WCHB
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| City | Taylor, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Metro Detroit [1] (Daytime) [2] (Nighttime) |
| Branding | NewsTalk 1200 & 99.9 FM WCHB |
| Frequency | 1200 kHz 105.9 HD2 WDMK (also on HD Radio) |
| Translator(s) | W260CB 99.9 FM |
| First air date | November 1956 (1440 AM) February 1990 (1200 AM) |
| Format | News/Talk days, Smooth Jazz nights |
| Power | 50,000 watts (Daytime) 15,000 watts (Nighttime) |
| ERP | 250 watts (FM) |
| HAAT | 245 meters (804 ft) (FM) |
| Class | B (regional) (AM) D (FM) |
| Facility ID | 4598 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 42°09′24″N 83°19′56″W / 42.15667°N 83.33222°W |
| Callsign meaning |
Wendell Cox & Haley Bell (founding owners) |
| Affiliations | Smooth Jazz Network (Broadcast Architecture) |
| Owner |
Radio One (Radio One of Detroit, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WDMK, WPZR, WGPR |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wchbnewsdetroit.com |
WCHB is an American AM radio station licensed to Taylor, Michigan, at 1200 kHz, and serving the Metro Detroit market. Owned by Radio One, WCHB identifies as NewsTalk 1200 and 99.9 FM WCHB, and airs a News/Talk format, with Smooth Jazz during the late evening and overnight hours. Its studios along with those of WGPR, WPZR and WDMK are on Detroit's lower eastside and its transmitter is in Romulus. WCHB is a Class B station operating on the clear-channel frequency of 1200 AM; WOAI in San Antonio, Texas is the dominant Class A station on 1200 AM.
WCHB is simulcast on WDMK 105.9 FM HD2 and W260CB 99.9 FM.
The WCHB call letters date back to 1956, when the station signed on as a 1,000-watt daytimer at 1440 on the AM dial licensed to Inkster, Michigan. The call letters stood for Dr. Wendell Cox and Dr. Haley Bell, who owned and operated the station under the Bell Broadcasting banner.
WCHB was one of the earliest radio station in the United States to be built from the ground up by black owners, and with an R&B format, quickly became a visible presence in Detroit's black community. Early on, WCHB aimed to be an all-purpose full-service station for Detroit's African-American community, featuring not only R&B hits, but also gospel music, jazz, talk shows, and even a "Tweeny Time" show for two-to-six-year-olds. By the late 1960s, however, the popularity of the Motown sound, in addition to competition from WJLB (then an AM station at 1400 on the dial, now WDTK) and FM upstart WGPR, led WCHB to adopt a more Top 40-style presentation to the soul format. Locally owned for many years by Bell Broadcasting, WCHB signed on an FM sister, 105.9 WCHD, in 1960, which later changed its calls to WJZZ and became Detroit's most popular jazz station. 105.9 is still co-owned with the AM station by Radio One as WDMK.
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Wikipedia