WDET-FM

WDET-FM

City	Detroit, Michigan
Broadcast area	Metro Detroit
Branding	101.9 WDET
Slogan	"Detroit's Public Radio Station"
Frequency	101.9 MHz (also on HD Radio) 101.9 HD-2: WDET2 Diverse Music & News
First air date	December 18, 1948
Format	Public Radio: News/Talk/Music
Power	48,000 watts
HAAT	169 meters (554 ft)
Class	B
Facility ID	71189
Transmitter coordinates	42°21′6″N 83°03′48″W / 42.35167°N 83.06333°W / 42.35167; -83.06333
Callsign meaning	DETroit
Affiliations	National Public Radio (NPR)
Owner	Wayne State University
Webcast	Listen live player
Website	www.wdet.org

WDET-FM is a public radio station Detroit, Michigan. Licensed to Wayne State University in the city's Cass Corridor neighborhood, about a mile south of the New Center neighborhood, WDET broadcasts original programming and shows from National Public Radio, Public Radio International and American Public Media. It broadcasts on the FM dial at 101.9 MHz. The station serves Metro Detroit and is the primary provider of news involving the American automotive industry and Michigan politics within the NPR distribution network.^[1]

WDET-FM is licensed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for hybrid (digital plus analog) broadcasting.^[2]

History

Wayne State University holds the broadcasting license for the station through a grant from the United Auto Workers, which originally ran the station from its sign-on (December 18, 1948) until 1952. The UAW originally broadcast public service programming on the station, under station manager Ben Hoberman. The university bought the station for one dollar in 1952 and converted it to non-commercial status. It is one of the few public radio stations in the nation that operates on a commercial frequency.

In 2004, WDET implemented extensive programming changes. They dropped many NPR-produced programs such as Fresh Air and Car Talk, as well as some popular local music shows such as Folks Like Us and Arkansas Traveler. This was done to promote more locally produced music programming. However, it was followed by a decline in listener pledges. In the fall of 2005, new general manager Michael Coleman (replacing Caryn Mathes, who departed for WAMU in Washington, D.C.) changed WDET's format again, dropping many of the new music programs in favor of a more news-oriented format, bringing back all of the previously dropped programming and adding new NPR-produced programs. Particularly controversial was the dismissal of long-time mid-day host Martin Bandyke. Local media outlets reported he may have violated conflict of interest rules by accepting gifts from record companies. Bandyke has since resurfaced in morning drive time at Adult Alternative-formatted WQKL-FM (107.1) in Ann Arbor.

As a result of the 2005 format change, some listeners filed a class action lawsuit against the station for fraudulently taking donations for programming that was planned on being discontinued. Disgruntled former listeners also held two protests. The first occurred in front of WDET's offices a few days after Christmas. The second occurred near Cobo Hall during the North American International Auto Show. Organizers promised that the rally would draw 5,000 people, though less than one hundred showed up, and a plan to protest WDET's changes during the Super Bowl XL festivities also failed to occur.

Only one weekday music show remains on WDET: Ed Love's nighttime jazz program, "Destination Jazz," which features old and modern jazz music. The station has archived recent editions of these shows as well as their weekend music programming and made them available for listening at any time via its website.

On Thursday May 11, 2006, Michael Coleman announced another major shake-up at WDET. Six employees were laid off including long-time music host Jon Moshier. Several others were forced to accept paycuts, demotions, or reductions in hours.

On Monday April 2, 2007, WDET implemented several programming changes. The following programs were removed from the schedule: "Day to Day" (which was terminated by NPR, not WDET), "Front Row Center," "Live From Studio A," "The Best of the DSO," Liz Copeland's "Alternate Take," Chuck Horn's "Seventh Journey," "The Ralph Valdez program," Mick Collin's "Night Train," and "The W. Kim Heron Program." New additions included the locally produced "Detroit Today" as well as NPR programs "Talk of the Nation," "Marketplace," "Marketplace Money," "BBC World Service," "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!," and "The Changing World." "Destination Jazz: The Ed Love Program" was reduced from five to three hours, and Michael Julien's "Global Mix" was reduced from five to two hours. Combined with previous changes, the station moved to a more news oriented format. WDET now has less local and indie music coverage, although they continue to offer a niche for jazz, gospel, folk, rhythm and blues, and bluegrass.

