It's
not exactly an NFL team :-[ but the Cleveland Browns' radio rights have been held by CC/Cleveland since 1999.
http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/2006/12/breaking-news-browns-clear-channel.html"]The contract was recently renewed until 2008, with a 2009 option[/url]. So one can expect to hear more butt-kissing of the Lerner regime by AM home(r) news/talker WTAM/1100. The official flagship is famed but faded rock station WMMS/100.7 - and has been since 2002. WTAM have only been able to carry the games since 1999 once the Indians MLB season (which they also carry) concludes.
Sister station WMJI/105.7 was the flagship from 1999 to 2001. The switch of stations was all about ratings. WMJI has always been at or near the top, but WMMS' ratings were really in the toilet when the move took place. It's not as if the ratings really improved with the move, as early on people would just listen to the games and flee afterwards (with 13 different morning shows since 1994, can you blame them?)
Now, the history: WMMS' original AM sister station, WHK/1420, was the flagship from 1968 to 1984, and then again from the late 80's to 1993. Sometime in the early 80's (if not when WHK-FM evolved into WMMS in 1968) WMMS started simulcasting the games - coincidentally enough, when WMMS was the undisputed #1 station in the market. I even have in my possession a Bud Light/WMMS Browns cardboard face mask - with the iconic Spike MacKensie on one side and the
equally iconic "WMMS Buzzard" on the other.
Prior to WHK's first turn in 1968, WGAR/1220 carried the games for much of the 50's and 60's, if not earlier. Coincidentally, WGAR-AM's successor WKNR/1220 (which was then owned by Cablevision and now operates at AM/850) was the flagship from 1993 to the team's move in 1996. In an odd quirk that would be hard to try now, Independent Group Ltd.-owned WDOK/102.1 (now owned by CBS Radio) had the FM rights.
- Nathan Obral