WWJ AM 950 Detroit

WWJ AM 950 Detroit

Slogan/Positioner: Newsradio 950

Format: News

Web site: www.wwj.com

E-Mail: visit web site

Class: B
Daytime Power / # of Towers: 50,000 watts / 5 / directional
Nighttime Power / # of Towers: 50,000 watts / 6 / directional

Broadcasts in digital/HD

More web sites about WWJ:

Wikipedia

More Technical Information:

Call Sign History:

WWJ: 3/3/1922
WBL: 10/13/1921
8MK: 1920

Call Sign Origin: W. J. Scripps of Scripps-Howard (original owner)

On Air Date: August 20, 1920

Owner: CBS Radio

Telephone: (248) 455-7200

Notes/History:

4/12/2002: License to cover granted for daytime power boost to 50,000 watts from same facility used for night pattern. Daytime signal uses 5 towers, nighttime uses 6

8/30/2000: License to cover granted for nighttime power boost to 50,000 watts from new facility

1/13/2000: Construction permit granted to increase daytime power to 50,000 watts

5/1999: Application filed to increase daytime power to 50,000 watts

1998: Station has construction permits to increase power to 12,000 watts daytime / 50,000 watts nighttime from 5,000 / 5,000. The location of the transmitter would move from 8 Mile and Meyers Rds. to northeast Monroe county.

3/9/1989: CBS purchases station

1973: Full service format is changed to All-News

3/29/1941: Station moves to 950 AM

1936: Power increase to 5,000 watts

6/30/1930: Station is at 920 AM

6/30/1928: Station is back to 850 AM (is 800 in '27 an error?)

6/30/1927: Station is at 800 AM, power increase from 500 watts to 1000 watts

6/30/1922: Station is at 850 AM

1922: Station is at 580 AM

The Scripps family founded 8MK, which claims that on Aug. 20, 1920, it 'became the first radio station in the world to broadcast regularly scheduled programs.' According to this claim the first broadcast began at 8:15 p.m. from the second floor of The Detroit News Building with the words 'This is 8MK calling,' followed by the playing of two phonograph records, 'Annie Laurie' and 'Roses of Picardy,' a query by an announcer to unseen listeners, 'How do you get it?,' and the playing of taps. The broadcast is thought to have been received in some 30 Detroit homes. The station, then licensed to the Detroit Evening News, says it has been on the air continuously ever since. The newspaper was established in 1873 by James Edmund Scripps, who apparently first became interested in radio in 1902 after listening to a Detroit experimental wireless operator, Thomas E. Clark. James E. Scripps and his only son, William Edmund Scripps, attended a private demonstration of Clark's system of wireless transmission of Morse code and then helped finance Mr. Clark's work. Meanwhile, William John Scripps, known then as 'Little Bill,' son of William E. Scripps, was by 1918, at the age of 13, a devoted ham radio hobbyist. Out of that hobby grew WWJ. It was largely in the Detroit News plant that young Bill did his radio experimenting and it may have been in deference to the boss's son (J. E. Scripps died in 1906), that the newspaper started a radio page which later led to the formation of the newspaper's station. [Source: Broadcasting Magazine, 1970]

Center of antenna array/transmitter location:

Monroe County; Berlin Twp, near Dixie Hwy and Reaume Rd

Old logo gallery:

Thanks, DetroitRadioFlashbacks.net

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