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WTAM is an AM radio station in Cleveland, Ohio broadcasting on 1100 kHz with 50,000 watts. Its transmitter is located in Brecksville, Ohio. It is a class A clear channel station, sharing the frequency with KFAX (formerly KJBS) in San Francisco, and can be heard, particularly at night, over most of the eastern U.S. It is owned by Clear Channel Communications, and uses the on-air nickname "The Big One." WTAM has a news/talk format, carrying syndicated talkers Rush Limbaugh and Jerry Springer, and local talker Mike Trivisonono. It currently broadcasts the Cleveland Indians and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and shares broadcasts of the Cleveland Browns with WMMS.

History

Early Years

WTAM is one of the many stations awarded licenses between April 1922 and April 1923 that were given call four letter callsigns beginning with "W" in sequence with "A" fixed as the third letter (i.e. WAAB, WAAC, WAAD... WBAB, WBAC... etc. ), some of the others being WAAF (now WNTD) Chicago, WBAA West Lafayette, Ind., WBAP Fort Worth, WBAX Wilkes-Barre, WCAT (now KWSN) Rapid City, WCAO Baltimore, WCAU (now WPHT) Philadelphia, WDAE (now WHNZ) Tampa, WDAF (now KCSP) Kansas City, WDAY Fargo, WEAF (now WFAN) New York City, WEAN (now WSKO) Providence, WFAA (now KLIF) Dallas, WHAS Louisville, WJAG Norfolk, Neb., WKAR East Lansing, Michigan, WLAC Nashville, WMAL Washington, WMAQ (now WSCR) Chicago, WNAC (now WMKI) Boston, WNAX, Yankton, S.D., WOAI San Antonio, WQAM Miami, and WTAW College Station, Texas 1.

WTAM began broadcast operations on September 26, 1923. It was originally owned by S.E. Lawrence and Theodore Willard, in the name of the Willard Storage Battery Company. The station only offered three hours of nightly programming, but soon expanded its on-air lineup. Studios were located at East 131st and Taft Avenue. By June 30, 1924, WTAM was broadcasting with 1000 watts and sharing the 770 kHz frequency with WJAX 2.

WJAX had signed on earlier in 1922, owned by the Union Trust Co. In 1924 it was known as the "Wave from Lake Erie." Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. purchased WJAX in 1925 and changed to the callsign to WEAR. Finally, Willard Battery purchased WEAR to have control of shared frequency allocation.

WTAM was the first radio station to broadcast coverage of a political convention, when it covered the 1924 Republican Convention at Cleveland's Public Auditorium. The station's power increased to 2500 watts in 1925 and to 3500 watts in 1926 as it expanded its on-air lineup. WTAM studios were moved to the Union Trust Building (now the Huntington Building). By June 30, 1927, WTAM and WEAR had moved to 750 kHz with WTAM broadcasting with 3500 watts 3. The January 31, 1928 Radio Service Bulletin of the Commerce Department 4 listed WTAM broadcasting with 3500 watts at night and 5000 watts during the day.

Becomming A Clear Channel Giant

After Willard Battery threatened to close the station,WTAM and WEAR were sold to the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. (now part of FirstEnergy) and the Van Sweringen brothers on May 31, 1928. In a statement announcing the purchase, the new owners declared, "Recorgnizing the fact that this radio station is a civic asset to the Grater Cleveland district and that the cessation of its operation would be a real loss, the Van Sweringen interests and the Illuminating Co. entered into arrangements to continue it. Every effort will be made to maintain the station on a plane which will make it of maximum value to the community." On June 30, 1928 WTAM and WEAR were sharing the frequency at 750 kHz 5

With the passage of the Radio Act of 1927 and the creation of the Federal Radio Commission, clear channels were established. WTAM along with sister station WEAR claimed the clear channel frequency allocated to Cleveland and began to broadcast at 1070 kHz with WTAM broadcasting at 50,000 watts.6. In 1929 WTAM built two broadcast towers in Brecksville, Ohio, each 200 feet high.

The NBC Years

With its national prominence as a clear channel powerhouse established, WTAM became a valuable radio property. On October 16, 1930, the NBC purchased WTAM, and the studios were moved to the Auditorium Building. The station became a major link in the NBC Red Network.

In 1933 Gene Carroll and Glenn Rowling brought their vaudeville humor to radio with the Gene and Glenn show. They created the characters "Jake & Lena." Their program aired for several years in the 1930s and WTAM originated the program for nationwide braodcast on the NBC Red Network.

NBC began to make substantial investments to station facilities in the 1930s. In 1937 a new tower was built in Brecksville which was 480 feet tall. That tower is still in use today 0. In 1937 or 1938, the station moved to 815 Superior Avenue, and the building was renamed the NBC building. (The building is known today as the Superior Building.)

On March 29, 1941, WTAM like most stations in the country changed its broadcast frequency. WTAM moved from 1040 to 1100 kHz, maintaining its clear-channel status.

On March 19, 1946, Bob Hope brought his Tuesday night 10 p.m. Pepsodent radio show to Cleveland along with Jerry Colonna, Frances Langford and the Skinnay Ennis Orchestra for a broadcast on the NBC radio network. Guests included Ohio Governor Frank Lausche.

