WOMC
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| WOMC | |
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| City of license | Detroit, Michigan |
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| Broadcast area | [1] |
| Branding | Oldies 104.3 |
| Slogan | Detroit's Greatest Hits! |
| Frequency | 104.3 MHz (Also on HD Radio) 104.3 HD-2: History Of Rock & Roll 50's & 60's Rock |
| First air date | March 5, 1948 |
| Format | 60's-70's Oldies |
| Power | 190,000 watts |
| HAAT | 110 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 28623 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Callsign meaning | Wayne, Oakland, & Macomb Counties |
| Former callsigns | WEXL-FM (1948-?) |
| Owner | CBS Radio |
| Sister stations | WVMV, WWJ, WXYT, WXYT-FM, WYCD |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.womc.com |
WOMC is an FM radio station broadcasting on 104.3 in the Detroit, MI, USA area, and licensed to the Detroit suburb of Ferndale, Michigan. WOMC's transmitter and studios are located on Woodward Heights (9 1/2 Mile Rd). near Interstate 75 in Ferndale, Michigan. WOMC broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 190,000 watts from an antenna 361 feet in height.
WOMC is also licensed for HD Radio operations and features "The Hits of the 50s and 60s" on its secondary channel.
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[edit] History
[edit] WEXL-FM/WOMC
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.
[edit] Into AC and Oldies
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. 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, the station removed the word "Oldies" from all station imaging and jingles and rebranded as "The Motor City's 104.3" In early 2007, 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.
The switch back to Oldies was very successful for the station. They used Randy Reeves as the station voice, and used the "Home of the Hits" jingle package from JAM Creative Productions.
However, the station hired a new program director, Scott Walker, who wanted to put his own mark on the station. He changed the station voice twice, and fired 4 longtime DJs.
The station is home to Detroit radio legend Dick Purtan, who has hosted WOMC's morning show since 1996 and has signed a new five-year contract to keep him on the airwaves until 2011. Another former Detroit radio legend, Ted "The Bear" Richards hosts the afternoon drive. While the station is sometimes criticized by oldies aficionados for its tight playlist, it is usually a top ten-rated station in Detroit and on at least one occasion has made it to #1 overall. Today, WOMC is programmed by Oldies Program Director Scott Walker.
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. Even further linking the two stations is the fact that many of the former disc jockeys that worked at the "Big 8" currently work at WOMC-FM. Other names familiar to Detroit radio aficionados now working at WOMC include Fred "Boogie" Bryan of Detroit's first all-oldies station, WHND ("Honey Radio"), and Lisa "Lisa Lisa" Orlando, who plays disco and classic dance during the "Saturday Night Dance Party" and was known as "The Party Princess" during her tenures at WDRQ and WHYT in the 1980s and 1990s.
On November 2, 2007 WOMC fired longtime duo Tom Ryan and "Matinee" Mindy Markowitz. Ryan & Markowitz had been with WOMC since 1984. Both of them have worked together in the morning slot before moving to the afternoon drive in 1996 and created the "Ridin' Home with Ryan" show.
On April 15, 2008 Oldies 104.3 let go longtime WOMC jock Don Phillips. Phillips had been absent from the station for about 3-4 months due to medical issues. He had been with WOMC since December 1984. Don Phillips has now been the fourth disc jockey that has been let go from WOMC since current program director Scott Walker took over in August 2007. Phillips was most recently the host of the Sunday-night "Hall of Fame" show, which features oldies from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s that WOMC no longer plays in its regular rotation.
[edit] Airstaff
The current lineup (as of April 2008) is as follows
- Morning Show: Dick Purtan & Purtan's People - Dick Purtan, Big Al Muskavito, Dana Mills, John Ankles Stewart,
Jackie Purtan, Rebekah Rhodes, Dave Zoran & Larry Lawson - Mid-Days: John "JT" Thomas
- Afternoon Drive: Ted "The Bear" Richards
- Nighttime: Beau Derek
- Fri Nghts: The Tom Kent Show - Tom Kent
- Sat Nights: Saturday Night Dance Party - Lisa "Lisa Lisa" Orlando
- Weekends/Fill-ins: Boogie Bryan, Rick Hunter, Joe Johnson, Scott Moore, Jon Ray, Ron T. and Lisa "Lisa Lisa" Orlando
[edit] Current Station Rating
Oldies 104.3 currently ranks at #4 in the Detroit market according to the Spring 2008 Phase I ratings release
| Summer 2006 | Fall 2006 | Winter 2007 | Spring 2007 | Summer 2007 | Fall 2007 | Winter 2008 | Spring 2008 Phase I |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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(#9) |
(#7) |
(#6) |
(#6) |
(#4) |
According to a preliminary Arbitron report released May 29, 2008
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
- 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.
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