WAAM

Infobox Radio station
name = WAAM


city = Ann Arbor, Michigan
area = [http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WAAM&service=AM&status=L&hours=D] (Daytime)
[http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WAAM&service=AM&status=L&hours=N] (Nighttime)
branding = WAAM Talk 1600 (WAAM is pronounced "Wham")
slogan = The Talk of Ann Arbor
airdate = October, 1948
frequency = 1600 (kHz)
format = News-Talk
power = 5,000 watts
class = B
facility_id = 72276
coordinates = coord|42|11|32|N|83|41|9|W|type:landmark
callsign_meaning = Ann Arbor Michigan
former_callsigns = WHRV (1948-1963)
owner = Ann Arbor First Ventures, LP
webcast = [http://www.talkradio1600.com/listings14410.asp]
website = [http://www.talkradio1600.com/ http://www.talkradio1600.com/]
affiliations =

WAAM is a radio station in Ann Arbor, Michigan that broadcasts on AM 1600. Known as "WAAM Talk 1600" (with the call letters pronounced like the word "wham"), WAAM broadcasts with 5,000 watts of power. The station is owned by Ann Arbor First Ventures, LP. Until recently, the station broadcast in AM Stereo.

History

The station signed on as WHRV in October, 1948. WHRV was a typical full-service radio station of its day, with a wide variety of music ranging from pop vocals to rock and roll to Southern gospel, and a heavy commitment to local news and sports play-by-play. Ollie McLaughlin, a black DJ on WHRV, is credited for helping to discover early 1960s rocker and Michigan native Del Shannon, and, after he left the station in 1961, helped launch the careers of several other Michigan artists, including Barbara Lewis, The Capitols, and Deon Jackson.

The station was sold in 1963 and changed its calls to WAAM. The station's DJs on occasion pronounced the call sign like the word "Wham," and WAAM was affectionately known as "Wham" to many in the Ann Arbor community for years afterward even after the station stopped using the "Wham" name on the air (the "Wham" pronunciation has recently been revived for the station's current talk format). Throughout the 1960s, WAAM featured chiefly MOR music during the day and played Top 40 hits at night. WAAM was also one of the first AM radio stations to feature progressive rock, with a Sunday-night show called "Strobe" and later "Spectrum." WAAM developed a reputation for spotting potential hits before CKLW and other Detroit-area competitors got a hold of them, including "Cherry, Cherry" by Neil Diamond and "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" by Bob Seger.

One WAAM Top 40 DJ during the late 1960s, Greg Siefker, later became the owner of country music radio station WMLM in St. Louis, Michigan.

The WAAM studios were almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1968, forcing the station to broadcast from a trailer in its parking lot for over a year. The station moved into new studios in 1969 and expanded its MOR format to full-time. Then, in 1972, the station was sold again, and WAAM transitioned to a full-time Top 40 hit music format, with a high-energy presentation and a continued news and sports play-by-play commitment as well as Casey Kasem's American Top 40 countdown show (added in 1975). Among WAAM's Top 40 jocks were some who who went on to greater success in the Detroit market, including Jim Harper (WDRQ, WNIC, WMGC-FM; known on WAAM as "Tom Michaels"), Don Riley (WDRQ; known on WAAM as "Jerry Riley") Jim Michaels (WDRQ, WWKR, WNIC, WTWR, WABX, WJOI, WYST) and The Electrifyin' Mojo (WGPR, WJLB, WHYT, WMXD).

In 1976, WAAM was sold again and transitioned from Top 40 to a personality Adult Contemporary sound, eventually adding more call-in talk shows to its schedule. In 1982, the station affiliated with Satellite Music Network's (now ABC Radio) "Star Station" AC format.

Lloyd Johnson (d/b/a Whitehall Broadcasting) acquired the station in 1983 and switched the station to Adult Standards soon afterward. The format shift accompanied Ann Arbor radio legend's Ted Heusel moving to WAAM from 1050 WPAG-AM (which had switched from standards to country music). Over the years, WAAM was affiliated with both Satellite Music Network/ABC Radio's "Stardust" format and Westwood One's "AM Only" format. Eventually WAAM transitioned to airing chiefly news and talk programming during the week with music programming (including the Westwood One standards format and specialty shows such as "Broadway's Biggest Hits" and "The Sounds of Sinatra") available mostly on weekends.

