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167-409: WTAM (1100 AM ) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio , United States, and carries a news/talk and sports radio format commonly known as "Newsradio WTAM 1100". Owned by iHeartMedia , WTAM serves Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio , and is a clear-channel station with extended nighttime range. WTAM is also Northeast Ohio's primary entry point station in

334-465: A "chain". The Radio Corporation of America (RCA), General Electric , and Westinghouse organized a competing network around its own flagship station, RCA's WJZ (now WABC) in New York City, but were hampered by AT&T's refusal to lease connecting lines or allow them to sell airtime. In 1926 AT&T sold its radio operations to RCA, which used them to form the nucleus of the new NBC network. By

501-841: A 10 shilling receiver license fee. Both highbrow and mass-appeal programmes were carried by the National and Regional networks. The period from the early 1920s through the 1940s is often called the "Golden Age of Radio". During this period AM radio was the main source of home entertainment, until it was replaced by television. For the first time entertainment was provided from outside the home, replacing traditional forms of entertainment such as oral storytelling and music from family members. New forms were created, including radio plays , mystery serials, soap operas , quiz shows , variety hours , situation comedies and children's shows . Radio news, including remote reporting, allowed listeners to be vicariously present at notable events. Radio greatly eased

668-557: A central station to all parts of the United States", he was unable to overcome the inherent distance limitations of this technology. The earliest public radiotelegraph broadcasts were provided as government services, beginning with daily time signals inaugurated on January 1, 1905, by a number of U.S. Navy stations. In Europe, signals transmitted from a station located on the Eiffel Tower were received throughout much of Europe. In both

835-564: A channel switch to channel 3 on April 25, 1954; as KYW and KYW-FM, both radio stations would move to the same Parma tower in February 1957. WTAM also aired Cleveland Browns games during the 1952, 1953, and 1955 seasons; Jim Graner provided color commentary during the 1955 season. In late 1955, NBC persuaded Westinghouse to trade its Philadelphia stations, KYW (1060 AM) and WPTZ-TV , in return for NBC's Cleveland properties and $ 3 million in cash compensation. NBC had long wanted to own

1002-631: A clear channel giant established, WTAM became a valuable radio property. NBC purchased WTAM on October 16, 1930, and the studios were moved to the Auditorium Building. The station became a major link in the NBC Red Network , contributing some programming to the network. Around 1930, Gene Carroll and Glenn Rowell brought their vaudeville humor to WTAM with the Gene and Glenn show. The duo became famous for their characters "Jake & Lena". WTAM originated

1169-410: A combined $ 13.5 million, a $ 4 million net profit for Modell's syndicate. Independent Group marked a return to WWWE for both Tom Embrescia and Tom Wilson, while co-investor Larry Pollock had experience with Larry Robinson's broadcasting interests. Real estate magnate and Cleveland Force owner Bert Wolstein also was an investor, reportedly owning almost 50 percent of the station, but promised

1336-596: A concerted attempt to specify performance of AM receivers through the 1993 AMAX standard, a joint effort of the EIA and the NAB, with FCC backing... The FCC rapidly followed up on this with codification of the CQUAM AM stereo standard, also in 1993. At this point, the stage appeared to be set for rejuvenation of the AM band. Nevertheless, with the legacy of confusion and disappointment in the rollout of

1503-617: A consortium, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), established on 18 October 1922, which was given a monopoly on broadcasting. This enterprise was supported by a tax on radio sets sales, plus an annual license fee on receivers, collected by the Post Office. Initially the eight stations were allowed regional autonomy. In 1927, the original broadcasting organization was replaced by a government chartered British Broadcasting Corporation . an independent nonprofit supported solely by

1670-552: A continuous-wave (CW) transmitter. Fessenden began his research on audio transmissions while doing developmental work for the United States Weather Service on Cobb Island, Maryland. Because he did not yet have a continuous-wave transmitter, initially he worked with an experimental "high-frequency spark" transmitter, taking advantage of the fact that the higher the spark rate, the closer a spark-gap transmission comes to producing continuous waves. He later reported that, in

1837-402: A contract after expressing a desire to also do play-by-play announcing. When the deal closed on June 25, 1990, WWWE filled the majority of their daytime lineup with syndicated fare: Dr. Joy Browne in late mornings and The Rush Limbaugh Show and Dr. Dean Edell in afternoons, Rush's program having moved over from WERE. Browne's show was added after Fuller declined an offer to host middays and

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2004-413: A contract dispute, while Pollis subsequently left to reunite with Rose over at WERE. Most people didn't think he'd go (to New York) because there have been stories of Pete (Franklin) leaving before, and he always stayed. Pete has dominated the market for 21 years. He always held the trump card, and he usually played it to get a raise and stay here. But I think he got such a lucrative deal from New York, and

2171-692: A core station in the NBC Radio Network . NBC sold WTAM, FM adjunct WTAM-FM (105.7) and TV adjunct WNBK (channel 3) , to Westinghouse Broadcasting in 1956 in exchange for their AM and TV stations in Philadelphia , whereupon the Cleveland properties assumed the KYW calls. That sale was ultimately reversed in 1965, with NBC returning and all three Cleveland stations renamed as WKYC. Sold to Cleveland entrepreneur Nick Mileti in 1972, WKYC became "3WE" WWWE, carrying

2338-560: A faster delivery" as the reason for the switch. Turner himself became a on-air presence with daily editorials also implemented by Booth. By virtue of common ownership with WLTF, WWWE also became involved with WLTF's Coats for Kids charity campaign, which was launched by Booth American in 1981. New studios were constructed for WWWE and WLTF at the Western Reserve Building in the Warehouse District with an additional studio at

2505-568: A few " telephone newspaper " systems, most of which were established in Europe, beginning with the Paris Théâtrophone . With this in mind, most early radiotelephone development envisioned that the device would be more profitably developed as a "wireless telephone" for personal communication, or for providing links where regular telephone lines could not be run, rather than for the uncertain finances of broadcasting. The person generally credited as

2672-463: A few hundred ( Hz ), to increase its rotational speed and so generate currents of tens-of-thousands Hz, thus producing a steady continuous-wave transmission when connected to an aerial. The next step, adopted from standard wire-telephone practice, was to insert a simple carbon microphone into the transmission line, to modulate the carrier wave signal to produce AM audio transmissions. However, it would take many years of expensive development before even

2839-533: A five-hour long weeknight sports call-in show that also followed Indians and Cavaliers games, quickly becoming a legend with his acerbic personality, boasting that the station's nighttime signal could be heard in "over 38 states and half of Canada". Following Jim Runyon's sudden departure and death from cancer in April 1973, the morning drive shift was taken over by Larry Morrow, formerly of WIXY; Morrow would be joined by Joe Tait as morning sportscaster, Tait also served as

3006-448: A formal indecency complaint against him was filed with the FCC, the second complaint against him in one year. Three months of Dee airchecks were included in the complaint, some of which contained profanity broadcast over the air, which Dee attributed to faulty equipment. As the FCC was launching an anti-indecency campaign focused on both radio and television, WWWE executives were worried that

3173-512: A home audio device prior to the introduction of the high-fidelity , long-playing record in the late 1940s. Listening habits changed in the 1960s due to the introduction of the revolutionary transistor radio (Regency TR-1, the first transistor radio released December 1954), which was made possible by the invention of the transistor in 1948. (The transistor was invented at Bell labs and released in June 1948.) Their compact size — small enough to fit in

3340-469: A listening site at Plymouth, Massachusetts. An American Telephone Journal account of the December 21 alternator-transmitter demonstration included the statement that "It is admirably adapted to the transmission of news, music, etc. as, owing to the fact that no wires are needed, simultaneous transmission to many subscribers can be effected as easily as to a few", echoing the words of a handout distributed to

3507-514: A long-term contract for the Browns effective with the 1985 season . Despite Modell's history of questionable investments and concerns he was heavily in debt, he dismissed speculation that Lake Erie did not have the money to complete the deal, claiming "our collective net worth far exceeds the price of these stations". Concurrent with the purchase and to meet regulatory approval, Lake Erie divested WJW to Booth American for $ 2.1 million. Not included in

