Non-comm. changes

[VintageMac]

I worked at WBOE at the time of its demise. Beginning in December, 1976 NPR programming began part-time with only "All Things Considered" being aired at 5pm. Then beginning on January 1, 1977 Public Radio programming was heard in Morning Drive beginning at 6:00am (a local pre-recorded show) and mostly NPR programming from 5pm until midnight when the station signed off. From 3:30pm-5pm they ran shows that the station got from other sources. If the station would have stayed on the air a few more months in 1978, they would have gotten $50,000 from CPB. The school district was in the middle of a teachers strike in 1978 when the 'plug-was-pulled with the last day of regular over-the-air programming being Saturday, October 7th, 1978. However, WBOE remained active as the 67khz subchannel was being used for the Radio Reading Service. The FCC permitted the station to turn on its transmitter with no modulation so that the Radio Reading Service could continue to broadcast its programming for blind and print impaired persons. This lasted until sometime in 1982. During some of those years, the transmitter was on from 9am to 1pm, and then from 5pm until 9pm. The station was still WBOE throughout that time.

A lot of what you stated is in the Wiki but it mentions that the grant could have been worth $5 million dollars so is that correct?

"The Cleveland school system entered a difficult financial period in the late 1970s, including the need to comply with a major court-mandated desegregation order, which eventually led to it filing for receivership.[28] Due to a teachers' strike, school programming on WBOE did not resume as scheduled in September 1978. The station's final day of regular broadcasting ended at midnight on October 7, 1978, with station manager Jay Robert Klein and Cleveland newspaper journalist Dick Feaglerproviding a pre-recorded eulogy.[29] In his Akron Beacon Journal column the following Wednesday, Feagler noted that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was empowered to award a $5 million (USD) grant to any deserving NPR member station that had a plan to upgrade local program offerings, while the Cleveland Board of Education had hired Lee Frischknecht—the former president of NPR—to find ways to keep WBOE functional; Frischknecht made inquires to both Cleveland Public Radio and to WVIZ as possible groups that could assume operational control of the station.[26] Despite the formal closure of WBOE, the station continued to transmit so as broadcast the Cleveland Radio Reading Service (CRRS) over its 67 kHz Subsidiary Communications Authorization (SCA) subchannel, although unlike its regular programming this could only be received by persons with special receivers."

 

[VintageMac]

I believe their transmitter is on the 107.9 tower. They seem to have a good coverage area for 750 watts. A shame they tend to shy away from playing anything from the 60s and beyond. There are lots of performers from that era that would fit the format - Al Martino, Robert Goulet, Edyie Gorme, Dionne, Warwick, Andy Williams, Henry Mancini, etc., etc. Seems like they will have to do so eventually as the old-timers are dying off.

I looked at the coordinates for WKHR and WENZ and while the towers are fairly close to each other, the WKHR one is west of Sperry Rd. while WENZ is east of Sperry. But in any event, the higher terrain helps both stations reach the Cleveland area.

 

[johnbasalla]

A lot of what you stated is in the Wiki but it mentions that the grant could have been worth $5 million dollars so is that correct?

"The Cleveland school system entered a difficult financial period in the late 1970s, including the need to comply with a major court-mandated desegregation order, which eventually led to it filing for receivership.[28] Due to a teachers' strike, school programming on WBOE did not resume as scheduled in September 1978. The station's final day of regular broadcasting ended at midnight on October 7, 1978, with station manager Jay Robert Klein and Cleveland newspaper journalist Dick Feaglerproviding a pre-recorded eulogy.[29] In his Akron Beacon Journal column the following Wednesday, Feagler noted that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was empowered to award a $5 million (USD) grant to any deserving NPR member station that had a plan to upgrade local program offerings, while the Cleveland Board of Education had hired Lee Frischknecht—the former president of NPR—to find ways to keep WBOE functional; Frischknecht made inquires to both Cleveland Public Radio and to WVIZ as possible groups that could assume operational control of the station.[26] Despite the formal closure of WBOE, the station continued to transmit so as broadcast the Cleveland Radio Reading Service (CRRS) over its 67 kHz Subsidiary Communications Authorization (SCA) subchannel, although unlike its regular programming this could only be received by persons with special receivers."

I wrote some, but not all, of the Wikipedia entry as it is currently constituted. I do not recall any mention of $5 million dollars. I recall $50,000 from CPB. But that would have been only the beginning, I would think. The Lee Frischknect report was about current operations and general ways to improve.

 

[VintageMac]

I wrote some, but not all, of the Wikipedia entry as it is currently constituted. I do not recall any mention of $5 million dollars. I recall $50,000 from CPB. But that would have been only the beginning, I would think. The Lee Frischknect report was about current operations and general ways to improve.

