Not Driving To Talk

And another update to an earlier item - Detroit's WDTW/106.7 is not flipping from classic hits/rock "The Drive" to a FM news/talk format, one format that had been earlier considered one possibility for the station by industry observers.

No, "106.7 Needs Help", it now says, with names for a new country music format. So, Detroit doesn't go on the list in our watch of FM stations flipping to news/talk or sports formats, at least not now.

Unless, of course, they're "double stunting" with a temporary country format. We're reminded by a Detroit area resident among our group visiting for the weekend that 106.7 was a long-time country station before flipping to the rock hits format ditched last week. The station's old "W4" name as a country outlet is atop the "names" list on the 106.7 website. (We have a feeling they don't really need any help with the naming, either. Just a guess on our part...)

We also hear that Clear Channel had tried to throw people off during the Detroit stunting...dropping hints of a new rock format called "The Brew", presumably a clone of their similarly-named stations in Columbus and Milwaukee. But, we remember that Clear Channel did the same in reverse when stunting before the debut of Milwaukee's version of "Brew" - dropping all sorts of hints about a liberal talk format with the words "Air America" sprinkled in. (Clear Channel runs FM liberal talker WXXM/92.1 "The Mic" in the nearby Madison WI market.)

There are so many reverses and double reverses in this situation, we can't say for sure what the station will stick with. And radio being what it is, even "permanent" formats have a way of becoming somewhat more temporary than imagined...