And the Detroit are radio dial changes again.
Today, at 10am, Rock 103, WIQB gave way to W4 Country - 102.9fm.
It's the first day, they just playing tunes and commercials and jingles.
I don't know if it is going to be automated or personality driven.
I had to call. I was the first to give them a positive call
within the first two hours of the change. Yes, 106.7, Alice got themselves
new call letters, so WWWW was availble--once called the million dollar
callsign; it's now here in Ann Arbor. Lady at the other end of the
phone call said there was a lot of negative calls wondering where
the Rock and Roll went.
This supports my idea that one Country Music station in the
Detroit area is to little. This market should at least support two.
The thing is, in Detroit are Country Music radio, the new player has
always won for the past 30 years.
What's going on on this area's radio dial. What do you think?
This is the second time in four weeks that the station I had
tuned into on the way to work had changed by the time I left for lunch.
60 responses total.
I think it's time that one of the retro stations started playing more altrock again. It's pathetic how difficult it is to hear anything made in the last year or so, rockwise, when it isn't hard enough to make it to the Riff. Three retro stations (The Planet, Alice, and 89X) are one too many, even if 89X play some newer stuff, when it feels like it.
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Alice? I hadn't heard about that. I'm absolutely shocked that 102.9 changed over. It's been rock or some subset of rock for a long time. Rats. It's going to be hard to listen to radio. Has 89X changed formats? They've always prided themselves on being "the cutting edge."
I'll mourn the loss of another good rock station to the Dark Side.
WIQB? Is that some hippy land station cuz we don't get it out here in the real world.
#3> 89X hasn't changed formats. That's the problem. They started playing cutting edge music ca. 1995, and they're still playing cutting edge music... from 1995. ;}
My mom will be happy to hear this news, she loved W4 Country. I thought I'd heard that the Planet switched back to alt rock a month or so ago...
Dammit dammit dammit... I've changed my presets three times in two months... First 96.3, then 93.9, and now 102.9. UGH.
anyone care to guess where the largest market station for country music is?
#7> Maybe it has. I've been ignoring it, maybe I should pop back there.
re: 3 -- 89X has always prided themselvs on being "the cutting edge", but they haven't been on the cutting edge since they switched from being C-Mix to 89X. re: everyone else -- 96.3 is (as it has been for almost 10 years) in some sort of alternaretro funk. You're never more than 10 minutes away from the shittiest Duran Duran song ever made. When they're not feeling "retro" by playing some Blind Melon song, they'll bombard you with whiny pansy music, like Vertical Horizon. The only thin 96.3 ever did right, was hip hop. It was more clubbish than Z95 (remember that?) and not as hardcore as WJLB. I'm firmly convinced that 96.3's playlist consists of Monsters of the 80's vol. 1 and 2, most of the $3.99 section at Meijer, and whatever shitty single an intern bought last month, and got tired of. Back over to 89X, though...what the hell is up with them playing Metallica? Almost 8 years ago, I said to anyone who would listen "One day, Metallica is going to cut their hair, put on some flannel, and be the next Alternateen idol." I was joking. Ugh.
WIQB is an Ann Arbor station, not a Detroit station. That might sound like localistic quibbling, given that you can listen to most of the Detroit stations from Ann Arbor, but WIQB's signal doesn't, or at least didn't, make it to Detroit. I really liked WIQB several years ago, when it really was an Ann Arbor station, that played cool music and had DJs who talked about things that were going on in Ann Arbor between songs, as well as having Ann Arbor based commercials, and so forth. My impression the last several times I've listened to it has been that the music was much less to my taste than it used to be, and that the DJs were mostly syndicated. I drove across Wyoming listening to the same "Bob and Tom" show that WIQB was airing. So, not that it's particularly relevant to me, since I don't live in Ann Arbor anymore, but it seems to me that the useful WIQB was gone a long time ago. I'm still amazed at the ability of radio station management to kill long standing popular stations, and replace them with formats that never catch on. What happened to 96.3? I think I heard something about 93.9.
(I'm glad I can stick to WEMU and be done with the whole matter. you people are *too* funny.)
