1 branding 101 wrif the riff slogan everything that rocks frequency 101.1 mhz also on hd radio 101.1 hd2 riff2 local rock first air date 1948 as wxyz fm february 14 1971 as wrif format active rock riff2 local rock hip hop erp 27 000 watts haat 268 meters 879 ft class b facility id 11278 transmitter coordinates 42 27 13.00 n 83 9 50.00 w 42.4536111 n 83.1638889 w 42.4536111 ; 83.1638889 callsign meaning w guitar riff musical term former callsigns 1948 1971 wxyz fm affiliations united stations radio networks 2 owner greater media sale to beasley broadcast group pending fcc approval greater boston radio inc. sister stations wcsx wmgc fm webcast listen live requires login or listen via iheart website wrif.com wrif 101.1 fm branded 101 wrif the riff is a commercial active rock radio station licensed by the federal communications commission fcc to operate in detroit michigan serving surrounding metro detroit . 1 the station is currently owned by greater boston radio inc. 3 wrif is a grandfathered superpower class b station with a signal equivalent to 92 000 watts at 500 ft ; stated another way under current u.s. federal communications commission fcc limits for class b stations wrif would be allowed to broadcast an effective radiated power erp of no more than 16 000 watts using an antenna of height of 268 meters . 4 as such the signal can be heard as far as lexington mi ; jackson ; chatham kent and lambton county ontario ; north baltimore ohio ; and occasionally as far south as delaware ohio . the station transmitter is located in the detroit suburb of southfield near the intersection of 10 mile road and northwestern highway and transmits its signal from the same tower as wxyz tv . wrif s studios are in ferndale . in the april 2016 ppm ratings release wrif is ranked 3 behind wcsx 2 and wwj 1 in the detroit market . contents 1 history 1.1 wxyz fm 1.2 101 wrif 2 standings and recognition 3 programming 3.1 hd channel 3.2 morning shows 4 merchandise 4.1 stickers 5 references 6 external links history edit wxyz fm edit 101.1 fm signed on in 1948 as wxyz fm . for most of the station s early years the station was simply a simulcast of wxyz am 1270 now wxyt am . that changed in 1966 when the fcc decreed separate programming for at least half of the broadcast day on fm stations that had been simulcasts of their am sisters . wxyz fm separated programming and aired first a mor adult standards format then later went to a rock based top 40 approach called boss 101 which featured mostly harder rock hits with little to no pop or soul product . then in 1970 the station s then owner abc made wxyz fm an affiliate of the love network a nationally syndicated underground rock format from abc that predated today s satellite fed radio formats another love affiliate was sister wls fm in chicago . wxyz fm hired at least one local jock for this format arthur penhallow . 101 wrif edit this section may require cleanup to meet wikipedia s quality standards . no cleanup reason has been specified . please help improve this section if you can . january 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message on february 14 1971 the station changed its call letters to wrif . abc had applied for wdai for detroit auto industry for wxyz fm 5 but the fcc assigned those to wls fm instead . the wrif calls had been requested for wabc fm in new york . under the aegis of consultant lee abrams wrif was a pioneer in the album oriented rock format 6 utilizing many elements of progressive rock radio while maintaining a tight top 40 style play list . other abc stations with a similar sound included wplj in new york and wdve in pittsburgh . wrif was not a pure rocker in its early years you could hear such artists as kc & the sunshine band and the bee gees alongside alice cooper traffic and the allman brothers . after 1975 wrif dropped most of the pop artists to concentrate on rock but they would play a pop or disco song if it were extremely popular . stayin alive for example got many spins on wrif in 1977 78 . the 1980s was probably the decade in which there was the most change in the detroit radio dial . among other changes a new rocker was installed on 98.7 fm wllz detroits wheels and it proved so popular that it took out two other detroit rock stations . wwww went country in 1980 and wabx changed to a contemporary hit radio chr format called hot rock in 1983 and then went adult contemporary as wcls . but wrif soldiered on even though it was sold twice in the 1980s and its rock format was on the chopping block more than once rumors persisted in the late 1980s that the station was to switch to an urban contemporary format especially after the debut of classic rock wcsx in 1987 . in may 2006 wrif outlasted yet another rock station but with a twist . 106.7 the drive switched to country this time as 106.7 the fox just as it did back in 1980 when it was known as w4 . the station served as a backdrop for the kevin costner film the upside of anger . citation needed abc continued to own wrif until its merger with capital cities communications in 1986 . at that time the station was spun off to silver star communications . the next year wrif was sold to great american broadcasting the former taft television and radio inc. . great american broadcasting declared chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1993 and subsequently reorganized as citicasters communications . in the early 1990s the fcc began to permit one entity to own two stations on the same band in the same market for the first time . as a result in 1994 greater media who already owned detroit s classic rocker wcsx purchased wrif from citicasters . they own the station to this day . standings and recognition edit in 2007 the station was named active rock station of the year in a top 25 market award by radio & records magazine . other nominees included wiyy in baltimore waaf in boston kbpi in denver wmmr in philadelphia and kisw in seattle . 