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| Broadcast area | Metro Detroit |
| Frequency | 92.3MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | Mix 92.3 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Urban adult contemporary |
| Affiliations | Compass Media Networks Premiere Networks Westwood One iHeartRadio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WDFN,WLLZ,WJLB,WKQI,WNIC | |
| History | |
First air date | November 5,1962 |
Former call signs | WVAE (1987–1989) WNTM (1986–1987) WCXI-FM (1982–1986) WTWR (1978–1982) WCAR-FM (1964–1978) WLIN (1962–1964) |
Call sign meaning | "Mix Detroit" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 59596 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 45,000watts |
| HAAT | 145 meters (476 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°19′55″N83°02′42″W / 42.33194°N 83.04500°W /42.33194; -83.04500 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | mix923fm.iheart.com |
WMXD (92.3FMMix 92.3) is a commercialradio station inDetroit, Michigan, owned byiHeartMedia, Inc. The station operates with 45,000watts of power from an antenna located on theCadillac Tower building indowntown Detroit. The studios and offices were housed for years at Detroit'sPenobscot Building until November 2009, when they were moved to the Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), studios inFarmington Hills.
WMXD programs anurban adult contemporaryradio format. The music selection includes currentR&B andclassic soul along with an occasionalold school hip-hop title. The station is licensed forHD Radio operations and formerly played old school hip-hop on its HD2 side channel.
Detroit's 92.3 FM began with aFederal Communications Commission (FCC)construction permit under thecall signWIPE. The permit was originally granted in 1960, held byjazzdisc jockeySleepy Stein andHollywood composer and musicianHenry Mancini. The construction permit specified a power of 10,000 watts from atransmitter location atop the Cadillac Tower Building in downtown Detroit. In 1961, David Kelly formed Downriver Broadcasting and purchased the construction permit for WIPE from Stein and Mancini.
Downriver Broadcasting signed on the station on November 2, 1962, with the call lettersWLIN.[2] Bill Hennes hosted the first broadcast from studios on Fort Street at LaBlanc Avenue inLincoln Park. The studios were built and transmitter installed by chief engineer Art Lebermann. WLIN's original aim was to program afull-service variety format for the downriver Detroit area. The original schedule consisted of morning host Bill Hennes, a two-hour talk show, afternoon drive with Dave Kelly, and evening DJs Ron Rose and Don Haney. In 1963, the station relocated its studios to theLafayette Pavilion Apartments complex in downtown Detroit, and the format became all jazz music.
In 1964, Hy Levinson, owner of successful "good music" outletWCAR, purchased WLIN and rechristened itWCAR-FM on December 8 of that year. WCAR-FM initially broadcast from 6 a.m. to midnight andsimulcast its AM sister's conservativeMOR format 100% during that time. In 1969, Levinson hired consultant Ken Draper to modernize the music format for both WCAR and WCAR-FM, and the music mix was adjusted from conservative MOR to contemporary MOR. WCAR AM made a brief attempt atTop 40 in 1971–1972; however, WCAR-FM was separately programmed, remaining a contemporary MOR outlet.
In February 1977, Levinson agreed to sell WCAR-AM-FM toGene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters, Inc., but he would stay on as a consultant. In October of that year, Golden West changed WCAR-FM's MOR format to the syndicated "Great AmericanCountry" package fromDrake-Chenault. In the summer of 1978, the stations moved into studios in the newRenaissance Center. WCAR-FM's country format was moved over to the AM station, which became WCXI. The FM station adopted the call signWTWR, airing anAdult Top 40/Oldies hybrid format under the name "Tower 92" (an homage to the station's new digs). Tower 92 was partly live, partly automated, with the air staff including Jack Kirkwood, Joey Ryan, Kurt Kelly, Kevin Sanderson, Ron Tavernit, Russ Gibb, and Tom Shannon, with Steve Schram as program director. The news team included Linda Ashley from WDEE, Jim Lowlor fromWDET-FM, John Bell and News Director Ray Cardoza. The station was only a moderate ratings success, but the most successful format on 92.3 FM to that time.
In late 1981, Tower 92 transitioned from its Hot AC/Oldies hybrid to full-fledged Top 40 under the guidance of programmer Todd Wallace, and saw a slight improvement in the ratings in the Winter 1982 Arbitron report. Nevertheless, Golden West wanted to strengthen its country music position in the market againstWWWW-FM, and so Golden West pulled the plug on "Tower 92" on May 10, 1982, after only 15 weeks of the Top 40 format. The station becameWCXI-FM, programming a country music format separate fromWCXI, in an effort to forge a two-pronged competition with the successful WWWW-FM. WCXI-FM and WCXI had distinct personalities, with WCXI-FM being a contemporary hit country format and WCXI taking a more full-service approach and focusing more on traditional country.[3]
In March 1986, Golden West announced they would sell WCXI and WCXI-FM to Shamrock Broadcasting; in return, Shamrock would spin the station off to Fritz Broadcasting, who would pair it with successful talk stationWXYT.[4] On May 14, 1986, the FM station was changed toWNTM "92 Music," asatellite-fedadult contemporary format.[5][6][7][8]
Since Detroit already had four adult contemporary stations,92 Music sank to the bottom of the ratings, perhaps due to its lack of live and local air talent.
