is celebrated at Keener13.com, with an extensive history, an archive of air checks and a database of every WKNR Music Guide.

[edit] Current Weekday Lineup

The station's weekday lineup as it is posted on the station's website.

** Note: Phil Hendrie was placed in a 9p-11p slot on WDTW back in 2005, which received some criticism from listeners. Hendrie's show was more of a comedy/satire program and not a basic liberal talk show. It also caused Rhodes' final hour and the first hour of Mike Malloy's show to be preempted.

Ironically, Hendrie and Malloy were once colleagues when both worked at WSB in Atlanta. Hendrie retired from radio on June 2006. Malloy was dismissed by Air America in August of 2006, and his replacement, Peter Werbe, also hosts a Sunday night talk show on rock station WRIF. WRIF and WDTW-FM were competiting stations until WDTW-FM's switch to Country in May of 2006.

[edit] External links

AM Radio Stations in the Detroit / Windsor Market (Arbitron #10)

By Frequency: 540 | 560 | 580 | 630 | 690 | 760 | 800 | 910 | 950 | 1030 | 1090 | 1130 | 1200 | 1270 | 1310 | 1340 | 1400 | 1440 | 1500 | 1550

By Callsign: CBE | CBEF | CFCO | CKLW | CKWW | WCAR | WCHB | WDFN | WDTK | WDTW | WEXL | WFDF | WJR | WLQV | WMKM | WNZK | WRDT | WUFL | WWJ | WXYT

See also: Detroit (FM) (AM)
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