WWJ (AM)

WWJ
Broadcast areaMetro Detroit
Frequency950 kHz
BrandingNewsradio 950 WWJ
Programming
LanguageEnglish
FormatAll-news radio
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
August 20, 1920 (1920-08-20)
Former call signs
  • 8MK (1920–1921)
  • WBL (1921–1922)
Call sign meaning
None. Assigned after requesting a call that could be easily understood.
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID9621
ClassB
Power50,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
42°01′9″N 83°14′23″W / 42.01917°N 83.23972°W / 42.01917; -83.23972
Repeater(s)97.1 WXYT-HD2 (Detroit)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live (via Audacy)
Websitewww.audacy.com/wwjnewsradio

WWJ (950 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to serve Detroit, Michigan, featuring an all-news radio format known as WWJ Newsradio 950. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station services Metro Detroit, is the market affiliate for CBS News Radio, and the flagship station for the Michigan Sports Network. Operating on a regional broadcast frequency, its studios are in the Panasonic Building in Southfield.

The station's transmitter site is near Newport. WWJ broadcasts full-time with 50,000 watts, using a five-tower directional antenna system during daytime hours, and its entire six-tower array at night. WWJ has the highest field strength – 7,980 mV/m at a distance of 1 km – in a single direction (nighttime pattern) of any U.S. AM station. With this powerful signal primarily sent to the north, the station can be heard in parts of northern Michigan during nighttime hours, including the Upper Peninsula and Mackinac areas, and much of southern Lower Michigan during the day.

WWJ is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to broadcast in the HD Radio format, and is simulcast on the HD-2 sub-channel of sister station WXYT-FM.

On the air for over a century, WWJ began daily broadcasts as the "Detroit News Radiophone" on August 20, 1920, while it operated under an amateur radio license with the call sign "8MK". Over the years the station has claimed the titles of "America's Pioneer Broadcasting Station" and where "commercial radio broadcasting began."