WTLZ (107.1 FM, "Kiss 107.1") is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

licensed to

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

broadcasting an

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

format. WTLZ retains a strong signal south of Saginaw toward

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

, but moving eastward toward the

Lapeer County Lapeer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 88,619. The county seat is Lapeer. The county was created on September 18, 1822, and was fully organized on February 2, 1835. The name ...

area,

WSAQ WSAQ (107.1 FM) is a country music radio station licensed to Port Huron, Michigan, with an effective radiated power of 6,000 watts. WSAQ covers St. Clair County, Michigan and Lambton County, Ontario as well as portions of Macomb, Lapeer, and S ...

107.1 "Q Country" signal tends to overpower WTLZ as they are both on the same frequency.

History

107.1 FM signed on in October 1969 as WWWS "W3-Soul" with an ERP of 2,000

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s. W3 Soul at the time played a mix of

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and R&B for the Tri-Cities. The studios were located on Bancroft at East Genesee in Saginaw. The station is the heritage

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

-oriented radio station in the market and has featured some variation of urban format for decades.

POWER 107

In September 1988 the calls were changed to WTLZ as "Power 107" adding

Disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

, and Rap throughout the 1990s, then would evolve into a

Rhythmic Contemporary Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip hop and upbeat R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary never uses ...

Hit Radio format then totally as Mainstream Urban. It was around 1989 when the owners wanted to market WTLZ towards Flint and would increase the Power to 4,900 Watts, 107.1's signal would reach from North of Mt. Pleasant to southern Genesee County. WTLZ had some of the highest ratings ever in the 1990s with Specialty shows such as the "Saturday Night Street Mix".

''"HOT 107"''

In December 1998 WTL Broadcasting opted to sell the station to Connoisseur Communications which already had stations in

. In March 1999 Connoisseur tweaked WTLZ from Mainstream Urban to "Today's Best R&B and Jammin Oldies" "HOT 107", cutting back on (but not eliminating for several years afterward) rap and hip hop product from its

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sever ...

(though hip hop was played mostly at night). Eventually, the format evolved into the current Urban AC as most hip-hop was dropped from the playlist and the nighttime hip-hop programming was replaced by "slow jams" on the "Quiet Fire" (a variation of the

Quiet Storm Quiet storm is a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style. It was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album ''A Quiet Storm''. The radio format was pioneered in 1976 by Melvin Lin ...

concept).

New ownership

WTLZ was purchased by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

who would sell their Saginaw stations to

NextMedia Group NextMedia Group was an out-of-home media company headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado. NextMedia owns and operates 33 AM and FM stations, 5,700 outdoor advertising display across several regions and markets, as well as an interactive divi ...

in 2009. NextMedia rebranded WTLZ from Hot 107 to Kiss 107.1 in the fall of 2009, staying with its Urban AC format. Kiss 107.1 is the Tri-Cities' outlet for

The Steve Harvey Morning Show ''The Steve Harvey Morning Show'' is a national radio program which is currently broadcast from Los Angeles. The nationally syndicated show features host Steve Harvey and a team of comedians and commentators. The show runs approximately four ...

. Weekend programming includes

Walt "Baby" Love Walt is a masculine given name, generally a short form of Walter, and occasionally a surname. Notable people with the name include: People Given name * Walt Arfons (1916-2013), American drag racer and competition land speed record racer * Walt Be ...

's nationally syndicated Urban AC countdown,

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

programs on Sunday morning, and ''The Flow, Your Urban Jazz Connection'', on Sunday afternoons. NextMedia sold WTLZ and their 32 other radio stations to Digity, LLC for $85 million; the transaction was consummated on February 10, 2014. Effective February 25, 2016, Digity, LLC and its 124 radio stations were acquired by

Alpha Media Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , which ...

for $264 million.

References

Michiguide.com - WTLZ History

External links

* {{Alpha Media TLZ Urban adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1969 1969 establishments in Michigan Alpha Media radio stations