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3674-479: A majority of early broadcasting stations operated on mediumwave frequencies, whose limited range generally restricted them to local audiences. One method for overcoming this limitation, as well as a method for sharing program costs, was to create radio networks , linking stations together with telephone lines to provide a nationwide audience. In the U.S., the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T)

3841-504: A mixture of middle of the road and sports play-by-play , in particular the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Cavaliers and Pete Franklin 's Sportsline talk show. The station adopted its current talk radio format in 1985 after being purchased by a syndicate headed by Art Modell and Al Lerner ; a subsequent sale took WWWE's talk programming into a controversial direction with Gary Dee and Bruce Drennan , at one point putting

4008-548: A more detailed treatment of this and the above frequency ranges, see Electromagnetic spectrum . Gravitational waves are also described in Hertz. Current observations are conducted in the 30–7000 Hz range by laser interferometers like LIGO , and the nanohertz (1–1000 nHz) range by pulsar timing arrays . Future space-based detectors are planned to fill in the gap, with LISA operating from 0.1–10 mHz (with some sensitivity from 10 μHz to 100 mHz), and DECIGO in

4175-457: A national scale. The introduction of nationwide talk shows, most prominently Rush Limbaugh 's beginning in 1988, was sometimes credited with "saving" AM radio. However, these stations tended to attract older listeners who were of lesser interest to advertisers, and AM radio's audience share continued to erode. In 1961, the FCC adopted a single standard for FM stereo transmissions, which was widely credited with enhancing FM's popularity. Developing

4342-399: A policy allowing AM stations to simulcast over FM translator stations. Translators had previously been available only to FM broadcasters, in order to increase coverage in fringe areas. Their assignment for use by AM stations was intended to approximate the station's daytime coverage, which in cases where the stations reduced power at night, often resulted in expanded nighttime coverage. Although

4509-504: A political convention when it covered the 1924 Republican National Convention at Cleveland's Public Auditorium from June 10–12, 1924. The station's power increased to 2,500 watts in 1925 and to 3,500 watts in 1926, as the studios moved to the Union Trust Building (now The 925 Building ). By June 30, 1927, WTAM and WEAR broadcast on 750 kHz with WTAM broadcasting with 3,500 watts. The January 31, 1928, Radio Service Bulletin of

4676-796: A poor diet. Calls to Sportsline in the wake of Franklin's heart attack were filled with well-wishers, particularly from females; WHN's station manager John Chanin recognized Franklin as "a very sincere, warm person" unlike his radio persona, and that the possibility of leaving Cleveland affected him deeply. WWWE was forced to use a variety of guest hosts for Sportsline that included Nev Chandler and Gib Shanley , along with nationally known figures Bob Costas , Paul McGuire and Dick Vitale . Franklin ultimately chose to leave Cleveland for WFAN by that September. Jacor withdrew their purchase offer of WWWE due to Franklin's departure, having considered him an "important asset". Lake Erie ended up selling both WDOK and WWWE to Independent Group, Inc. on August 3, 1987, for

4843-482: A prototype alternator-transmitter would be ready, and a few years beyond that for high-power versions to become available. Fessenden worked with General Electric 's (GE) Ernst F. W. Alexanderson , who in August 1906 delivered an improved model which operated at a transmitting frequency of approximately 50 kHz, although at low power. The alternator-transmitter achieved the goal of transmitting quality audio signals, but

5010-431: A regular caller to Pete Franklin. Drennan subsequently assumed Sindelar's prior weekend duties. I just didn't follow directions. I'm my own worst enemy. Gary Dee drives Gary Gilbert crazy. Gary Dee (Gilbert), explaining his August 1989 firing from WWWE The controversy surrounding Gary Dee reached a breaking point on August 25, 1989, when WWWE confirmed Dee had been suspended indefinitely 9 days earlier after

5177-423: A result, AM radio tends to do best in areas where FM frequencies are in short supply, or in thinly populated or mountainous areas where FM coverage is poor. Great care must be taken to avoid mutual interference between stations operating on the same frequency. In general, an AM transmission needs to be about 20 times stronger than an interfering signal to avoid a reduction in quality, in contrast to FM signals, where

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5344-452: A shirt pocket — and lower power requirements, compared to vacuum tubes, meant that for the first time radio receivers were readily portable. The transistor radio became the most widely used communication device in history, with billions manufactured by the 1970s. Radio became a ubiquitous "companion medium" which people could take with them anywhere they went. The demarcation between what is considered "experimental" and "organized" broadcasting

5511-427: A short-range "wireless telephone" demonstration, that included simultaneously broadcasting speech and music to seven locations throughout Murray, Kentucky. However, this was transmitted using induction rather than radio signals, and although Stubblefield predicted that his system would be perfected so that "it will be possible to communicate with hundreds of homes at the same time", and "a single message can be sent from

5678-487: A station in Philadelphia, the nation's third-largest market at the time. The swap went into effect on January 22, 1956. Westinghouse wanted to keep the historic KYW callsign, which had been Chicago's oldest radio facility before being transferred to Philadelphia on December 3, 1934. Therefore, on February 13, 1956, the Cleveland stations became KYW, KYW-FM and KYW-TV; and the Philadelphia stations became WRCV and WRCV-TV.0 In

5845-424: A tighter playlist. Personalities at that time included Charlie and Harrigan , Bob Shannon , Chuck Dunaway , Lee 'Baby' Sims, Fred Winston, and Buddy Harrison . It remained a Top 40 station until February 1, 1969, when WKYC switched to an easy listening / middle of the road (MOR) format. Specs Howard left WKYC shortly thereafter, with Jim Runyon returning to succeed him in morning drive. Following rumors that NBC

6012-518: A waning audience in the market overall for country music, WWWE quietly switched back to an easy listening/MOR format in August 1983, again using the 3WE brand. Gannett sold off both WWWE and WDOK to Lake Erie Broadcasting, controlled by then- Cleveland Browns majority owner Art Modell and minority owner Al Lerner , for $ 9.5 million in February 1985. The purchase was seen by some as a surprise: Lake Erie consistently lost money operating WJW since purchasing it from Storer Communications in 1977, and

6179-461: A widespread audience — dates back to the founding period of radio development, even though the earliest radio transmissions, originally known as "Hertzian radiation" and "wireless telegraphy", used spark-gap transmitters that could only transmit the dots-and-dashes of Morse code . In October 1898 a London publication, The Electrician , noted that "there are rare cases where, as Dr. [Oliver] Lodge once expressed it, it might be advantageous to 'shout'

6346-427: Is 1/time (T ). Expressed in base SI units, the unit is the reciprocal second (1/s). In English, "hertz" is also used as the plural form. As an SI unit, Hz can be prefixed ; commonly used multiples are kHz (kilohertz, 10  Hz ), MHz (megahertz, 10  Hz ), GHz (gigahertz, 10  Hz ) and THz (terahertz, 10  Hz ). One hertz (i.e. one per second) simply means "one periodic event occurs per second" (where

6513-575: Is a civic asset to the Greater 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." When the new Federal Radio Commission instituted General Order 40 after

6680-490: Is also used to describe the clock speeds at which computers and other electronics are driven. The units are sometimes also used as a representation of the energy of a photon , via the Planck relation E  =  hν , where E is the photon's energy, ν is its frequency, and h is the Planck constant . The hertz is defined as one per second for periodic events. The International Committee for Weights and Measures defined

6847-406: Is comparable to or better in audio quality than a standard analog broadcast". Despite the various actions, AM band audiences continued to contract, and the number of stations began to slowly decline. A 2009 FCC review reported that "The story of AM radio over the last 50 years has been a transition from being the dominant form of audio entertainment for all age groups to being almost non-existent to

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7014-497: Is largely arbitrary. Listed below are some of the early AM radio broadcasts, which, due to their irregular schedules and limited purposes, can be classified as "experimental": People who weren't around in the Twenties when radio exploded can't know what it meant, this milestone for mankind. Suddenly, with radio, there was instant human communication. No longer were our homes isolated and lonely and silent. The world came into our homes for

