Do you hear that faint signal? That’s the story of WCAR, a station that has echoed through Detroit’s airwaves since May 23, 1961. WCAR began its broadcast journey as WERB in Garden City. It was co-owned with WBRB in Mount Clemens. WERB offered a full service and middle-of-the-road format. The aim was the western suburbs of Wayne County. Milton Maltz, Malrite Communications Group’s founder, was the original owner.
WERB started as a daytimer. It had to sign off at sunset. This was to avoid interfering with other stations on AM 1090. Gil Wuttke served as WERB’s chief engineer and late afternoon DJ around 1964-1965. He played easy listening music.
Around 1966, WERB became WTAK. Malrite still owned it. WTAK was Detroit’s first all-talk radio station. The call sign WTAK stood for TALK. Tom Clay, Vic Caputo, and Paul Winter were among the air staff.
In 1969, Wolpin Broadcasting bought WTAK. In January 1970, WTAK became WIID. It returned to a suburban-oriented MOR format. By late 1973, Big Don Martin, a polka musician, was WIID’s program director. Polish and other ethnic music aired on the station. For years, AM 1090’s programming as WIID and later WCAR consisted of paid brokered programming. These programs were in foreign languages and some English-language talk.
On July 29, 1996, WCAR became the Detroit affiliate for Radio AAHS. This was a nationwide radio network for children. After Radio AAHS closed on January 30, 1998, it aired the Minneapolis-based dance music format Beat Radio. This replaced AAHS overnights on all ten company-owned former AAHS stations.
In the late 1990s, much of WCAR’s programming simulcasted on WOAP 1080 AM in Owosso. The focus was on the Lansing radio market. The two stations aired ethnic brokered programming. They also aired religious content from Michigan Catholic Radio.
In May 2009, WCAR and WOAP were sold to Birach Broadcasting. Michigan Catholic Radio ended its broadcasts on WCAR on July 31, 2009. Birach took over the station. Beginning in 2009, the station aired a syndicated talk format. It featured Imus in the Morning, Brian Kilmeade, Robert Wuhl, Jim Bohannon, and Red Eye Radio. Newscasts came from CNN, Fox News Radio, and MarketWatch.
A new afternoon drive time show featuring Bill Bonds and Rich Fisher debuted on October 3, 2011. The show was canceled in late December 2011. The station considered retooling the talk format. Management decided to go in a different direction.
On February 1, 2012, WCAR switched from talk to all-sports. It featured ESPN Radio programming. The change signified the return of ESPN Radio to the Detroit market.
WCAR began locally produced sports talk programming in April 2012. It started with a one-hour Detroit Red Wings playoff show. That expanded into a daily afternoon drive time program. More local shows were added. The station ran local programming from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. on most weekdays.
The locally produced programming ended abruptly on May 3, 2013. WCAR switched over to 100% syndicated programming. At 10 p.m. on July 12, 2013, ESPN Radio pulled its programming off WCAR. WCAR picked up NBC Sports Radio in its place.
On May 9, 2014, WCAR announced it was switching from NBC Sports Radio to Yahoo! Sports Radio, effective May 12. Yahoo was renamed SB Nation Radio in 2016. On May 7, 2018, the format flipped again to hip hop and R&B music as The Switch. This format was short-lived. WCAR returned to all-sports in early June 2018, again carrying SB Nation Radio.
The station affiliated with Fox Sports Radio in November 2020. Today, WCAR simulcasts WSDS. Through format changes and ownership shifts, WCAR has remained a constant presence. It continues to broadcast from Livonia, Michigan, serving the Metro Detroit radio market. The station now airs a Spanish language format. It is a testament to the evolving soundscape of Detroit.