WJOI RECALLED on MOTOR CITY RADIO FLASHBACKS
WJOI 97 * 1987 * THE SOUNDS OF JOY FM (Mark Taylor)
— WJOI 97.1 FM —
*****
NEW! WJOI aircheck date WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1987
WWJ 97.1 became ‘the sounds of beautiful music’ on the FM dial in Detroit in 1971.
In August 1981, WWJ-FM applied and petitioned the FCC for a call letter change, WJOI. Granted, WJOI officially became JOY FM on Thursday, December 17, 1981.
Owned by the Detroit-based Evening News Association, CBS Radio paid a reported $25,000,000 for WWJ-AM and its sister FM station WJOI in May 1989.
CBS’ WJOI-FM became the new WYST-FM, 6 AM, on Friday, September 2, 1994. Ditching its noted ‘beautiful music’ sound, the format instead was changed to a ‘soft-rock favorites’ format.
Before the end of its FM run in 1994, The ‘Sounds of Beautiful Music’ was heard for over 23 years in the Motor City.
On the AM side, WWJ-AM retained its all-news format, broadcasting regional and national news, sports, weather — 24 hours today — on AM 950 in Detroit.
Today, 97.1 FM is licensed with the calls letters, WXYT – branded “97.1 The Ticket” – a commercial sports radio station serving Metro Detroit and much of Southeast Michigan.
The station is owned by Entercom, with studios located in the nearby suburb of Southfield, and a transmitter site on Southfield’s eastern side.
(Source: Detroit Free Press; Wikipedia)
WJOI. 33 YEARS AGO
—ACKNOWLEDGEMENT—
A special THANK YOU to our senior contributor, Greg Innis, of Livonia, MI., for donating this WJOI-FM audio aircheck to the Motor City Radio Flashbacks archive.
The above featured WJOI aircheck was audio enhanced by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
VERY nice Jim. I had almost forgotten about this wonderful station. We can surely use more just like it. Such a shame something like this has fallen victim to economics and advertising revenue. Radio just isn’t the same anymore. Even the supposed ‘reincarnated’ Big 8 with some of the old jingles and “broadcasting from the legendary studios of……..” sorely lacks personality because they’re automated and well, have no personalities.