7181-645: Is simpler than later transmission systems. An AM receiver detects amplitude variations in the radio waves at a particular frequency, then amplifies changes in the signal voltage to operate a loudspeaker or earphone . However, the simplicity of AM transmission also makes it vulnerable to "static" ( radio noise , radio frequency interference ) created by both natural atmospheric electrical activity such as lightning, and electrical and electronic equipment, including fluorescent lights, motors and vehicle ignition systems. In large urban centers, AM radio signals can be severely disrupted by metal structures and tall buildings. As

7348-557: Is the Cleveland affiliate for both ABC News Radio and Fox News Radio ; the AM flagship for the Cavaliers AudioVerse and Cleveland Guardians Radio Network ; and the market outlet for This Morning with Gordon Deal , The Glenn Beck Program , The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show and Coast to Coast AM . Studios for WTAM are located in the Six Six Eight Building in downtown Cleveland 's Gateway District and

7515-503: Is used only in the case of periodic events. It is named after Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857–1894), the first person to provide conclusive proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves . For high frequencies, the unit is commonly expressed in multiples : kilohertz (kHz), megahertz (MHz), gigahertz (GHz), terahertz (THz). Some of the unit's most common uses are in the description of periodic waveforms and musical tones , particularly those used in radio - and audio-related applications. It

7682-452: Is usually measured in kilohertz (kHz), megahertz (MHz), or gigahertz (GHz). with the latter known as microwaves . Light is electromagnetic radiation that is even higher in frequency, and has frequencies in the range of tens of terahertz (THz, infrared ) to a few petahertz (PHz, ultraviolet ), with the visible spectrum being 400–790 THz. Electromagnetic radiation with frequencies in the low terahertz range (intermediate between those of

7849-515: The Rolling Stone "Radio Station of the Year" poll that WMMS infamously rigged . Drennan was chosen to host Sportsline on December 28, 1987, beating out WERE's Greg Brinda, setting off a war of words between the two—and between Franklin and Drennan—while Franklin committed to an interview on Brinda's competing show. Drennan's addition was one of many changes ushered in at WWWE that sought to reorient

8016-610: The Cleveland Orchestra . NBC also expanded its broadcasting interests in Cleveland beyond AM radio: on October 31, 1948, NBC launched a sister television outlet, WNBK , on channel 4; a few weeks later, on December 6, 1948, WTAM-FM (105.7 FM) began broadcasting, simulcasting WTAM's programming. All three stations shared the same transmitter tower in Brecksville until WNBK moved to a new transmitter tower erected in Parma concurrent with

8183-556: The Electronic Industries Association (EIA) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) with the intention of helping AM stations, especially ones with musical formats, become more competitive with FM broadcasters by promoting better quality receivers. However, the stereo AM and AMAX initiatives had little impact, and a 2015 review of these events concluded that Initially the consumer manufacturers made

8350-615: The Emergency Alert System (EAS). Some automakers have been eliminating AM radio from their electric vehicles (EVs) due to interference from the electric motors , but the lawmakers argue that this is a safety risk and that car owners should have access to AM radio regardless of the type of vehicle they drive. The proposed legislation would require all new vehicles to include AM radio at no additional charge, and it would also require automakers that have already eliminated AM radio to inform customers of alternatives. AM radio technology

8517-528: The Emergency Alert System . The station first carried the WTAM call letters from 1923 to 1956; assigned sequentially by the U.S. Department of Commerce , the letters were later treated as a backronym for "Where The Artisans Meet". Founded by Willard Storage Battery and later owned by Cleveland Electric Illuminating and the Van Sweringen brothers as the 1920s ended, WTAM was purchased by RCA in 1930, becoming

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8684-479: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) expressed concerns that this would reduce the effectiveness of emergency communications. In May 2023, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the United States introduced legislation making it illegal for automakers to eliminate AM radio from their cars. The lawmakers argue that AM radio is an important tool for public safety due to being a component of

8851-600: The Nautica Entertainment Complex for sports talk shows. Newsman Ed Coury, who rejoined WWWE upon the Booth takeover as co-host of the morning news block, was eventually promoted to news director at the end of 1991. The afternoon news block co-anchored by Bob Henderson soon evolved into a talk show in its own right, with Henderson eschewing confrontational arguments in favor of a polite demeanor. AM broadcasting The earliest experimental AM transmissions began in

9018-579: The Skinnay Ennis Orchestra for a broadcast on the NBC radio network. Guests included Ohio Governor Frank Lausche . Recordings of this program are still available from collectors of old radio programs. WTAM also broadcast the 1948 World Series games of the Cleveland Indians against the Boston Braves, with announcers Jim Britt and Mel Allen . In 1951, WTAM originated an NBC Radio Network broadcast of

9185-552: The Sportsline slot, he was generally seen as a long shot to take over the program. Terry Pluto of the Akron Beacon Journal regarded Drennan as having "a voice that sounds as if he gargled with Drano " and in ranking probable Sportsline hosts, said of Drennan, "if nothing else, he's available". WWWE general manager Harvey Simms promised a permanent host by the end of 1987, to which Pete Franklin commented, "When Jack Kennedy

9352-431: The electrolytic detector and thermionic diode ( Fleming valve ) were invented by Reginald Fessenden and John Ambrose Fleming , respectively. Most important, in 1904–1906 the crystal detector , the simplest and cheapest AM detector, was developed by G. W. Pickard . Homemade crystal radios spread rapidly during the next 15 years, providing ready audiences for the first radio broadcasts. One limitation of crystals sets

9519-546: The transmitter is located south of Cleveland in Brecksville . Besides its main analog transmission , WTAM simulcasts over low-power analog Cleveland translator W295DE (106.9  FM ), and streams online via iHeartRadio . WTAM began broadcast operations on September 26, 1923. It was one of several stations that started between 1922 and 1923 with a call sign assigned sequentially by the Commerce Department with "W" as

9686-430: The " capture effect " means that the dominant signal needs to only be about twice as strong as the interfering one. To allow room for more stations on the mediumwave broadcast band in the United States, in June 1989 the FCC adopted a National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC) standard that limited maximum transmitted audio bandwidth to 10.2 kHz, limiting occupied bandwidth to 20.4 kHz. The former audio limitation

9853-446: The 0.1–10 Hz range. In computers, most central processing units (CPU) are labeled in terms of their clock rate expressed in megahertz ( MHz ) or gigahertz ( GHz ). This specification refers to the frequency of the CPU's master clock signal . This signal is nominally a square wave , which is an electrical voltage that switches between low and high logic levels at regular intervals. As

10020-587: The 1930s, most of the major radio stations in the country were affiliated with networks owned by two companies, NBC and CBS . In 1934, a third national network, the Mutual Radio Network , was formed as a cooperative owned by its stations. A second country which quickly adopted network programming was the United Kingdom, and its national network quickly became a prototype for a state-managed monopoly of broadcasting. A rising interest in radio broadcasting by

10187-660: The 1940s two new broadcast media, FM radio and television , began to provide extensive competition with the established broadcasting services. The AM radio industry suffered a serious loss of audience and advertising revenue, and coped by developing new strategies. Network broadcasting gave way to format broadcasting: instead of broadcasting the same programs all over the country, stations individually adopted specialized formats which appealed to different audiences, such as regional and local news, sports, "talk" programs, and programs targeted at minorities. Instead of live music, most stations began playing less expensive recorded music. In

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10354-468: The 1970s. In some usage, the "per second" was omitted, so that "megacycles" (Mc) was used as an abbreviation of "megacycles per second" (that is, megahertz (MHz)). Sound is a traveling longitudinal wave , which is an oscillation of pressure . Humans perceive the frequency of a sound as its pitch . Each musical note corresponds to a particular frequency. An infant's ear is able to perceive frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 20 000  Hz ;

10521-431: The 1970s. The transmitter for WWWE was moved back to their previous tower in Brecksville on September 5, 1974, that tower is still in use today by WWWE's successor WTAM, along with FM stations WAKS (co-owned with WTAM) and WZAK . In addition, the studios for both WWWE and WWWM were moved to Park Centre—known today as Reserve Square —that November 14. WWWE would then drop its NBC Radio affiliation altogether by 1977. WWWE

