WLQR
Encyclopedia
WLQR is a sports/talk radio station
on 1470 kHz in Toledo, Ohio
. It is the Toledo affiliate of ESPN Radio
and is owned by Cumulus Media
. Since June 2009 the station has been simulcast on 106.5 MHz as WLQR-FM, calling itself "106-5 The Ticket".
WLQR-AM is the Toledo affiliate for the Detroit Lions
, Detroit Pistons
, Detroit Red Wings
, Detroit Tigers
and the Ohio State Buckeyes
(football and basketball). The station also broadcasts high-school football games. It was the flagship station for Toledo Mud Hens
baseball from 2003 to 2007, but the team announced in October 2007 that it would move to Clear Channel
-owned WCWA
.
s were known as the "WOHO Good Guys". Music-era DJs included:
News staffers were:
For several years, WLQR was known as "1470 The Chicken" in reference to its mascot: a giant whole broiled chicken, dressed in seasonal clothing. There was also the inimitable "MOJO Man". One of the "Good Guys", Larry Love (Larry Weseman), was 16 years old and still in high school when he began working at WOHO during the late 1960s (making him Toledo's youngest DJ). Russ Simpson, a Canadian, became the host of "Royale Windfall" on CHAN-TV in Vancouver; he died in 2004. Buddy Carr (who later became the original owner of WRED
) is the only former "Good Guy" still on the air in Toledo. WOHO was also a longtime affiliate of Casey Kasem
's American Top 40
.
WOHO evolved from Top 40 into an adult contemporary station by 1983, and remained so through the rest of the 1980s. The station changed its callsign to WWWM-AM in 1990; it was briefly a country
station, before switching to urban adult contemporary
music as an affiliate of Satellite Music Network
's The Touch
format (now part of Cumulus Media
). The station switched to sports as WLQR in November 1995.
From 1971 to 1995, WLQR was also the call sign of an Easy Listening
(then Adult Contemporary music) station on 101.5 MHz FM in Toledo (later WRVF
101.5, "The River").
On June 22, 2009 the modern rock
format of "106.5 The Zone" WRWK, suffering from declining ratings, was dropped in favor of a full-time simulcast of WLQR-AM and the new callsign of WLQR-FM. WLQR-FM also broadcasts in HD Radio
. "The Zone" programming moved to the HD-2 side channel of sister station WXKR
and later also to a low-powered translator station of WXKR-HD2, broadcasting on 100.7 MHz FM. However, WXKR-HD2 and its translator have since switched to a contemporary hit radio
format as "The Vibe"; "Zone" programming is available only on WXKR-HD3. Due to aging towers and a failing ground system
, the transmitter power of WLQR-AM has been reduced to approximately 330 watts from its licensed 1-kW allocation. Cumulus hopes to restore WLQR with new towers and resume its rated power from a new location.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
on 1470 kHz in Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
. It is the Toledo affiliate of ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
and is owned by Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
. Since June 2009 the station has been simulcast on 106.5 MHz as WLQR-FM, calling itself "106-5 The Ticket".
WLQR-AM is the Toledo affiliate for the Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
, Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...
, Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
, Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
and the Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of The Ohio State University, named after the state tree, the Buckeye. The Buckeyes participate in the NCAA's Division I in all sports and the Big Ten Conference in most sports...
(football and basketball). The station also broadcasts high-school football games. It was the flagship station for Toledo Mud Hens
Toledo Mud Hens
The Toledo Mud Hens are a minor league baseball team located in Toledo, Ohio. The Mud Hens play in the International League, and are affiliated with the major league baseball team the Detroit Tigers, based approximately 50 miles to the north of Toledo. The current team is one of several...
baseball from 2003 to 2007, but the team announced in October 2007 that it would move to Clear Channel
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
-owned WCWA
WCWA
WCWA is a radio station licensed to and serving Toledo, Ohio. It is the second-oldest radio station in Toledo, and during AM radio's heyday it was a close second in popularity to WSPD-AM for many years.-History:...
.
