From 1956 to 1990, the
1440 spot on the AM dial was the home of
WCHB. It was the Detroit area's first radio station to be built from the ground up by, and programmed one hundred per cent to,
African-Americans. WCHB played a
soul music format through the 1960s and 70s. In the late 1970s, the station called itself "Detroit's original
disco music station". In February 1990, WCHB abandoned 1440 for the 1200 kHz frequency licensed to
Taylor, Michigan, a more powerful signal. (That station today is
WMUZ.) At that point, the station on 1440 AM took the
call sign WMKM and began broadcasting
brokered urban gospel and Christian programming aimed at the
African-American community. Eventually the station added a few hours of brokered
Spanish programming during the afternoon hours. The station's owner, Davidson Media Group, specialized in Gospel/Inspirational and Latino formats. In November 2005, the station's call letters temporarily changed to
WRJD to match the new "Rejoice" slogan (
Re
joice
Detroit). The call sign switched back to
WMKM, the following month, and then to
WDRJ in April 2006. In the summer of 2007, Davidson Media sold WDRJ to Communicom Corporation of America (CCA). CCA also owned
WLNO New Orleans, and
KXXT/
KXEG in
Phoenix, Arizona. WDRJ's gospel and Christian talk and teaching format did not change. On October 6, 2014, the call letters returned to
WMKM. At the same time, the station was sold by Communicom to Great Lakes Radio—Detroit, LLC. ==See also==