10688-427: The 3WE brand; WKYC-FM became WWWM (purportedly for Mileti or Music); both changes took place on November 16, 1972. WWWE retained WKYC's easy listening/MOR format, but also added radio broadcasts for both the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Cavaliers as Mileti owned both teams; WERE (1300 AM) had previously served as the flagship for both. Pete Franklin also joined the station from WERE and hosted Sportsline ,

10855-461: The 770  kHz frequency with WJAX. WJAX had signed on earlier in 1922, owned by the Union Trust Co. In 1924 it was known as the "Wave from Lake Erie". The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company 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

11022-528: The AM radio industry in the United States developed technology for broadcasting in stereo . Other nations adopted AM stereo, most commonly choosing Motorola's C-QUAM, and in 1993 the United States also made the C-QUAM system its standard, after a period allowing four different standards to compete. The selection of a single standard improved acceptance of AM stereo , however overall there was limited adoption of AM stereo worldwide, and interest declined after 1990. With

11189-521: The British public pressured the government to reintroduce the service, following its suspension in 1920. However, the government also wanted to avoid what it termed the "chaotic" U.S. experience of allowing large numbers of stations to operate with few restrictions. There were also concerns about broadcasting becoming dominated by the Marconi company. Arrangements were made for six large radio manufacturers to form

11356-509: The Browns broadcasts which were also transferred to WWWE. Along with the Indians and Cavs rights, Lake Erie's takeover of WWWE resulted in the station now holding the broadcast rights to all three professional sports teams for the first time. Newspaper reports recognized the transactions and format changes as "WWWE... became, in (essence), WJW", or that WJW had "a new location on the radio dial". The final week of programming over WJW had promos for both

11523-510: The Commerce Department listed WTAM broadcasting with 3,500 watts at night and 5,000 watts during the day. After Willard Battery threatened to close the station, WTAM and WEAR were purchased by the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (now part of FirstEnergy ) and the Van Sweringen brothers on May 31, 1928. In a statement announcing the purchase, the new owners declared, "Recognizing the fact that this radio station

11690-514: The Force would honor their existing radio contract with WGAR. Coincidentally, WWWE morning sportscaster Mike Snyder, who called the Force games over WGAR, was himself dismissed. Bruce Drennan returned to WWWE in November 1987 as guest host of Sportsline , asserting that "the show needs me"; Drennan was contacted directly by Tom Wilson and had worked previously for Embresica at WBBG. Meanwhile, Michael Freedman

11857-664: The NBC Building, it is known today as the Superior Building . That same year, a new tower was built in Brecksville which was 480 feet tall. On March 29, 1941, with the implementation of NARBA , WTAM moved its broadcast frequency from 1070 to 1100 kHz, maintaining its clear-channel status. During the 1940s, the station continued to contribute some programming to the NBC radio network. On March 19, 1946, Bob Hope brought his Tuesday night 10 pm Pepsodent radio show to Cleveland along with Jerry Colonna , Frances Langford and

12024-411: The Twenties when radio exploded can't know what it meant, this milestone for mankind. Suddenly, with radio, there was instant human communication. No longer were our homes isolated and lonely and silent. The world came into our homes for the first time. Music came pouring in. Laughter came in. News came in. The world shrank, with radio. The idea of broadcasting — the unrestricted transmission of signals to

12191-489: The U.S., for example) subject to international agreements. KHz The hertz (symbol: Hz ) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle ) per second . The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base units is s , meaning that one hertz is one per second or the reciprocal of one second . It

12358-662: The United States and France this led to a small market of receiver lines geared for jewelers who needed accurate time to set their clocks, including the Ondophone in France, and the De Forest RS-100 Jewelers Time Receiver in the United States The ability to pick up time signal broadcasts, in addition to Morse code weather reports and news summaries, also attracted the interest of amateur radio enthusiasts. It

12525-523: The antenna wire. This meant that the full transmitter power flowed through the microphone, and even using water cooling, the power handling ability of the microphones severely limited the power of the transmissions. Ultimately only a small number of large and powerful Alexanderson alternators would be developed. However, they would be almost exclusively used for long-range radiotelegraph communication, and occasionally for radiotelephone experimentation, but were never used for general broadcasting. Almost all of

12692-474: The audience has continued to decline. In 1987, the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine requirement meant that talk shows, which were commonly carried by AM stations, could adopt a more focused presentation on controversial topics, without the distraction of having to provide airtime for any contrasting opinions. In addition, satellite distribution made it possible for programs to be economically carried on

12859-752: The audience towards the 25–54 demographic typically accustomed to rock music and the FM dial. While Simms merely suggested at first of "fine-tuning and polishing" the format, program director David George intended to make WWWE the top-rated station in Cleveland overall, "...and we were not going to do it with conventional news/talk". The station hired shock jock Gary Dee (Gilbert) for the midday slot on January 7, 1988, replacing John Dayle, who would rejoin Merle Pollis and Joel Rose at WERE. Dee's hiring came after management and all six Independent Group stakeholders agreed by consensus . Dee's conservative -leaning populist persona

13026-476: The average adult human can hear sounds between 20 Hz and 16 000  Hz . The range of ultrasound , infrasound and other physical vibrations such as molecular and atomic vibrations extends from a few femtohertz into the terahertz range and beyond. Electromagnetic radiation is often described by its frequency—the number of oscillations of the perpendicular electric and magnetic fields per second—expressed in hertz. Radio frequency radiation

13193-404: The characteristics of arc-transmitters . Fessenden attempted to sell this form of radiotelephone for point-to-point communication, but was unsuccessful. Fessenden's work with high-frequency spark transmissions was only a temporary measure. His ultimate plan for creating an audio-capable transmitter was to redesign an electrical alternator , which normally produced alternating current of at most

13360-403: The commission estimated that fewer than 250 AM stations were transmitting hybrid mode signals. On October 27, 2020, the FCC voted to allow AM stations to eliminate their analog transmissions and convert to all-digital operation, with the requirement that stations making the change had to continue to make programming available over "at least one free over-the-air digital programming stream that

13527-475: The continued migration of AM stations away from music to news, sports, and talk formats, receiver manufacturers saw little reason to adopt the more expensive stereo tuners, and thus radio stations have little incentive to upgrade to stereo transmission. In countries where the use of directional antennas is common, such as the United States, transmitter sites consisting of multiple towers often occupy large tracts of land that have significantly increased in value over

13694-437: The continuous wave AM transmissions made prior to 1915 were made by versions of the arc converter transmitter, which had been initially developed by Valdemar Poulsen in 1903. Arc transmitters worked by producing a pulsating electrical arc in an enclosed hydrogen atmosphere. They were much more compact than alternator transmitters, and could operate on somewhat higher transmitting frequencies. However, they suffered from some of

13861-579: The contract with WWWE and moved the flagship to WRMR. Danny Wright was fired from WWWE at the end of 1988, with Wright expressing disappointment over the station's lack of promotional support and being "stuck in the middle" between Dee and Drennan. Tom Bush was subsequently paired with Bob Becker until a further lineup revamp on April 10, 1989, had Becker moved to mornings, incumbent morning host Bob Fuller moved to middays, and Dee moved to afternoons. Veteran executive Nick Anthony joined WWWE as program director, replacing programming consultant Eric Stevens; Anthony

14028-434: The decades, to the point that the value of land exceeds that of the station itself. This sometimes results in the sale of the transmitter site, with the station relocating to a more distant shared site using significantly less power, or completely shutting down operations. The ongoing development of alternative transmission systems, including Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), satellite radio, and HD (digital) radio, continued

14195-567: The decline of the popularity of the traditional broadcast technologies. These new options, including the introduction of Internet streaming, particularly resulted in the reduction of shortwave transmissions, as international broadcasters found ways to reach their audiences more easily. In 2022 it was reported that AM radio was being removed from a number of electric vehicle (EV) models, including from cars manufactured by Tesla, Audi, Porsche, BMW and Volvo, reportedly due to automakers concerns that an EV's higher electromagnetic interference can disrupt