92.3's next format wasnew-age (a precursor of today'ssmooth jazz format). It mixed contemporary jazz with new-age instrumentals and soft vocals. It was launched on December 28, 1987, asWVAE,92-3 The Wave, modeled afterLos Angeles' successfulKTWV. Much of the programming on WVAE was satellite-fed, and the station also featured comedy bits at the top of each hour to introduce the new hour.[9][10]
"The Wave," an attempt to appeal to the "yuppie" audience, never achieved high ratings, but did have loyal fans, though it was in competition withbeautiful musicWJOI and longtime jazz stationWJZZ, which began to play more contemporary jazz, new age and fusion material around that time.
On November 30, 1989, the station becameThe Mix asWMXD.[11][12] Originally starting out as aRhythmic Adult Contemporary outlet and playing a wide variety of adult R&B and pop music, WMXD evolved into its current Urban AC format by late 1991 under the guidance of operations manager Kris McClendon. Ratings success came quickly after the station tapped the then-underserved Detroit audience for classicsoul music. Detroit did have an AM classic soul station inWMTG, but that AM station's directional signal could not be heard in the city's East Side and other communities at night. WMXD was one of the four radio stations in the Barden, Michigan area (along with WRIF, WMUZ and WJZZ) that were used on Barden Cablevision's character generated line-up throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
By 1993, WMXD was showing up regularly in the top 10 of Detroit's Arbitron ratings, and the format has endured since, surviving several ownership changes. In 1994, the station was sold from Fritz Broadcasting to Booth American, which merged with Broadcast Alchemy shortly afterward to become Secret Communications, forming a duopoly with longtime Detroit urban contemporary powerhouseWJLB. Just a few months later, Secret sold the stations to Chancellor Media, which later merged with Evergreen Media to become AMFM, which was swallowed up by Clear Channel in 1999.
Until late June 2005, WMXD was the Detroit affiliate for the popular syndicatedTom Joyner morning show. In June 2005,Radio One relaunched its "Kiss FM" gold-based Urban AC format on the 105.9 frequency (nowWDMK), moving 105.9's hip-hop format to 102.7 (nowWDKL) and grabbing Joyner for mornings on 105.9. WMXD subsequently brought in a parade of celebrities such as soul singerKenny Lattimore to host the morning show until a permanent replacement could be found. The station finally signed on as anaffiliate ofThe Steve Harvey Morning Show, syndicated by Clear Channel'sPremiere Radio Networks out ofWBLS inNew York City (although WBLS itself is currently owned byEmmis Communications).
WMXD's morning and overall ratings have remained strong. WMXD also became the afternoon home to the syndicatedLove, Lust and Lies Show withMichael Baisden, as well as the home of "The Sweat Hotel" withKeith Sweat. The addition ofLove, Lust and Lies andThe Sweat Hotel made Frankie Darcell's midday show the only local daypart on WMXD during weekdays, with the other shows all being syndicated.
WMXD is licensed forHD Radio operations.[13] The station featured anUrban Gospel format (provided by Clear Channel'siHeartRadio) on its HD2 side channel until August 2010, when Clear Channel entered into an agreement with theEducational Media Foundation, operators of theK-Love format of contemporary Christian music, to program WMXD-HD2. K-Love programming was heard on WMXD-HD2 beginning in August 2010. WMXD-HD2 also fed five translators around the Detroit metro area, 98.3W252BX and 93.5W228CJ, both licensed to Detroit; 105.5W288BK, licensed toRochester Hills; 93.5W228DE, licensed toNew Baltimore, and 106.3W292DK, licensed toWestland - which are owned outright by EMF.
In August 2018, EMF boughtWPZR, a full-power FM station at 102.7, and flipped it to K-Love, changing the callsign to WDKL. In return, W252BX and W228CJ were sold toUrban One, and dropped the K-Love programming for WPZR's former urban gospel format as "The Detroit Praise Network" (now fed fromWDMK 105.9 HD2). The remaining translators, still owned by EMF, adopted theAir 1 format, now fed from WDKL-HD2. Subsequently, WMXD-HD2 switched to iHeartRadio's Throwback Hip Hop programming. The HD2 subchannel has since been turned off.
