Frequency 1480 kHz | First air date 1963 | |
 | ||
City Salem Township, Michigan Broadcast area [1] (Daytime)
[2] (Nighttime) Branding La Explosiva (The Explosive in English) Slogan ¡La que se escribe con Rojo! (in Spanish) The one that is written in Red! (in English) | ||
WSDS is a radio station in Superior Charter Township, Michigan, that broadcasts at 1480 kHz. Known as "La Explosiva," WSDS carries an all-Spanish schedule featuring contemporary music from a wide variety of genres, most notably Regional Mexican but also including romantica, Spanish rock, salsa, Hurban, and reggaeton. The station prides itself on being the only 24-hour Spanish-language radio station on traditional analog radio serving the Detroit area (although WYCD features a Spanish Contemporary format called "Muevete" on one of its HD side channels). WSDS previously had a classic country music format until its sale to Birach Broadcasting from Koch Broadcasting.
WSDS began broadcasting in 1963 as WYSI (Ypsilanti), airing a Top 40 format; by 1966, the station had switched to country music format. In 1968, WSDS adopted a new strategy of focusing on the western suburbs of Detroit, using the slogan "We Serve Detroit's Suburbs" and sending its broadcasting van to events in the area; this focus faded away by 1980. By the early 2000s, "Suds" was still playing country music but had become a classic country station out of necessity, since major record labels were no longer supplying the station with current product. Weekends included specialty programming in Chinese and Spanish, as well as some classic rock and roll oldies.
"La Explosiva" was born in July 2001 when Alex Resendez and Rafael Barrios, two local Mexican-American radio personalities, leased time on WSDS for three hours of Regional Mexican music programming weekly. By 2005, the station, by then sold to ethnic broadcaster Sima Birach, was airing five hours of "La Explosiva" programming six days a week, and in June of that year, "La Explosiva" became a 24-hour format over WSDS.
As of February 2011, the format was simulcasted to WWCS in Pittsburgh but on January 1, 2012 the format changed to Fox Sports Radio. [4]
In April 2012, Birach sold WSDS, pending FCC approval, to Vazquez Broadcasting. The sale was consummated on July 1, 2013, at a price of $1.45 million.