On September 15, 2007 WDET added the show "Tell Me More" with Michel Martin from NPR News on weekdays at 1pm, which replaced "World Have Your Say" from BBC. "Deep River" with Robert Jones moved to Sunday afternoons, and "The Tavis Smiley Show" is now heard twice during the weekend, on Friday evenings and Sunday mornings.

Current programming

The station produces news stories for local break-ins of NPR drive time news programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered. It also produces a weekday local news program, Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson, and several local arts programs: Ann Delisi's Essential Music, Rob Reinhart's Essential Music, Modern Music w/ Jon Moshier, The Progressive Underground w/Chris Campbell, Destination Jazz: The Ed Love Program, Nick Austin's New Soul Sunday, Jay's Place w/ Jay Butler (Butler was a longtime air personality on WJLB/WQBH-AM), Culture City with Travis Wright and This Island Earth w/ Ismael Ahmed. In the fall of 2013, the station replaced overnight BBC World Service programming with "Alpha," a mix of electronic dance sounds and progressive soul.

Current NPR programming includes Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, Tell Me More, and Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. American Public Media programming includes Marketplace, Speaking of Faith, and This American Life. The station also broadcasts The Takeaway and Public Radio International's This American Life.

WDET currently ranks at #28 (0.7) in the Detroit market according to the November 2010 PPM ratings release. The station's HD2 feed is not currently operational, but is slated to be a 24/7 version of the station's "Alpha" overnight programming. (In May 2013, the WDET HD2 Facebook page announced that the signal was "under construction"; as of January 2014, WDET HD2 has not returned to the air.)

The Detroit Radio Information Service (DRIS) broadcasts on a subcarrier of WDET. DRIS serves the visually impaired community with live and pre-recorded readings of daily and weekly print publications.

Broadcast transmitter

WDET transmits its signal from an antenna 554 feet in height near the intersection of Cass Avenue and Canfield Street in Detroit's Midtown area. WDET broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 48,000 watts, and covers all of southeast Michigan and much of southwestern Ontario, reaching a potential audience of four million people.

References

External links

Query the FCC's FM station database for WDET

Radio-Locator information on WDET

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WDET

Wayne State University

Academics

College of Engineering College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts Law School College of Liberal Arts and Sciences School of Medicine Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

Athletics

Wayne State Warriors football Wayne State Warriors women's ice hockey

Campus

Wayne State University Buildings Hilberry Theatre Old Main Tom Adams Field Bonstelle Theatre Maccabees Building Metropolitan Center for High Technology McGregor Memorial Conference Center

Media

The South End WDET

People

List of Wayne State University people

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

NPR member stations in the state of Michigan

Michigan Radio	Ann Arbor WUOM Flint WFUM Grand Rapids WVGR

CMU Public Radio	Alpena WCML-FM Bay City WUCX-FM Harbor Springs WCMW-FM Mt. Pleasant WCMU-FM Oscoda WCMB-FM Sault Ste. Marie WCMZ-FM Standish WWCM

Interlochen Public Radio	East Jordan WICV Harbor Springs WHBP Interlochen WIAA Mackinaw City WIAB Manistee WLMN Traverse City WICA

WGVU Radio	Allendale WGVU-FM Kentwood WGVU Muskegon WGVS Whitehall WGVS-FM

Other stations	Berrien Springs WAUS Detroit WDET-FM East Lansing WKAR East Lansing WKAR-FM Grand Rapids WBLU-FM Houghton WGGL-FM Kalamazoo WMUK Marquette WNMU-FM Twin Lake WBLV Ypsilanti WEMU

See also: List of NPR stations

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

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