In August 2001, owner Whitehall Broadcasting, a subsidiary of a retirement community in Ann Arbor, announced that they would sell WAAM to Clear Channel Communications for $2 million. Over a year later, Whitehall and Clear Channel called off the deal after the FCC voiced concerns that the sale would give Clear Channel, who owned four other stations in the area, a monopoly on the Ann Arbor market. Whitehall did find a buyer for the station, Big D Broadcasting, in August 2003. In October of that year, WAAM sold from Whitehall to Big D for $1.5 million.

Shortly afterward, WAAM eliminated most of its music programming to become a primarily talk radio station, in an attempt to attract younger demographics who viewed the station as too "geriatric" when it was under Whitehall's ownership. Lucy Ann Lance, former morning show host at Clear Channel's WQKL-FM 107.1 ("Kool 107"), moved over to WAAM to host mornings.

WAAM has filed an application with the FCC to move from Ypsilanti to the Detroit suburb of Oak Park and increase its power from 5,000 watts day and night to 15,000 watts day and night. If the application is approved, it is likely that AM station WHLX (1590 kHz) in Marine City, Michigan (near Port Huron) will shut down, and it will end the 1600 frequency's nearly six-decade-long history of serving Ann Arbor.

Current programming

Today, the station competes with Cumulus Media's progressive talk-formatted WLBY (1290 AM) for talk-radio listeners in Ann Arbor. WAAM's current schedule features conservative talk show hosts such as Laura Ingraham, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Dave Ramsey, Bill O'Reilly, and Michael Savage, as well as Coast-to-Coast AM overnights.

Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. is the well known Appliance Doctor radio program with Joe Gagnon. Gagnon helps callers with major home appliance questions. Until his death from cancer in April 2007 at age 86, the station's longest-serving personality was Michigan Radio Hall of Famer Ted Heusel, who broadcast in the market for over 54 years. Most recently before his death, Heusel hosted a two-hour Saturday talk show.

On December 31, 2007, local morning show host Lucy Ann Lance, long an Ann Arbor radio favorite through her morning shows on WQKL and WAAM, along her producer and station operations manager, Drew Priebe, were laid off in a cost-cutting move as a result of the station's sale from First Broadcasting Investment Partners to Ann Arbor First Ventures. All part time employees were let go as well. Ann Arbor First Ventures is under sole ownership of Ron Unkefer, who received the station as part of a retirement package. WAAM has replaced Lance with a nationally syndicated show. [ [http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2007/12/waam_fires_morning_show_host_l.html The Ann Arbor News Artcile on this Topic] ]

Only a few music shows remain on WAAM, including "The Sounds of Sinatra" and "Big Bands, Ballads and Blues" on Saturday nights, along with "Broadway's Biggest Hits" and the Jim Brickman radio show on Sunday mornings. The most enduring music show featured on WAAM Sunday nights is Thayrone's nationally-syndicated program "The Bone Conduction Music Show", an Ann Arbor staple since 1984. Thayrone, a locally known musician, is also a conservative pundit. He had previously hosted "On The Edge with Thayrone", a weekday-afternoon talk show on WAAM, and prior to that, his music show was heard on WQKL and public radio station WEMU.

In January 2008, WAAM announced it was adding the syndicated Morning In America show hosted by Bill Bennett for mornings, and was also bringing back Thayrone's "On the Edge" for afternoon drive (4-6 p.m.). The station is also developing a new website at http://www.waamannarbor.com.

References

Sources

* [http://www.michiguide.com/dials/rad-a/waam.html Michiguide.com - WAAM History]
*"WAAM: 50 Golden Years", a documentary put together in 1997 to celebrate the station's 50th anniversary; narrated by Jim Heddle
*Gantert, Tom. "Lucy Ann Lance show off the air." "The Ann Arbor News", 31 December 2007; retrieved 11 January 2008. [http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2007/12/waam_fires_morning_show_host_l.html Article]
* [http://arborupdate.com/article/1587/goodbye-2007-goodbye-lucy-ann-lance Good Bye Lucy Ann Lance] , Arbor Update, 31 December 2007; retrieved 28 September 2008.

External links

*AMQ|WAAM
*AML|WAAM
*AMARB|WAAM