Here is the original article which mentions the grant:

Oct 11, 1978, page 16 - The Akron Beacon Journal at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com

View the digital scanned newspaper from The Akron Beacon Journal dated Oct 11, 1978, page 16.

www.newspapers.com

 

[johnbasalla]

VintageMac, I think the key concept about the $5 million dollars is for any radio station that presents a plan. I don't think that WBOE was in a good position to take the time and money to develop a large plan at that time. The $50,000 was simply based on the benchmark of staying on the air for a certain period of time.

 

[b-turner]

I think the newspaper article may have misquoted on the $5 million. This is a 1978 article. Using an inflation calculator, that $5 million would be almost $21 million today. I suspect the fund was $5 million and a portion doled out to a station with a plan.

 

[Yabadabado1]

I looked at the coordinates for WKHR and WENZ and while the towers are fairly close to each other, the WKHR one is west of Sperry Rd. while WENZ is east of Sperry. But in any event, the higher terrain helps both stations reach the Cleveland area.

WENZ's current antenna must be higher than the one they had back in the late 70s. It may have been easy for those in Cleveland to pick up but SW of them it was sometimes iffy in lower Summit/Medina county. I don't know if the issue has been resolved because I haven't listened to them in ages [music played is not my cup of tea].

 

[VintageMac]

I think the newspaper article may have misquoted on the $5 million. This is a 1978 article. Using an inflation calculator, that $5 million would be almost $21 million today. I suspect the fund was $5 million and a portion doled out to a station with a plan.

The article was not very clear but the point is there was money available in some form but the school district leadership didn't want to deal with the station as there was other issues more prominent at that time like the desegregation order.

 

[VintageMac]

Checking around 8:20 AM, WKSU is on WVIZ 25.7 and WCLV is on 25.8 for tv listening.

 

[johnbasalla]

The article was not very clear but the point is there was money available in some form but the school district leadership didn't want to deal with the station as there was other issues more prominent at that time like the desegregation order.

The other big items were the active teacher's strike and budgetary issues, some of which were brought on, and/or impacted the desegregation order.

 

[skiwest]

WENZ's current antenna must be higher than the one they had back in the late 70s. It may have been easy for those in Cleveland to pick up but SW of them it was sometimes iffy in lower Summit/Medina county. I don't know if the issue has been resolved because I haven't listened to them in ages [music played is not my cup of tea].

I have not listened to 107.9 since the early 70s when it was WELW-FM. Their signal was very good at the time. They must have reduced their power at some point afterwards.

 

[Crazy Monkey]

WKSU likely has a problem in areas of Cuyahoga County where there are strong local FM broadcast towers, like the east side where 92.3 & 95.5 can overload radios, or in Parma. Many of the Cleveland full-power FMs are overloaded on the west side of Akron when driving through Copley, and the HD cuts out on my car radio.

I’m glad I can finally hear WCLV now on a much stronger signal down here in Akron. I prefer classical music over NPR (or the new J6 News Network).

90.3 shows up as “WCLV” on my software defined radio, but it still shows as “WCPN” on my HD radio display.

 

[VintageMac]

90.3 shows up as “WCLV” on my software defined radio, but it still shows as “WCPN” on my HD radio display.

That issue was corrected today as it is showing up correctly on HD radios or non-HD radios using RDS.

 

[MediaLover]

WCLV is the clear winner in the changes. They get to now broadcast out of a much bigger frequency for the first time since 2001, when they signed off on 95.5 for 104.9. With the jazz programming now part of the lineup, it will position the station as a true fine arts station.

 

[Rusty Muck]

I wrote some, but not all, of the Wikipedia entry as it is currently constituted. I do not recall any mention of $5 million dollars. I recall $50,000 from CPB. But that would have been only the beginning, I would think. The Lee Frischknect report was about current operations and general ways to improve.

Are any of those Cleveland Board of Education reports you cited online? Usually when I work with @Sammi Brie on pages we try to go with newspaper records. The Plain Dealer is on NewsBank but the Cleveland Public Library didn’t make access to their entire paper record available for free over CLEVNET, else I would have tried to cite more.

Thomas H. White cited the earliest parts of WBOE’s establishment (it’s been a recurring project of his) and quite a bit of the interregnum between 1978 and 1984 that’s cited came from me when I was working on parts of WKSU’s page. (As an aside, I rebuilt and properly cited the “new” WCPN 104.9 page.)

