WIOT

History

WIOT began as WTOL-FM in October 1949.

WIOT was Toledo's first FM rock station when it went on the air December 25, 1972, replacing a beautiful music/classical format. The call letters stood for "In Our Time". The call letters were in the past WTOL-FM and WCWA-FM.

Buck and O'Connor hosted mornings in the early 80's. Buck McWilliams and Chris O'Connor. They left WIOT to Milwaukee and then Minneapolis.

In the late 1980s The Bob and Brian morning show became the next Toledo favorite. The show left for Milwaukee where they remain to this day, currently at WHQG.

The next morning team that created an impact was The Dawnbusters (known as Jeff and Mark). Jeff provided all of the voices and skits, while Mark kept the shows pace. The show was a major success. In 1994 Jeff and Mark's, Dawnbusters, worried about all the firings in radio at the time, asked for a contract from WIOT. They said, "We don't give contracts here." So Jeff and Mark went to WXKR, who was the last place station at the time. 94.5 WXKR was a station who just upped its power to 30,000 watts and was looking to launch a fight against WIOT with a 100% classic rock format. In one rating book, they took WXKR from last place to first place.

WIOT sued Jeff and Mark because Jeff Lamb had the nerve to take his voices with him. WIOT claimed intellectual property on all of Jeff's character names to stop him from using them. When the dust cleared, Jeff and Mark were number one at WXKR and most of the people involved in the lawsuit from WIOT were gone. Jeff changed a few of the character names, gave them the same voices and all was well.

Other DJs during this time were: Program Director Lyn Casey, Michael Young ("Party Party Party"), Don Davis, Dave Duran, Beckey Shock, Dennis O'Brian, Beth Daniels, & Will Worster.

In 1994 The station hired the "new" Dawnbusters Carlson and Mckenzie. They brought a new life in morning radio for Toledo. Carlson and Mckenzie drew large morning numbers.

After about 2 years Carlson and Mckenzie left for Boston (now on 100.7 WZLX) and new owners Enterprise Media hired back Jeff and Mark.

In 1998 they station was bought by Jacor Media where they tweeked the format (a bit more hard rock) and they inked a deal with syndicated morning show The Bob and Tom Show where it airs to this day.

Around this time new jox were introduced to the listeners. Susan Gates (mid-days), Troy Michaels (7p-12m) and overnights with Grizley Brown. Darrin Arrens became the PD. Darrin and Susan left in 1999.

Don Davis left in 2001 and was replaced by Dave Rossi as PD (from the WAVE-FM in South Carolina). Micki also left and Sherri Vegas became the mid-day jox.

WIOT began to return to its major stranglehold on the Toledo rock ratings.

Rossi left in 2003 to head back to South Carolina. Troy Michaels took over afternoons and Grizley moved up to evenings.

WIOT's studios are located in the Fort Industry Square building on Summit Street in downtown Toledo. Its offices are at Superior and Lafayette in Toledo. The station's transmitter is located at North Wynn and Cedar Point Roads in Oregon, OH. Prior to its home in Fort Industry Square, the station was located at 604 Jackson Street, the site of the former News-Bee building and what is now One Government Center. Their longtime owner was Reams Broadcasting, begun by Fraser Reams Sr. and later by his son, Fraser Junior. Reams also owned WCWA and WTOL-TV and WCWA-FM's transmitter was on WTOL-TV's tower.

WIOT is licensed for HD Radio operations. Its HD2 programming consists of a simulcast of WCWA-AM's Fox Sports Radio format.

Broadcast area

The station serves Toledo and northwest Ohio, but its signal also reaches downtown Detroit, the southern and western suburbs (the latter due to the hills) as well as most of Essex County, Ontario, including Windsor, Ontario and Leamington, Ontario. Under exceptionally good conditions (such as fog), the station's signal can reach Chatham, Ontario. The signal reaches as far south as Marion, Ohio and Bucyrus, Ohio and into Michigan as far north as Flint, Michigan, Lapeer, and Port Huron, Michigan before it starts to interfere with Woodstock, Ontario's CIHR-FM, which is also on 104.7 FM.

The station also experiences regular interference from Geneva, Ohio's WKKY, which is also on 104.7, near the Wheatley, Ontario and Comber, Ontario areas (mostly in the southeastern corner of Essex County).

During 2011, WIOT was also experiencing interference from Detroit repeater W284BQ, which was simulcasting WGPR's The Oasis smooth jazz subchannel on 104.7 MHz. In May 2011, WIOT filed a complaint with the FCC, saying that W284BQ interferes with WIOT in the Michigan portion of their broadcast area. WIOT had also solicited comments and reception reports from listeners in the affected area. Martz Communications Group, which owns the repeater and programs The Oasis, would soon after establish a website, http://www.savetheoasis.com/, which explains the station's position on the issue, stressing that WIOT should not get special treatment on the grounds that it is an Ohio radio station that serves no part of Detroit, though the statement is not exactly true. WIOT's protected contour does serve parts of the Detroit area, in part due to its grandfathered status.

On October 18, 2011, the FCC sided with Clear Channel on the issue, and ordered W284BQ to cease operation immediately. Martz would later apply with the FCC to relocate W284BQ to 93.9, potentially interfering with Windsor, Ontario station CIDR-FM, then later to 93.5, before giving up on the concept altogether.