WBWC'S 65th Anniversary

[johnbasalla]

WBWC 88.3 FM officially signed on-the-air on March 2, 1958. The station is concluding its year-long celebration of 65 years on the air.
In 2023, former and current staff and listeners were asked to suggest the music selections for a list of the 65 songs that have defined the station over the 65 years. As a culminating event, WBWC will broadcast a live special from Noon until 5pm on Sunday 02/25/2024 which will feature as many of those 65 songs as possible, plus more. During WBWC's first 9 years, Rock music was not one of the offerings. So, during the first hour, there will be a tribute to WBWC's early years focusing on Jazz, Theatre/Broadway music, music from the silver screen and some non-Rock Pop (ie: Anita Bryant, The Four Lads) from 1958-1960. Most of these will be from original vinyl discs, from that era, that are in the WBWC music library. Then, we'll get to the songs suggested as the songs that define the station, with the earliest one being from 1969 ("Crystal Blue Persuasion" by Tommy James & The Shondells). These will be played, generally, in chronological order. As befitting a student-run University station, a number of them will be ones that the station staff really liked, and played, a lot that didn't necessarily become huge national hits, such as "Heads Are Gonna Roll" by Straight Lines (1980).

Tune in on WBWC 88.3 FM (Southwest Cuyahoga County and most of Lorain County), on-line @ wbwc.com and at WBWC on the Tune-in app. (Sunday 02/25/24, noon until 5:00 p.m.).

 

[skiwest]

Maybe we'll hear the Liechtensteiner Polka in the first hour.

 

[BruceB]

Is it the oldest FM in the Cleveland area?

 

[johnbasalla]

Is it the oldest FM in the Cleveland area?

WBOE, owned and operated by the Cleveland Board of Education since 1938, moved to 90.3 FM.
WBOE's initial assignment on the new FM "high" band was for 90.1 MHz, however a subsequent reallocation in the fall of 1947 moved the station to 90.3 MHz.[20]During a transition period the FCC allowed stations to simultaneously broadcast on both their old and new assignments, and in July 1948 the Board of Education requested permission to remain on 44.5 MHz "for as long as possible",[21] and from September 1 to the end of the year WBOE was permitted to broadcast on both frequencies.[22] On January 1, 1949, a modified license authorized WBOE to broadcast solely on 90.3 MHz, increasing its transmitter power to 3,000 watts, with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 10,000 watts.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Is it the oldest FM in the Cleveland area?

WMMS is the oldest surviving FM, having signed on in 1946 as WHKX, later WHK-FM.

WBOE signed on as a Apex AM station in 1938, converted to the FM band in 1941, and left the air in 1978, the victim of financial calamity within the Cleveland Board of Education. While not actually correct, media reporting at the time called the present WCLV, which launched as WCPN in 1984, as a continuation of WBOE.