Detroit Radio: "WJR: One of a Kind" 1966 15min
http://news.quickfound
.net/cities/detroit
.html
"
Story of radio station
WJR,
Detroit. Many shots with local radio personalities in studio and people listening to the radio at
home, in the ballpark at work and outdoors.
Excellent, clear color film with good sequences and shots"
Public domain film from the
Library of Congress Prelinger Archive, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and equalization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WJR
WJR (760 AM) is a radio station in
Detroit, Michigan,
United States. It broadcasts a news/talk format. It is a class A clear channel station whose broadcasts can be heard throughout most of the
Midwest, eastern
United States and Canada at night, making it one of the most powerful radio stations in the United States. WJR can also be heard as far west as
Illinois during the day.
News/Talk 760 is the home of morning personality
Paul W. Smith, the flagship station of drive home personality
Mitch Albom,
Michigan State University athletics, and is the highest rated talk station in
Michigan.
Rush Limbaugh,
Sean Hannity,
Mark Levin,
Bob Brinker,
Adam Bold and the
Midnight Radio Network also make up WJR's weekly syndicated lineup.
History
WJR began as WCX on May 4, 1922, owned by the
Detroit Free Press newspaper, operating at 580 kHz. It shared this frequency with
WWJ, another station owned by the
Detroit News newspaper. In 1925, WCX was bought by the
Jewett Radio & Phonograph
Company in
Pontiac, Michigan, and the station became known as WCX/WJR. Also by 1925, WWJ was at 850 kHz, and both stations were broadcasting at 5000 watts of power. On
November 11, 1928, it moved to 750 AM as a result of the
FRC's
General Order 40.
On
December 16, 1928, the station moved from the newspaper's offices to the
Fisher Building and began its callsign, "WJR Detroit, from the
Golden Tower of the Fisher Building," which soon became famous across the country (and is still used to this day). Goodwill Stations
Inc., formed by
George A. Richards (who also owned the
Detroit Lions), acquired WJR in 1929, and it became known as "
The Goodwill Station" (along with
WGAR in
Cleveland and
KMPC in
Los Angeles). WCX ceased to exist, as all the assets were acquired by WJR. In 1931, the station raised its power to 10,
000 watts; four years later, it would broadcast at 50,000 watts. On March 29,
1941, WJR moved from 750 to 760 kHz in accordance to the
NARBA frequency reallocations. Before
North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement of 1941, 750 kHz was a clear channel under 1928 rules.
Richards died in May
1951, and in 1964, Goodwill Stations was sold to
Capital Cities Communications, which later merged with
ABC and later with the
Walt Disney Company. Upon the sale, WJR's air slogan became "The
Great Voice of the
Great Lakes," which is also still in use today. Also in 1964, WJR acquired full rights to
Detroit Tigers baseball games, with announcers
Ernie Harwell and
George Kell, who had begun broadcasting
Tiger games in
1960.
Previously, WJR had carried only night games with day games on WKMH and
WJBK.
The station became the flagship of the "Tiger
Baseball Network." In the late
1960s, WJR also became the flagship station for
Detroit Red Wings hockey.
The station is also remembered among many
Metro Detroiters for its advertising campaigns and jingles including "W-J-R
... Radio 76 ... Cares About Detroit." Another: "
This is America's finest - AM stereo 76." Regularly on his show,
J.P. McCarthy would state in a nonchalant way "This is the world's greatest radio station, WJR Detroit," with a manner that made it seem like the most obvious of facts. WJR broadcast in "AM
Stereo" from
1982 to
2006, and was received in (C-Quam) stereo AM at great distances at night. WJR's Detroit Tigers home games were broadcast in stereo, as were the
Thanksgiving Day Parades.
Most of WJR's broadcast studios, along with its newsroom and offices, are in the Fisher Building. The station also has a satellite studio in the
Wintergarden of the
GM Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit.
In addition to JP McCarthy, other WJR personalities included
Jimmy Launce,
Warren Pierce, Joel
Alexander, Jay
Roberts and many others. WJR
Program Directors during the
Capital Cities era included Joe Bacarella,
Curt Hahn and AC radio consultant
Gary Berkowitz.
WJR signed on an FM outlet in 1948 at 96.3 MHz. The station was known as
WJR-FM until 1982 when it became
WHYT. It is now
WDVD.
For many years, WJR was a powerhouse in Michigan sports radio. However, in recent years, the station lost the flagship rights to the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings, both of whom moved to
WXYT. Then, in
2005, the 30-year-old flagship relationship with the
Michigan Wolverines' football and basketball programs were dropped due to WJR signing a flagship rights deal with the
Michigan State Spartans...