is a
Hard Rock radio station in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , broadcasting at 93.3 MHz
FM . The station is one of the most recognized
Rock Music stations in the
United States . Among its listeners, it usually is referred to simply as "MMR".
WMMR is held in very high esteem by its loyal listening audience and by many rock music bands and musicians for its influential role in American rock music and its longevity as one of the nation's most influential rock music stations. It is widely recognized as the leading rock station in one of the nation's most important rock music markets, though it does have several rock-format competitors in the city.
''
Rolling Stone '' magazine, in its annual ranking of best rock music stations, has consistently ranked WMMR among the top such station in the nation and several times as the best such station.
WMMR's tag line, which appears on station advertising and is mentioned periodically by station DJs, is: "'MMR rocks" and, sometimes, "'MMR rocks Philadelphia."
was the initial broadcaster at this frequency, starting on
April 20 ,
1942 . It
Simulcast its
WIP-AM twin's programming, which was
Middle Of The Road (MOR) music.
The station changed its
Call Letters to sometime around
1966 ; they signified the station's owner,
MetroMedia Radio . The MOR
Format was still being used, but with different programming than the AM side, although the AM
Disc Jockey s' announcements were used for both stations.
Beginning in
1968 WMMR began adopting a
Progressive Rock radio format, similar to that of several
Metromedia -owned stations including
New York 's
WNEW-FM (these two stations had a close relationship, ran the similar promotions, and sometimes featured each other's
Disc Jockey s on the air).
WMMR's most influential disc jockey during the , still a local radio personality and host of the syndicated
World Cafe , and
Nick Spitzer , now a
New Orleans resident and host of
American Routes . John DeBella was the morning drive disc jockey of most note, while some WMMR jocks such as
Dave Herman and
Carol Miller would later became more famous on New York stations. Late 1970s morning and midday personality Dick Hungate would in 1981 create and implement the nation's first
Classic Rock format at another Philadelphia station.
As with almost all progressive rock radio stations, over time WMMR morphed into an
Album-oriented Rock format, and in the early 1990s leaned towards
Classic Rock .
Throughout its existence, WMMR has broadcast live rock music shows and interviewed leading rock music stars. In addition to the huge role it played in expanding the mainstream audience of Springsteen, Billy Joel, and Yes, the station has helped elevate many other leading rock bands. It was one of the first East Coast stations to play acts such as the
Grateful Dead ,
U2 , and
Van Halen . The station also has featured local, Philadelphia-area rock music acts, such as
The Hooters and
George Thorogood , helping promote them to national status within the music industry. The station also has heavily promoted the
Grunge Rock band
Pearl Jam ; at 10pm every night during the week it plays a set of Pearl Jam songs in what the station calls "The
Ten Club." While Pearl Jam is known as a Seattle band, WMMR was one of the stations that gave it broad, East Coast exposure and played a role in the band's breakthrough popularity. It is a very popular WMMR segment among listeners.
WMMR currently programs itself as a
Mainstream Rock station, to complement co-owned
WMGK 's classic rock format, which more typically plays classic rock from the 1970s and caters to a slightly older demographic.
The Philadelphia rock radio landscape changed drastically in the year 2005, when most of the stations that competed with WMMR for listeners changed formats. One of WMMR's primary competitors was
WYSP , which broadcasts at 94.1 MHz FM. WYSP played more
Heavy Metal rock music than WMMR. However, with the departure of
Howard Stern in January of 2006, WYSP was changed to the
Hot Talk -based
Free FM format by parent company
CBS Radio . This made
WYSP an all-talk station during the daytime, although the station still plays rock at night. Though the stations still tend to attract from the same demographic,
WYSP 's current format means it can no longer properly be considered a competitor of WMMR.
Y100 was another competitor to WMMR, but it too disappeared in 2005 when it was replaced at the 100.3 frequency with
WPHI .
The station also competes in the Philadelphia marketplace with sister station
WMGK , which broadcasts at 102.9 MHz FM. WMGK plays
Classic Rock , though its listening demographic tends to be older than that of WMMR and WYSP.
- Various Shifts - Jack Myers
- Various Shifts - Jay Gleason
- Various Shifts - Kelly Nova
- Various Shifts - Markus
- Various Shifts - Robin Lee
- Various Shifts - Gina
- Various Shifts - Razz
- Weekdays 12PM to 1PM - Workforce Blocks
- Every Tuesday All Day - Double Shot Tuesday
- Every Day - Music Marathons
- Weekdays 10:40AM to 11:15AM - Coffee Break Music Marathon
- Every Friday 10:30AM - Weekend Calendar
