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Founded in 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Detroit is a uniquely American city that shares a river with Canada and at times in its 300 years has lived under the French and British flags. Despite its multinational heritage and diverse ethnicity, "Motown" is considered an icon of American industrial ingenuity and cultural creativity.
The city is home to Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, along with practically every original equipment manufacturer that supplies the Big Three automakers. Detroit is also well known for its music, recently opened gambling casinos and sports teams. The National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 1997 and 1998. Last spring, Major League Baseball's Tigers moved into a brand-new downtown stadium, Comerica Park.
CBS-controlled Infinity Broadcasting's WXYT-AM is now Detroit's leading sports outlet, having recently acquired broadcast rights to the Tigers and Red Wings to complement its rights to carry the NFL's Lions. Sister Infinity station WWJ-AM carries Detroit's NBA team, the Pistons. The Tigers and Red Wings radio broadcasts previously aired on ABC Radio's WJR-AM.
Infinity and Clear Channel Communications are the two leading radio groups in the market, with a combined 60.5 percent of the ad revenue. Detroit is "a vital, competitive market" for radio, says Steve Schram, executive vp and general manager of Clear Channel's WNIC-- FM. "We have established broadcast groups with solid stations vying for their share of that total."
Clear Channel's WNIC and WJLB-- FM are the top two outlets in the ratings among all listeners 12 and older. WNIC is also No. 1 in afternoon drive (see Radio Listenership chart on page 32) and in overall revenue in the market. And in morning drive, the show by the outlet's 17-year-veteran host Jim Harper was only a fraction of a ratings point behind Greater Media's morning team of Drew and Mike on WRIF-FM in Arbitron's Spring 2000 survey.
"A couple of years ago, formats and call letters were changing and shifting all over the place," says Deidre Bounds, a media partner at Brogan and Partners in suburban New Center, Mich. "In the last six months to a year, the radio vista seems to have settled down, making the buying process much easier."
Infinity's top station is WVMV-FM, which placed...