WJR-AM situated inside the Fisher Building, Detroit.
DETROIT — Deejays are competitive, but they can also be cooperative.
While recuperating from a knee twist which had him away from the WJR studio turntables for about a week, midnight record-spinner Jay Roberts received a note from station owner Jon Holiday, of WAIR (Winston-Salem) asking permission to use the basic format of Roberts’ “Nightflight 760.”
Roberts simulates a jet flight to a different city every night, beginning with a whooshing takeoff sound effect and a (pre-recorded) airline hostesses’ voice issuing a welcome and instructions just as though it was a real flight. During the flight, “Captain” Roberts describes the city of the night in detail.
Roberts told Holiday, a former top jazz deejay from Little Rock, Arkansas to go ahead. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; March 2, 1963)
MCRFB note: This film promo, presented here in three installments, was produced by the WJR radio sales department exclusively for advertisers in 1966. The film was introduced by famed radio news broadcaster Lowell Thomas. Film narrative by J. P. McCarthy. (Also, you may view the entire 22 minute film, uninterrupted, in the bottom frame).
The Fisher Building. WJR “The Great Voice of the Great Lakes” almost left the building and Detroit back in 1985.(Click on image for larger view).
DETROIT — WJR/WHYT are staying put, to the great delight of the Motor City. Public outcry following the stations’ announcement last spring that they would be moving to nearby Troy after 62 years in Detroit was so great, according to WJR/WHYT president and general manager Ron Pancrantz that “management decided the station won’t relocate.”
The announcement came (recently last) December 5, the same day the Detroit City Council passed a unanimous resolution urging the Detroit radio landmark to stay in the city, says WJR promotion director Diane Taylor.
According to Taylor, the 50,000 watt clear channel station has been broadcasting from the art deco Fisher Building since May 4, 1922. Capitol Cities Broadcasting of New York bought the AM/FM combo in 1964 for $21 million and has remained as owner ever since.
Last spring, WJR management announced that the station would be moving 10 miles north to suburban Troy, sometime in 1985. The strong public reaction against the proposed move, coupled with the FCC’s initial rejection of their application — due to too much distance between headquarters and transmitter — caused the station to reconsider.
According to general manager Pancrantz, the FCC’s preliminary ruling against the move “was not a major factor in the decision. Our attorneys had told us we could convince the FCC to approve our move. But it is the outpouring of the public and Detroit city officials that convinced us we should respond to the city’s invitation to explore other locations.”
The lack of needed space for station headquarters has not changed, says station promotion director Taylor, but a new location is now being sought within Detroit city limits. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; January 5, 1985)
J. P. McCARTHY NO. 1 IN MORNINGS; WDEE NO. 3 IN DETROIT: PULSE REPORT APRIL/JUNE 1971
DETROIT — Country music seems to be doing well in Detroit where WDEE is third in the market 6 A.M. through midnight in the April/June Pulse. CKLW and the Paul Drew pack isNo. 1 with 19, WJR comes in with a 17 and nobody touches J. P. McCarthy in the mornings: this guy has a 21 from 6-10. Across the board, WDEE, programmed by John Mazur, has a 7, 8, 6, and 3 (through hours 6-10 A.M.) Breaking the other stations down CKLW has 17, 20, 21 and 14. WABX-FM has 2, 3, 4, 6. WKNR has 3, 3, 6, 5. WRIF-FM has 0, 1, 2, 3. WCHB was pulsed with 4, 4, 5, 10. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 18, 1971)
A MCRFB NEWS brief:
