WFLT (1420 AM) 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 radi ...

broadcasting an

Urban Gospel Urban/contemporary gospel is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genre was well established by the end of the 1980s. The radio format is pitched prim ...

format. Licensed to Flint, Michigan, it first began broadcasting as WAMM in 1955. As WAMM, 1420 AM was the area's premier

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 ensl ...

-oriented R&B station for years. The station also provided an early on-air job for future American Top 40 host

Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably ''American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice No ...

(who moved on to

WJBK WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter faciliti ...

in Detroit and then to Los Angeles). Though primarily targeted at black listeners, WAMM had many white listeners as well. In the fall of 1979, WDZZ-FM signed on as Flint's first urban FM station and quickly became a ratings success. WAMM never recovered and adopted

Al Ham Albert W. Ham (February 6, 1925 in Malden, Massachusetts — October 4, 2001 in Spring Hill, Florida) was an American composer and jingle writer. He was notable as the composer of the ''Move Closer to Your World'' music package used since the 19 ...

Music of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and C ...

format in early 1981, changing its calls to the current WFLT. The station soon switched to religious programming and was purchased in 1990 by the Christian Evangelical Broadcasting Association, the current owners, who converted the station back to its African-American-oriented roots, but this time as the successful gospel-music station that it still is today.

References

Michiguide.com - WFLT History

External links

WFLT Facebook Page
FLT Radio stations established in 1955 Gospel radio stations in the United States 1955 establishments in Michigan {{Michigan-radio-station-stub