WDTK (1400

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, and known as "The Patriot." It broadcasts a

conservative talk radio Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

and is owned by

Salem Communications Salem Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SALM; formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher formerly based in Camarillo, California (moved most operations to Irv ...

. The

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

s and offices are on Radio Plaza in

Ferndale, Michigan Ferndale is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms part of the Detroit metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,190. Ferndale is well known in the Detroit area for its LGBT population and progr ...

, shared with

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

1500

WLQV WLQV (1500 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Detroit, Michigan. It is owned by the Salem Media Group and broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format. It uses paid brokered programming where hosts buy time on the st ...

. WDTK transmits with 1,000

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 non-directional. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is on Midland Street near Hamilton Avenue in

Highland Park, Michigan Highland Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,977 at the 2020 census. Along with its neighbor of Hamtramck, Highland Park is an enclave city surrounded by the city of Detroit. History The area tha ...

. Programming is also heard on 99-watt

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

W268CN at 101.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

in Detroit.

Programming

Most of WDTK's weekday schedule is from the co-owned

Salem Radio Network Salem Radio Network is a United States-based radio network that specializes in syndicated Christian political talk, music, and conservative secular news/talk programming. It is a division of the Salem Media Group. Network information Salem Ra ...

's line up of talk shows:

Hugh Hewitt Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is an American radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network and an attorney, academic, and author. A conservative, he writes about law, society, politics, and media bias in the United States. Hewitt is ...

, Mike Gallagher,

Dennis Prager Dennis Mark Prager (; born August 2, 1948) is an American conservative radio talk show host and writer. He is the host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show ''The Dennis Prager Show''. In 2009, he co-founded PragerU, which creates five- ...

, Charlie Kirk,

Sebastian Gorka Sebastian Lukács Gorka ( hu, Gorka Sebestyén Lukács) (born October 22, 1970) is a British-born Hungarian-American media personality (currently with Salem Radio and NewsMax TV), military and intelligence analyst, and former government off ...

and

Brandon Tatum Brandon Orlando Tatum is an American conservative political commentator, former police officer and former college football player. Early life and education Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Tatum was an All-American football player in high school. ...

. A local hour of talk is heard at 6pm, hosted by Darryl Wood. WDTK also carries ''

The Sean Hannity Show ''The Sean Hannity Show'' is a conservative talk radio show hosted by Sean Hannity. The program is broadcast live every weekday, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET. The show is produced in the New York City studios of radio station WOR and is sometimes ...

'' from

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It ...

. On weekends, WDTK features shows on money, health, the outdoors and travel. Syndicated weekend hosts include

Gordon Deal Gordon Deal is an American talk radio host for the nationally syndicated wake-up show ''This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal'', previously called ''The Wall Street Journal This Morning''. Prior to working at ''The Wall Street Jour ...

Eric Metaxas Eric Metaxas (born 1963) is an American author, speaker, and conservative radio host. He has written three biographies, ''Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery'' about William Wilberforce (2007), ''Bonhoeffer: P ...

and

Rudy Maxa Rudy Maxa was born in 1949 and is an American consumer travel expert. Maxa is the host and executive producer of 85 half-hour travel shows on the world's great destinations that are broadcast on public television in the U.S. with titles such as ...

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

games are also broadcast on WDTK. Most hours begin with an update from Townhall Radio News.

History

WMBC

The station began in November 1925 at 1170 kHz as WMBC. The

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

stood for the station's original owners, the Michigan Broadcast Company. WMBC's frequency changed to 1230 in 1927 and to 1420 in 1930. WMBC was an early outlet for religious programming and

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

in Detroit. It was also the home of conservative radio commentator Jerry Buckley, who was shot dead in the lobby of the LaSalle Hotel in 1930 after successfully campaigning for a mayoral recall election in which then-mayor Charles Bowles lost.

WJLB

WMBC's call letters were changed to WJLB in 1939 after the station was acquired by John Lord Booth (who renamed the station for himself). In 1941, with the enactment of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), the station moved to its current home of 1400 kHz. Being a small independent station, WJLB relied on

brokered programming Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot comm ...

to pay the bills. Many of the paid shows were ethnic. This included many programs targeted toward Detroit's

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

community. One of WJLB's most popular programs during its early years was the ''Interracial Goodwill Hour'', a

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 show hosted by later Cleveland radio legend

Bill Randle Bill Randle (March 14, 1923 – July 9, 2004) was an American disc jockey, lawyer and university professor. Randle was born William McKinley Randle Jr. in Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit, he hosted a popular show on WJLB-AM radio (now WDTK) calle ...