 

[brian marchand]

As I said I am not happy WCLV decided to add Jazz. I am not in Ohio but I can listen online as there are not many locally programmed classical stations. It is very rare for a new or better classical station to come on the air and so I was excited about it to only be disappointed. After midnight and early morning hours is actually a time I listen a lot because I work second shift. Yes, I can still listen online to WKSU HD3 but after the excitement it is a letdown that the big upgrade is actually a downgrade in programming. I also do not like all the news at the top of each hour and traffic reports so I will probably not be listening as much as I thought I might. It is the little things that make the difference in how enjoyable a station is to listen to. I will stick to stations that have classical music 24-hours a day.

I think stations with 1 format usually get better ratings. That is why almost all commercial stations have 1 format and most NPR stations are dropping dual formats. People want to know what they are going to get when they turn the station. And in this era with multiple options including streaming and satellite radio people can turn your station off if it is not what they were expecting.

I think Public radio stations are about the only radio stations still doing multiple formats on the same frequency. The only other are some religious stations and community stations. Although I think they are finding doing 1 format gets better ratings. A few stations like WCLV may think they will be better off getting money both from people who like classical and people who like jazz. So more donations. WCLV also probably thinks having Jazz only overnights will not affect many people because most people will be asleep. Why even do it then if most people will be asleep. Apparently, WCPN played some Jazz music they did not want to lose. I do not know since I did not listen to WCPN.

 

[b-turner]

From what little I have learned of the classical format, I have been told time and time again the format is an escape listening experience. As one put it, an oasis. The thinking of these programmers is news and other elements that are not related to the music function more as lessening the 'escape' or 'oasis' feel of the station. It seems announcing fine art events, doing the weather forecast especially in AM drive and features that enhance or educate are embraced but little else, These programmers have led me to believe even hourly NPR news and traffic would be a negative. Again, my knowledge is very limited.

I gathered the concept was similar to the thinking of some Christian stations where listeners want a way to be centered on God versus the troubles of the world reported on the news. Those programmers said they dropped news but kept traffic and weather and found their audience liked the lack of news. I noticed the big Contemporary Christian networks are void of newscasts (Air One, K-Love, Way FM and a few others). When I was running a lowly AM doing a blend of 75% family friendly country with 25% Christian Country, dropping news was a good thing. Billed as Kind Country, we did traffic & weather twice hourly and 10 in a row every hour. Successful, not on a partial market AM in a top 10 market but the listeners we had appreciated the more music format.

 

[skiwest]

I'm guessing WCLV is trying to make everyone happy. Hopefully at some point they will realize jazz does not belong there and will move it elsewhere. The logical place would be 90.3 HD2. Here is a suggestion: simulcast WKSU on 90.3 HD2 during the day, then switch to jazz in the evening.

 

[Rusty Muck]

From what little I have learned of the classical format, I have been told time and time again the format is an escape listening experience. As one put it, an oasis. The thinking of these programmers is news and other elements that are not related to the music function more as lessening the 'escape' or 'oasis' feel of the station. It seems announcing fine art events, doing the weather forecast especially in AM drive and features that enhance or educate are embraced but little else, These programmers have led me to believe even hourly NPR news and traffic would be a negative. Again, my knowledge is very limited.

I gathered the concept was similar to the thinking of some Christian stations where listeners want a way to be centered on God versus the troubles of the world reported on the news. Those programmers said they dropped news but kept traffic and weather and found their audience liked the lack of news. I noticed the big Contemporary Christian networks are void of newscasts (Air One, K-Love, Way FM and a few others). When I was running a lowly AM doing a blend of 75% family friendly country with 25% Christian Country, dropping news was a good thing. Billed as Kind Country, we did traffic & weather twice hourly and 10 in a row every hour. Successful, not on a partial market AM in a top 10 market but the listeners we had appreciated the more music format.

WCLV has carried BBC World Service newscasts at 8am, noon and 6pm (a holdover from their 95.5 days!) with the air personalities doing brief newscasts during the morning and afternoon. There’s no overlap now with that setup and the news schedule WKSU offers.

I’d love to find a copy of it, but WCLV ran print ads in 1989 promoting their air staff talking less, a reduction in contests and lifestyle features, to give a greater focus on the music. (“You told WCLV to SHUT UP and play the music! So that’s what we’re doing!”)

 

[Crazy Monkey]

WCLV is also broadcast on WKSU HD3. I love this idea since 90.3 is somewhat spotty on the west side of Akron due to overload from WZIP/WKSU/WQMX/WONE. It fills in a small gap. My car radio has HD, but I know many do not. But for those who do, it helps expand WCLV’s coverage a bit, including the WKSU repeaters in Wooster, New Philadelphia, Thompson, and Norwalk.