WOMC (104.3 FM, "104.3 WOMC") is a Classic Hits radio station broadcasting in the Detroit, Michigan, USA area. WOMC's transmitter and studios are located on Woodward Heights (9½ Mile Rd). near Interstate 75 in Ferndale, Michigan. WOMC broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 190,000 watts from an antenna height of 361 feet. It is the flagship station of the Michigan Wolverines Football Network ^[1]

WOMC's FM signal has been heard as far north as Marlette, Michigan, as far West as Jackson, Michigan, as far South as Petersburg, Ohio, and as far East as London, Ontario.

History[link]

WEXL-FM/WOMC[link]

The station began operations on March 5, 1948 as WEXL-FM. The calls changed to WOMC ("Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties") a few years later. WOMC programmed a Beautiful Music format for many years but was typically mired toward the bottom of the local ratings until 1973, when it was purchased by Metromedia. Metromedia retooled WOMC's easy listening format to include brighter and more uptempo material, an approach modeled after the successful WQLR-FM "Clear 106" in Kalamazoo.

According to Bill Wertz of WQLR's former owner Fairfield Broadcasting (the station is now WVFM owned by Midwest Communications), WOMC's sales manager at the time, Bob Reinhardt, was impressed with WQLR's sound, especially when he learned that the station was programmed in-house and not using a syndicated service, and requested that WQLR's programmers create a similar format for WOMC. WOMC's revised beautiful music format was an instant success, lifting the station from twenty-eighth place in the Detroit Arbitron ratings into the top three (1). This marked the beginning of the beautiful-music syndication service known as KalaMusic.

104 WOMC[link]

During the late 1970s WOMC enlisted the help of program director Dave Shafer and well known Detroit radio personalities Marc Avery, Tom Dean and Nick Arama. By 1980, WOMC had evolved its format from easy listening to a soft, gold-based Adult Contemporary sound, with which it continued to be quite successful. The adult-contemporary format field in Detroit was rather crowded during the 1980s, with WOMC competing against 100.3 WNIC, 94.7 WMJC and 93.1 WLTI among other stations, and WOMC differentiated itself from its competitors by emphasizing Oldies.

104.3 WOMC[link]

By 1990, WOMC had become almost exclusively an oldies station, and, despite the fact that Detroit had several other oldies stations at the time (including 102.7 WKSG-FM, 93.9 CKLW-FM, and 560 WHND-AM), eventually came to dominate as the most popular choice for oldies in the market.

WOMC has also had many memorable slogans, like "WOM-SEE" and "Detroit's Big O", and when the call letters are said, they're said with emphasis on the O ("W Ohhh M C").

In 2006, under the leadership of Steve Alan, the station removed the word "Oldies" from all station imaging and jingles and re-branded as "The Motor City's 104.3" While quite successful in growing the ratings, in early 2007, under the guidance of Detroit based programming consultant, Gary Berkowitz, the station started using the word "Oldies" again in jingles and imaging, but the heritage WOMC call letters are only used for the top of the hour legal ID.

Berkowitz's switch back to Oldies was successful for the station. They used Randy Reeves as the station voice, and Gary used a combination of "Do It Again", "Home of the Hits" and selected PAMS jingle packages from JAM Creative Productions. Gary Berkowitz and management then brought in Scott Walker, as program director.

In August 2007, WOMC-FM had begun airing brief jingles and "retromercials" that formerly aired on CKLW during its famous tenure as the "Big 8", especially with much of the same music being played on WOMC-FM today as on CKLW in the 1960s to the 1980s.

In April 2009, under the leadership of Tom Bigby, and Tom Sleeker, WOMC once again dropped the "Oldies" branding from the station. Once Tim Roberts was named Operations Manager and Program Director, the transition to "Classic Hits" from "Oldies" continued. During that time WOMC replaced voiceover guy Charlie Van Dyke for Jeff Davis. The station changed to "104.3 WOMC, Detroit's Greatest Hits."

HD radio[link]

WOMC is licensed for HD Radio operations and has a multicast channel on WOMC-HD2. Originally, this station featured hits of the 50s and 60s. Gradually, the format began to evolve into pop hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s. WOMC had changed its station voice twice, and at one time, all three station voices could be heard doing liners for WOMC-HD2. In January 2008, WOMC-HD2's format changed back to the hits of the 50s and 60s. Every day, beginning at 1:00 p.m., the station plays an hour of Elvis music. Also, the station will occasionally play a retro PAMS jingle.

In November 2008, WOMC was apparently re-creating the sound of Top-40 legend WKNR Keener 13 for its HD2 stream. On November 8, 2008, a Keener Radio logo appeared on WOMC'S website. However, the program director of the HD2 Channel, Ted Richards, has since been fired; and WOMC's program director has also moved to a different station; meaning that the Keener Radio HD2 idea is dead.

WOMC HD2 has picked up the "Oldies 104.3" branding that was dropped from the HD1 channel.

WOMC also added an HD3 channel in February 2010 known as "The Sky," featuring psychic talk and readings.