History
For many years 1470 kHz AM in Toledo was home to WOHO, a leading Top 40 music station in Toledo from the 1960s until the early 1980s. During the Top-40 years, the disc jockeyDisc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s were known as the "WOHO Good Guys". Music-era DJs included:
- Tommy Dean
- Swingin' Sweeney
- Gary Calvert
- Peter Tripp
- John Garry
- Larry O'Brien
- Bob Martz
- Sam Holeman
- Rick Randall
- Bobby Rich
- E. Alvin Davis
- Gene Werley
- Don Armstrong (program director)
- Bill Manders
- Bob Kelley
- Larry Love
- Ben Gall
- Russ Simpson
- Buddy Carr
- Norm Davis
- Earl Sharninghouse (also known as Earl Richards)
- Tommy Vance
- Ken R. Deutch (also known as Ken R
- Sir Bernard J. Quayle
- Mike Cook
- Mike Morin
- Corey Deitz
- Jay Scott
- Craig Edwards (news director)
News staffers were:
- John Grimes
- Cheryl Deutsch
- Scott Feldman
- Lou Hebert
- Irwin Young
- Hank Neyer
- Ken Roberts
For several years, WLQR was known as "1470 The Chicken" in reference to its mascot: a giant whole broiled chicken, dressed in seasonal clothing. There was also the inimitable "MOJO Man". One of the "Good Guys", Larry Love (Larry Weseman), was 16 years old and still in high school when he began working at WOHO during the late 1960s (making him Toledo's youngest DJ). Russ Simpson, a Canadian, became the host of "Royale Windfall" on CHAN-TV in Vancouver; he died in 2004. Buddy Carr (who later became the original owner of WRED
WIMX
WIMX is an Urban Adult Contemporary radio station licensed to Gibsonburg, Ohio, known as "Mix 95.7".- History :The station began broadcasting on November 15, 1988 with an Adult Contemporary format with the call letters WRED . The station was known as "Red 95.7". WRED was founded by longtime Toledo...
) is the only former "Good Guy" still on the air in Toledo. WOHO was also a longtime affiliate of Casey Kasem
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem is an American radio personality and voice actor who is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown show American Top 40, and for voicing Shaggy in the popular Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.Kasem, along with Don Bustany and...
's American Top 40
American Top 40
American Top 40 is an internationally syndicated, independent radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs. Originally a production of Watermark Inc...
.
WOHO evolved from Top 40 into an adult contemporary station by 1983, and remained so through the rest of the 1980s. The station changed its callsign to WWWM-AM in 1990; it was briefly a country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
station, before switching to urban adult contemporary
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...
music as an affiliate of Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered network to provide complete live 24-hour a day music programming to local stations, under several different formats...
's The Touch
The Touch
The Touch is a 1971 film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Elliot Gould, and Sheila Reid.-Plot:...
format (now part of Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
). The station switched to sports as WLQR in November 1995.
From 1971 to 1995, WLQR was also the call sign of an Easy Listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
(then Adult Contemporary music) station on 101.5 MHz FM in Toledo (later WRVF
WRVF
WRVF is an American soft adult contemporary music formatted radio station in Toledo, Ohio, owned by Clear Channel Communications...
101.5, "The River").
Later developments
WLQR broadcasts on 1470 kHz with a power output of 1000 watts; it has a different signal pattern during the day than it does at night. The transmitter and four towers are located on Pickle Road, east of Toledo (in Oregon, Ohio). The station originally went on the air in 1954 as WOHO. WOHO AM 1470 was owned by the Lew Dickey family, who now control the Cumulus Broadcasting Company; therefore, AM 1470 was their flagship/first station. The studios at the transmitter site are no longer in use, since the WLQR studios have been moved to the Cumulus Toledo-Cluster facility in South Toledo. The Pickle Road studios were also later shared with sister station WXEZ-105.5 FM, ("Z-105" during the 1970s and 1980s, and later WWWM-FM Star 105-5).On June 22, 2009 the modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
format of "106.5 The Zone" WRWK, suffering from declining ratings, was dropped in favor of a full-time simulcast of WLQR-AM and the new callsign of WLQR-FM. WLQR-FM also broadcasts in HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
. "The Zone" programming moved to the HD-2 side channel of sister station WXKR
WXKR
WXKR is a radio station in Port Clinton, Ohio, broadcasting on 94.5 MHz with a classic rock format. The station is known as 94.5 XKR, Toledo's Classic Rock Station.-WRWR:...
and later also to a low-powered translator station of WXKR-HD2, broadcasting on 100.7 MHz FM. However, WXKR-HD2 and its translator have since switched to a contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
format as "The Vibe"; "Zone" programming is available only on WXKR-HD3. Due to aging towers and a failing ground system
Ground (electricity)
In electrical engineering, ground or earth may be the reference point in an electrical circuit from which other voltages are measured, or a common return path for electric current, or a direct physical connection to the Earth....
, the transmitter power of WLQR-AM has been reduced to approximately 330 watts from its licensed 1-kW allocation. Cumulus hopes to restore WLQR with new towers and resume its rated power from a new location.