WAAM
Encyclopedia
WAAM is a radio station
in Ann Arbor, Michigan
that broadcasts on AM 1600. Known as "WAAM Talk 1600" (with the call letters pronounced like the word "wham"), WAAM broadcasts with 5,000 watts of power. The station is owned by Coolarity A2, LLC. Until recently, the station broadcast in AM Stereo.
on WHRV, is credited for helping to discover early 1960s rocker and Michigan native Del Shannon
, and, after he left the station in 1961, helped launch the careers of several other Michigan artists, including Barbara Lewis
, The Capitols
, and Deon Jackson
.
, with a Sunday-night show called "Strobe" and later "Spectrum." WAAM developed a reputation for spotting potential hits before CKLW and other Detroit-area competitors got a hold of them, including "Cherry, Cherry" by Neil Diamond
and "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" by Bob Seger
.
One WAAM Top 40 DJ during the late 1960s, Greg Siefker, later became the owner of country music
radio station WMLM
in St. Louis, Michigan
.
The WAAM studios were almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1968, forcing the station to broadcast from a trailer in its parking lot for over a year. The station moved into new studios in 1969 and expanded its MOR format to full-time.
's American Top 40
countdown show (added in 1975). Among WAAM's Top 40 jocks were some who went on to greater success in the Detroit market, including Jim Harper (WDRQ
, WNIC
, WMGC-FM; known on WAAM as "Tom Michaels"), Don Riley (WDRQ
; known on WAAM as "Jerry Riley") Jim Michaels
(WDRQ
, WWKR
, WNIC
, WTWR
, WABX
, WJOI, WYST) and The Electrifyin' Mojo (WGPR
, WJLB
, WHYT
, WMXD
).
's (now ABC Radio) "Star Station
" AC format.
Lloyd Johnson (d/b/a Whitehall Broadcasting) acquired the station in 1983 and switched the station to Adult Standards
soon afterward. The format shift accompanied Ann Arbor radio legend's Ted Heusel moving to WAAM from 1050 WPAG-AM
(which had switched from standards to country music
). Over the years, WAAM was affiliated with both Satellite Music Network
/ABC Radio's "Stardust" format and Westwood One
's "AM Only
" format. Eventually WAAM transitioned to airing chiefly news and talk programming during the week with music programming (including the Westwood One standards format and specialty shows such as "Broadway's Biggest Hits" and "The Sounds of Sinatra
") available mostly on weekends.
Communications for $2 million. Over a year later, Whitehall and Clear Channel called off the deal after the FCC voiced concerns that the sale would give Clear Channel, who owned four other stations in the area, a monopoly on the Ann Arbor market. Whitehall did find a buyer for the station, Big D Broadcasting, in August 2003. In October of that year, WAAM sold from Whitehall to Big D for $1.5 million.
, Glenn Beck
and Michael Savage
, as well as Coast-to-Coast AM overnights. In addition, the week day line up features local host Thayrone's "On the Edge with Thayrone" afternoon drive (4-6 p.m.), WAAM also carries Lou Dobbs
and Dennis Miller
weekday nights.
WAAM's weekend line up is as follows: Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. it's the well known Appliance Doctor radio program with Joe Gagnon. Gagnon helps callers with major home appliance questions. From 4 - 6 p.m., Rev. Elder Levon Yuille hosts Joshua's Trail, followed by the Clarkcast
with Matt Clark at 6 p.m.
The most enduring music show in the Ann Arbor area is featured on WAAM Sunday nights. Thayrone's nationally syndicated program The Bone Conduction Music Show, an Ann Arbor staple since 1984 on stations such as WEMU
, WQKL, and now WAAM, airs from 7pm to 11pm.
Visit WAAM Talk 1600's website for all current programming information at: http://www.waamradio.com
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
that broadcasts on AM 1600. Known as "WAAM Talk 1600" (with the call letters pronounced like the word "wham"), WAAM broadcasts with 5,000 watts of power. The station is owned by Coolarity A2, LLC. Until recently, the station broadcast in AM Stereo.
