page_title: WWJ (AM)
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: WWJ (AM) / History / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of preparations for a broadcast by radio station 8MK, the "Detroit News Radiophone" station, from August 1920. The three individuals are, from left-to-right: Howard J. Trumbo, manager of the local Thomas A. Edison Record Shop, operating a phonograph player; Elton M. Plant, Detroit News employee and announcer, behind 8MK's DeForest OT-10 radio transmitter; and engineer Frank Edwards. (According to Plant's 1989 "Radio's First Broadcaster", page 13, "some publications of the photo name the engineer as Keith Bernard, not so he was a later engineer".)
context_page_description: WWJ – branded Newsradio 950 WWJ – is a commercial all-news radio station licensed to serve Detroit, Michigan. Owned by Entercom, the station services Metro Detroit, is the market affiliate for CBS News Radio, and the flagship station for the Michigan IMG Sports Network. Operating on a regional broadcast frequency, its studios are in the Panasonic Building in Southfield, and its transmitter site is near Newport. WWJ is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to broadcast in the HD Radio format, and is simulcast on an HD subchannel of sister station WXYT-FM.
  On the air for 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."
context_section_description: The station's costs were borne by the newspaper—there was no advertising until the mid-1920s—and by 1922 the station staff had increased to ten. Performers were not paid, however, the station was able to attract numerous "illustrious persons" to appear over the airwaves from the station's "phonitorium" studio, including Lillian Gish, Fanny Brice, Ty Cobb, and Babe Ruth. The station is believed to be the first to broadcast news reports regularly, and the first to present regularly scheduled religious broadcasts and play-by-play sports reports.
  In the fall of 1921, the News purchased the DeForest OT-10 transmitter it had been leasing from Radio News & Music, and applied for a "Special Amateur" station license, which would provide better coverage by allowing the station to move to a wavelength less subject to interference. However, on October 13, 1921 the government instead issued the News a "Limited Commercial" license, and early the next month the newspaper announced: "The Detroit News radio station is now operating under a limited commercial license with call letters WBL. The wavelength used is 360 meters [833 kHz] and a special antenna has been erected to use this wave. The station will transmit as before beginning every evening, except Sunday." While this had the desired benefit of now being on a less congested wavelength, it also meant the station's continued use of DeForest equipment was technically in violation of the commercial radio equipment patent rights held by AT&T. This potential problem was soon resolved by the purchase of a 500-watt transmitter from AT&T subsidiary Western Electric, which was installed on January 28, 1922.
  The new WBL call sign was randomly assigned, and the News found that listeners had trouble hearing it correctly, so the newspaper asked the regional Radio Inspector, S. W. Edwards, to have it changed to something more phonetically distinct, requesting WKL or WWW. Neither of these call signs was available, so one similar to the paper's request, WWJ, was assigned on March 3, 1922.
  Effective December 1, 1921, the U.S. government for the first time adopted regulations formally defining "broadcasting stations". The wavelength of 360 meters (for which WBL and eight other stations already held licenses) was designated for entertainment broadcasts, while 485 meters (619 kHz) was reserved for broadcasting official weather and other government reports. On March 3, 1922 WWJ was granted permission to transmit on 485 meters, in addition to its original 360-meter assignment. 1922 saw a rapid expansion in the number of broadcasting stations, most sharing the single entertainment wavelength of 360 meters, which required progressively more complicated time sharing schedules among stations in the same region. That May the News bristled at having to suffer the "handicap" of being required to give up some airtime to its competitor, the Detroit Free Press, which had, in the words of the News, decided to "break in" by establishing its own station, WCX (now WJR). A front page "explanation" in the News complained about having to reduce its schedule of "unique, wholesome and delightful entertainment".
  In late September 1922 a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz), was made available for "Class B" stations, which had higher powers and better quality equipment and programming. Both WWJ and WCX qualified to use this new wavelength, on a timesharing basis. In early 1923 the United States further expanded the broadcast station allocations into a continuous band from 550 to 1350 kHz, with stations now using a single frequency, no longer having to broadcast entertainment and official reports on separate frequencies. Under the new allocations the Class B frequency of 580 kHz (516.9 meters) was designated for use by qualified stations in the "Detroit/Dearborn" area, and as of June 1923 both WWJ and WCX were assigned to this frequency. In January 1925 WWJ was reassigned to an exclusive Class B frequency, 850 kHz (352.7 meters). A series of reassignments followed, as the government struggled to structure the
caption: August 1920 publicity photograph. L-R: Howard J. Trumbo, manager of the local Thomas A. Edison Record Shop, operating a phonograph player; Elton M. Plant, Detroit News employee and announcer, behind 8MK's DeForest OT-10 radio transmitter; and engineer Frank Edwards.[41]
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