WGPR’s History
Early years
The station signed on the air on December 6, 1961. It was founded by broadcaster Ross Mulholland, who had worked at WJR and several other area stations. The original construction permit for the station bore the call sign WQTI, similar to Mulholland's easy listening-formatted AM station, WQTE (560 AM, now WRDT), but the station was never on the air with those call letters. Upon signing on, the call letters were WGPR.
Initially, WGPR featured easy listening music similar to that of WQTE. The station was purchased in 1964 by its current owner, the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons (d/b/a WGPR, Inc.), led by Dr. William V. Banks, who served as president and general manager of WGPR until his death in 1985.
It is reported that the station's call sign meant "Where God's Presence Radiates", but the original meaning was "Grosse Pointe Radio." The station was originally based at a studio on 20233 Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe Woods when it went on the air. The original building still stands and houses a real estate agent. The current studios are located on East Jefferson in Detroit.
An independent television station focusing on shows aimed at African-American viewers was added in 1975, WGPR-TV. On September 29, 1975, Amyre Porter, Doug Morrison and Sharon Crews became the nation's first African-American primetime news team. WGPR-TV became a CBS network affiliate in 1994 following WJBK's switch from CBS to Fox. WGPR-TV was sold to CBS in 1995, taking the call sign WWJ-TV.
107.5 Jazz The Rhythm
Jazzy 107.5 and The Rhythm
Until October 2011, WGPR featured a mix of urban adult contemporary hits and urban oldies. From June 1997 to June 2008, the station was known as "The Rhythm 107-5" or "The Jazzy 107-5", and for several years, featured smooth jazz mixed in with its urban format. On June 20, 2008, the station reverted to an urban AC format.
Former Logo of WGPR as "The Rhythm"
Saturdays were "Old School Saturdays", featuring a wide variety of classic R&B, soul and dance-oriented oldies. Genres played on OSS included disco, funk, 1980s electronic music, dance music, Motown, urban oldies, and 1970s R&B. Sundays were devoted mostly to urban gospel programming. According to the September 2011 PPM Ratings release, WGPR ranked #20 (2.1) in the Detroit market.
On October 21, 2011, Radio One announced that it would take over WGPR under a local marketing agreement (LMA), and move WHTD's urban contemporary format to the station as Hot 107.5. Meanwhile, WHTD was to flip to an urban gospel format as Praise 102.7 on October 31. On October 24, WGPR signed off as Radio One assumed control, and began stunting with a loop of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" by Boyz II Men. This was interspersed with promos redirecting WGPR listeners to Radio One's urban AC station WDMK (whose competition was neutralized by the format shuffle).[4]
On October 26, 2011, WGPR re-launched as Hot 107.5. WIZF alum Big Greg (also known as Buckie Naked) was the first DJ on air, followed by future 106 & Park host Shorty Da Prince on nights and Paigion on mid-days.
The WHTD call letters did not move with the frequency shift; the call letters now belong to an AM radio station in Toccoa, Georgia. WGPR featured the syndicated Rickey Smiley morning show until October 2014, when it was replaced with The Morning Heat, a local show with Big Greg, Foolish, and Deelishis.
In December 2013 Detroit PPM ratings report, WGPR ranked 14th 6+ among subscribing stations, with a 3.6 rating to rival WJLB's 4.2.
End of Urban One LMA
On June 10, 2019, Urban One announced that it would not renew its LMA with WGPR when it expired at the end of 2019. The same day, Beasley Broadcast Group announced that it would acquire WDMK and its Detroit Praise Network stations for $13.5 million.
WGPR is once again run by a staff employed by the Masons. It has remained a Mainstream Urban outlet, competing with WJLB, WMXD, WDMK and WMGC-FM.