Early History: WHRV
The station signed on as WHRV in October, 1948. WHRV was a typical full-service radio station of its day, with a wide variety of music ranging from pop vocals to rock and roll to Southern gospel, and a heavy commitment to local news and sports play-by-play. Ollie McLaughlin, a black DJDisc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
on WHRV, is credited for helping to discover early 1960s rocker and Michigan native Del Shannon
Del Shannon
Del Shannon was an American rock and roll singer-songwriter who had a No. 1 hit, "Runaway", in 1961.- Biography :...
, and, after he left the station in 1961, helped launch the careers of several other Michigan artists, including Barbara Lewis
Barbara Lewis
Barbara Lewis , is an American singer and songwriter whose smooth style influenced rhythm and blues.-Career:Lewis was born in Salem, near Ann Arbor, Michigan...
, The Capitols
The Capitols
The Capitols were a Detroit, Michigan-based soul trio widely known in the late 1960s for their Billboard hit single "Cool Jerk".-Formation and Disbandment:...
, and Deon Jackson
Deon Jackson
Deon Jackson , is an American soul singer and songwriter.Jackson was born at Ann Arbor, Michigan. He performed in vocal groups and as a soloist in high school, he attended Ann Arbor High School and was signed while still in school by producer Ollie McLaughlin...
.
WAAM in the 1960s
The station was sold in 1963 and changed its calls to WAAM. The station's DJs on occasion pronounced the call sign like the word "Wham," and WAAM was affectionately known as "Wham" to many in the Ann Arbor community for years afterward even after the station stopped using the "Wham" name on the air (the "Wham" pronunciation has recently been revived for the station's current talk format). Throughout the 1960s, WAAM featured chiefly MOR music during the day and played Top 40 hits at night. WAAM was also one of the first AM radio stations to feature progressive rockProgressive rock (radio format)
Progressive rock is a radio station programming format that prospered in the late 1960s and 1970s, in which the disc jockeys are given wide latitude in what they may play, similar to the freeform format but with the proviso that some kind of rock music is almost always what is played...
, with a Sunday-night show called "Strobe" and later "Spectrum." WAAM developed a reputation for spotting potential hits before CKLW and other Detroit-area competitors got a hold of them, including "Cherry, Cherry" by Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
and "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" by Bob Seger
Bob Seger
Robert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist.As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s...
.
One WAAM Top 40 DJ during the late 1960s, Greg Siefker, later became the owner of country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
radio station WMLM
WMLM
WMLM is an AM radio station located in St. Louis, Michigan, broadcasting ABC Radio's satellite-delivered Real Country format, a hybrid of classic and current country hits. The station began broadcasting in 1977 as a daytime-only station and added nighttime operations in 1982...
in St. Louis, Michigan
St. Louis, Michigan
St. Louis is a city in Gratiot County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 4,494. The 2010 census estimate places the population at 7,482.-Geography:...
.
The WAAM studios were almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1968, forcing the station to broadcast from a trailer in its parking lot for over a year. The station moved into new studios in 1969 and expanded its MOR format to full-time.
Top 40 Era (1972-76): The Super 16
Then, in 1972, the station was sold again, and WAAM transitioned to a full-time Top 40 hit music format, with a high-energy presentation and a continued news and sports play-by-play commitment as well as Casey KasemCasey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem is an American radio personality and voice actor who is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown show American Top 40, and for voicing Shaggy in the popular Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.Kasem, along with Don Bustany and...
's American Top 40
American Top 40
American Top 40 is an internationally syndicated, independent radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs. Originally a production of Watermark Inc...
countdown show (added in 1975). Among WAAM's Top 40 jocks were some who went on to greater success in the Detroit market, including Jim Harper (WDRQ
WDRQ
WDRQ is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is branded as 93.1 Doug FM. Doug FM broadcasts from the Fisher Building just north of downtown Detroit and transmits its signal from an antenna 669 feet in length located at the intersection of Ten Mile and Greenfield Roads in suburban...
, WNIC
WNIC
WNIC is an American radio station based in Detroit, Michigan broadcasting at 100.3 MHz FM. WNIC's studios and offices are located in Farmington Hills, MI. WNIC's transmitter is located near Schoolcraft and Livernois Avenue in the City of Detroit on the near west side. WNIC broadcasts with an...
