WNIC

WNIC

City	Dearborn, Michigan
Broadcast area	Metro Detroit
Branding	100.3 WNIC
Slogan	The 80's Til Now (General) Detroit's Christmas Station (Nov.-Dec.)
Frequency	100.3 MHz (also on HD Radio) 100.3 HD-2: Sunny Radio (Soft AC)
First air date	1950 (as WKMH)
Format	Adult Contemporary (Christmas music Nov.-Dec.)
ERP	32,000 watts
HAAT	183 meters (600 ft)
Class	B
Facility ID	6594
Transmitter coordinates	42°23′22″N 83°08′53″W / 42.38944°N 83.14806°W / 42.38944; -83.14806
Callsign meaning	Nice music (from Beautiful Music format)
Former callsigns	WNIC-FM (1972-7/6/87) WKNR-FM (10/13/63-1972) WKMH (1950-10/13/63)
Owner	iHeartMedia (AMFM Radio Licenses, L.L.C.)
Sister stations	WDFN, WDTW, WDTW-FM, WJLB, WKQI, WMXD
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	wnic.com

Clear Channel Building, location of the WNIC studios

WNIC is an American radio station serving Detroit, broadcasting at 100.3 MHz FM. Owned by iHeartMedia and licensed to Dearborn, Michigan serving the Metro Detroit area, WNIC broadcasts an adult contemporary format. WNIC's transmitter is located near Schoolcraft and Livernois Avenue in the City of Detroit on the near west side. WNIC broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 32,000 watts from an antenna 600 feet in height. It can be heard as far as Webberville, Michigan to the west, London, Ontario to the east, and Elmore, Ohio to the south.

WNIC's studios and offices are located in Farmington Hills.

History

WKMH-FM

WNIC went on the air around 1950 as WKMH-FM, sister to WKMH/1310. Both stations were, and still are, licensed to Dearborn, Michigan.

WKNR-FM and top 40 format

On Halloween 1963, WKMH became WKNR, and legendary Top 40 radio station "Keener 13" was born, beginning a three-and-a-half-year reign at the top of Detroit's radio ratings until it was toppled by Windsor, Ontario's CKLW in 1967. WKMH-FM similarly became WKNR-FM, and chiefly simulcast Keener AM (with automated Top 40 programming during non-simulcast times) until 1969, when, inspired by the success of groundbreaking progressive rock station 99.5 WABX, the station adopted its own progressive rock sound. "Uncle" Russ Gibb was the WKNR-FM personality who helped to spread the rumor that Paul McCartney was dead. According to Gibb, a college student in Ann Arbor called him on the air one Sunday afternoon and explained the theory to him. The rumor took off from there and generated lots of publicity for Gibb and WKNR-FM. It was air personality Chris Randall who phoned WABC New York personality Roby Yonge, who put the rumor on the air in New York and was responsible for it spreading nationwide.

"Stereo Island" easy listening to WNIC adult contemporary

100.3 WNIC Logo 2003-2010

WKNR-FM dropped its progressive rock format in 1971 to become "Stereo Island," a cross between Beautiful Music and Middle of the Road that could be described as an early form of what would be later be called Adult Contemporary. "Stereo Island" was successful and spawned imitators such as WFMK in Lansing, but in 1972, both WKNR and WKNR-FM were sold and became WNIC AM & FM, simulcasting a straightforward Beautiful Music format. The WNIC calls were meant to denote the station's "NICe" music. In 1976, WNIC adopted a more up-tempo sound called "Rock 'n' Easy" and has been successful with that AC format ever since. WNIC scored its first number-one placing in the monthly Arbitron ratings in Detroit in 1998, although the station's ratings have since dropped, due largely to competition from Greater Media-owned Magic 105.1. The ratings drop was also blamed on the departure of popular morning show host Jim Harper to Magic 105.1.

Fresh 100, return to WNIC

Fresh 100 logo 2010-2013

On December 27, 2010, the station rebranded as Fresh 100.3, "Detroit's Fresh New Sound". With the change, the station dropped all 1960s music, 1970s music and a lot of 1980s music from the playlist, focusing on upbeat music from the 1990s through the present, but retained some 1980s songs. The station made the switch at 4:00 PM (EST) after running its annual Christmas music and an on-air music test for two hours. The surprise flip caught listeners off guard, but according to Clear Channel/Detroit OM Todd Thomas, he noted that the target audience will remain the same, adding that "This is the music that radio listeners in Detroit told us they wanted to hear. With their help, we’ve created a unique sound on 100.3 for 2011 and beyond."^[1] WNIC also began airing the American Top 40 show (the adult top 40 version) on Sundays.

In December 2011, WNIC began to backtrack on its format changes, reflected by the amended slogan "Variety From Today & Back In The Day". The station also adjusted their on-air lineup adding Billy The Kidd for nights. WNIC became the only Adult Contemporary radio station in Detroit on August 12, 2013, when long time competitor WMGC-FM changed formats. On November 7, 2013, coinciding with the start of the station's annual shift to all Christmas music, WNIC dropped the "Fresh" branding and returned to using its call letters as its on-air brand. While the station continues with its more upbeat format, WNIC has added an increased amount of older music, but still does not play 60's and 70's music. ("The 80's Till Now"). On November 2, 2015 WNIC switched to all Christmas music at 8:35 AM.

HD Radio

WNIC is licensed for HD Radio operation and currently features a soft AC/oldies format on its HD2 channel from iHeartRadio's "Sunny Radio" channel.^[2]

Air staff

The current lineup (as of November 2015) is as follows

Morning Show (5 a.m.-10 a.m.): Jay Towers In The Morning - Jay Towers, Chelsea Kivell, Kam Carman & Bridgette "Bri" Woods
Mid-Days (10 a.m.-3 p.m.): Theresa Lucas
Afternoon Drive (3 p.m.-8 p.m) Dave Kent
Nighttime (8 p.m.-12 a.m.): On With Mario Lopez
Weekend/Fill-in: Lori Bradley, Chris Edmonds
Program Director: Tony Travatto
Assistant PD/Music Director: Theresa Lucas

References

↑ "WNIC/Detroit Gets 'Fresh'" from All Access (December 28, 2010)
↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=27 HD Radio Guide for Detroit

Detroit Radio Ratings

External links

Query the FCC's FM station database for WNIC

Radio-Locator information on WNIC

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 97.1 97.9 98.7 99.5 99.9 100.3 101.1 101.9 102.7 103.5 103.9 104.3 104.7 105.1 105.9 106.7 107.5

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 W252BX W260CB 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 WFDF WGPR WHFR WHMI-FM WHPR-FM WJLB WJR WKQI WLQV WMGC-FM WMKM WMUZ WMXD WNIC WNZK 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 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

Adult contemporary radio stations in the state of Michigan

Stations	WARD – Petoskey WCRZ – Flint WCSR – Hillsdale WCSR-FM – Hillsdale WCZY-FM – Mount Pleasant WFMK – East Lansing WGHN-FM – Grand Haven WGRT – Port Huron WHNN - Bay City WION – Ionia WKQS – Negaunee WLDR-FM – Traverse City WLEN – Adrian WLKM – Three Rivers WLXT – Petoskey WMQT – Ishpeming WMTE-FM – Manistee WNIC – Dearborn/Detroit WNIL – Niles WOEZ – Onaway/Cheboygan WQEZ – Glen Arbor WSAG – Linwood WSAM – Saginaw WSRW-FM – Grand Rapids WTGV – Sandusky WTRV – Walker WWSN- Whitehall WZNL – Norway

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Michigan

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 Sports 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

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.