. By the 1960s, WJLB had competition for Detroit's black audience in the form of 1440 AM

WCHB WCHB (1340 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Royal Oak, Michigan, and serving the Detroit metropolitan area. It broadcasts an urban gospel radio format and is owned by Crawford Broadcasting. The station is a reporter to Billboa ...

and later 107.5 FM

WGPR WGPR (107.5 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan, broadcasting an urban contemporary radio format. Owned by the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons, its studios and offices are on East Jefferson Avenue on Detr ...

. At that point, WJLB evolved into a mostly R&B and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

station, using the slogan "Tiger Radio" for a time in the late 1960s. Perhaps WJLB's most well-known personality in the 1960s and 1970s was

Martha Jean "The Queen" Steinberg Martha Jean "The Queen" Steinberg (September 9, 1930 – January 29, 2000) was an influential African-American radio broadcaster and later was also the pastor of her own church. She was born Martha Jean Jones in Memphis, Tennessee. Her first radio ...

. She was one of the first successful female air personalities in Detroit, best known for her trademark line, "I betcha!" On the evening of July 23, 1967 Steinberg got the station to cancel its regular programing and let her do a broadcast encouraging people to stop rioting.Sidney Fine, ''Violence in the Model City: The Cavanagh Administration, Race Reliations, and the Detroit Riot of 1967'' (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989), p. 184 In the early 1970s, Steinberg led the WJLB air staff in protesting the fact that the station employed no African-Americans outside of the air personalities.

WMZK and WQBH

In 1980, in response to the growing popularity of

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

, WJLB-AM 1400 switched call signs and formats with its ethnic sister station, WMZK-FM 97.9.

WJLB WJLB (97.9 FM) is a radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts an urban contemporary format. WJLB's studios are located in Farmington Hills. WJLB's transmitter is located in Highland Park near the intersection o ...

-FM began broadcasting an

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...

format and has been among top-rated station in Detroit. However, WJLB-FM dropped Steinberg's show. Meanwhile, the AM station took the WMZK call letters and its ethnic format. Martha Jean the Queen found herself without a radio home until 1982, when a Steinberg-led group, the TXZ Corporation, purchased WMZJ 1400 AM. The call letters were switched to WQBH (standing for the ''Queen Broadcasts Here''). WQBH took on a full-service format of R&B and urban gospel music, along with African-American oriented talk which would continue for over two decades. With backing from the

Michigan National Bank Michigan National Bank was a bank founded in Lansing, Michigan, which was established on 31 December 1940 when Howard J Stoddard consolidated six Michigan banks: First National Bank and Trust Company of Grand Rapids, First National Trust and S ...

, Steinberg took full ownership of WQBH (as "Queen's Broadcasting Corporation") in 1997. After Steinberg's death in January 2000, ownership of the station reverted to a consortium of her three daughters and the Order of the Fisherman Ministry. WQBH continued to air broadcasts of Steinberg's past programs after her death.

WDTK

In March 2004, Salem Communications announced that it would be acquiring WQBH from the Steinberg family for $4.75 million. The sale was finalized in May, and in September, Salem changed WQBH's call sign to WDTK, which stands for Detroit TalK. It flipped the station to the current conservative talk format, using Salem Radio Network syndicated shows. In late July 2012, WDTK added an FM translator. W224CC broadcast on 92.7 FM, signing on at 99 watts of power. In the Fall of 2014 the Patriot began covering the "Detroit Catholic High School League Game of the Week." Jeremy Otto and Sean Baligian called the action. In 2015, the station added an afternoon

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

show hosted by Brendan Johnson. Darryl Wood later replaced Johnson. On November 18, 2016, WDTK stopped broadcasting on its FM translator at 92.7 FM. It switched to a new translator in Oak Park, W268CN, on 101.5 FM. The former translator on 92.7 remains on the air, but was repurposed as a repeater for sister station WLQV. The translator on 101.5 is on the same frequency as Toledo station

WRVF WRVF (101.5 MHz "The River") is a commercial FM radio station in Toledo, Ohio, owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. It broadcasts an adult contemporary radio format, switching to all-Christmas music for much of November and December. WRVF carries the ...

. The two station's signals overlap in some suburbs south of Detroit.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for WDTK
* * {{Salem Communications DTK Talk radio stations in the United States Conservative talk radio Radio stations established in 1925 1925 establishments in Michigan Salem Media Group properties