, WMGC-FM; known on WAAM as "Tom Michaels"), Don Riley (WDRQ
WDRQ
WDRQ is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is branded as 93.1 Doug FM. Doug FM broadcasts from the Fisher Building just north of downtown Detroit and transmits its signal from an antenna 669 feet in length located at the intersection of Ten Mile and Greenfield Roads in suburban...
; known on WAAM as "Jerry Riley") Jim Michaels
Jim Michaels
Jim Michaels is an American television producer. He is the son of Anna Mae and Robert Michaels and was raised in the suburbs of Des Plaines and Arlington Heights. Michaels graduated from John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois and attended the University of Evansville and graduated...
(WDRQ
WDRQ
WDRQ is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is branded as 93.1 Doug FM. Doug FM broadcasts from the Fisher Building just north of downtown Detroit and transmits its signal from an antenna 669 feet in length located at the intersection of Ten Mile and Greenfield Roads in suburban...
, WWKR
WDTW (AM)
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 mostly syndicated progressive talk radio programs....
, WNIC
WNIC
WNIC is an American radio station based in Detroit, Michigan broadcasting at 100.3 MHz FM. WNIC's studios and offices are located in Farmington Hills, MI. WNIC's transmitter is located near Schoolcraft and Livernois Avenue in the City of Detroit on the near west side. WNIC broadcasts with an...
, WTWR
WMXD
WMXD is a Clear Channel-owned Urban AC FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, that broadcasts on the frequency of 92.3 MHz. WMXD, which bills itself as "Today's R&B and the Best Old School Jamz," is consistently a very highly rated station in Detroit's Arbitron ratings reports,...
, WABX
WYCD
WYCD is a radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is the only country music station in the Detroit area. WYCD's offices and studios are located on Woodward Heights . near Interstate 75 in Ferndale, Michigan...
, WJOI, WYST) and The Electrifyin' Mojo (WGPR
WGPR
WGPR is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan brodacasting a Mainstream Urban format. Owned by the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons and operated under local marketing agreement by Radio One, the station operates on 107.5 MHz....
, WJLB
WJLB
WJLB, is a Clear Channel-owned Urban Contemporary radio station in Detroit that broadcasts on 97.9 megahertz frequency. The station is known on-air as FM98 WJLB. This is the station that began the career of Urban radio legend and video jock, Donnie Simpson...
, WHYT
WDVD
WDVD is a hot adult contemporary radio station in Detroit, Michigan, broadcasting at 96.3 MHz on the FM dial. WDVD's studios and offices are located in the Fisher Building near downtown Detroit. WDVD's transmitter is located in Oakland County in Royal Oak Township at 8 Mile Road and Wyoming Avenue...
, WMXD
WMXD
WMXD is a Clear Channel-owned Urban AC FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, that broadcasts on the frequency of 92.3 MHz. WMXD, which bills itself as "Today's R&B and the Best Old School Jamz," is consistently a very highly rated station in Detroit's Arbitron ratings reports,...
).
The '80s and '90s: More Changes
In 1976, WAAM was sold again and transitioned from Top 40 to a personality Adult Contemporary sound, eventually adding more call-in talk shows to its schedule. In 1982, the station affiliated with Satellite Music NetworkSatellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered network to provide complete live 24-hour a day music programming to local stations, under several different formats...
's (now ABC Radio) "Star Station
Hits & Favorites
Hits & Favorites, also known as ABC AC, is one of the 24-hour live radio formats produced by Cumulus Media Networks...
" AC format.
Lloyd Johnson (d/b/a Whitehall Broadcasting) acquired the station in 1983 and switched the station to Adult Standards
Adult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...
soon afterward. The format shift accompanied Ann Arbor radio legend's Ted Heusel moving to WAAM from 1050 WPAG-AM
WTKA
WTKA is a radio station located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that broadcasts on 1050 AM. Day power is 10 kW, night power is 500 W. The station covers most of southeast Michigan....