Airstaff[link]

The current lineup (as of August 15, 2011) is as follows

• Morning Show (5am-10am): The Bobby Mitchell Show - Bobby Mitchell, Chuck Gadica, Stacy DuFord & Bob Schuman
• Mid-Days (10am-3pm): Jim "JJ" Johnson
• Afternoon Drive (3pm-7pm): Beau Daniels
• Nighttime (7pm-12am): Dave Fuller
• Weekend's/Fill-ins: Fred “Boogie” Bryan, Tom Force, Scott Moore, Mike Shannon and Steve Wiseman.
• Program Director: Tim Roberts
• Station Voice: Jeff Davis

See also[link]

• Media in Detroit

References[link]

• Michiguide.com - WOMC History

External links[link]

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WOMC
• Radio-Locator information on WOMC
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WOMC
• List of "grandfathered" FM radio stations in the U.S.

Robert Cornelius Mitchell (born June 6, 1935 in Hot Springs, Arkansas) is a former American football halfback and flanker in the National Football League for the Cleveland Browns and the Washington Redskins. Mitchell was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. He currently runs the Cleveland Browns UK supporters society along with co founder Samuel Bould.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Mitchell was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas and attended Langston High School.^[1] While there, he played football, basketball, track, and was good enough at baseball to be offered a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.^[1]

College career[link]

Instead of playing professional baseball, Mitchell chose to attended the University of Illinois, which he picked from a host of schools that offered him scholarships.^[1] He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini and had a particularly good sophomore year. At the beginning of the season, he was behind junior Harry Jefferson on the depth chart. Seven games into the season, Jefferson went down with an injury, and Mitchell took over at one of the halfback spots.^[2] The first time he handled the football, he ran 64 yards for a touchdown.^[1] Though he entered in the third quarter, Mitchell gained 173 yards in 10 carries, and the Illini upset third-ranked Michigan, 25-6.^[2] He went on to gain more than 100 yards in each of the two games that remained in the 1955 season, during which he also saw some playing time as a defensive back.^[2] That year, he averaged a record 8.6 yards per rush.^[1]

As a junior, Mitchell didn't see the field much due to a knee injury.^[2]

After his senior season, Mitchell was invited to play in the College All-Star Game, where he got behind defensive back, James David on an 84-yard touchdown reception, and then scored again on an 18-yard pass from Jim Ninowski.^[1] The All-Stars' upset the Detroit Lions, 35-19, and Mitchell and Ninowski shared game MVP honors.^[1] He was named first-team All-Big Ten football in 1955 and second-team status in 1957.^[2]

Bobby Mitchell is a member of The Pigskin Club Of Washington, D.C. National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll.

Mitchell was even more successful in track. In February 1958, He set an indoor world record (one that lasted only six days) with a 7.7 mark in the 70-yard low hurdles.^[1][2] In the Big Ten championships, he scored 13 points and helped Illinois win the title.^[1] Mitchell was unsure whether he wanted to pursue a career in football or track. Even though the 1960 Summer Olympics were still two years away, he had his sights set on competing on the American team.^[1] But Browns head coach Paul Brown offered to pay him $7,000 during his rookie season and was able to convince Mitchell to play football instead of participating in the Olympics.^[3]

NFL playing career[link]

Cleveland Browns (1958–1961)[link]

Mitchell was drafted in the seventh round of the 1958 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, where he played as a halfback.^[4] He was teamed with Jim Brown to give the Browns one of most successful running back combinations from 1958 through 1961.^[4]

As a rookie, Mitchell had a 98-yard kickoff return. A year later against Washington, he rushed for 232 yards, including a 90-yard scoring scamper. The same year, he returned a punt 78 yards against the New York Giants.^[1]

As a Brown, Mitchell accumulated 2297 yards rushing, 1463 yards receiving, 607 yards on punt returns, 1550 yards on kickoff returns, and scored 38 touchdowns.^[1] He once held the Browns' career record for kickoff returns for touchdowns, and he also currently holds the team's best rookie rushing average (13.36 in 1958).^[5]

Washington Redskins (1962–1968)[link]

Under pressure to integrate the team by the Washington Post and the federal government of the United States, the Washington Redskins drafted Ernie Davis with the first overall pick of the 1962 NFL Draft.^[6] But in mid-December, Redskins owner George Preston Marshall announced that on the day of the draft he had clandestinely traded the rights to Davis to the Cleveland Browns for Bobby Mitchell and first-round draft pick Leroy Jackson.^[6][7] Unbeknownst to anyone at the time of the draft, Davis had leukemia, and died without ever playing a down in professional football.^[6] Mitchell was joined by black stars like Charley Taylor, Larry Brown, Brig Owens, and John Nisby from the Pittsburgh Steelers.^[6] The Redskins ended the 1962 season with their best record in five years: 5–7–2.

