WDFN

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WDFN

City of license	Detroit, Michigan
Broadcast area	[1] (Daytime) [2] (Nighttime)
Branding	SportsRadio 1130
Slogan	The Fan
First air date	December 17, 1939
Frequency	1130 kHz
Format	Sports
Power	50,000 watts (Daytime) 10,000 watts (Nighttime)
Class	B
Callsign meaning	W Detroit's The Fan
Former callsigns	WWWW (9/14/92-5/20/94) WCXI (3/1/79-9/14/92) WCAR (12/17/39-3/1/79)
Owner	Clear Channel
Website	http://www.wdfn.com/

WDFN is a sports-talk radio station in the Detroit market. It broadcasts in the AM radio band at 1130 kHz. WDFN is owned by Clear Channel Communications, and broadcasts Detroit Pistons games.

1 History
2 Notable station events
3 Programming
- 3.1 Weekdays
- 3.2 Weekends
4 WDFN Personalities
5 Past station personalities
6 See also
7 Sources
8 External links

[edit] History

AM 1130 has been on the air since December 17, 1939 and bore the WCAR calls from its inception until 1979. WCAR was originally licensed to the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan. For many years the station aired a middle-of-the-road music format best known for its ownership by the quirky Hy Levinson, who insisted that WCAR air only "good music" and refused to allow anything even remotely resembling rock and roll on his station's playlist. Levinson would eventually relax his anti-rock stance when it became evident that the "good music" wasn't making him enough money.

During the 1970s, WCAR went through a multitude of failed formats, including Top 40, all-news (using the NBC "News and Information" service), progressive rock, and adult contemporary. As a Top 40 station ("Giant 1130") from about 1972 to 1975, WCAR's personalities included Steve Hunter, formerly of crosstown competitor CKLW and then Cleveland's WIXY. Hunter recalls on the CKLW tribute Website (http://www.thebig8.net) that although WCAR sounded good, its locally based owner didn't have the money needed to sustain cash giveaways and other prizes, and the format was changed just before a new ratings book came in showing that the station was finally starting to make some upward progress.

In 1978, WCAR changed its format to country and adopted the calls WCXI ("Country 11"; the "C" stood for Country, and "XI" is "11" in Roman numerals) the following March. During the early and mid-1980s, WCXI also had an FM sister, WCXI-FM 92.3, airing a separate country format, creating a two-pronged competition with WWWW-FM 106.7 ("W4 Country"). WCXI-AM/FM were owned at the time by Fritz Broadcasting. FM 92.3 changed its calls to WNTM ("92Music") and its format to Adult Contemporary in 1986 (it is still co-owned with AM 1130 under the Clear Channel umbrella as urban adult contemporary WMXD). AM 1130 continued with the WCXI calls until 1992, when, now owned by Shamrock Broadcasting and co-owned with its country competitor WWWW, the station became WWWW-AM, staying with country music but now chiefly simulcasting "W4" FM.

WWWW-AM changed its calls to WDFN in May 1994, and on July 11 of that year, the "Fan" sports-talk format was born, and has continued ever since. The station recently eliminated the "Fan" phrase from its on-air imaging and now identifies as simply "Sports Radio 1130." WDFN now competes with CBS Radio's WXYT 1270 AM for Detroit's sports-talk audience. Many believe that the station's recent ratings slippage can be attributed to the hosts' attempts to focus on other topics of interest to the predominantly male listening audience rather than solely sports, not to mention WXYT's having the rights to air sports play-by-play of the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings. WDFN is also home to Detroit's only local morning sports talk program, The Jamie and Brady Show.

Unlike many other sports stations across the country, which choose to air their sports updates three times every hour, WDFN airs its sports updates at the top and bottom of each hour.

WDFN is now a dual-affiliate of both ESPN Radio and FOX Sports Radio.

The WCAR call signs are now in use at AM 1090 in the Detroit suburb of Livonia, Michigan, which airs a Catholic religious format. AM 1160 in Fenton, Michigan now uses the WCXI calls, playing classic country music.

[edit] Notable station events

In December 2005, fan outrage over the losing ways of the Detroit Lions led WDFN to organize an "Angry Fan March" for the last Lions home game outside Ford Field.