14362-569: The demonstration witnesses, which stated "[Radio] Telephony is admirably adapted for transmitting news, stock quotations, music, race reports, etc. simultaneously over a city, on account of the fact that no wires are needed and a single apparatus can distribute to ten thousand subscribers as easily as to a few. It is proposed to erect stations for this purpose in the large cities here and abroad." However, other than two holiday transmissions reportedly made shortly after these demonstrations, Fessenden does not appear to have conducted any radio broadcasts for

14529-756: The early 1900s. However, widespread AM broadcasting was not established until the 1920s, following the development of vacuum tube receivers and transmitters. AM radio remained the dominant method of broadcasting for the next 30 years, a period called the " Golden Age of Radio ", until television broadcasting became widespread in the 1950s and received much of the programming previously carried by radio. Later, AM radio's audiences declined greatly due to competition from FM ( frequency modulation ) radio, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), satellite radio , HD (digital) radio , Internet radio , music streaming services , and podcasting . Compared to FM or digital transmissions , AM transmissions are more expensive to transmit due to

14696-527: The early 1960s, under program director Ken Draper, KYW, known on-air as KY11, became a full service - Top 40 powerhouse with disc jockeys Jim Runyon (the "weeeellll" voice of the Chickenman series), Jim Stagg , Jay Lawrence, Jerry G (Jerry Ghan), and the morning duo of Harry Martin and Specs Howard . Its main Top 40 rival in the Cleveland market was "Color Channel 14" WHK , at 1420 AM. Almost immediately after

14863-584: The eighth attempt. Monday confronted Newton about the allegations while Newton conducted his show in the WWWE studios, while the U.S. attorney that handled Newton's case revealed he was fired from his prior job in Denver over the conviction. Dee began his show the following morning pillorying Newton, declaring he would refuse to work at a station that employed "a child molester", and Newton resigned later that day. Danny Wright and humorist Tom Bush took Newton's time slot in what

15030-440: The event being counted may be a complete cycle); 100 Hz means "one hundred periodic events occur per second", and so on. The unit may be applied to any periodic event—for example, a clock might be said to tick at 1 Hz , or a human heart might be said to beat at 1.2 Hz . The occurrence rate of aperiodic or stochastic events is expressed in reciprocal second or inverse second (1/s or s ) in general or, in

15197-600: The expectation is that listeners will primarily be tuning into the FM signal rather than the nominally "primary" AM station. A 2020 review noted that "for many owners, keeping their AM stations on the air now is pretty much just about retaining their FM translator footprint rather than keeping the AM on the air on its own merits". In 2018 the FCC, led by then-Commission Chairman Ajit Pai , proposed greatly reducing signal protection for 50 kW Class A " clear channel " stations. This would allow co-channel secondary stations to operate with higher powers, especially at night. However,

15364-445: The fall of 1900, he successfully transmitted speech over a distance of about 1.6 kilometers (one mile), which appears to have been the first successful audio transmission using radio signals. However, at this time the sound was far too distorted to be commercially practical. For a time he continued working with more sophisticated high-frequency spark transmitters, including versions that used compressed air, which began to take on some of

15531-535: The first letter and "A" as the third. It was originally owned by S.E. Lawrence and Theodore Willard, in the name of the Willard Storage Battery Company. Initially the station only offered three hours of nightly programming, but soon expanded its on-air lineup. Studios were located in the Willard factory on Taft Avenue at East 131st Street. By June 30, 1924, WTAM was broadcasting with 1,000 watts and sharing

15698-401: The first time. Music came pouring in. Laughter came in. News came in. The world shrank, with radio. Following World War I, the number of stations providing a regular broadcasting service greatly increased, primarily due to advances in vacuum-tube technology. In response to ongoing activities, government regulators eventually codified standards for which stations could make broadcasts intended for

15865-572: The general public, for example, in the United States formal recognition of a "broadcasting service" came with the establishment of regulations effective December 1, 1921, and Canadian authorities created a separate category of "radio-telephone broadcasting stations" in April 1922. However, there were numerous cases of entertainment broadcasts being presented on a regular schedule before their formal recognition by government regulators. Some early examples include: Because most longwave radio frequencies were used for international radiotelegraph communication,

16032-417: The general public, or to have even given additional thought about the potential of a regular broadcast service, and in a 1908 article providing a comprehensive review of the potential uses for his radiotelephone invention, he made no references to broadcasting. Because there was no way to amplify electrical currents at this time, modulation was usually accomplished by a carbon microphone inserted directly in

16199-449: The hertz has become the primary unit of measurement accepted by the general populace to determine the performance of a CPU, many experts have criticized this approach, which they claim is an easily manipulable benchmark . Some processors use multiple clock cycles to perform a single operation, while others can perform multiple operations in a single cycle. For personal computers, CPU clock speeds have ranged from approximately 1 MHz in

16366-413: The highest normally usable radio frequencies and long-wave infrared light) is often called terahertz radiation . Even higher frequencies exist, such as that of X-rays and gamma rays , which can be measured in exahertz (EHz). For historical reasons, the frequencies of light and higher frequency electromagnetic radiation are more commonly specified in terms of their wavelengths or photon energies : for

16533-541: The isolation of rural life. Political officials could now speak directly to millions of citizens. One of the first to take advantage of this was American president Franklin Roosevelt , who became famous for his fireside chats during the Great Depression . However, broadcasting also provided the means to use propaganda as a powerful government tool, and contributed to the rise of fascist and communist ideologies. In

16700-411: The lack of any way to amplify the signals meant they were somewhat weak. On December 21, 1906, Fessenden made an extensive demonstration of the new alternator-transmitter at Brant Rock, Massachusetts, showing its utility for point-to-point wireless telephony, including interconnecting his stations to the wire telephone network. As part of the demonstration, speech was transmitted 18 kilometers (11 miles) to

16867-419: The late 1960s and 1970s, top 40 rock and roll stations in the U.S. and Canada such as WABC and CHUM transmitted highly processed and extended audio to 11 kHz, successfully attracting huge audiences. For young people, listening to AM broadcasts and participating in their music surveys and contests was the social media of the time. In the late 1970s, spurred by the exodus of musical programming to FM stations,

17034-454: The late 1970s ( Atari , Commodore , Apple computers ) to up to 6 GHz in IBM Power microprocessors . Various computer buses , such as the front-side bus connecting the CPU and northbridge , also operate at various frequencies in the megahertz range. Higher frequencies than the International System of Units provides prefixes for are believed to occur naturally in the frequencies of

17201-470: The lead play-by-play voice for both the Indians and Cavaliers. In addition to Franklin, Morrow and Tait, the daytime lineup included at one time or another, Phil McLean, Al James, Jim Davis, Jack Reynolds, Tony Matthews, Jeff Elliot, Johnny Andrews, Lanny Wheeler, Lee Andrews, Ted Alexander and Bill King. Both WWWE and WWWM slowly severed the last remaining ties to WKYC-TV and its prior NBC ownership throughout

17368-399: The marketplace decide" which was best. The lack of a common standard resulted in consumer confusion and increased the complexity and cost of producing AM stereo receivers. In 1993, the FCC again revised its policy, by selecting C-QUAM as the sole AM stereo implementation. In 1993, the FCC also endorsed, although it did not make mandatory, AMAX broadcasting standards that were developed by

17535-432: The message, spreading it broadcast to receivers in all directions". However, it was recognized that this would involve significant financial issues, as that same year The Electrician also commented "did not Prof. Lodge forget that no one wants to pay for shouting to the world on a system by which it would be impossible to prevent non-subscribers from benefiting gratuitously?" On January 1, 1902, Nathan Stubblefield gave

17702-476: The money, combined with the idea of climbing that one last big mountain, was too much for him to resist. Nev Chandler As May 1987 began, Lake Erie entered into negotiations to sell WWWE to Jacor for $ 14 million; Jacor already owned WBBG and WMJI—the former WWWM—while concurrently putting WBBG up for sale. Had the deal closed, WWWE would have been added to a growing portfolio that included Cincinnati 's WLW and Denver 's KOA . The WWWE sale, however,