In October 1948, WTAM broadcast the World Series games of the Cleveland Indians against the Boston Braves. Announcers were Jim Britt and Mel Allen.

NBC also expanded its broadcasting interests in Cleveland beyond AM radio. On October 31, 1948, NBC launched a sister television outlet under the calls WNBK on channel 4. By 1950, sister station WTAM-FM was on the air at 105.7 MHz, simulcasting the AM programming.

The broadcast tower for WTAM and its sister stations WTAM-FM and WNBK was moved to Parma, Ohio in the early 1950s. The AM radio outlet continued to use the Parma tower until 1974 when transmissions were moved back to the original broadcast tower in Brecksville.

In 1951 WTAM originated an NBC Radio Network broadcast of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Westinghouse Ownership

In 1956 NBC persuaded Westinghouse Broadcasting to trade its stations in Philadelphia for NBC’s Cleveland stations, giving NBC ownership of stations in the bigger Philadelphia market. Westinghouse wanted to keep the KYW callsigns, so on February 13, 1956, WTAM, WTAM-FM and WNBK became KYW, KYW-FM and KYW-TV. The Philadelphia stations became WRCV, WRCV-FM and WCRV-TV. The WTAM callsign was later picked up by WGLS in Atlanta.

In the early 1060s Westinghouse established KYW as a Top 40 powerhouse, with DJs Gary D. It competed with the Cleveland market with Top 40 station WHK 1420.

Westinghouse complained that the 1956 trade of Cleveland and Philadelphia stations was made because NBC threatened to withdraw the NBC network affilation from Westinghouse stations if Westinghouse did not cooperate. On June 19, 1965, by action of the Department of Justice and by order of the Federal Communications Commission, the swap was reversed, and KYW moved back to Philadelphia where it is today. NBC needed new callsigns for Cleveland, and it chose WKYC for the radio station, as well as for television channel 3 and FM 105.7, the letters "WKY" being a rearrangement of the letters from the old KYW call sign and the letter "C" coming from "Cleveland."

Later Years

NBC began unloading its radio properties, and it sold the WKYC radio stations to Ohio Communications in 1972. Since NBC retained WKYC-TV, the radio callsign had to be changed, and the call WWWE was selected for the AM outlet, and WKYC-FM became WWWM. The AM station adopted the on-air persona "3WE".

In 1972, Pete Franklin moved from WERE and took over an evening sports call-in show called "Sportsline." The program aired from 7 p.m. to midnight every weeknight, and Franklin became a legend. He bragged that his station’s nighttime signal could be heard "over 38 states and half of Canada," and he soon developed a listenership throughout the country. Franklin stayed with the station until 1987 when he left for WFAN in New York.

During the 1970s and 1980s, ownership of 3WE changed hands numerous times. In 1977, the station was sold to the Pacific & Southern Co., and it again dropped its network affiliation. In the following years, the station had a succession of owners, including the Gannett Co., Lake Erie Broadcasting (owned by Art Modell and Al Lerner), and Independent Group Ltd. (owned by Tom Embescia, Tom Wilson and Larry Pollock). Meanwhile, the station had a new generation of listeners who only knew it as 3WE. In the 1980s, the historic WTAM callsign was being used by 102.3 station in Gulfport, Mississippi. In 1982, the FM outlet WWWM adopted the nickname "Magic 105" and changed the call sign to WMJI.

3WE contniued to go through numerous talent changes and ownership changes during the 1990s. In 1990 WWWE was purchased by Booth American Co. of Detroit, and the studios were moved to the Western Reserve Building. The station itself made news on January 23, 1996, when its traffic palne hit a cellular phone tower crashed in Highland Hills. Traffic reporter James Endsley (known on-air as Fred Wesley) and pilot James McVeigh were killed.

In 1996, ownership decided that the 3WE name had too much negative goodwill and that a new callsign was needed. In searching for a new callsign, it found that the original call WTAM was available, so on July 26, 1996, the station once more came WTAM, 40 years after having dropped the call letters. The WWWE call was picked up by a 5000 watt daytime station in Atlanta, which also broadcasts on 1100 kHz.

On April 25, 1997 Jacor Communications announced the purchase of WTAM along with WLTF from Secret Communications LP 7. On August 19, 1997, Jacor announced the purchase of sports talk station WKNR 1220 from Cablevision Systems Corp. 8. WKNR had the rights to Cleveland Indians baseball, which Jacor moved to WTAM beginning with the 1998 season. Jacor then swapped WKNR with Capstar Broadcasting’s WTAE in Pittsburgh in 1998 as part of the Justice Department settlement when Jacor purchased Nationwide Communications 9.

By carrying the Indians games, and picking up some popular nationally syndicated talk shows, such as Rush Limbaugh, WTAM began to build an audience under Jacor ownership. Jacor brought in Bill Wills from Cincinnati to host a morning drive news show, and found unlikely success with Mike Trivisonno in afternoon drive time. Mike Trivisonno, who had his start in radio as a caller on Pete Franklin’s Sportsline show, who was known as Mr. Know-It-All, took over the afternoon drive shift.

In May 1999, Clear Channel Communications completed its $6.5 billion purchase of Jacor and its 454 stations, including WTAM.

References

Cleveland Broadcast Radio Archives Project

External Links

Official site

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