Wednesday, 4 February 2005 :: 12:12 pm

106.7 The Drive becomes 'The Fox' country

PHOTO COURTESY OF WWW.FOXSPACELIVE.COM

DETROIT, MI -- 106.7 FM has changed formats again!! The radio station has switched from 'The Drive' with rock and roll to 'The Fox' with country music. They will be in direct competition with 99.5 WYCD. 'The Fox' is owned by the same company that operates 102.9 W4 Country in Ann Arbor.

106.7 'The Fox' has asked it's listeners to decide everything. Friday, May 19th at 3 p.m. the radio station made it's official switch from rock to country. They were playing one rock song and one country song from 11 a.m. until about 3 p.m. that day when it all became country.

As 106.7 The Drive, the radio station struggled with ratings. Detroit has a lot of rock stations including 101.1 WRIF, 105.1 WMGC, 94.7 WCSX, among others. After coming in 19th place in the Arbitron ratings, Clear Channel Detroit said we had enough. It became time to make some changes at 12 Mile Rd. and Halsted.

When the station formally switched to country, they asked the listeners to be in control. They started the web sitewww.1067needshelp.com. They asked the listeners what the station should be named. They asked us what the logo should look like. They asked who the voiceover talent should be. They asked us how much commercials to play.

Everyone voted for the logo that you see above. Everyone voted for 50 minutes of music and less than 10 minutes of commercials. Now, the station wants us to choose the songs that they should play. You can visit their web site or give them a call at (248)-848-1000 and let them know!!

I believe that this station will do very well. They have let the people tell them how the station should be operated. When people get to choose, you will do well. The people will want to listen if they get to choose the music. It is if requests are being played all day long. Even today, the station tries as much as possible to honor song requests.

106.7 The Fox has began hiring it's air staff. The first disc jockey to be employed was Rob Gramm who works the 7 p.m. to midnight shift. Secondly, the mid-day shift went to Ericka Lynn, a hometown girl from Wixom. The third position to be named was the afternoon drive which went to Scott Gaines. The most recent announcement was the morning drive host which went to Rick Miller. For each of the positions, listeners were asked to listen to sound bites and choose the best one. The candidate who received the most votes became the DJ that you hear on air today.

Previous to being The Drive, 106.7 was named 'Alice.' From 1981 to 1999, 106.7 was home to the old W4 Country. They did very successful until 1999. Their advertising revenue was slipping and they pulled the plug and became Alice 106.7. Meanwhile, W4 Country moved to Ann Arbor at around the same time at it's current home of 102.9 FM.

While at the Downtown Hoedown in May, I noticed that 106.7 The Fox was running banners through the sky. If you looked up, I'm sure you had to see them. They were directing people to visit the web site, 1067needshelp. I also noticed that some people were passing out bumper stickers for the new station. Although, I never got one.

We would like to welcome 106.7 The Fox to Detroit. Here's to being a successful radio station....Country music has returned to 106.7 FM!!!!!!