17869-404: The most negative attention. 38 days after his show debuted, a WJW-TV report filed by Carl Monday revealed Newton was previously convicted on charges of purchasing a videotape that contained child pornography . After winding up on a mailing list after purchasing an art film containing nudity, government agents attempted to bait him with porn mail catalogs , and he purchased a tape after

18036-467: The move were Ray Marshall, David "Fig" Newton, Jack Reynolds and morning sportscaster Bruce Drennan along with eight other staffers. Franklin repeatedly threatened to leave WWWE during the latter days of Gannett ownership, and Drennan was seen in some circles as a potential replacement to host Sportsline . WJW general manager Art Caruso and news director John O'Day assumed like duties at WWWE, and were tasked with hiring Jim Muller's broadcast partner for

18203-448: The multiple incompatible AM stereo systems, and failure of the manufacturers (including the auto makers) to effectively promote AMAX radios, coupled with the ever-increasing background of noise in the band, the general public soon lost interest and moved on to other media. On June 8, 1988, an International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-sponsored conference held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil adopted provisions, effective July 1, 1990, to extend

18370-537: The necessity of having to transmit a high power carrier wave to overcome ground losses, and the large antenna radiators required at the low broadcast frequencies, but can be sent over long distances via the ionosphere at night; however, they are much more susceptible to interference, and often have lower audio fidelity. Thus, AM broadcasters tend to specialize in spoken-word formats, such as talk radio , all-news radio and sports radio , with music formats primarily for FM and digital stations. People who weren't around in

18537-405: The new frequencies. It was now estimated that the expanded band could accommodate around 300 U.S. stations. However, it turned out that the number of possible station reassignments was much lower, with a 2006 accounting reporting that, out of 4,758 licensed U.S. AM stations, only 56 were now operating on the expanded band. Moreover, despite an initial requirement that by the end of five years either

18704-428: The new policy, by 2011 there were approximately 500 in operation, and as of 2020 approximately 2,800 of the 4,570 licensed AM stations were rebroadcasting on one or more FM translators. In 2009 the FCC stated that "We do not intend to allow these cross-service translators to be used as surrogates for FM stations". However, based on station slogans, especially in the case of recently adopted musical formats, in most cases

18871-411: The original station or its expanded band counterpart had to cease broadcasting, as of 2015 there were 25 cases where the original standard band station was still on the air, despite also operating as an expanded band station. HD Radio is a digital audio broadcasting method developed by iBiquity . In 2002 its "hybrid mode", which simultaneously transmits a standard analog signal as well as a digital one,

19038-433: The overheating issues of needing to insert microphones directly in the transmission antenna circuit. Vacuum tube transmitters also provided high-quality AM signals, and could operate on higher transmitting frequencies than alternator and arc transmitters. Non-governmental radio transmissions were prohibited in many countries during World War I, but AM radiotelephony technology advanced greatly due to wartime research, and after

19205-497: The overnight hours. The summer 1985 Arbitron book showed substantial ratings increases for WWWE after the switch to talk, surprising even the station's management and resulting in one paper calling their fifth-place showing "almost a Modell Miracle". Ratings for WWWE remained higher than with the MOR format, but slowly stagnated against WERE despite a substantial promotional campaign centered around Pollis, Rose and Franklin. Larry Elder , who

19372-461: The passage of the Radio Act of 1927, WTAM along with sister station WEAR (at that point absorbed into WTAM entirely) claimed the clear channel frequency allocated to Cleveland, and on November 11, 1928, it began broadcasting at 1070 kHz with WTAM broadcasting at 50,000 watts. In 1929 the station built two broadcast towers in Brecksville, Ohio , each 200 feet high. With its national prominence as

19539-441: The primary early developer of AM technology is Canadian-born inventor Reginald Fessenden . The original spark-gap radio transmitters were impractical for transmitting audio, since they produced discontinuous pulses known as " damped waves ". Fessenden realized that what was needed was a new type of radio transmitter that produced steady "undamped" (better known as " continuous wave ") signals, which could then be "modulated" to reflect

19706-552: The prime time slot. WKYC "Radio 11" was a large record-selling influence as far away as New York City and Miami. However, its main local competition in those days was WIXY (1260 AM; "Super Radio"). Unlike WIXY, WKYC – being an NBC owned-and-operated station in a situation not unlike WRC (980 AM) in Washington – was obligated to carry all NBC Radio programming such as the weekend Monitor , as well as all top-of-the-hour NBC Radio newscasts. The NBC Radio afternoon daily network news feed

19873-450: The production rights to the Browns and Indians networks from Sports Marketing, controlled by Tom Wilson. The transaction was delayed for several months due to the FCC investigation against Dee with WWWE later paying an $ 8,000 fine. The outgoing Independent Group management retained the ability to hire Tom Hamilton as Herb Score's Indians broadcast partner prior to the start of the 1990 season with Booth's blessing. Booth's takeover of WWWE

20040-590: The program for nationwide broadcast on the NBC Red Network, and it aired six days a week for five years. WTAM also originated the venerable Lum and Abner show on the NBC Red Network five days a week during one year of its run from May 22, 1933, to March 30, 1934, sponsored by the Ford Dealers of America. NBC began to make substantial investments to station facilities in the 1930s. WTAM moved their studio operations to 815 Superior Avenue on February 7, 1937; renamed

20207-403: The ratings. NBC Talknet was dropped in favor of ABC Radio's Tom Snyder and Sally Jessy Raphael , with Snyder marking the WWWE addition by interviewing the station's overnight board operator, coincidentally named Tom Snyder. Anthony only lasted for five months before resigning in mid-June 1989, one week after weekender Geoff Sindelar took over as Sportsline host; Sindelar had gained notoriety as

20374-637: The reception of AM transmissions and hurt the listening experience, among other reasons. However the United States Congress has introduced a bill to require all vehicles sold in the US to have an AM receiver to receive emergency broadcasts. The FM broadcast band was established in 1941 in the United States, and at the time some suggested that the AM band would soon be eliminated. In 1948 wide-band FM's inventor, Edwin H. Armstrong , predicted that "The broadcasters will set up FM stations which will parallel, carry

20541-544: The rules for capitalisation of a common noun ; i.e., hertz becomes capitalised at the beginning of a sentence and in titles but is otherwise in lower case. The hertz is named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894), who made important scientific contributions to the study of electromagnetism . The name was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 1935. It

20708-440: The sale was WJW's talk format, which Lake Erie opted to "move" outright to WWWE. Nearly all of WJW's air talent and management were reassigned to WWWE, with Pete Franklin's Sportsline as the lone program retained. While neither WJW or WWWE had strong ratings, WJW's talk format had been drawing more younger listeners than competitor WERE, while WWWE was now one of the lowest-rated stations outside of sports programming. Dismissed with

20875-799: The same deficiencies. The lack of any means to amplify electrical currents meant that, like the alternator transmitters, modulation was usually accomplished by a microphone inserted directly in the antenna wire, which again resulted in overheating issues, even with the use of water-cooled microphones. Thus, transmitter powers tended to be limited. The arc was also somewhat unstable, which reduced audio quality. Experimenters who used arc transmitters for their radiotelephone research included Ernst Ruhmer , Quirino Majorana , Charles "Doc" Herrold , and Lee de Forest . Advances in vacuum tube technology (called "valves" in British usage), especially after around 1915, revolutionized radio technology. Vacuum tube devices could be used to amplify electrical currents, which overcame

21042-400: The same program, as over their AM stations... eventually the day will come, of course, when we will no longer have to build receivers capable of receiving both types of transmission, and then the AM transmitters will disappear." However, FM stations actually struggled for many decades, and it was not until 1978 that FM listenership surpassed that of AM stations. Since then the AM band's share of

21209-409: The second as "the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium -133 atom" and then adds: "It follows that the hyperfine splitting in the ground state of the caesium 133 atom is exactly 9 192 631 770  hertz , ν hfs Cs = 9 192 631 770  Hz ." The dimension of the unit hertz