WDFN's afternoon program, Stoney and Wojo, conducts tournaments similar to the NCAA Tournament, called Stoney and Wojo Invitationals, several times each year. These tournaments have featured items such as body parts, soft drinks, even people with the first name of Mike. To determine the result, listeners call in.

On Friday mornings, the Jamie and Brady morning show airs its own version of the Hollywood Squares game show, called WDFN Squares.

[edit] Programming

[edit] Weekdays

6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.: Jamie Samuelsen and Greg Brady
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: It is What it Is with Sean Baligian
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: Jim Rome
3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.: Stoney and Wojo
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.: Sports Talk Soup (recap of the best moments from each show)
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.: Andrew Siciliano
9:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.: Dan Patrick (first two hours of the three-hour show on a same-day delay basis; pre-empts the last hour of Siciliano's program and the first hour of JT the Brick)
11:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.: JT The Brick
2:00 a.m. - 6:00 a.m.: All Night with Jason Smith

[edit] Weekends

Midnight-6 am: Fox Sports Radio
6-8am: ESPN Radio
8-10am: At Home with Gary Sullivan
10am-3pm:Live Sports Event,or Clarence Black,Tom Kolwalski,Eric Pate,Rob Otto
3-6pm:ESPN Radio or Live Sports Event
6-10 pm:Fox Sports Radio or Live Sports Event
10pm-1am:ESPN Radio

[edit] WDFN Personalities

[edit] Insiders

Kevin Allen (hockey analyst) (Detroit Red Wings)
Angelique Chengelis (Michigan Wolverines; also a contributor to ESPN's NASCAR Now show)
Dave Dye (Michigan State Spartans)
Peter King (NFL)
Tom Kowalski (Detroit Lions)
Danny Knobler (Detroit Tigers)
Tom Markowski (High School football)
Tim McCormick (College and NBA)
Chris McCosky (Detroit Pistons)
Ken Rosenthal (MLB)
Michael Silver (NFL)

[edit] Hosts

Sean Baligian
Clarence Black
Greg Brady (Also makes occasional appearances for BBC Radio Five Live including co-commentating for the Super Bowl and the Saturday Sports Game Show Fighting Talk)
Larry Lee
Eric Pate
Art Regner
Jim Rome
Jamie Samuelsen
Mike Stone
Bob Wojnowski

[edit] Reporters

Tom Balog
Matt Dery (WDFN sports director, University of Detroit Men's Basketball Play-by-Play, Detroit Pistons pregame and postgame host, and total Cleveland homer)
Denny Kapp
Marti Martin (Also producer of the Jamie and Brady Show)
Russ McNamara
Rob Otto (Central Michigan Slappy)
Rob Pascoe
Matt Shepard (also the play-by-play voice of Eastern Michigan University football, the WNBA's Detroit Shock and University of Michigan basketball, heard on crosstown flagship WWJ, where he worked as a sports anchor from 1990's-2001)

[edit] Producers

Marti Martin
Tom Millikan "The Gov"
Doug Todd
Dave Riger "Kingpin"
The Sandman
Brad Fortier "Spicoli"

[edit] Other Personalities

Darrin Brege (Comedic Impressionist)

[edit] Past station personalities

Sabrina Black (died of cancer in 2005)
Jon Bloom
Pat Caputo (Oakland Press columnist, now a WXYT anchor)
Jim Cnockaert
Nanci Donnellan
Ryan Field (now at FSN Detroit)
Terry Foster (Detroit News columnist, now a WXYT anchor)
Keith Gave
Ike Griffin
Glenn Haege (now at WJR)
Jennifer Hammond (now at WJBK)
Gregg Henson (now a morning show co-host and program director for SportsTalk 950 WPEN in Philadelphia)
Jason Hillman
Jeff Katz
Jemelle Hill (now with ESPN)
Jamie Morris
George Noory
Rob Parker (Detroit News columnist; also former co-host of Parker and the Man on WKRK-FM)
Dave Pasch (currently the play-by-play voice of the Arizona Cardinals)
Damon W. 'The Dog' Perry
Lary Sorensen
Marc Spindler
Butch Stearns
Rich Thomaselli
Brandon Tierney (now an evening host at WEPN in New York City)
Mark Wilson (Also former co-host of Parker and the Man on WKRK-FM)
Van Earl Wright (now at Fox Sports)
Eli Zaret (now a reporter for Detroit Pistons Television Network)