I always thought of WIQB as being the A^2 equivalent of MTV. I never really thought of it as being particularly Ann-Arborish, but it seemed like they were in this parking-lot or that mall, doing whatever, usually with a cheery invitation to come on down & see what was up. I'd consider this for about 5 seconds, before deciding I'd be like a fish out of water at such an event. It's hard to believe they could die, even harder to believe they could be replaced by country music.
Ah, WJLB. Is that still around in the same format? ie "The Electrifying Mojo" and all? I should start listening to radio again.
The most schitzophrenic format I've ever heard is 93.5, WMPL here in Houghton. They play pretty decent alternative at night....and Rush Limbaugh and "B-1 Bob" Dornan in the afternoon. The other odd thing is that, even in their own promos, they're always referred to as "Wimple."
WJLB, the last time I listened was "Detroits Hip Hop and R&B, FM 98, WJLB"
((( fall agora 44 <---> music 283 )))
Aw, damn, damn damn! I heard a country song on 102.9 this afternoon and thought it was some kind of fluke. Man, I hate "modern country." According to a friend who is a local singer/songwriter, WIQB used to actually play her music, and then about two years ago they switched to a syndicated rock format. That was sad enough, but this new development just sucks.
WIQB was just about the best station I knew of while I was going to school out there. It started to deteriorate almost the instant I graduated and left.
Gee, thanks a lot, Drew.
About half the time I flip past WJLB, it's playing rap. The other half, it's R&B of the style I'm used to them playing since the 70s.
What happened to 93.9? I am now really bitter about WIQB's departure. I thought, of all the stations, they'd stay the same, but nooooooo. Sellouts. 97.1 was the second-best station I had ever heard just before they went to talk, because they weren't competing well with WRIF (or so I assumed after they gave up on the stupid anti-WRIF campaign and change formats later) and went to an edgier, see-if-you-can-catch-the-profanity-on-this-song, hardcore format. Then they killed it. The best station I know of continues to be 99.7 in Columbus. If they change formats, i'm going to throw my radio out the window.
My mom and dad are both very excited about the return of W4 country. WIQB is mosts definately not a Detroit station, no matter what twinkie says, since you can't actually receive it's signal in Detroit.
WIQB broadcasts from Domino's Farms, which is located off of Plymouth Rd. on Earhart (near 23). It's definitely Ann Arbor, not Detroit. 96.3 used to play really good alternative from the 80s and such...Smiths, Cure, Depeche Mode, Peter Murphy, Siouxsie and the Banshees, B-52s, Madness, etc, but now they're back to whiny "new" alternative crap. As if we don't already have stations for that. Not only have they changed, they now play the same ten songs over and over and over. *growl* Thankfully, they kept their Big Sonic Heaven show on Sunday nights. Darren Revell fought for it and got it with tons of listener support. It's the only radio stuff I listen to now.
Hell, WIQB seriously deteriorated back in the 70's. There was a time when they would play whole album tracks and more interesting rock. Then one day I turned them on, and they had some wimpy DJ voice who sounded Californian and a bunch of way-too-soft music from a playlist that was obviously a bank of tapes. That only lasted a few weeks, but they never went back to anything like their previous quality of interesting music except really late at night (and not terribly often then). WIOT was much better (I caught "Wet Dream" there in the wee hours more times than I can count) and I pretty much quit listening to WIQB. Then I discovered WDET, and commercial radio lost its attractions for me. (I'm listening to it as I type; it's been through NPR and jazz this evening and is now techno, but I can't call it boring. It'll be something else overnight if I'm still awake, and that won't be boring either.)
I really don't remember calling WIQB a Detroit station. Hell, I can barely get it in South Lyon.
102.9fm carries into Detroit to about Middlebelt road. Then it
clashes to much with 102.7fm, out of Mt. Clemmens. Young Country, 99.5
is not the strongest signal, so 102.9 may be the FM Country station for
Detroits western suburbs and enclaves. It should also cover into Jackson
county and into Lennawaee county. They should be able to find a new
audience.
