WJLB

**WJLB**

City	Detroit, Michigan
Broadcast area	Metro Detroit
Branding	FM 98 WJLB
Slogan	The D's Hip-Hop & R&B
Frequency	97.9 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date	May 24, 1941
Format	Mainstream Urban
ERP	50,000 watts
HAAT	149 meters (489 ft)
Class	B
Facility ID	59592
Transmitter coordinates	42°24′22″N 83°06′44″W / 42.40611°N 83.11222°W / 42.40611; -83.11222
Callsign meaning	John Lord Booth
Former callsigns	WMZK (?-12/3/80) WBRI (?-12/3/80) WJLB (?-?) WLOU (?-?) W49D (5/9/41-?)
Owner	iHeartMedia, Inc. (AMFM Radio Licenses, L.L.C.)
Sister stations	WDFN, WDTW-FM, WKQI, WMXD, WNIC
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	FM 98 WJLB

WJLB station vehicle

WJLB is a mainstream urban radio station in Detroit, Michigan, that broadcasts on 97.9 MHz, and better known to listeners by the branding FM 98 WJLB.

WJLB, along with sister WMXD, broadcast for 20 years in Detroit's Penobscot Building in the heart of the financial district. iHeartMedia, Inc. moved both stations to a building in Farmington Hills in November 2009.

WJLB's transmitter is located in Highland Park near the intersection of Hamilton Avenue and Midland Street, and transmits its signal from an antenna 489 feet in height with an effective radiated power of 50,000 watts.

History

The station traces its origins to a testing station which began operations on May 7, 1941, with 1,000 watts of power at 44.9 megahertz frequency. On May 24, it officially began broadcasting as W49D, Michigan's second FM radio station. It was owned by John Lord Booth, who was born in Detroit on June 13, 1907, and died in Grosse Pointe Farms on November 11, 1994, at the age of 87.

97.9 signs on as WMZK

On September 12, 1945, W49D was assigned a full-powered frequency at 96.5 MHz and renamed WLOU. In June 1948, the station moved up to the 97.9 frequency as WMZK, which was a play on the word music, with a format of automated beautiful music. In later years, WMZK alternated between beautiful music and foreign-language programming for various ethnic groups.

WJLB

In 1980, the WJLB callsign migrated to the FM dial at 97.9, alongside with an Urban Contemporary format from the 1400 kHz AM frequency. WJLB-AM, which went on the air as WMBC in 1926 and adopted the WJLB callsign in 1939, had been providing programming geared toward Detroit's black community for nearly four decades.

FM98 WJLB

Throughout the 1980s, the stereo FM station was transformed as a CHR/Urban Contemporary (also called "CHUrban", which would be the forerunner to the current Rhythmic CHR format) known as WJLB FM98, Detroit's Strongest Songs!, which would gravitate back to a full-blown urban format. WJLB-AM continued to program to the African-American community in Detroit for nearly a quarter-century afterward as WQBH, and is now WDTK, owned by Salem Communications with a conservative news/talk format. Within a few years, WJLB-FM performed well in the Detroit Arbitron ratings, despite picking up competition from several competitors, including WHYT, which was mostly dance and Top 40, but in 1992, would flip to "96.3 Jamz" and aired a rhythmic contemporary format, and then in 1996 at the 105.9 frequency, the former jazz-formatted WJZZ, which became WCHB-FM "The Beat", and later WDTJ "105.9 Jamz" (now urban AC-formatted WDMK "105.9 Kiss-FM"). FM98 was famous for its specialty Friday mix shows with "Electrifying Mojo" and the "Sunday Night Segue," hosted by John "Johnny Smooth" Edwards, featuring classic "Quiet Storm" tracks, as well for the highly successful morning shows that made WJLB the strongest station in Detroit from John Mason and his legendary "Mason And Company" morning show all the way to MC Serch of 3rd Bass and his morning show.

