WDZH

WVMV

Detroit, Michigan
Broadcast area	Detroit, MI-Windsor, ON
Frequency	98.7 MHz (HD Radio) 98.7 HD-2: V98.7 (Smooth Jazz)
Branding	98-7 Amp Radio
Programming
Format	Top 40 (CHR)
Ownership
Owner	CBS Radio
Sister stations	WOMC, WWJ, WXYT, WXYT-FM, WYCD part of CBS Corp. cluster w/ TV stations WWJ-TV & WKBD-TV
History
First air date	1961
Former call signs	WLLZ (1980-1996) WBFG (1961-1980)
Call sign meaning	We're V98.7 Michigan V98.7 (from previous format)
Technical information
Facility ID	25448
Class	B
ERP	50,000 watts
HAAT	141 meters
Transmitter coordinates	42°23′42″N 83°08′58″W
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	98-7 Amp Radio

WVMV (98.7 FM, "98-7 Amp Radio") is a radio station serving the Metropolitan Detroit area in Southeastern Michigan. WVMV broadcasts a CHR format at 98.7 MHz. The station's transmitter is located near Livernois and West Davison in the City of Detroit. WVMV broadcasts with an Effective Radiated Power of 50,000 watts from an antenna 463 feet in height.

History

WBFG/Detroit's Wheels

The station signed on the air in 1961 as WBFG ("We Broadcast For God"). The station broadcast religious programming for nearly two decades. On July 16, 1980, WBFG was sold and soon changed its calls to WLLZ.

On August 11, 1980, at 5:07 p.m., WLLZ debuted a new album oriented rock format; the first song played on the new "Detroit's Wheels" was "Let It Rock" by Bob Seger. (The WLLZ calls were also rumored to stand for "We Love Led Zeppelin" or "Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin".) The new WLLZ became an instant hit. Competing AOR station WWWW had already switched to country music, and WABX 99.5 would change to a CHR-oriented format in 1982, leaving WLLZ and 101 WRIF to go head-to-head in the AOR format for the rest of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, with WLLZ occasionally beating heritage rocker WRIF in the 12+ ratings. In an Ann Arbor News article in 1987, Michael Solon, the station's general manager at the time of the rock format's launch, credited WLLZ's success to the perception that the station featured less chatter and took a more mass-appeal, hit-oriented approach to its music than competing stations: "It was a wonderful time, making such a splash with an all-new station. I was no genius. It just figured that if the other stations were awfully chatty and going four songs deep on albums, we would do well by playing album-music hits."

In 1988, WLLZ also introduced the nation's first weekly sports talk show on an FM rock and roll station, "The Sunday Sports Albom" hosted by Mitch Albom.

Smooth Jazz V98.7

WLLZ saw its fortunes slip in the early 1990s with the emergence of "alternative" rock groups like Nirvana and Pearl Jam who drove many of the 1980s "hair bands" off the charts. A format tweak from AOR to modern rock in the mid-1990s which put the station in competition with 89x and The Planet 96.3 for the alternative audience failed to reverse the station's dropping ratings, and on December 20, 1995, WLLZ became a smooth jazz station, with the first song being "Smooth Operator" by Sade. The WVMV calls were adopted in February 1996.

V98.7 logo
1995-2009

For a while, WVMV and WJZZ were competitors in the Smooth Jazz format. When 105.9 was flipped to an urban format in August 1996, the WJZZ callsign was also discontinued, and eventually used for a Smooth Jazz station in Atlanta, Georgia — which, like WVMV, is the second (if one discounts Detroit's previous new age-format stations, WVAE 92.3 and WXCD 102.7) such formatted station to serve its city (WJZF was the first). From 2001-2009 the "WJZZ" call sign was assigned to a Smooth Jazz station in Atlanta (now WAMJ) broadcasting at 107.5 FM.

V98.7 Smooth Jazz is still available on 98.7 WVMV-HD2 with the use of an HD Radio or online at http://www.smoothjazzdetroit.com.

98-7 Amp Radio

At 5pm on October 2, 2009, after almost fourteen years as a smooth jazz station, V98.7 ended with the song "Smooth Operator" by Sade. After which the station played an audio montage of jingles and airchecks of WLLZ (98.7's previous format from 1980-1995) followed by "Welcome To The Jungle" by Guns N' Roses. This turned out to be a stunt, however. 98.7 played audio of Kanye West's interruption of Taylor Swift during the VMA's, followed by Beyonce's "Sweet Dreams", and became a Top 40 station. During the first weekend the station was commercial free and was calling itself "98-7 Takeover" and asking people to register online and guess what the name of the new station was going to be. The winner of the contest would win one thousand dollars. On October 5, 2009 at 8am, the station became "98-7 Amp Radio", modeled like its sister station 97-1 Amp Radio in Los Angeles, and 92-3 Now in New York City. It is also the second Amp Radio station owned by the company, and the only Amp Radio station in the American East Coast. Unlike 92-3 Now in New York City, and 97.1 Amp Radio in Los Angeles, 98-7 AMP Radio did not start with 10,000 songs commercial free.

The new AMP Radio format features a very tight rotation of mainly current hits, similar to Mike Joseph's Hot Hits formatted stations of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

WVMV's HD Radio HD2 subchannel features Smooth Jazz. This is also CBS Radio's second station flipping from smooth jazz to top 40 (KKHH in Houston, Texas is the other). Also, due to this latest flip, CBS Radio has only two Smooth Jazz stations (KTWV "94.7 The Wave" in Los Angeles, California and WSJT 98.7 in Tampa, Florida).

WVMV currently ranked at #19 (2.3) in the Detroit market according to the November 2009 PPM Rating release.

Airstaff

The current lineup (as of November 2, 2009) Starting out the workday from 10am-3pm is Shay "Shay Shay" Lewis. During the evening from 7pm-11pm its Pat "Grooves" Cerullo. Wrapping up the day on late nights from 11pm-3am is The Big Boy Show with Big Boy.

Other notable programming is Live At Tonic Night Club with Pat "Grooves" Cerullo and DJ Ryan Richards on friday nights from 11pm-2am. WVMV program director is Dom Theodore. The assistant PD/music director is current nighttime host Pat "Grooves" Cerullo. The stations voice is Dave "Dr. Dave" Ferguson or otherwise known as Deep Voice Guy.

Sources

• Michiguide.com - WVMV History

External links

• Smooth Jazz Detroit
• Facility details for Facility ID WVMV ({{{2}}}) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• {{{2}}} in Nielsen Audio's FM station database