(which had switched from standards to country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
). Over the years, WAAM was affiliated with both Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered network to provide complete live 24-hour a day music programming to local stations, under several different formats...
/ABC Radio's "Stardust" format and Westwood One
Westwood One
Westwood One was an American radio network and was based in New York City. At one time, it was managed by CBS Radio, the radio arm of CBS Corporation, and Viacom and was later purchased by the private equity firm The Gores Group...
's "AM Only
America's Best Music
America's Best Music is the on-air branding of an adult standards 24-hour radio network, known internally as Adult Standards and formerly known as AM Only, currently owned by Dial Global. It was one of the original Westwood One's Transtar networks...
" format. Eventually WAAM transitioned to airing chiefly news and talk programming during the week with music programming (including the Westwood One standards format and specialty shows such as "Broadway's Biggest Hits" and "The Sounds of Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
") available mostly on weekends.
Recent History
In August 2001, owner Whitehall Broadcasting, a subsidiary of a retirement community in Ann Arbor, announced that they would sell WAAM to Clear ChannelClear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
Communications for $2 million. Over a year later, Whitehall and Clear Channel called off the deal after the FCC voiced concerns that the sale would give Clear Channel, who owned four other stations in the area, a monopoly on the Ann Arbor market. Whitehall did find a buyer for the station, Big D Broadcasting, in August 2003. In October of that year, WAAM sold from Whitehall to Big D for $1.5 million.
Current programming
WAAM's current schedule features nationally syndicated conservative talk show hosts Bill Bennett, Laura IngrahamLaura Ingraham
Laura Anne Ingraham is an American radio host, author, and conservative political commentator. Her nationally syndicated talk show, The Laura Ingraham Show, airs throughout the United States on Talk Radio Network...
, Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
and Michael Savage
Michael Savage (commentator)
Michael Savage is a conservative American radio host, author, and political commentator. He is the host of The Savage Nation, a nationally syndicated talk show that airs throughout the United States on Talk Radio Network...
, as well as Coast-to-Coast AM overnights. In addition, the week day line up features local host Thayrone's "On the Edge with Thayrone" afternoon drive (4-6 p.m.), WAAM also carries Lou Dobbs
Lou Dobbs
Louis Carl "Lou" Dobbs is an American journalist, radio host, television host on the Fox Business Network, and author. He anchored CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight until November 2009 when he announced on the air that he would leave the 24-hour cable news television network.He was born in Texas and lived...
and Dennis Miller
Dennis Miller
Dennis Miller is an American stand-up comedian, political commentator, actor, sports commentator, and television and radio personality. He is known for his critical assessments laced with pop culture references...
weekday nights.
WAAM's weekend line up is as follows: Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. it's the well known Appliance Doctor radio program with Joe Gagnon. Gagnon helps callers with major home appliance questions. From 4 - 6 p.m., Rev. Elder Levon Yuille hosts Joshua's Trail, followed by the Clarkcast
Clarkcast
The Clarkcast is talk radio show on the conservative news/talk radio station WAAM Talk 1600 in Ann Arbor, MI. The program is hosted by the young political commentator, Matt Clark.-Show Beginning:...
with Matt Clark at 6 p.m.
The most enduring music show in the Ann Arbor area is featured on WAAM Sunday nights. Thayrone's nationally syndicated program The Bone Conduction Music Show, an Ann Arbor staple since 1984 on stations such as WEMU
WEMU
WEMU is the public broadcasting service of Eastern Michigan University.A National Public Radio affiliate whose primary market is Washtenaw County and the surrounding area, WEMU carries the standard NPR news magazines All Things Considered and Morning Edition...
, WQKL, and now WAAM, airs from 7pm to 11pm.
Visit WAAM Talk 1600's website for all current programming information at: http://www.waamradio.com
Sources
- Michiguide.com - WAAM History
- WAAM: 50 Golden Years, a documentary put together in 1997 to celebrate the station's 50th anniversary; narrated by Jim Heddle
- Gantert, Tom. "Lucy Ann Lance show off the air." The Ann Arbor News, 31 December 2007; retrieved 11 January 2008. Article