-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
WHK change-up
- Thread starter johnbasalla
- Start date
Well there is Ideastream, which has both WKSU and WCLV under its banner, the local consortium that runs WCCR 1260 The Rock, and all the college stations.
But overall, the Cleveland market is basically in national hands:
iHeart has 7 stations (WTAM, WARF, WAKS, WGAR, WMMS, WMJI, WHLK)
Audacy has 4 (WKRK, WNCX, WDOK, WQAL )
Urban One has 4 (WJMO, WERE, WZAK, WENZ)
Salem has 3 (WHKW, WHK, WFHM)
Good Karma has 1 (WKNR...not counting the ghost of WWGK 1540)
Moody Radio has 1 (WCRF)
That's 20 stations owned by 6 national companies
Now if you stretch things out a bit, we have some local ownership:
Rubber City has 3 stations (WAKR, WQMX, and WONE), along with the Klaus family owned WNIR which are all Akron market stations. Elyria/Lorain Broadcasting with WEOL, and the Tollett family who owns WDLW and WOBL all focus on Lorain County, and Spirit Broadcasting, which runs the Lake County focused WINT 1330
Rubber City also has WNWV
Thanks for sharing. Dennis Prager is 'kind of a professor' as he has the active "PragerU" website which, each week, adds a new short, easy-to-take, 5 minute video that focuses on America, Americanism, freedom, plus better ways to proceed on a variety of issues. Most of the videos are not hosted by him. I've donated to "PragerU". Listening to his radio show, I've learned a fair amount about Israel from Dennis that I, otherwise, would not have known. I don't perceive Mr. Prager as "believing his own f's". He is a deep thinker, sophisticated and serious, yet he has a focus on the importance of happiness (Fridays 1:06-2pm). He doesn't insult callers. It's ok for you not to enjoy his show, particularly if you've given it a fair chance recently. However, I think he is the best radio talk show host, by far, that there is today. He comes up with takes that no one else comes up with.
Even if they had kept the Music of Your Life affiliation and associated playlists, it would not have solved the many problems WRMR faced ratings-wise. They were in the basement of the 25-54 demo throughout the 1990s despite repeated impressive showings in the 12+ topline; WDOK was the real breadwinner all along. Conrad cannot be faulted for taking 1420 AM in the direction they did, as it worked for WCLV in the classical field. It just didn't work out.
Sad fact of the matter is, adult standards was dying as a format even in 2001. It's a miracle that 1420 AM lasted as long as it did, and TBH, Conrad would have been better off having that signal as a WCLV simulcast anyway. But he wanted to do a good deed.
I'd say so; they might have some assorted Salem-produced talk programming left on the schedule but it's very minimal and in fringe time slots. (For interests of disclosure, I personally know one of the hosts who leases airtime on WHKW.)
The problem with 1420 (along with 1260 and 1300) is that the night signal much to the east of University Heights is dreadful. Of course, when they were built at their current levels after WW II, the "well to do" had a long country drive out to The Mayfield Club and kids going to Hawken in Lyndhurst had a 45 minute drive from Shaker Heights... so there as no real need for a bigger signal.
WHK and WHKW are both stations that have brokered programming. 1420 became the new home for many shows after WERE switched with WJMO in 2007. That lead to a mass exodus of shows from WERE to WHK.
Even in 1950, the Akron Beacon Journal criticized WERE's signal when they picked up the Cleveland Indians rights and all but pressured WAKR to become an affiliate the following year.
From March 7, 1950:
I have no respect for Mike Gallagher after I heard a show that he did a few years ago after the Dixie Chicks' anti-Bush remarks. He played a tape of a statement by Natalie Maines defending the remark and dubbed in her giggling from some other recording unrelated to the statement. Then accused her of giggling through the statement. I heard the statement on two other sources and there were no giggles. Shameful.
The second booster was activated last week and is transmitting from the WKYC tower. I noticed considerable improvement in reception while driving on I-90 east of Clague.
Here is more info:
radioink.com
How Big Was WKSU's MaxxCasting Ratings Boost? - Radio Ink
Kent State's WKSU-FM, a non-commercial public radio station in Cleveland, Ohio, had a signal problem. The operator, Ideastream Public Media, had consolidated NPR signals and that left some in the metro outside of the broadcast area.
radioink.com
WHK just SOUNDS HORRIBLE recently. This is not a comment on the programming, but the actual sound quality I hear
Compare it to other talk stations like WTAM, WKNR, WCCR. Or even WHKW! All of those sound full and rich. With good voice fidelity.
However WHK now sounds extremely thin, honky and a little distorted. And I have tried it on a range of receivers from clock radios to hi fi and car stereos.
It's like listening to a speakerphone. And if I remember correctly they never sounded that bad - I'd listen on Saturday nights for the old time radio play reruns.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the ongoing work to diplex WCCD 1000 on WHK's towers?
Compare it to other talk stations like WTAM, WKNR, WCCR. Or even WHKW! All of those sound full and rich. With good voice fidelity.
However WHK now sounds extremely thin, honky and a little distorted. And I have tried it on a range of receivers from clock radios to hi fi and car stereos.
It's like listening to a speakerphone. And if I remember correctly they never sounded that bad - I'd listen on Saturday nights for the old time radio play reruns.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the ongoing work to diplex WCCD 1000 on WHK's towers?
I know their nighttime signal is not very good. On the west side at night, it sounds like an out-of-town station.
The guy who does the sports talk show on Sunday night needs to upgrade his equipment. He is hard to understand at times. Maybe he does the show from his basement.
The guy who does the sports talk show on Sunday night needs to upgrade his equipment. He is hard to understand at times. Maybe he does the show from his basement.
Last edited:
OK. With areas like Berea, Middleburg Heights, North Olmsted, and Strongsville in the main part of the signal, there still is other station interference, sometimes alarmingly so at night.
Strange. I was well within their signal pattern back when they were stereo AM playing oldies. They were always fading in and out with other stations.
The original switch of WKNR to 850 was always baffling to me. Yeah you can pick up 850 during the day in Columbus but was it really that much better of a signal to have than 1220? 850 at night is dreadful.
850’s night pattern is essentially unchanged from the early 1940s when WJW was moved up north from Akron (the rebuilding of the tower site in 1998–99 kept the same signal strength but with a minimal power reduction to 4,700 watts). It’s directional to protect KOA and first-adjacents WHAS and CJBC but somehow manages to cover much of Cuyahoga County. Suburbs are out of luck, however.
With the way 1220’s signal has degraded in recent years, however, it feels more like a lateral move in retrospect.
- Status