7 wrif won the radiocontraband rock radio award for major market radio station of the year in 2013 and 2014 . citation needed wrif was inducted into the rock radio hall of fame in 2014 . programming edit hd channel edit wrif s hd radio multicast signals are called hd 2 riff2 and features a modern spin on the old progressive rock format with a mixture of underground alternative rock and metal and local detroit artists . this was launched in august 2005 . 8 hd 1 is a simulcast of the analog traditional signal . 9 morning shows edit from the mid 1970s to 1979 the morning show had been hosted by michael collins . in 1979 wrif began broadcasting j.j. and the morning crew which consisted of jimmy j.j. johnson lynne woodison and george baier better known as richard t. bruiser or dick the bruiser . in their prime they were well known with doing news weather playing rock and creating parody songs with their own versions of timeless rock hits such as question mark and the mysterians 96 tears with 96 beers the j. geils band s freeze frame with beer frame sammy hagar s i can t drive 55 with i can t drive 25 and their own version of gary numan s cars with bars . the show is also known for lampooning nbc s longest running show meet the press with meet the bruiser . but despite wrif s playing rock and disco songs j.j. and the morning crew created d.r.e.a.d. which is short for detroit rockers engaged in the abolition of disco . j.j. and the morning crew left wrif in the mid 1980s and moved their morning show to the now defunct wllz . in the mid 1990s j.j. and the morning crew moved to wrif s soon to be sister station wcsx . j.j. now hosts middays at womc . in november 1985 joe nipote an actor children s author and detroit native became wrif s new morning show host . never having worked with a partner before nipote was teamed up with then midday host ken calvert . within a year nipote and calvert did very well ratings wise . however after a year nipote left to return to los angeles and returned to stand up and acting . in 1991 wrif hired a new morning team from phoenix arizona drew & zip . zip left by 1994 and was replaced by local personality mike clark . drew and mike went on to become the 1 rated morning show in detroit . in september 2007 drew lane left wrif for an indefinite length of time to take care of his girlfriend who had been diagnosed with breast cancer . in april 2008 it was announced that lane would not be returning to wrif . the show was then renamed mike in the morning and was hosted by clark and marc fellhauer and features trudi daniels with the wrif rock & roll radio news and jamie samuelsen 10 on sports reports . on july 13 2009 lane returned to wrif to once again team up with mike clark . 11 the show s name reverted to drew and mike in the morning sometimes referred to as the drew and mike show but is mostly just shortened to drew and mike . lane now does sports news for the show as well . fellhauer daniels and mike wolters still remain with the show . in may 2013 it was announced that greater media had not renewed the contract for drew and mike in the morning with the final drew and mike show airing on may 17 . on may 28 dave and chuck the freak of 89x took over morning drive . since then trudi daniels teamed up with wrif alum kenny k.c. calvert to form the k.c. and trudi morning show which made its debut on wcsx that summer while drew lane moved to afternoons on sister station wmgc fm in august 2013 . merchandise edit stickers edit wrif stickers are given out at many of the station s sponsored events . many are unique to that event . stickers have been made for bands including metallica ozzy osbourne and ozzfest m tley cr e zz top alice cooper kid rock disturbed yes journey kiss santana reo speedwagon triumph u2 huey lewis and the news loverboy aerosmith bruce springsteen the rolling stones iggy pop guns n roses ac dc korn linkin park velvet revolver the romantics and david bowie . wrif has also made stickers for appearances by comedians george carlin & rodney dangerfield and the rock festival lollapalooza . stickers have also been made for non concert events such as the drew and mike radio show harleyfest legendary wrif alum arthur penhallow and his famous saying baby as well as the major detroit sports teams the detroit pistons tigers red wings and lions . since nearly all of them are the same basic size and design an oval with flat top and bottom with the same size border ring they are highly collectable . since 1971 over 700 different stickers have been made . due to complaints of vandalism wrif has switched from stickers to window clings . references edit a b wrif fm coverage map . radio locator.com . theodric technologies llc . 2011 . retrieved january 25 2011 . house of hair stations list by