WOMC

WOMC (104.3 FM, "104.3 WOMC") is a classic hits radio station broadcasting in the Detroit, Michigan, USA area. WOMC's transmitter and studios are located on Woodward Heights (9½ Mile Rd) near Interstate 75 in Ferndale, Michigan. WOMC broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 190,000 watts from an antenna height of 361 feet. It is the flagship station of the Michigan Wolverines Football Network.

History

WEXL-FM/WOMC

The station began operations on March 5, 1948 as WEXL-FM. The calls changed to WOMC ("Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties") a few years later. WOMC programmed a Beautiful Music format for many years but was typically mired toward the bottom of the local ratings until 1973, when it was purchased by Metromedia. Metromedia retooled WOMC's easy listening format to include brighter and more uptempo material, an approach modeled after the successful WQLR-FM "Clear 106" in Kalamazoo.

According to Bill Wertz of WQLR's former owner Fairfield Broadcasting (the station is now WVFM owned by Midwest Communications), WOMC's sales manager at the time, Bob Reinhardt, was impressed with WQLR's sound, especially when he learned that the station was programmed in-house and not using a syndicated service, and requested that WQLR's programmers create a similar format for WOMC. WOMC's revised beautiful music format was an instant success, lifting the station from twenty-eighth place in the Detroit Arbitron ratings into the top three. This marked the beginning of the beautiful-music syndication service known as KalaMusic.