In April 1994, Booth American Company merged with Broadcast Alchemy to become Secret Communications. In August, Chancellor Media acquired the station from Secret Communications. In 1997, Chancellor Media and Evergreen, which already owned WKQI "Q95.5" and WQRS, later merged to form AMFM, Inc. In November 1999, AMFM, Inc. was purchased by Clear Channel Communications. WJLB and sister station WMXD have been under the Clear Channel banner ever since. Over the last several years, WJLB has shifted to a more younger emphasizing playlist with more Hip Hop and less Old school and House music which the station was built on in the 1990s through 2005.

WJLB currently ranks at #8 (4.5) in the Detroit market according to the November 2010 PPM Ratings release.

HD Radio

WJLB's HD2 side channel features a rhythmic oldies (including classic disco, dance and soul) format known as "Funkytown," which changed from a Classic Hip-Hop format in the fall of 2013.^[1]

References

↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=10 HD Radio Guide for Detroit

External links

FM 98 WJLB

Michiguide.com - WJLB History

Query the FCC's FM station database for WJLB

Radio-Locator information on WJLB

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WJLB

Radio stations in the Detroit, Michigan market (excluding Canadian stations)

By AM frequency	560 680/690 760 910 950 1030 1090 1130 1160 1200 1270 1310 1340 1400 1440 1460 1480 1500 1590 1600 1610

By FM frequency	88.1 88.1 88.1 88.1 88.3 88.3 88.3 89.1 89.3 89.3 89.5 89.5 → 90.1 (CP) 89.5 89.7 90.3 90.9 91.5 91.7 92.3 92.7 93.1 93.5 93.5/98.3/105.5/106.3/107.1¹ 94.3 94.3 94.7 95.5 96.3 96.7 96.7 97.1 97.9 98.7 99.5 99.9 100.3 100.7 101.1 101.5 101.9 102.7 103.5 103.9 104.3 104.7 105.1 105.9 106.7 107.5

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.425 162.450 162.550

Digital radio	560 910 950 1270 1340 90.9-1 91.7-1 92.3-2 93.1-1 93.1-2 93.1-3 94.7-1 94.7-2 95.5-1 95.5-2 96.3-1 96.3-2 97.1-1 97.1-2 97.1-3 97.9-1 97.9-2 98.3-1 98.7-1 98.7-2 98.7-3 99.5-1 99.5-2 99.5-3 100.3-1 100.3-2 101.1-1 101.1-2 101.9-1 101.9-2 102.7-1 103.5-1 103.5-2 103.5-3 104.3-1 104.3-2 104.3-3 105.1-1 105.1-2 105.9-1 105.9-2 106.7-1 106.7-2 107.5-1

By callsign	KDTI KEC63 W224CC W228CJ W232CA W244DL W252BX W260CB W268CN W280EL W284BQ W288BK W292DK W296CG WAHS WBFH WBLD WCAR WCHB WCSX WCXI WDET-FM WDFN WDMK WDRQ WDTE WDTK WDTP WDTW WDTW-FM WDVD WDZH WERW WEXL WFCB-LP WFDF WGPR WHFR WHMI-FM WHPR-FM WJLB WJR WKQI WLQV WMGC-FM WMKM WMUZ WMXD WNIC WNZK WNUC-LP WOMC WOVI WPHS WPON WPYF269 WPZR WRCJ-FM WRDT WRIF WSMF WSDP WSDS WSHJ WTAC WUFL WUOM WVMV WWJ WXOU WXYT WXYT-FM WYCD

Defunct	WBRB / WWHK 1430

Nearby radio markets Ann Arbor Cleveland Flint Lansing London Sandusky South Central MI Southwestern Ontario Thumb of MI Toledo See also List of radio stations in Michigan ¹ The Detroit K-Love transmitters (such as W296CG) are fed by WMXD-HD2, as stated on their on-air identifications

iHeartMedia

Corporate officers	Bob Pittman (Chairman/CEO)

Board of directors	Lowry Mays Irving Azoff B. J. "Red" McCombs J. C. Watts John H. Williams

Radio stations	List of radio stations owned by iHeartMedia

Radio networks	Fox News Radio Fox Sports Radio NBC News Radio Premiere Networks Premium Choice Total Traffic and Weather Network

Miscellaneous	Clear Channel Outdoor Clear Channel UK iHeartRadio List of programming syndicated by iHeartMedia Mediabase Radio Computing Services

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