21376-410: The sounds being transmitted. Fessenden's basic approach was disclosed in U.S. Patent 706,737, which he applied for on May 29, 1901, and was issued the next year. It called for the use of a high-speed alternator (referred to as "an alternating-current dynamo") that generated "pure sine waves" and produced "a continuous train of radiant waves of substantially uniform strength", or, in modern terminology,

21543-413: The specific case of radioactivity , in becquerels . Whereas 1 Hz (one per second) specifically refers to one cycle (or periodic event) per second, 1 Bq (also one per second) specifically refers to one radionuclide event per second on average. Even though frequency, angular velocity , angular frequency and radioactivity all have the dimension T , of these only frequency is expressed using

21710-458: The station later apologized. Dee's often-inflammatory remarks, coupled with several off-color statements by Drennan on Sportsline , soon prompted Dyer to ask, "is WWWE trying to corner the market on racism?" A fishing boat owned by Dee was intentionally burned while he was on vacation, prompting WWWE to offer a cash reward in exchange for information. It was David "Fig" Newton, who returned to WWWE as afternoon host on April 11, 1988, that netted

21877-515: The station's fifth overall ownership change since 1972. The cash considerations were a motivating factor for Independent to sell off WWWE while the company's principals were happy to retain an AM property. Without Dee, WWWE fell to ninth place in the Arbitron book, while WRMR ranked at tenth place. Booth retained the Cavaliers radio network flagship rights, transferring it back to WWWE, while also purchasing

22044-573: The station's license into question. Booth American (later Secret Communications) took over WWWE in 1990, revamping the lineup several times and hiring Mike Trivisonno as Sportsline host in 1994, later moving him to afternoon drive to much success. WWWE re-adopted the WTAM call letters in 1996 to reinforce the station's position on the AM band; station management considered the historical tie "a nice bonus, but... more incidental than anything else". Purchased by Jacor in 1997, WTAM has been owned by Clear Channel since 1999, renamed iHeartMedia in 2014. WTAM

22211-413: The station's license, which was up for renewal, could be revoked. Dee was fired on August 31, 1989, with the station merely explaining the move as "a decision... to pursue a different direction" and denied it had anything to do with the complaint, while Dee claimed, "they had every reason to fire me because I didn't follow directions". Dee's ratings overall had been a disappointment for WWWE management, as he

22378-408: The swap of stations reversed without NBC realizing any profit on the deal. NBC regained control of the Cleveland stations on June 19, 1965, and changed their call letters to WKYC, WKYC-FM and WKYC-TV, which kept the popular "KY" slogan and identity Westinghouse brought into Cleveland. To this day, the KYW stations insist that they "moved" to Cleveland in 1956 and "returned" to Philadelphia in 1965, but

22545-531: The talk format's "new home" on WWWE and Booth American's replacement format on WJW, rechristened as WRMR. Indeed, the switchover at 11:00 a.m. on June 11, 1985, had a "final sign-off" for WJW followed by Cleveland mayor George Voinovich pressing a ceremonial switch on WWWE that completed the "move" of WJW's prior talk format. Along with Franklin, the "new" WWWE's lineup boasted an all-news block in morning drive, followed by hosts John McCullough, Michael Freedman, Merle Pollis and Joel Rose, with NBC Talknet in

22712-411: The technology for AM broadcasting in stereo was challenging due to the need to limit the transmissions to a 20 kHz bandwidth, while also making the transmissions backward compatible with existing non-stereo receivers. In 1990, the FCC authorized an AM stereo standard developed by Magnavox, but two years later revised its decision to instead approve four competing implementations, saying it would "let

22879-438: The time, it was one of the largest mergers and acquisitions in the broadcasting industry. In December 1981, WWWE switched formats to country branded as Country 11, going in direct competition with WHK (1420 AM) and WKSW (99.5 FM) . With the switch, the duo of Rick McGuire and Ron Marron were installed in morning drive, displacing Larry Morrow to afternoons; Morrow eventually left the station. Citing disappointing ratings and

23046-596: The trade was finalized, Westinghouse complained to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Justice Department about NBC's coercion . It was discovered that Westinghouse only agreed to the trade when NBC made implications that it would pull its television programming from WPTZ and Westinghouse's other NBC affiliate, WBZ-TV in Boston. In 1964, after a protracted legal battle, the FCC ordered

23213-401: The translator stations are not permitted to originate programming when the "primary" AM station is broadcasting, they are permitted to do so during nighttime hours for AM stations licensed for daytime-only operation. Prior to the adoption of the new policy, as of March 18, 2009, the FCC had issued 215 Special Temporary Authority grants for FM translators relaying AM stations. After creation of

23380-534: The two stations' facilities and broadcast licenses remained the same. WKYC continued as a Top 40 outlet—the only such-formatted station under NBC ownership—with personalities Harry Martin, Specs Howard, Jay Lawrence and Jerry G holding over from KYW/Westinghouse. When program director Ken Draper left for WCFL in Chicago in early 1965, prior to the ownership change, both Jim Stagg and Jim Runyon wasted no time following him. Bill Winters came in about this time. Jim LaBarbara

23547-480: The unit hertz. Thus a disc rotating at 60 revolutions per minute (rpm) is said to have an angular velocity of 2 π  rad/s and a frequency of rotation of 1 Hz . The correspondence between a frequency f with the unit hertz and an angular velocity ω with the unit radians per second is The hertz is named after Heinrich Hertz . As with every SI unit named for a person, its symbol starts with an upper case letter (Hz), but when written in full, it follows

23714-492: The upper end of the Region 2 AM broadcast band, by adding ten frequencies which spanned from 1610 kHz to 1700 kHz. At this time it was suggested that as many as 500 U.S. stations could be assigned to the new frequencies. On April 12, 1990, the FCC voted to begin the process of populating the expanded band, with the main priority being the reduction of interference on the existing AM band, by transferring selected stations to

23881-548: The war the availability of tubes sparked a great increase in the number of amateur radio stations experimenting with AM transmission of news or music. Vacuum tubes remained the central technology of radio for 40 years, until transistors began to dominate in the late 1950s, and are still used in the highest power broadcast transmitters. Unlike telegraph and telephone systems, which used completely different types of equipment, most radio receivers were equally suitable for both radiotelegraph and radiotelephone reception. In 1903 and 1904

24048-404: The youngest demographic groups. Among persons aged 12–24, AM accounts for only 4% of listening, while FM accounts for 96%. Among persons aged 25–34, AM accounts for only 9% of listening, while FM accounts for 91%. The median age of listeners to the AM band is 57 years old, a full generation older than the median age of FM listeners." In 2009, the FCC made a major regulatory change, when it adopted

24215-565: Was 15 kHz resulting in bandwidth of 30 kHz. Another common limitation on AM fidelity is the result of receiver design, although some efforts have been made to improve this, notably through the AMAX standards adopted in the United States. AM broadcasts are used on several frequency bands. The allocation of these bands is governed by the ITU 's Radio Regulations and, on the national level, by each country's telecommunications administration (the FCC in

24382-482: Was adopted by the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) ( Conférence générale des poids et mesures ) in 1960, replacing the previous name for the unit, "cycles per second" (cps), along with its related multiples, primarily "kilocycles per second" (kc/s) and "megacycles per second" (Mc/s), and occasionally "kilomegacycles per second" (kMc/s). The term "cycles per second" was largely replaced by "hertz" by

24549-478: Was also based from WKYC's studios and anchored by Virgil Dominic, who also served as WKYC-TV's lead news anchor. On February 1, 1968, at 3:05 pm, following an NBC Radio newscast, the station altered its presentation to Power Radio, a derivative of the Drake-Chenault -created " Boss Radio " Top-40 format, programmed for WKYC by Hal Moore. The new sound emphasized "more music" with less chatter between songs and

24716-474: Was approved by the FCC for use by AM stations, initially only during daytime hours, due to concerns that during the night its wider bandwidth would cause unacceptable interference to stations on adjacent frequencies. In 2007 nighttime operation was also authorized. The number of hybrid mode AM stations is not exactly known, because the FCC does not keep track of the stations employing the system, and some authorized stations have later turned it off. But as of 2020

