WRCL
Encyclopedia
WRCL is a commercial broadcast radio station serving the mid Michigan
area (Flint
, Saginaw
and Bay City
). It plays Rhythmic Contemporary Hits on the FM dial at 93.7 MHz, naming itself Club 93-7. The transmitter is in Tuscola County, but the studios are in the Flint area.
The station is owned by Townsquare Media.
WRCL offers a musical playlist consisting of a recent mix of Hip Hop
/R&B except for contemporary gospel on Sunday mornings. It is a personality driven format, which helps it reach nearly 100,000 people in the Flint & Saginaw-Bay City-Midland radio markets and Lapeer, Michigan
. WRCL's core audience includes teens, adults 18-34 (primarily women) and African Americans. The station's ethnic composition is around 50% African-American and 50% White/other (according to Arbitron
).
and Adult Contemporary formats. WRCL was its first Rhythmic Top 40. The station was intended to be a niche format to eat away at the listenership of Cumulus
's WWCK-FM
and WDZZ and protect the ratings of its Adult Contemporary sister-station WCRZ
. In its first year, the new Club 93-7 playlist was heavy on Top 40 hits, especially upbeat party-type songs not limited to dance music
, House
, Urban
, other crossover
titles and artists. The debut was better than Regent expected, so the station began to broaden its audience by playing less dance- and house-influenced music and more Urban Pop titles such as Destiny's Child
, Usher Raymond and Eminem
.
The success of WRCL also served as the blueprint for future Regent Rhythmic Top 40 formats. The company has 6 other Rhythmic Top 40 and Mainstream Top 40 stations. Based on the WRCL model are WZPW
in Peoria, Illinois
and KRKA
in Lafayette, Louisiana
. The other 4 mainstream Top 40 stations from Regent/Townsquare are KKSR in St. Cloud, Minnesota
; KNNN in Redding, California
; WBNQ
in Bloomington, Illinois
and WDKS
in Evansville, Indiana
(the latter having flirted with Rhythmic from August 2007 to March 2008). A seventh one, Rhythmic Top 40 KZAP in Chico, California
, was sold in 2007 and flipped formats after the sale was completed.
By 2003, WCRZ remained the top ranked and revenue grossing station in the Flint market. Stiff competition from WDZZ and WWCK both adding more "adult" music in an attempt to capture some of WCRZ's audience share. In response, Regent invested additional resources into WRCL to make a more concerted effort in capturing market share from Cumulus. Ironically, Regent's gain came at the expense of Cumulus. In February 2003, nighttime personality "Clay" from WWCK left the station and joined WRCL in the same capacity.
In March 2003, Cumulus-Myrtle Beach personality "Ced Lover" joined WRCL as the afternoon personality. With a leaner WRCL playlist of more Urban Contemporary and Top 40 songs to go after the younger WDZZ and WWCK audiences, both "Clay" and "Ced Lover" beat WDZZ and WWCK in their first overall ratings periods. That year WDZZ dropped all hip-hop and current music from its playlist and shifted to gold-based Urban Adult Contemporary
, which had less competition from WOWE. WDZZ remained ranked #2 in the Flint market while WRCL had surpassed WWCK in the overall ratings. In 2004, WWCK shifted from an Adult Top 40 back to a mainstream Top 40, but WRCL continued to win in the overall ratings. Head-to-head, WWCK would lose to WRCL the remainder of that year, but beat them in one period of 2005. WRCL again topped WWCK in late 2005. Also in 2005, nighttime personality "Clay" was promoted to morning personality as WRCL debuted "The Morning Roll-Out with Clay." This was the first live morning show for the radio station. The WRCL morning show was previously all-music with only weather and traffic updates.
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"....
area (Flint
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
, Saginaw
Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town and manufacturing center. Saginaw and Saginaw County lie in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan...
and Bay City
Bay City, Michigan
Bay City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and is the principal city of the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Saginaw-Bay City-Saginaw Township North...
). It plays Rhythmic Contemporary Hits on the FM dial at 93.7 MHz, naming itself Club 93-7. The transmitter is in Tuscola County, but the studios are in the Flint area.
The station is owned by Townsquare Media.
WRCL offers a musical playlist consisting of a recent mix of Hip Hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
/R&B except for contemporary gospel on Sunday mornings. It is a personality driven format, which helps it reach nearly 100,000 people in the Flint & Saginaw-Bay City-Midland radio markets and Lapeer, Michigan
Lapeer, Michigan
Lapeer is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is the county seat of Lapeer County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,841. Most of the city was incorporated from land that was formerly in Lapeer Township, though portions were also annexed from Mayfield Township and Elba...
. WRCL's core audience includes teens, adults 18-34 (primarily women) and African Americans. The station's ethnic composition is around 50% African-American and 50% White/other (according to Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
).
