Radio WDVD

WDVD is a hot adult contemporary radio station in Detroit, Michigan, broadcasting at 96.3 MHz on the FM dial. WDVD's studios and offices are located in the Fisher Building near downtown Detroit. WDVD's transmitter is located in Oakland County in Royal Oak Township at 8 Mile Road and Wyoming Avenue. WDVD broadcasts with an Effective Radiated Power of 20,000 watts from an antenna that is 787 feet in height. WDVD transmits its signal from the same tower that five other Detroit FM radio stations broadcast from. 96-3 WDVD is currently owned and operated by Citadel Broadcasting.



Hot Hits WHYTIn June 1982, Billboard Magazine reported that WJR-FM's owner, Capital Cities Communications, had hired consultant Mike Joseph to implement his widely successful "Hot Hits" format on WJR-FM by the fall of that year, taking note of the success the format was having in Philadelphia (WCAU-FM) and in Chicago (WBBM-FM). In July 1982, WJR-FM applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a call letter change to WHYT. The call letter change was approved late in the summer of 1982 and, oddly, the new calls coexisted with the station's Beautiful Music format for a few weeks. On September 15, 1982, at 5 p.m., WHYT signed off the Beautiful Music for good with "Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra, followed by the first song of the new format, "You Dropped a Bomb On Me" by The Gap Band.

"Hot Hits," which had already proven an immense success in Philadelphia for WCAU-FM and in Chicago for WBBM-FM, was a fast-moving, jingle-intensive format that featured a tight rotation of 50 current hits (no recurrents or oldies). The station's on-air name was "96 NOW" (the same slogan used by WBBM-FM which still operates on the same 96.3 frequency in Chicago to this day). "96 NOW" was a moderate ratings success but did not approach the popularity that WCAU-FM or WBBM-FM were enjoying with Hot Hits, probably due in part to heavy competition from Detroit's urban contemporary and album oriented rock stations. In response, WHYT's CHR format went through several metamorphoses in the next few years, dropping the Mike Joseph formatics (though they continued to use the slogan "Hot Hits" on the air through 1986) and adopting several different on-air monikers, including "96 Hit FM" (1983) and "Hitradio 96" (1984).96.3 JAMZIn 1992, the station delved even farther into rhythmic CHR territory, becoming known as "96.3 Jamz." WHYT eliminated most of the mainstream pop and rock from its playlist and began to focus almost exclusively on hip-hop, R&B and dance hits as well as some dance remixes of mainstream hits.

The WHYT calls are now used at a contemporary Christian music station near Lapeer, Michigan.