24883-405: Was brought in from Birmingham, Alabama , to host Fuller's former midday slot. Pete Franklin also "returned" to WWWE with daily sports commentaries during the morning and afternoon shows. The biggest change, however, occurred on December 23, 1989, when Booth American purchased WWWE from Independent Group in exchange for $ 10 million in cash and WRMR, effectively making the deal an asset swap and

25050-871: Was fired from WWWE for the second time in one year, this time owing to a disagreement over paid vacations. Former WSLR executive Harvey Simms was hired by the outgoing management to be the station's marketing director, then was promoted to general manager by the new ownership less than three months later. David George, a station veteran of eight years, was also promoted from production director to program director. I'm amazed at his instinct for entertainment. I don't even know whether he actually knows how he does it, but knowing what's going to make people respond—for better, for worse, or whatever—is totally natural for him. A lot of people say, 'I hate what Gary did yesterday, I hate what he did today, and I'm gonna hate what he does tomorrow, too.' David George, WWWE program director, on Gary Dee Despite Bruce Drennan's open lobbying for

25217-602: Was hired after Harvey Simms learned about his availability through reading a Beacon Journal story about his departure from WKDD days earlier. Anthony promptly cut down the volume of commercials WWWE was obligated to run via radio network commitments to 14 minutes per hour; at one point, the station aired as much as 20 to 22 minutes of commercials per hour. Rumors emerged of Anthony replacing Drennan with XETRA-AM announcer Lee Hamilton , as both previously worked together in Akron, while Greg Brinda's WERE show started to outdraw Drennan in

25384-400: Was immediately recognized that, much like the telegraph had preceded the invention of the telephone, the ability to make audio radio transmissions would be a significant technical advance. Despite this knowledge, it still took two decades to perfect the technology needed to make quality audio transmissions. In addition, the telephone had rarely been used for distributing entertainment, outside of

25551-525: Was interested in divesting some or all of their radio stations, NBC sold both WKYC and WKYC-FM to Ohio Communications, headed by sports franchiser Nick Mileti and investment firm C. F. Kettering, for approximately $ 5.5 million in a deal announced January 12, 1972. Broadcast executives Tom and Jim Embrescia joined the ownership group as vice-president/general manager and sales manager, respectively. The AM radio station's call letters were changed to WWWE (purportedly for Embrescia or Entertainment) and adopted

25718-630: Was involved with local television productions in Cleveland, was inspired to enter talk radio after sitting in as a guest on Pollis' WWWE show. The station bid aggressively against WHK and WERE to retain the Cleveland Indians rights during the summer of 1986, while Franklin—who now additionally did weekend work for St. Louis 's KMOX —again threatened to leave WWWE if it lost the Indians games. McCullough and Freedman were both fired as part of an October 1986 lineup shakeup, but Freedman returned less than two months later following Joel Rose's resignation after

25885-527: Was jeopardized after Franklin announced intentions to leave WWWE for a lucrative two-year contract with New York City's WHN to headline a new all- sports format to be named " WFAN ". Days after the announcement, Franklin underwent emergency quadruple bypass surgery at the Cleveland Clinic following a massive heart attack, which some attributed to stress over the New York move while Franklin attributed it to

26052-485: Was often compared to onetime WERE host Morton Downey Jr. , while the Beacon Journal 's Bob Dyer said, "he makes Jerry Falwell sound like a flaming liberal ". After the acquittal of a Lorain man on charges of molesting his daughter, Dee publicly attacked both the judge and county prosecutor , insinuating that their children should be raped while going into graphic detail on the case and giving out their phone numbers;

26219-469: Was only temporary as syndicator ABC Radio planned on cancelling it by that September. Lee Kirk from Toledo 's WSPD was ultimately brought in for the timeslot. The station went aggressive on news with rolling all-news blocks launched in morning and afternoon drive along with an hourlong noon block. A 12-person 24-hour news department was instituted with ABC-Information newscasts replacing CBS; Booth executive Roger Turner cited ABC's "tighter writing and

26386-475: Was previously a perennially top-rated host at WERE and WHK. The FCC's anti-indecency campaign specifically cited Dee's June 15, 1989, show for multiple discussions on-air regarding sexual fantasies and behavior; WWWE was one of eight stations given a 30-day notice by the agency to address the allegations. The station filled the vacancy left by Dee with Bob Becker paired with friend and radio novice Luther Heggs, while Bob Fuller returned to mornings, and Beth Albright

26553-415: Was regarded in the local press as a "purge" with much of the airstaff going on-air to discuss their fates. Dismissed were Bob Fuller, Beth Albright, Bob Becker, Luther Heggs, Steve Church and Bruce Drennan, with Geoff Sindelar retained as Sportsline host on an interim basis. Lee Hamilton again expressed interest in joining WWWE, having been friends with much of the new Booth management, but could not agree to

26720-412: Was replaced by WIXY's evening man Jack Armstrong , who then decided to call himself "Big Jack, Your Leader "; LaBarbara was moved to overnight to accommodate Armstrong's installation as the evening jock. In early 1967, the on air staff consisted of: LaBarbara, overnight; Charlie and Harrigan , morning drive; Bob Cole, late morning; Jay Lawrence, mid afternoons; Chuck Dann, afternoon drive; and Big Jack in

26887-427: Was shot , they had a guy lined up in a few minutes, but it has taken them seven months to replace (me)... what that tells me is the new owners don't have the money to pay anybody." WWWE also conducted a newspaper poll to help choose Franklin's successor; Dan Coughlin , who also was a Sportsline fill-in host, retrospectively called the polling process less honest than the "fan vote" for the 1988 MLB All-Star Game and

27054-426: Was sold to Combined Communications, Inc. in December 1976 for $ 7.5 million, consummated the following September; Ohio Communications retained WWWM. Combined Communications subsequently merged into Globe Broadcasting Corp., owner of WMGC (1260 AM) and WDOK ; WMGC was spun off to comply with then-existing ownership rules. Gannett then merged into Combined Communications in June 1979 in a $ 370 million deal; at

27221-399: Was termed "rock radio without the music". Even with all the controversy, WWWE ascended to fourth place in the spring 1988 Arbitron book, helped largely by Dee and the Indians. However, the station's Indians commitments caused the majority of the Cavaliers' 1988 playoff run to air on WRMR and WDOK instead. In response, Joe Tait—who had taken over as head of Cavaliers broadcasting operations—ended

27388-468: Was the first organization to create a radio network, and also to promote commercial advertising, which it called "toll" broadcasting. Its flagship station, WEAF (now WFAN) in New York City, sold blocks of airtime to commercial sponsors that developed entertainment shows containing commercial messages . AT&T held a monopoly on quality telephone lines, and by 1924 had linked 12 stations in Eastern cities into

27555-406: Was the lack of amplifying the signals, so listeners had to use earphones , and it required the development of vacuum-tube receivers before loudspeakers could be used. The dynamic cone loudspeaker , invented in 1924, greatly improved audio frequency response over the previous horn speakers, allowing music to be reproduced with good fidelity. AM radio offered the highest sound quality available in

27722-544: Was under financial pressure to sell WJW when that station's format changed from MOR to talk radio in July 1982. WJW made a winning bid for the Browns radio broadcast rights that included the team taking an ownership stake in the station, but minority owner Robert Gries sued Modell on charges of anti-competitive practices and existing flagship WHK matched WJW's bid for the 1984 season . Lake Erie's purchase of WWWE and WDOK came days after Lake Erie—not WJW specifically—managed to secure

27889-538: Was wooed away from a three-day stint at WIXY to do evening prime time. Chuck Dann signed on, as did Charlie and Harrigan (Jack Woods and Paul Menard), the morning duo at KLIF (1190 AM) in Dallas . Jim Gallant was doing overnights. In late 1966, popular afternoon host Jerry G also decided to follow Draper to WCFL; upon his departure, he added the last name "Bishop", and later created the TV horror host persona Svengoolie . He

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