WRIF, the nation’s hot rock station at the time was not originally to be called WRIF, but WDAI-FM (Detroit Automobile Industry).
WDAI was assigned to Chicago’s WLS-FM, but eventually ended up being used by a radio station in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.
September 21, 1970 – The Original Applications
WXYZ-FM was supposed to become WDAI. WABC-FM was supposed to become WRIF. The FCC inadvertently reversed those two assignments, giving WXYZ-FM the WRIF-FM calls and WLS-FM the WDAI calls.
March 8, 1971 – But, then, look what was finally approved.
The WDAI/WRIF mix-up was real, and it wasn’t simply a later historian confusing which station wanted which call.
In the case of Chicago, ABC had actually requested WXAI for Chicago’s WLS-FM, not WDAI. Yet the FCC ultimately gave WLS-FM WDAI.
Confused? I bet the station’s management were also.
Finally, on Valentine’s Day, 1971, it became official.
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