History
WRCL signed on with a heavily gold-based Adult Contemporary format broadcasting as WZRZ-FM, airing continuous 1970s and '80s hits from artists like ABBA, the Carpenters, Chicago, and the Captain and Tennille with no commercials. After purchasing the station, Regent Communications (now Townsquare Media) flipped the station on Tuesday, January 8, 2002 to its current Rhythmic Top 40 format focusing on the Flint market. Regent Communications was known for its successful Country musicCountry 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...
and Adult Contemporary formats. WRCL was its first Rhythmic Top 40. The station was intended to be a niche format to eat away at the listenership of Cumulus
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
's WWCK-FM
WWCK-FM
WWCK-FM is a radio station in Flint, Michigan, broadcasting an adult-oriented Top 40 format. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and has programmed its current format since 1989.-Early History: WMRP:...
and WDZZ and protect the ratings of its Adult Contemporary sister-station WCRZ
WCRZ
WCRZ is a radio station in Flint, Michigan, broadcasting an adult contemporary format. WCRZ is the top-rated heritage station in the market.-History:...
. In its first year, the new Club 93-7 playlist was heavy on Top 40 hits, especially upbeat party-type songs not limited to dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
, House
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
, Urban
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
, other crossover
Crossover (music)
Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes, or genres...
titles and artists. The debut was better than Regent expected, so the station began to broaden its audience by playing less dance- and house-influenced music and more Urban Pop titles such as Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child was an American R&B girl group whose final line-up comprised lead singer Beyoncé Knowles alongside Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Formed in 1997 in Houston, Texas, Destiny's Child members began their musical endeavors in their pre-teens under the name Girl's Tyme...
, Usher Raymond and Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
.
The success of WRCL also served as the blueprint for future Regent Rhythmic Top 40 formats. The company has 6 other Rhythmic Top 40 and Mainstream Top 40 stations. Based on the WRCL model are WZPW
WZPW
WZPW is a radio station in Central Illinois with a rhythmic contemporary music format. WZPW in Peoria, Illinois broadcasts at 92.3 MHz with an Effective radiated power of 19,500 watts and is owned by Townsquare Media....
in Peoria, Illinois
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
and KRKA
KRKA
KHXT is a Rhythmic Top 40 serving the Lafayette area. The Townsquare Media outlet broadcasts with an ERP of 97 kW and is licensed to Erath, Louisiana.-History:...
in Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
. The other 4 mainstream Top 40 stations from Regent/Townsquare are KKSR in St. Cloud, Minnesota
St. Cloud, Minnesota
St. Cloud is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 65,842 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stearns County...
; KNNN in Redding, California
Redding, California
Redding is a city in far-Northern California. It is the county seat of Shasta County, California, USA. With a population of 89,861, according to the 2010 Census...
; WBNQ
WBNQ
WBNQ is the most powerful FM radio station in McLean County, Illinois: 50,000 watts on 101.5 MHz. It has had a contemporary hit radio music format since the early 1980s.-History:...
in Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...
and WDKS
WDKS
WDKS is a Class A radio station at 106.1 FM licensed to Newburgh, Indiana and serving Evansville, Indiana. They are owned by Townsquare Media, which acquired the station from Clear Channel Communications in 2003.- History :...
in Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
(the latter having flirted with Rhythmic from August 2007 to March 2008). A seventh one, Rhythmic Top 40 KZAP in Chico, California
Chico, California
Chico is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. The population was 86,187 at the 2010 census, up from 59,954 at the time of the 2000 census...
, was sold in 2007 and flipped formats after the sale was completed.
By 2003, WCRZ remained the top ranked and revenue grossing station in the Flint market. Stiff competition from WDZZ and WWCK both adding more "adult" music in an attempt to capture some of WCRZ's audience share. In response, Regent invested additional resources into WRCL to make a more concerted effort in capturing market share from Cumulus. Ironically, Regent's gain came at the expense of Cumulus. In February 2003, nighttime personality "Clay" from WWCK left the station and joined WRCL in the same capacity.
In March 2003, Cumulus-Myrtle Beach personality "Ced Lover" joined WRCL as the afternoon personality. With a leaner WRCL playlist of more Urban Contemporary and Top 40 songs to go after the younger WDZZ and WWCK audiences, both "Clay" and "Ced Lover" beat WDZZ and WWCK in their first overall ratings periods. That year WDZZ dropped all hip-hop and current music from its playlist and shifted to gold-based Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...
, which had less competition from WOWE. WDZZ remained ranked #2 in the Flint market while WRCL had surpassed WWCK in the overall ratings. In 2004, WWCK shifted from an Adult Top 40 back to a mainstream Top 40, but WRCL continued to win in the overall ratings. Head-to-head, WWCK would lose to WRCL the remainder of that year, but beat them in one period of 2005. WRCL again topped WWCK in late 2005. Also in 2005, nighttime personality "Clay" was promoted to morning personality as WRCL debuted "The Morning Roll-Out with Clay." This was the first live morning show for the radio station. The WRCL morning show was previously all-music with only weather and traffic updates.