However, the rock loving U of M students will now only find what
they like on a Detroit radio station. Not many Ann Arbor businesses
advertise on those.
Young Country, 99.5fm, plays old Country classics on Saturday
night, a request show. At least 10% of the requests that end up on
the air are lighthearted or funny.
Oh and see the item earlier in music, or in the last agora about The River, 93.9fm drying up and going to automated Lite Rock.
(There was a difference? :)
You could imagine how trumatized I was when I turned on the radio today (which I rarely do), switched the signal to 102.9 and heard TWANG! I was praying to all gods dead, worshipped and unborn that it was a fluke. I'm not completely anti-country, but there are just some songs that should have never been recorded . . . I think I'll go cry now.
I've started listening to country music while driving through extremely rural areas, in part because if I forgot to pack sufficient CDs I don't have much choice, and in part because I figure I might as well sample the culture of the areas I'm driving through. I was kind of surprised to find that I don't detest it nearly as much as I thought I would. It's not what I'd listen to given a choice, but it's still kind of nice in small doses.
See, that's how it starts--you try just a little bit, and the next thing you know, you're wakin' up in a battered ol' pickup wearing nothing but boots and a big hat.
<laughs>
Hmm... I got rid of my battered old pickup after I started listening to country music on long road trips.
re: #32 i forget which comedian it was (george carlin?) who had an hillarious routine about driving thru the south and every station he punched up was a twanger. i had just returned from active duty in the south. it floored me. imagine being trapped on a man o' war and having that stuff piped in 24/7/365. ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
WCBN and WDET take care of alternative listening needs. I'd like to keep up with stuff my kids are growing up with but it's about as difficult to take as much of the stuff I grew up with back in the 70's. The lousy to good ratio is just too high... Perhaps a lot of the crap will vanish once they start playing it on the golden oldies stations. Anyway, it's sad to see 103 (really 102.9) go. I always wonder about the correlation between their assigned frequency and their call sign: 1=I, 0=Q, 3=B. It was a radio station for the analog era. There is is enough slop in a analog radios' tuning dial so that 102.9 is the same as 103. Not so with digital tuners of today.
I listen to 105.1 The Groove cuz it plays the most local talent.
WIQB lost its touch when it was bought out by Tom Monahagn's little radio group (WPZA, Kool 10?, etc) WPZA was also originally an Ann Arbor station with broadcast studios on the second or third floor of the building at the southeast corner of Main and Liberty. WIQB broadcast from studios out near Saline when it was a truly great local rock station.
Yes, at one time WIQB had ads, bumber stickers and the such that
stylized the IQB so you could see the 103.
Is the 500 watter, 1290, still on the air. It was the original
sister station to WIQB, setting up a Radio 129 thing. Both had the
same digits in their frequency, and the significant digits where in the
same order.
I listened to more W4 Country on 102.9 Friday evening. It only
took 90 minutes for two songs in a row to repeat.
Now, if Dr. Don (Carpenter) is on in their mornings, that would
be cool.
WPAG was that original Ann Arbor station. 1050 or 1090 if I recall correctly. Who recalls where their towers used to be?
I thought the original Ann Arbor station was 1600, which went through a few changes before becoming WAAM?
That's one thing I won't miss: Bob and Tom.
WPAG, right. WPAG and WAAM co-existed for a long time.
Nobody was talking about the original ann arbor station.. the original SISTER station of WIQB, which was 1290 AM.
I liked some of the commedy of Bob and Tom. Some times it was good, like at 5 when they played the best of the morning, and it was a commedian or someone. I'll miss IQB, but after I was out of High School, it wasn't the same. It was cool having a morning show guy who went to my school, graduated, and knew the town. Also, they gave traffic for A2, not Detriot and THEN A2, if it got so bad they noticed over there. So now my morning is incomplete. I can't find a morning show to listen to that I like. Planet gets on my nerves now, they're trying too hard, and RIF? oh god, I can't listen to that!
Already I'm dying because WIQB is gone. I'm out in Adrian now, and 102.9 Twang comes through just fine, but 96.3 doesn't and RIF's questionable... argh. A lot of cds. Time to go shopping.