Bill McPeak, in his first year as head coach, immediately announced Mitchell would become a flanker. In his first game in Washington, he ran back a 92-yard kickoff return against the Dallas Cowboys.^[1] Mitchell led the league with eleven touchdowns, 72 catches, and 1384 yards, and was selected to the Pro Bowl.^[4]

In 1963, Mitchell recorded 69 catches for 1436 yards and seven more touchdowns. During this season, he also became the second player in league and franchise history to record a 99-yard pass play. The pass from George Mitchell was the first 99-yard pass in over 13 years, when the Redskins' Frank Filchock and Andy Farkas set the original record October 15, 1939.^[1] During the next four years, Mitchell's reception totals were 60, 60, 58 and 60.^[1] In 1967, new head coach Otto Graham chose to move Mitchell back to halfback because of Graham's decision a year earlier to move the team's best running back, Charley Taylor, to wide receiver. Mitchell enjoyed only moderate success running the ball but he did catch 60 passes for 866 yards and six touchdowns.^[1]

In 1969, Vince Lombardi became head coach and promised Mitchell that he would return him to flanker.^[1] But as training camp progressed, Mitchell realized that he was not in the same shape he once was and chose to retire.^[1]

During his first six seasons with the Redskins, Mitchell never caught fewer than 58 passes.^[4] When he retired, his 14,078 combined net yards was the second highest total in NFL history.^[4] He had also scored 91 touchdowns (18 by rushing, 65 on receptions, 3 on punt returns, and 5 on kickoff returns). He amassed 7,954 yards on receptions and 2,735 yards on rushes.^[4]

[edit] Kickoff return touchdown percentage

The following table ranks all National Football League kick returners with at least 4 touchdown returns through the 2008 season by touchdown return percentage^{[citation needed]}:

Sources:

• Retired Players
• Current Player stats

Front-Office career (1969–2003)[link]

After retiring from football in 1968, Mitchell remained with the Redskins, at the request of then head coach Vince Lombardi, as a pro scout.^[8] He would later gradually move up in the ranks to assistant general manager in the organization. Then in 2003 Mitchell retired, stating that he was "deeply hurt" by the manner in which late owner Jack Kent Cooke passed him over as the team's general manager in 1988 and by then-coach Steve Spurrier's decision to issue his uniform number to Leonard Stephens that season.^[8] Mitchell was also passed over for the Redskins GM job in 1978 in favor of Bobby Beathard.^[8]

As a player and a front office executive, Mitchell spent 40 years with the Redskins.^[8]

Personal life[link]

Mitchell still lives in Washington D.C. with his wife, Gwen who is an attorney. They have two children, Robert, Jr and Terri.^[2]

Since 1980, Mitchell has hosted the Bobby Mitchell Hall of Fame Classic, an annual golf fundraiser that benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.^[9]

Mitchell has also worked in many efforts and organizations, including: the United Negro College Fund, the Howard University Cancer Research Advisory Committee, the American Lung Association of D.C., the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission, the Boys Club of Washington, the National Urban League, the NAACP, the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the University of Illinois Presidents Council and the University of Illinois Foundation.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bobby Mitchell at the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Bobby Mitchell at Pro-Football-Reference.com
• Bobby Mitchell football card gallery

Dick Purtan (born July 11, 1936 as Paul Richard Purtan) is a former American radio personality. His last radio job was as the morning radio show host on Oldies 104.3 serving the Detroit, Michigan U.S. radio market. Purtan was also a disc jockey at WKNR-AM, WXYZ-AM, CKLW-AM and WCZY-FM which became WKQI-FM in 1989. Previous to coming to Detroit at WKNR "Keener 13" in 1965, Purtan worked at WOLF-AM in Syracuse, NY and WSAI in Cincinnati; he began his radio career in his hometown of Buffalo, NY and also worked for a very short time at WBAL in Baltimore (only to leave the station after his witty, sardonic humor clashed with the station's conservative ownership).

Purtan is well-known for his philanthropic work. Each year, Purtan and his "Purtan's People" crew host a radiothon to benefit the Salvation Army's "Bed and Bread" program. Through Purtan's efforts, over 24 million dollars have been donated to the Bed and Bread program. The money has also been used to purchase additional Bed and Bread trucks which make daily deliveries of food to needy people in the Detroit area.

While in Cincinnati, Purtan gathered together $12,500 and promoted the Beatles in concert.^[1]

On the morning of February 11, 2010, Purtan announced his retirement effective March 26, 2010.^[2]

Dick Purtan continues to keep up with his audience through his blog every weekday and Facebook. He also started producing a weekly podcast, which can run anywhere between 12 minutes to a half-an-hour and have had on various "Purtan People." ^[3]

Honors[link]

• In 2004, Purtan was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. ^[4]
• Purtan was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in the radio division in 2006.^[5]

Work history[link]

• WBAL
• WOLF-AM
• WSAI
• WKNR-AM (1965–67)
• WXYZ-AM (1968–78)
• CKLW-AM (1978–83)
• WCZY/WKQI (1983–96)
• WOMC (1996–2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Dick Purtan's official Web site
• Purtan on Twitter
• Purtan on Facebook
• Dick Purtan at the National Radio Hall of Fame
• 1978 CKLW Radio 'Super' Purtan Ad