Wow, Carlos. You're just as scary as I can be sometimes with remembering DJ lineups
That being said, I wouldn't know what's become of any of the hosts cited. There is a "Jennifer J" (Johndro) at WLKR-FM weekends, and has been there for quite a while. The only former WRKG personality who's still on the air in the area is sportscaster Jim Allen, who defected to WEOL in 1990 (which likely came with the sale of the station to Vernon Baldwin).
As for the past studios, WDLW (WRKG's successor) moved out of the Antlers in January of 2002 over to the WOBL studio/tx site, when they came into common ownership. Their one-time FM partner, WZLE/104.9, was bought by CC, became WAKS in 1999 and scooted to Tower City's Skylight Office Tower. While Vernon Baldwin was the owner, plus with the flip to an all-Hispanic format (which worked in many parts of Lorain - just not anywhere else) the studios had become pretty run down - especially towards the end.
Plus, the on-air sound was of pretty awful quality - which the Wilber family clearly took care of. And, Vernon was foolish to market the station towards Cleveland... while it was feasible for WZLE (and later with WAKS and WCLV), the night signal was purely for Lorain. Good luck with that. When WOBL bought the station, the Hispanic format was retained... which made for an amusing disparity of a little-listened to Hispanic station operating in the middle of the countryside. They gave up that November, and the "Kool Kat" was born.
If there is one real downside from WDLW's studios operating at the WOBL tx site, it's that there are occasional bleeding of audio from WOBL's carrier signal onto WDLW's carrier signal. It is infrequent, but is annoying and does lessen the otherwise good quality of the air-sound. They did a good job.
For all I know, that space is still vacant - and wouldn't be surprised, given the awful state that the city is in now. Jon Veard (of Veard Broadcasting) still owns the building after all these years. At least for now. He is planning to sell the building due to the continuious conflicts between him and Lorain's City Council.
Finally, Carlos, maybe you can help with a few questions about WRKG...
* When did the station go to a full-time signal? (Albeit with a whopping 57 watts... but at least it covers all of Lorain, especially with the graveyard channel it's on.) I do know that it was always a daytimer (even under the hidden existence of WWIZ) well into the 80's.
* And, what in the world did WRKG stand for? It couldn't have had anything to do with Veard, the Antlers, or of Lorain. The only thing I can think of is a contraction of the word "working..." but that's it...
- Nathan Obral
