We are 90.9 WRCJ. We are Classical and Jazz.
WRCJ is Detroit’s ONLY classical and jazz radio station. Now celebrating more than 15 years on the air, we are a listener-supported public radio station licensed to Detroit Classical and Jazz Educational Radio, LLC., and managed by Detroit Public Television and the Detroit Educational Television Foundation Board of Trustees. The station is located inside the Detroit School of Arts, a public high school training young people for careers in performing, visual and media arts.
WRCJ broadcasts classical music from 5 am to 7 pm each day and jazz overnight. WRCJ’s weekday classical music is The Morning Show (6a-10a) and Dr. Dave’s Drive-Time Elixir (3p-7p), hosted by Dave Wagner. Midday Music (10a-3p) is hosted by Peter Whorf. Classical weekends are hosted by Classical24 hosts. The WRCJ Jazz host on Fridays is Maxine Michaels (Maxology from 7-11p), John Penney on Saturdays (JazzFest Detroit from 7-10p), and Linda Yohn on Sundays (The Swing Set from 7-9p). Throughout the other jazz hours, listeners enjoy music presented by John Hill, Dave Schwan, Leslie Keros and Dee Alexander from Jazz Satellite Network.
WRCJ’s vision is to provide an unparalleled selection of classical and jazz music programs to entertain listeners and increase music literacy. Additionally, the Station is committed to partnering with cultural and educational institutions to help them achieve their goals.
Our Mission
– Present the world’s best classical and jazz music
– Provide musical experiences for people of all ages
– Connect artists and arts organizations with greater audiences
– Encourage people to attend live concerts and events
– Promote arts education
WRCJ receives no ongoing funding from the State of Michigan, City of Detroit or Detroit Classical and Jazz Educational Radio, LLC. The primary source of our annual operating budget is voluntary contributions from listeners like you. Thank you!
90.9 WRCJ FM is a 501 (c)(3) organization located at 123 Selden St., Suite 250, Detroit, MI 48201. 313.494.6410 or 90.9@dptv.org. Connect with us on Facebook.
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Hello WRCJ! I have to say I’m so very grateful for this station and am a faithful, daily listener. WRCJ is my go-to radio station and has been since I discovered it upon moving to Detroit two years ago. I’m a millennial and come from a family of classical musicians and although I love multiple genres, I’ve had an underlying love of classical music my entire life and never been a passive listener. Even so, your station has truly served to educate me on how to listen better and notice so much more without me even realizing it until recently. Previously, Tchaikovsky was one of the most satisfying composers to me for his melodies and, though I still love his music, listening to WRCJ all day on my in-home radio and as I drive, along with attending every possible DSO concert at Orchestra Hall, my ear for all sorts of musical devices, technicality and musical comprehension has developed tremendously. Your station has only intensified my love for and understanding of classical music, and I would be one sad person if it ever went away. Thank you so very much for your devotion to your listeners, to great music, and for combining those passions into this station.
Thank you for leaving us this wonderful message Meredith. It’s nice to know we’ve helped deepen your love of classical music. We appreciate that you tune in each day!
Hi – May I please know why jazz has been late starting lately? I really look forward to 7pm.
Thank you,
Natalie
Sorry about that Natalie, we will monitor the start time more closely.
Recently relocated to Michigan (from a ten-year stint in Texas) and once again I am a loyal listener to your station. Am puzzled by your on-air staff’s use of the phrase “on the radio”. It’s either redundant (I had to turn on a radio to get your signal) or just an odd convention. Any background on this that I missed whilst out of town?
Feel free to reply via email or phone (248-884-9231)
Hello,
I am a long-time listener but have lost interest in the Bach Lunch although a cleaver ideal. I preferred the Midday lunches where you featured different artist each day. I look forward to listening each day at lunch. But I feel like I’m being served the same thing every day. I feel the Bach although great it is not easy listening, its complicated music. At Lunch I am trying to relax for a bit in the middle of my day and find myself searching for something more relaxing than Bach again.
Hello listener, sorry to hear you’ve gotten tired of it. It seemed like we couldn’t go wrong with Bach. Thanks for the feedback, we will keep that in mind.
Re: Need a Change’s comments about Bach’s Lunch,
For me, listening to something by Bach each day isn’t getting old. I can’t imagine it ever will, and I couldn’t agree more that “[you] couldn’t go wrong with Bach.” But I also enjoyed the Midday Lunch (both music AND recipes!), so … whatever – I’ll be listening when I can.
Thanks for the feedback Don! It’s nice to hear you enjoy it.
We used to be able to walk in to the record stores, hum a few bars of a piece of music to the knowlegeable folks and they could tell us what it was. Do you know of any places or apps that provide that service? Thank you for any info.
Hello Bree, Dearborn Music is one of the few brick and mortar music stores still around that we know of. Perhaps they could help you. For identifying music you could also use the app Shazam. Although, not sure if it could identify a piece just from you humming it… but you could try.
Who was the artist performing “Old Devil Moon” on Thursday 10/7 between 11:00-11:15pm – Mr. T
Hi Dave, that was Vincent Herring doing “Old Devil Moon”. It was from his album “Preaching To The Choir”.
Awesome, CJAM has it in the current on-air library. Hope to spin it on my show soon!
Oh, you are at another radio station and you listen to WRCJ? Is that allowed? (we won’t tell anyone)
What happened to BirdNote which you would play at 12 noon? My sister and I always enjoyed listening to it.
Hello Robert, it was hard to include BirdNote while our hosts were broadcasting remotely for a time during the pandemic and then Peter decided to try out some new features on his show. Here is the BirdNote website if you want to see what the latest is: https://www.birdnote.org/
Hey there! Today I started my car right in the middle of an announcement that was I think about an upcoming carillon concert. My folks are big carillon fans and we’re on the hunt for socially distant concert opportunities! Do you happen to have any more details handy? Thanks as always for all you do for our community.