Ya know, country stations would be a lot better if they actually played country music, instead of twang-oriented lite rock...
Try Dick Purtain on 104.3fm. Fun stuff, he doesn't insult the audience and has been a long time Detroit radio presence.
I used to theink Dick Purtain was a riot when he was on 95.5, but since he moved to the oldies station, he seems to cater almost exclusively to fifty-somethings. Granted, that is the audience that 104.3 caters to, but Dick Purtain used to be way funnier.
i'm a fifty-something and i find him boring as hell. i listen to imus in the morning while in a car or watch him on msnbc when i am at my desk.
I guess I have reached the point where there is no commercial music radio in the area which I'm willing to tolerate for long. There is a classic "classic rock" station in Livingston County at 95.5 which I'll listen to when Leslie is in the car. It's not bad, I guess I'm the perfect classic rock demographic. I listen to a lot of news/talk stuff: WJR for anything but Dr. Laura; WWJ-AM; WUOM-FM though I am still annoyed they dropped classical music; WKAR from MSU. I guess I'm the mirror image of polygon, who doesn't like radio talk. For music, there is the student station at MSU at 89.9, which is mostly only enjoyable when the Progressive Torch & Twang show is on, Tuesday nights; WKAR-FM for classical music outside of the drive-time blocks; WCBN in Ann Arbor for folk / country / world music on weekends. That's about all the music I play in the car. I'd listen to WCBN more if they had a stronger signal. At night I listen to the AM news stations from New York and Philadelphia, and the Crazy Radio Preachers on 870 and 1530. I play a lot of CDs in the car. I'm awaiting the arrival of digital satellite radio, or else Real Audio over wireless internet. Every time we travel, the radio stations seem better when we get there.
This is the second time that I've gone out of town, only to come back to find that WIQB has changed formats. I really don't think that the country format will last long....it's not what the area needs. Dear gods and goddesses and all the little faeries, I want Rob Reinhart back in the mornings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *WAAAAAAHHHHH* I want my 93.9 to play all of my funny folk stuff again, I want my IQB to play Rush and Floyd and full-length Iron Butterfly, with a 6 hour no-commercial zone in the middle of the night. I want 95.5 to play Purtin in the Morning. I want my 89X to not play Metallica (much as I love them), and to *really* play the heavier alternative oddities. I want my 96.3 to *not* be the Planet...and play the funky, fun, and upbeat. I want my 97.1 to play rock. I want my 101.1 to play hard rock and metal....*only* Well....with a few Floyd and Rush here and there. But only the 80's stuff. I want my 94.7 to only play Classic Rock....and much as I love them, U2 doesn't count. I want my 95.5 to not be the slaves to top 40 - what ever happened to the old Q95.5?
I've found 870 to be a valuable sports resource, because every big LSU game suddenly finds its way onto my radio dial. Never underestimate a foreign station's ability to keep you abreast. The rest of their programming, however, tends to leave me a bit under the weather.
Why would you want a rock station to air Limbaugh's shows, meg?
Before the previous W4 Country changed format, Detroit was the #1 country music market in the nation. There's still Young Country, but a lot of country music listeners don't like it much -- those over the age of 14, I think. I've tuned in to the new W4 Country, and heard the kind of music I used to hear on the old W4 Country. There's an Adrian station that plays country, but I can't get that in my car when I'm in Ann Arbor. I'm happy for the change in format for the former WIQB. Maybe they can boost their signal if it's successful enough, and then serve the Detroit market.
not quite accurate, john. the larget country market is the greater nyc area. i always found that amusing. sheer numbers are responsible - 16 million potential listeners.
I don't care what format they run, I just wish someoine would runn Dr. Demento again.
I miss hearing Dr. Demento shows. Then again I have a ten year supply of tapes.
The only truly interesting radio station I ever heard was WOW-FM, 99.5. After about six months it turned into young country, and the radio went off again. As for Dr. Demento, I download MP3s off the net and listen to them, as I suspect I'll not hear them any other way for quite some time.
You have several choices: