• 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

Hello From Philly

M

musicrrrr

Guest
A couple of us in The Philadelphia board were trying to figure out the history of 850 and 1420 in Cleveland since Allen Freed and Mad Daddy were involved in early Rock And Roll in Cleveland, and I believe these were the two stations from which they broadcasted...so why not go to the source and ask the Cleveland experts!

It is my belief that during the days of Mad Daddy, WHK was 1420. But wasn't WHK also 850 at one time during the early Rock N' Roll period?

And when did these changes occur?

I know that within the last few years...adult standards were moved from 850 to 1420 but during the recent adult standard days of 850, weren't the call letters WRDR?

I would be interested to know if someone had this information...and how and when the letters WRDR surfaced.

Thanks
 
> A couple of us in The Philadelphia board were trying to
> figure out the history of 850 and 1420 in Cleveland since
> Allen Freed and Mad Daddy were involved in early Rock And
> Roll in Cleveland, and I believe these were the two stations
> from which they broadcasted...so why not go to the source
> and ask the Cleveland experts!
>
> It is my belief that during the days of Mad Daddy, WHK was
> 1420. But wasn't WHK also 850 at one time during the early
> Rock N' Roll period?
>
> And when did these changes occur?
>
> I know that within the last few years...adult standards were
> moved from 850 to 1420 but during the recent adult standard
> days of 850, weren't the call letters WRDR?
>
> I would be interested to know if someone had this
> information...and how and when the letters WRDR surfaced.
>
> Thanks


AM 850 Was never WHK..Brief history of WJW Radio:

1926 On the air in Mansfield, Ohio
1932 WJW moves from Mansfield to Akron-1210 AM on the dial
1943 The station is bought and moved to Cleveland Frequency moved to 850 AM

November 1954-Sold to Storer, which already owns WXEL-TV 8 (changed to WJW-TV)

1976 Storer sells WJW to Erie Broadcasting

1986 Erie sells WJW to Booth Broadcasting of Detroit which changes calls to WRMR-850 and adopts "soft Rock" format

1988-Music Of Your Life format premieres on WRMR

2000 Station sold to Salem-Which switches WKNR-1220's Sports talk Format over to 850 along with the WKNR call letters-Part of a larger series of transactions which involved Clear Channel, Salem, and Seaway (WCLV)

changes made: (Current Ownership)

WHK 1420-WCLV-AM (Seaway-Now Salem again as WHK)
WCLV FM 95.5-WFHM (Salem)
WTOF 98.1-WKDD (Clear Channel)
WAKS 104.9-WCLV-FM (Seaway)
WKNR 1220-WHK-AM (Salem-WHKW 1220)
WRMR 850-WKNR (Salem)
WKDD 96.5-WAKS (Clear Channel)

1420 History

1921-2000 WHK Calls
2000 Changed to WCLV-AM then WRMR-Last year, Seaway sold the station back to Salem, which has been running conservative talk With the WHK calls once again-At this time 1220 WHK became WHKW

Much of this information came from a Cleveland Broadcast History site which while it is pretty good, is not updated nearly as often as it should be.

http://www.cleve-radio.org/

A Radio-Info search on some of these call letters should give more info, particularly on the Cleveland Radio swap of 2000..


WRDR was never calls for 850..think you meant WRMR-Hope this helps you some there in Philly
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by TimL on 12/29/05 03:27 PM.</FONT></P>
 
>
> 1921-2000 WHK Calls
> 2000 Changed to WCLV-AM then WRMR-Last year, Seaway sold the
> station back to Salem, which has been running conservative
> talk With the WHK calls once again-At this time 1220 WHK
> became WHKW
>

It's interesting that the 1220 frequency at one time carried the WHK call letters (or vice versa? haha), since 1220 was WKNR at one time (and who can forget WGAR-AM before that), and 850 is of course now WKNR. Which used to be WRMR. Which was WJW before that. I have a headache.

Thank goodness 1100 is WTAM, which is right (near) where they kicked it off in the 20s.
 
> A couple of us in The Philadelphia board were trying to
> figure out the history of 850 and 1420 in Cleveland since
> Allen Freed and Mad Daddy were involved in early Rock And
> Roll in Cleveland, and I believe these were the two stations
> from which they broadcasted...so why not go to the source
> and ask the Cleveland experts!
>
> It is my belief that during the days of Mad Daddy, WHK was
> 1420. But wasn't WHK also 850 at one time during the early
> Rock N' Roll period?

No. WHK was on 1420 since the NARBA realignment in 1941. WJW was on 850 since the same time.

Alan Freed was on WJW from 1951 to 1954, when he left for New York and WINS. He was never on WHK.

Mad Daddy was on WJW from Jan 1958 to about May 1958 (as both Pete Myers daytime, and the Mad Daddy nighttime), when he went to WHK. He left WHK in 1959, also for NYC.

> And when did these changes occur?
>
> I know that within the last few years...adult standards were
> moved from 850 to 1420 but during the recent adult standard
> days of 850, weren't the call letters WRDR?

WRMR. They came about in 1986 when Lake Erie Communications sold WJW 850. The new owners (Booth Broadcasting) changed the calls to coincide with a soft rock, and later, Music of Your Life format premiering on the station.
 
>
> Alan Freed was on WJW from 1951 to 1954, when he left for
> New York and WINS. He was never on WHK.

A note of interest on Freed..According to a Classic Radio board listing from September, 1946, Freed was on WAKR-1590 in Akron before WJW<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by TimL on 12/29/05 04:09 PM.</FONT></P>
 
Freed's pre-WJW days

> >
> > Alan Freed was on WJW from 1951 to 1954, when he left for
> > New York and WINS. He was never on WHK.
>
> A note of interest on Freed..According to a Classic Radio
> board listing from September, 1946, Freed was on WAKR-1590
> in Akron before WJW

Not only that, but Freed was also on WXEL TV 9/Cleveland before he came to WJW--at the time, NOT co-owned Storer facilities. The TV was; radio was still the O'Neil family venture.

(I forget the details now, but I think it was a way of getting around a WAKR non-compete, which prevented him from working in radio in a 50 mile radius or something. TV certainly was not radio, so all Freed did was move his radio show to TV.)

Freed hosted a dance party type show, with live R&B and pop records and whatnot, direct from the Parma studios. He was, in a sense, not only the first rock 'n roll DJ, but also the first VJ (pre-dating Dick Clark).

It didn't last very long, and he was the Moondogger shortly thereafter.
 
Re: Freed's pre-WJW days

Alan Freed went to Salem High School (outside of Youngstown) and worked at WKBN in the 40s, as well.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom