WNCX
Encyclopedia
WNCX — branded 98.5 WNCX — is commercial radio station
in Cleveland, Ohio
, broadcasting a classic rock
format. The station's studios are currently located in Cleveland's historic Halle Building
, in the Playhouse Square District. The WNCX transmitter is located in nearby North Royalton, Ohio
.
The station is currently owned and operated by CBS Radio
, a division of CBS Corporation
. It was among the first stations in Cleveland broadcasting a digital signal using HD Radio
.
(AM), where it primarily simulcast the programming of its more popular AM sister station over the next 24 years. WERE-FM actually signed on one year prior to its AM counterpart.
Solid Gold and Hit Parade formats, which featured a Top 40/Oldies mix, but eventually went live and local with personalities such as David Mark and Mike Dix (formerly of the legendary WIXY 1260). Famed programmer Lee Abrams
helmed the station; George Jay was its news director.
One of G-98's most recognized air personalities was Dancin' Danny Wright
, who later had a long stretch in afternoon drive at country WGAR. He later became nationally syndicated with his current show, Jones Radio Network's Danny Wright All Night.
During the next 14 years the station would go on to enjoy moderate success in the face of significant competition from crosstown rock juggernaut, WMMS
. Their best year was 1982 when they actually beat WMMS in the ratings, but after WMMS re-tooled and recaptured first place a short time later, WGCL slowly lost ground. The station was sold in 1986.
The call letters WGCL are now in use at the CBS television affiliate
in Atlanta.
the slogan, which WMMS did) and format on October 22, 1986, when it adopted an eclectic rock/top 40 mixed format.
To signal a sign of the changes to come, the station aired Beatles records non-stop for 72-hours after the last day of the old WGCL format, just before the launch of the new WNCX format. This was one of the earliest examples of "stunting
" in between formats, a practice which became common some years later.
It was rumored at the time that one reason for the stunt was that disgruntled WGCL employees who would be losing their jobs once Metropolis took over had stolen virtually all of the G-98 music library, forcing station staff to go out and purchase compact discs to play for when the new format launched (and in addition, the arrival of the compact-disc players the station had ordered was delayed for two days). Because of this, the station was one of the first radio stations in Cleveland to have a complete on-air library made up of compact discs, having spent thousands of dollars on what was considered a fairly new and advanced form of media.
While it was considered a new radio station, the staff was anything but new as it featured a well-seasoned lineup of Cleveland radio veterans—eight of whom were stolen directly from its heated rival, WMMS. Headed by the latter's former Program Director, John Gorman
(as WNCX Operations Manager) and 15-year WMMS veteran Denny Sanders (as WNCX Program Director), the pair promised "a much different sound than other stations," and that they would "play a wide variety of music, 360 degrees of rock 'n' roll, from old to new to R&B." The sizable WNCX's playlist emphasized new music, local records and included a Saturday night dance club music show. The format became a pioneering effort in what, just a short time later, would be a successful approach for many stations throughout the country, the "rock-CHR" format.
Its DJ lineup included former WGAR-AM personality Paul Tapie in the morning, former WHK
Program Director and DJ Bernie Kimble in middays, Sanders during the afternoon drive, former WMMS DJ Spaceman Scott evenings and Nancy Alden late nights. Due to an inability by Metropolis Broadcasting to buyout his contract, Danny Wright was moved to the overnight slot for several months as a board-op with no speaking role whatsoever. Recorded station IDs and imaging was created by acclaimed "Word Jazz" artist Ken Nordine.
Yet, three months after the cutting-edge station's high-visibility launch, all of the staff except for Paul Tapie were fired, and the station was put back up for sale. Most of the dismissed personalities enjoyed longevity in the market elsewhere. John Gorman became program director at WMJI
in 1991 (and again at WMMS
in 1994) and lasted until 1996. Sanders landed at WMJI
in 1988, succeeded Gorman as Program Director in 1996. Spaceman Scott became the program director for WRQK in the late 80s, then came back to WMMS in the early 90s. Nancy Alden went to WDOK
in April 1987 and has been a fixture at that station ever since; while Bernie Kimble was the program director at smooth jazz WNWV
for over fifteen years.
The immediate offering of the station for re-sale, lead most observers to conclude that Metropolis Broadcasting was poorly organized and financed right from the start. Their sole other station (WDTX-FM in Detroit) was put up for sale at this time as well and, within just a few months, Metropolis Broadcasting had gone out of business completely.
. McVay immediately relaunched WNCX as a Classic hits
station, featuring an innocuous mix of pop-rock Classic artists like Elton John
, Paul McCartney
and Cat Stevens
, with little promotion and dramatically reduced expenses.
The curiously swift abortion
of the current-based eclectic format so soon after launch was a cause for concern in the local radio and musicians' community. However the oldies-based Classic Hits format had a level of success with Cleveland audiences as heavy focus at WMJI on 1950s and early 1960s Oldies (at that time) left a definite gap in the market for a station willing to serve listeners who enjoyed more recent memories. Over the next several rating periods, as WMJI began to compensate, WNCX eventually repositioned itself solidly between WMJI and WMMS, drawing from both stations by completing an evolution to pure Classic rock
. Consultant Mike McVay departed about this time. McVay currently serves as president of McVay Media and is the author of the book, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Radio Stations.
(1260 AM) during the 1960s.
Wain and Weiss set out to accomplish once again what they had done in 1965, and that was to build a radio station with personality, particularly Cleveland personality. Over the next few years they did just that.
Cleveland native Bill Louis was brought in to do middays in 1987 — an airshift he continues to man to date and was promoted to Program Director in 1996. Following that promotion, Louis named fellow Cleveland native and WNCX morning show producer Dave Jockers as his assistant program director and music director, positions Jockers held for nearly fourteen years until departing in October 2010. In 1990 Wain and then program director Doug Podell hired local rock musician Michael Stanley
to host a one-hour radio program entitled In the Heartland; the show would eventually lead to Stanley taking over the afternoon shift on WNCX — an airshift he still does to date. Cleveland native Mr. Classic (Walt Garrett) has been on WNCX for since June 1987. A weekend highlight of radio is named the Saturday Night Live House Party five hours of great requests with musically savvy listeners. His knowledge of the world is unparalleled, knowledge he shares with his listeners during his many weekend and substitute air shifts. For a couple of years, Ron Sweed
co-hosted his Saturday night all-request show under his Ghoul persona
.
with that station's launch as a sports station in 1991, and would also host the Ohio Lottery
TV game show, "Cash Explosion" from 1988 until 2004. Hired by then-PD Paul Ingles (at the suggestion of programming guru Andy Bloom
) from KMJK in Portland, Oregon, Those Guys in the Morning consisted of Rick Rydell
and Todd Brandt, with sportscaster Mike Trivisonno
(a frequent caller to Pete Franklin
's Sportsline on WWWE-AM in the 70s). Although the station's overall ratings climbed during the late 1980s, topping rival WMMS in key rating categories, Those Guys had only marginal success in Cleveland, and were regularly criticized by the local paper, often speculating on their departure date from WNCX. As it turned out, they lasted less than two years. Ingles himself was relieved of his program director duties and was replaced by Doug Podell from Detroit. WNCX's next attempt in mornings was former Humble Pie
drummer Jerry Shirley
with sportscaster Mike Trivisonno
- the sole holdover from the Those Guys show - and Paul Ingles. Ingles soon left, and was replaced on the show with Skip Herman. Paul Tapie even returned as a sidekick for the show within a few months of its debut. Podell had convinced Wain and Weiss that it was time to consider a radical option - pick up New York-based Howard Stern
.
. The two worked at rock station WWWW
, prior to its switch to a country
format, an event depicted in Stern's autobiographical film Private Parts
(1997). After little persuading from Podell, Wain and Weiss agreed to take a chance on the show, though it took until August 1992 for WNCX and Stern to finally sign a deal. Andy Bloom — the same programming consultant who convinced Paul Ingalls to hire Those Guys in the Morning — was brought back to consult on the Stern start-up. Bloom had been the program director at the first Stern simulcasts at WYSP in Philadelphia and KLSX in Los Angeles
. WNCX in Cleveland was just the 6th station (5th affiliate after Stern's flagship WXRK) out of more than 60 nationally to carry The Howard Stern Show.
In October 2004, Stern announced that he would be moving his radio program to Sirius Satellite Radio
, a subscription radio service where he could avoid the content restrictions being forced on to him by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC). His final live broadcast aired on WNCX on December 16, 2005. WNCX was a longtime home for The Howard Stern Show, airing the show locally for more than 13 years. Program Director Bill Louis reflected on the show's run days after Stern's final broadcast: "It's difficult to imagine the mornings without him... what [Stern] brought was a very specialized and special form of entertainment that no one is ever going to duplicate." WNCX was a longtime home for the Howard Stern morning show, having aired the show from August 31, 1992 to December 16, 2005.
ranked #13 to #1 among all radio listeners in less than two years, Stern promised to have a street party and to broadcast a "funeral" for his competition live from the streets of Cleveland.
During this now infamous broadcast, an engineer from WMMS
snipped a broadcast wire that was used to feed the satellite uplink for the program. The engineer was subsequently caught, arrested and prosecuted. Stern continued on with the program over a phone line as engineers quickly patched the broadcast wire back together:
-based Clear Channel Communications
. This spelled the exit for those two from Cleveland radio.
Following passage of the Telecom Act of 1996, Clear Channel
continued its fast growth and announced a merger with Jacor Communications in 1998, the then-owner of a large group of radio stations in Cleveland. To comply with federal ownership guidelines, Clear Channel was forced to sell off numerous radio stations around the country.
In Cleveland, Clear Channel
decided to divest its current properties before the merger. Sold to Radio One were sister stations WENZ
and WERE
-AM, while WNCX was sold to CBS/Infinity Radio. For the first time in their 50-year history, WNCX and WERE
-AM were no longer affiliated.
Naturally, WERE and WENZ moved out of the Halle Building
studio complex, while WZJM would move into the Halle less than two years later, one of three stations CBS acquired from AMFM, Inc. as part of a similar divestiture order regarding their merger with Clear Channel. To this day, WNCX and WZJM's current successor WKRK
(which plays WENZ's former format, modern rock
) are housed in the Halle Building.
, which began on January 3, 2006 and originated from Howard Stern's former flagship, WFNY-FM
in New York, the former WXRK "K-Rock." Notably, David Lee Roth had been among the featured performers at Stern's Cleveland funeral 12 years earlier. (Coincidentally, both the WXRK calls and "92.3 K-Rock" nickname landed on the former WXTM in Cleveland, WNCX's sister station that also broadcasts at 92.3-FM.) Given WNCX's history and relative ratings stability, they were one of the few affiliates not re-branded as "Free FM," nor did they change format to a hot-talk format that was associated with the Free FM name. However, due to very low ratings and a critical drubbings in the press, Roth's show was canceled by syndicator CBS Radio
on April 21, 2006. Roth's replacement in New York, Opie and Anthony
- fired by CBS Radio
three years earlier - aired on the morning drive on 92.3 (now WKRK-FM
) until December 1, 2008, when Opie and Anthony
were fired from WKRK, and the station switched to a format without live DJs.
Shortly thereafter, WNCX aired a locally-produced classic rock morning show with no regular host, and also used the slot for tributes to past Cleveland radio stations and personalities, with many of those personalities filling in during the slot. On July 27, 2006, the station announced that Wynn Richards, aka "Mud" would become the primary host of the new morning show, joined by Kim Mihalik (former sidekick to WTAM
's Mike Trivisonno
) and newscaster Mike Olszewski. Wynn previously worked at WWWM
"M105" and at WGAR (AM)
back in the early 1980s.
Following the departure of Mud from the morning lineup, radio veteran Scott Miller was brought in to captain the three-person (Miller, Mihalik, and Mike) morning show. Kim Mihalik was dropped from the lineup in 2008, leaving the morning show to the duo of Miller and Mike Olszewski (a Cleveland native and former longtime WMMS jock) In March 2009, Olszewski departed and was replaced by local stand-up comedian Jeff Blanchard, of which the program was retitled "The 'NCX Morning Show."
On October 27, 2010, WNCX announced the hiring of radio personality Maxwell (Ben Bornstein) as host of the station's new morning show. The Maxwell Show
, best known to area listeners as the former afternoon drive
program at rival WMMS
, began airing on WNCX on November 1. The move replaced former morning co-hosts Scott Miller and comedian Jeff Blanchard, along with show producer Dave Jockers. Regarding their dismissal, Program Director Bill Louis commented, "sadly, this a bottom-line business."
WNCX cancelled The Maxwell Show on August 25, 2011, less than ten months after the show's arrival at the station. Local media speculated that, in addition to "flagging ratings," WNCX cancelled the show to make room for "a new, high-profile, multi-person morning show" at sister station
WKRK-FM
(92.3 FM) as that station transitioned to a new sports
format. On August 29, 2011, the morning shift was assigned on an interim basis to local radio personality Nard (Dom Nardella) — the former DJ
and Program Director of WNCX sister station WKRK-FM
during its years as an alternative rock
outlet. The show was the first music-oriented morning show to air on WNCX since at least 1992, the year Howard Stern first began to air on the station.
On November 7, 2011, radio personality Slats (Tim Guinane), formerly heard on WNCX rival WMMS
and WNCX sister station WXTM
(now WKRK-FM), took over the WNCX morning shift. The new morning show is the sixth to air on WNCX following Stern's move to Satellite in 2006.
afternoons, and Paula Balish evenings. Bill Louis also hosts a 1 hour request show, The Classic Cafe, during his midday shift.
); The Beatle Years airs early Saturday mornings from 5-6 a.m. Following Malik, two hours of infomercials air Saturday from 6-8 a.m. Beginning at 8, classic rock shifts are hosted by local personalities Sue (Sue Csendes), Chris V., and Mr. Classic (Walt Garrett), who hosts the Saturday Night House Party request show.
Sunday programming includes: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again hosted by area war veteran John Tidyman from 7-8 a.m., the shortened two hour version of Flashback!
hosted by Bill St. James (via Citadel Media) from 8-10 a.m., classic rock shifts hosted by Sue, Chris V. and Mr. Classic; and closing out the weekend from 10 p.m. to midnight, Little Steven's Underground Garage
hosted by Steven Van Zandt
(via Renegade Nation).
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...
in Cleveland, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, broadcasting a classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
format. The station's studios are currently located in Cleveland's historic Halle Building
Halle Brothers Co.
Halle Brothers Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, commonly referred to as Halle's, is a defunct department store chain. During most of time of operations, Halle's focused on higher-end merchandise, which it combined with personal service. The company was the first major department store in Cleveland to open...
, in the Playhouse Square District. The WNCX transmitter is located in nearby North Royalton, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
.
The station is currently owned and operated by CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
, a division of CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
. It was among the first stations in Cleveland broadcasting a digital signal using 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...
.
WERE-FM
The station first went on the air in 1948 as WERE-FM and was the FM outlet for WEREWERE
WERE — branded News/Talk 1490 WERE-AM — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland Heights, Ohio broadcasting a news/talk format. The station is owned by Radio One, and has studios at 2510 St. Clair Avenue, while the transmitter is along Euclid Avenue near East 118th Street, adjacent to...
(AM), where it primarily simulcast the programming of its more popular AM sister station over the next 24 years. WERE-FM actually signed on one year prior to its AM counterpart.
WGCL
The stations were purchased by General Cinema Corporation in 1972, which would go on to change the call letters of the FM station to WGCL on August 15, 1972, while it flipped the station from its fully automated format to Top 40 as G-98. WGCL began as an affiliate of the Drake-ChenaultDrake-Chenault
Drake-Chenault Enterprises was a radio syndication company that specialized in automation on FM radio stations. The company was founded in the late-1960s by radio programmer and deejay Bill Drake , and his business partner, Lester Eugene Chenault...
Solid Gold and Hit Parade formats, which featured a Top 40/Oldies mix, but eventually went live and local with personalities such as David Mark and Mike Dix (formerly of the legendary WIXY 1260). Famed programmer Lee Abrams
Lee Abrams
Lee Abrams is an American media executive who has held a number of posts for large and influential companies, and is generally credited with developing the "Album Oriented Rock" format employed by hundreds of radio stations across the country.-Career:...
helmed the station; George Jay was its news director.
One of G-98's most recognized air personalities was Dancin' Danny Wright
Danny Wright
Danny Wright is a Seattle, Washington-based radio personality,The majority of his career and success was in the Cleveland, Ohio market, most notably at WGCL, where he was a Top-40 disc jockey known as "Dancin' Danny Wright." He departed WGCL when the station was sold by GCC Communications to...
, who later had a long stretch in afternoon drive at country WGAR. He later became nationally syndicated with his current show, Jones Radio Network's Danny Wright All Night.
During the next 14 years the station would go on to enjoy moderate success in the face of significant competition from crosstown rock juggernaut, WMMS
WMMS
WMMS — branded 100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, widely recognized as one of the most influential rock stations in America throughout much of the history of FM broadcasting...
. Their best year was 1982 when they actually beat WMMS in the ratings, but after WMMS re-tooled and recaptured first place a short time later, WGCL slowly lost ground. The station was sold in 1986.
The call letters WGCL are now in use at the CBS television affiliate
WGCL-TV
WGCL-TV, virtual channel 46.1 is the CBS-affiliated television station serving the Atlanta, Georgia area. Its city of license is Atlanta, and the station is owned by Meredith Corporation, making it the largest-market CBS station not owned by the network...
in Atlanta.
The North Coast's New FM
With the station being sold to Detroit-based Metropolis Broadcasting, it ushered in a change. For only the second time its 38-year history, the station would change its call letters to WNCX (which was to stand for "North Coast eXpress", but Metropolis failed to service markService mark
A service mark or servicemark is a trademark used in some countries, notably the United States, to identify a service rather than a product. When a service mark is federally registered, the standard registration symbol ® or "Reg U.S. Pat & TM Off" may be used...
the slogan, which WMMS did) and format on October 22, 1986, when it adopted an eclectic rock/top 40 mixed format.
To signal a sign of the changes to come, the station aired Beatles records non-stop for 72-hours after the last day of the old WGCL format, just before the launch of the new WNCX format. This was one of the earliest examples of "stunting
Stunting (broadcasting)
In radio broadcasting, stunting occurs when a station abruptly airs programming that is seemingly uncharacteristic compared to what they normally play...
" in between formats, a practice which became common some years later.
It was rumored at the time that one reason for the stunt was that disgruntled WGCL employees who would be losing their jobs once Metropolis took over had stolen virtually all of the G-98 music library, forcing station staff to go out and purchase compact discs to play for when the new format launched (and in addition, the arrival of the compact-disc players the station had ordered was delayed for two days). Because of this, the station was one of the first radio stations in Cleveland to have a complete on-air library made up of compact discs, having spent thousands of dollars on what was considered a fairly new and advanced form of media.
While it was considered a new radio station, the staff was anything but new as it featured a well-seasoned lineup of Cleveland radio veterans—eight of whom were stolen directly from its heated rival, WMMS. Headed by the latter's former Program Director, John Gorman
John Gorman (radio)
John Gorman is a radio personality and author from Cleveland, Ohio. He has a long history in media, but most notable is his 13 years at WMMS in Cleveland. In the 1970s, his innovative marketing of WMMS turned a nearly defunct station into one of the most popular in the United States. The station...
(as WNCX Operations Manager) and 15-year WMMS veteran Denny Sanders (as WNCX Program Director), the pair promised "a much different sound than other stations," and that they would "play a wide variety of music, 360 degrees of rock 'n' roll, from old to new to R&B." The sizable WNCX's playlist emphasized new music, local records and included a Saturday night dance club music show. The format became a pioneering effort in what, just a short time later, would be a successful approach for many stations throughout the country, the "rock-CHR" format.
Its DJ lineup included former WGAR-AM personality Paul Tapie in the morning, former WHK
WHK (AM)
WHK is the oldest radio station in Ohio, and 15th oldest in the country still broadcasting. WHK is currently owned by Salem Communications and broadcasts on 1420 kHz with a news/talk format with programming provided by the Salem Radio Network, as well as being the Cleveland affiliate for The...
Program Director and DJ Bernie Kimble in middays, Sanders during the afternoon drive, former WMMS DJ Spaceman Scott evenings and Nancy Alden late nights. Due to an inability by Metropolis Broadcasting to buyout his contract, Danny Wright was moved to the overnight slot for several months as a board-op with no speaking role whatsoever. Recorded station IDs and imaging was created by acclaimed "Word Jazz" artist Ken Nordine.
Yet, three months after the cutting-edge station's high-visibility launch, all of the staff except for Paul Tapie were fired, and the station was put back up for sale. Most of the dismissed personalities enjoyed longevity in the market elsewhere. John Gorman became program director at WMJI
WMJI
WMJI — branded Majic 105.7 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio broadcasting a classic hits format. The station serves Cleveland, Akron and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio....
in 1991 (and again at WMMS
WMMS
WMMS — branded 100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, widely recognized as one of the most influential rock stations in America throughout much of the history of FM broadcasting...
in 1994) and lasted until 1996. Sanders landed at WMJI
WMJI
WMJI — branded Majic 105.7 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio broadcasting a classic hits format. The station serves Cleveland, Akron and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio....
in 1988, succeeded Gorman as Program Director in 1996. Spaceman Scott became the program director for WRQK in the late 80s, then came back to WMMS in the early 90s. Nancy Alden went to WDOK
WDOK
WDOK — branded Soft Rock 102.1 WDOK — is a commercial adult contemporary radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio. Studios are located at One Radio Lane along with CBS Radio sister station WQAL, and its transmitter is located in Parma on a tower that it shares with WQHS-TV channel 61...
in April 1987 and has been a fixture at that station ever since; while Bernie Kimble was the program director at smooth jazz WNWV
WNWV
WNWV — branded V107.3 Cleveland — is a commercial radio station licensed to Elyria, Ohio broadcasting an adult album alternative format. The station serves the Cleveland radio market and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio, and is one of the few remaining locally-owned stations in the entire...
for over fifteen years.
The immediate offering of the station for re-sale, lead most observers to conclude that Metropolis Broadcasting was poorly organized and financed right from the start. Their sole other station (WDTX-FM in Detroit) was put up for sale at this time as well and, within just a few months, Metropolis Broadcasting had gone out of business completely.
Evolution to classic rock
During the time WNCX was offered again for sale, Metropolis Broadcasting employed the use of Cleveland-based radio consultant, Mike McVay, former program director and general manager at another Cleveland station, WMJIWMJI
WMJI — branded Majic 105.7 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio broadcasting a classic hits format. The station serves Cleveland, Akron and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio....
. McVay immediately relaunched WNCX as a Classic hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
station, featuring an innocuous mix of pop-rock Classic artists like Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
, with little promotion and dramatically reduced expenses.
The curiously swift abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
of the current-based eclectic format so soon after launch was a cause for concern in the local radio and musicians' community. However the oldies-based Classic Hits format had a level of success with Cleveland audiences as heavy focus at WMJI on 1950s and early 1960s Oldies (at that time) left a definite gap in the market for a station willing to serve listeners who enjoyed more recent memories. Over the next several rating periods, as WMJI began to compensate, WNCX eventually repositioned itself solidly between WMJI and WMMS, drawing from both stations by completing an evolution to pure Classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
. Consultant Mike McVay departed about this time. McVay currently serves as president of McVay Media and is the author of the book, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Radio Stations.
Metroplex: personality radio
Not too long after the evolution to classic rock, WNCX and its AM sister station found themselves being sold once again, but this time to locally based Metroplex Communications. Metroplex was headed by two Cleveland radio architects, Norman Wain and Bob Weiss, the former owners of the legendary Cleveland Top 40 station WIXYWWMK
WWMK — branded Radio Disney AM 1260 — is the Cleveland, Ohio affiliate of Radio Disney. Owned by ABC Radio, the station's studios are located at 175 Ken Mar Industrial Parkway in Broadview Heights, and its five-tower transmitter is located about 2.2 miles away on Snowville Road in front of I-77...
(1260 AM) during the 1960s.
Wain and Weiss set out to accomplish once again what they had done in 1965, and that was to build a radio station with personality, particularly Cleveland personality. Over the next few years they did just that.
Cleveland native Bill Louis was brought in to do middays in 1987 — an airshift he continues to man to date and was promoted to Program Director in 1996. Following that promotion, Louis named fellow Cleveland native and WNCX morning show producer Dave Jockers as his assistant program director and music director, positions Jockers held for nearly fourteen years until departing in October 2010. In 1990 Wain and then program director Doug Podell hired local rock musician Michael Stanley
Michael Stanley
Michael Stanley is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and disc jockey. Both as a solo artist and with the Michael Stanley Band, his brand of heartland rock was popular in Cleveland and around the American Midwest in the 1970s and 1980s.-Biography:Michael Stanley Gee graduated from Rocky...
to host a one-hour radio program entitled In the Heartland; the show would eventually lead to Stanley taking over the afternoon shift on WNCX — an airshift he still does to date. Cleveland native Mr. Classic (Walt Garrett) has been on WNCX for since June 1987. A weekend highlight of radio is named the Saturday Night Live House Party five hours of great requests with musically savvy listeners. His knowledge of the world is unparalleled, knowledge he shares with his listeners during his many weekend and substitute air shifts. For a couple of years, Ron Sweed
Ron Sweed
Ron Sweed, , is an American entertainer best known for his late-night television horror host character The Ghoul.-The Ghoul:...
co-hosted his Saturday night all-request show under his Ghoul persona
The Ghoul Show
The Ghoul Show was the brain-child of Cleveland-born actor Ron Sweed. The late-night horror movie and comedy sketch show ran for various blocks of seasons from 1971 through 2004, primarily in Detroit and Cleveland....
.
Morning troubles
Comedian Paul Tapie, the lone holdover from the original staff, carried on in morning drive until his dismissal in 1989. The station posted several full-page ads adversting their morning-drive job opening as a result. Paul Tapie later went on to helm the morning slot at WKNRWKNR
WKNR — branded ESPN 850 WKNR — is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio. Owned by Good Karma Broadcasting, WKNR is the primary Cleveland affiliate for ESPN Radio; together with sister station WWGK, WKNR is often referred to as ESPN Cleveland.WKNR is the Cleveland affiliate...
with that station's launch as a sports station in 1991, and would also host the Ohio Lottery
Ohio Lottery
The Ohio Lottery is run by the Ohio Lottery Commission. Its games include Pick 3 and Pick 4 , Rolling Cash 5, Ten-OH!, Keno, Classic Lotto, Powerball, Mega Millions, and scratch tickets. The marketing slogan is "Take a chance on education. Odds are, you'll have fun!" In 1973, the creation of the...
TV game show, "Cash Explosion" from 1988 until 2004. Hired by then-PD Paul Ingles (at the suggestion of programming guru Andy Bloom
Andy Bloom
Andy Bloom may refer to:*Andy Bloom , American shot putter and discus thrower*Andy Bloom , American radio programmer...
) from KMJK in Portland, Oregon, Those Guys in the Morning consisted of Rick Rydell
Rick Rydell
Rick Rydell is an American talk radio host, outdoorsman, writer and author. Rydell has enjoyed a long career in radio, most prominently with various stations in Anchorage, Alaska...
and Todd Brandt, with sportscaster Mike Trivisonno
Mike Trivisonno
Mike Trivisonno is a Radio Broadcaster, best known for hosting his own self-titled afternoon talk show on Cleveland radio station WTAM-AM/1100...
(a frequent caller to Pete Franklin
Pete Franklin
Pete Franklin , nicknamed "The King" and "Pigskin Pete", was an American sports talk radio host who worked in Cleveland, New York and San Francisco...
's Sportsline on WWWE-AM in the 70s). Although the station's overall ratings climbed during the late 1980s, topping rival WMMS in key rating categories, Those Guys had only marginal success in Cleveland, and were regularly criticized by the local paper, often speculating on their departure date from WNCX. As it turned out, they lasted less than two years. Ingles himself was relieved of his program director duties and was replaced by Doug Podell from Detroit. WNCX's next attempt in mornings was former Humble Pie
Humble Pie (band)
Humble Pie was a rock band from England, finding success both in the UK and the US. They are remembered for songs such as "Black Coffee" "30 Days in the Hole", "I Don't Need No Doctor", and "Natural Born Bugie"...
drummer Jerry Shirley
Jerry Shirley
Jerry Shirley is an English rock drummer, best known for his work with the rock band Humble Pie and appeared on all their albums...
with sportscaster Mike Trivisonno
Mike Trivisonno
Mike Trivisonno is a Radio Broadcaster, best known for hosting his own self-titled afternoon talk show on Cleveland radio station WTAM-AM/1100...
- the sole holdover from the Those Guys show - and Paul Ingles. Ingles soon left, and was replaced on the show with Skip Herman. Paul Tapie even returned as a sidekick for the show within a few months of its debut. Podell had convinced Wain and Weiss that it was time to consider a radical option - pick up New York-based Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
.
The Howard Stern Show
Program Director Doug Podell had worked with Howard Stern once before in the early 1980s in Podell's hometown of Detroit, MichiganMichigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. The two worked at rock station WWWW
WDTW-FM
WDTW-FM is a classic rock formatted radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications. WDTW-FM is licensed for HD Radio operations; its secondary channel carries Clear Channel's "Pride Radio" format, which features music geared toward the LGBT audience...
, prior to its switch to 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...
format, an event depicted in Stern's autobiographical film Private Parts
Private Parts (1997 film)
Private Parts is a 1997 American biographical comedy film produced by Ivan Reitman and released by Paramount Pictures. Written by Len Blum and Michael Kalesniko, the film is an adaptation of the 1993 best-selling book of the same name by radio personality Howard Stern, who stars as himself. It...
(1997). After little persuading from Podell, Wain and Weiss agreed to take a chance on the show, though it took until August 1992 for WNCX and Stern to finally sign a deal. Andy Bloom — the same programming consultant who convinced Paul Ingalls to hire Those Guys in the Morning — was brought back to consult on the Stern start-up. Bloom had been the program director at the first Stern simulcasts at WYSP in Philadelphia and KLSX in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. WNCX in Cleveland was just the 6th station (5th affiliate after Stern's flagship WXRK) out of more than 60 nationally to carry The Howard Stern Show.
In October 2004, Stern announced that he would be moving his radio program to Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
, a subscription radio service where he could avoid the content restrictions being forced on to him by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC). His final live broadcast aired on WNCX on December 16, 2005. WNCX was a longtime home for The Howard Stern Show, airing the show locally for more than 13 years. Program Director Bill Louis reflected on the show's run days after Stern's final broadcast: "It's difficult to imagine the mornings without him... what [Stern] brought was a very specialized and special form of entertainment that no one is ever going to duplicate." WNCX was a longtime home for the Howard Stern morning show, having aired the show from August 31, 1992 to December 16, 2005.
Radio D-Day
Among the most notorious Howard Stern programs/broadcasts occurred in Cleveland on June 10, 1994. Having taken his radio show from ArbitronArbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
ranked #13 to #1 among all radio listeners in less than two years, Stern promised to have a street party and to broadcast a "funeral" for his competition live from the streets of Cleveland.
During this now infamous broadcast, an engineer from WMMS
WMMS
WMMS — branded 100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, widely recognized as one of the most influential rock stations in America throughout much of the history of FM broadcasting...
snipped a broadcast wire that was used to feed the satellite uplink for the program. The engineer was subsequently caught, arrested and prosecuted. Stern continued on with the program over a phone line as engineers quickly patched the broadcast wire back together:
Corporate radio
In 1994, after seven more years of Cleveland radio ownership, Wain and Weiss retired by merging Metroplex Communications into the fast growing, TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
-based Clear Channel Communications
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...
. This spelled the exit for those two from Cleveland radio.
Following passage of the Telecom Act of 1996, Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
continued its fast growth and announced a merger with Jacor Communications in 1998, the then-owner of a large group of radio stations in Cleveland. To comply with federal ownership guidelines, Clear Channel was forced to sell off numerous radio stations around the country.
In Cleveland, Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
decided to divest its current properties before the merger. Sold to Radio One were sister stations WENZ
WENZ
WENZ —branded Z 107.9—is a mainstream urban commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio serving surrounding Northeast Ohio...
and WERE
WERE
WERE — branded News/Talk 1490 WERE-AM — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland Heights, Ohio broadcasting a news/talk format. The station is owned by Radio One, and has studios at 2510 St. Clair Avenue, while the transmitter is along Euclid Avenue near East 118th Street, adjacent to...
-AM, while WNCX was sold to CBS/Infinity Radio. For the first time in their 50-year history, WNCX and WERE
WERE
WERE — branded News/Talk 1490 WERE-AM — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland Heights, Ohio broadcasting a news/talk format. The station is owned by Radio One, and has studios at 2510 St. Clair Avenue, while the transmitter is along Euclid Avenue near East 118th Street, adjacent to...
-AM were no longer affiliated.
Naturally, WERE and WENZ moved out of the Halle Building
Halle Brothers Co.
Halle Brothers Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, commonly referred to as Halle's, is a defunct department store chain. During most of time of operations, Halle's focused on higher-end merchandise, which it combined with personal service. The company was the first major department store in Cleveland to open...
studio complex, while WZJM would move into the Halle less than two years later, one of three stations CBS acquired from AMFM, Inc. as part of a similar divestiture order regarding their merger with Clear Channel. To this day, WNCX and WZJM's current successor WKRK
WKRK
WXYT-FM — branded 97.1 The Ticket — is a sports talk radio station in Detroit, Michigan. WXYT-FM's transmitter is located in suburban Southfield, Michigan at the intersection of Lincoln and Greenfield Roads and transmits its signal from an antenna 891 feet in height with an effective radiated...
(which plays WENZ's former format, modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
) are housed in the Halle Building.
Following Stern's move to Sirius
With Stern's move to subscription radio, WNCX ended up carrying a morning show hosted by musician David Lee RothDavid Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
, which began on January 3, 2006 and originated from Howard Stern's former flagship, WFNY-FM
WFNY-FM
WXRK , known on-air as "92.3 Now", is a radio station in New York City. Owned by CBS Radio, WXRK broadcasts a Contemporary Hit Radio format with a rhythmic lean...
in New York, the former WXRK "K-Rock." Notably, David Lee Roth had been among the featured performers at Stern's Cleveland funeral 12 years earlier. (Coincidentally, both the WXRK calls and "92.3 K-Rock" nickname landed on the former WXTM in Cleveland, WNCX's sister station that also broadcasts at 92.3-FM.) Given WNCX's history and relative ratings stability, they were one of the few affiliates not re-branded as "Free FM," nor did they change format to a hot-talk format that was associated with the Free FM name. However, due to very low ratings and a critical drubbings in the press, Roth's show was canceled by syndicator CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
on April 21, 2006. Roth's replacement in New York, Opie and Anthony
Opie and Anthony
Opie and Anthony are the hosts of The Opie & Anthony Show, a talk radio program airing in the United States and Canada on XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. Since the merger of the two satellite companies, this is now called Sirius/XM...
- fired by CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
three years earlier - aired on the morning drive on 92.3 (now WKRK-FM
WKRK-FM
WKRK-FM — branded Sports Radio 92.3 The Fan — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio, WKRK-FM is owned by CBS Radio and broadcasts a sports format...
) until December 1, 2008, when Opie and Anthony
Opie and Anthony
Opie and Anthony are the hosts of The Opie & Anthony Show, a talk radio program airing in the United States and Canada on XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. Since the merger of the two satellite companies, this is now called Sirius/XM...
were fired from WKRK, and the station switched to a format without live DJs.
Shortly thereafter, WNCX aired a locally-produced classic rock morning show with no regular host, and also used the slot for tributes to past Cleveland radio stations and personalities, with many of those personalities filling in during the slot. On July 27, 2006, the station announced that Wynn Richards, aka "Mud" would become the primary host of the new morning show, joined by Kim Mihalik (former sidekick to WTAM
WTAM
WTAM — branded Newsradio WTAM 1100 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts primarily a news/talk format...
's Mike Trivisonno
Mike Trivisonno
Mike Trivisonno is a Radio Broadcaster, best known for hosting his own self-titled afternoon talk show on Cleveland radio station WTAM-AM/1100...
) and newscaster Mike Olszewski. Wynn previously worked at WWWM
WMJI
WMJI — branded Majic 105.7 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio broadcasting a classic hits format. The station serves Cleveland, Akron and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio....
"M105" and at WGAR (AM)
WHKW
WHKW is an AM radio station in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, operating on 1220 kHz. The station is owned by Salem Communications and carries religious programming from the company's radio network. The bulk of WHKW's programming is simulcast on WHKZ in Warren, Ohio.The 1220 frequency in Cleveland was the...
back in the early 1980s.
Following the departure of Mud from the morning lineup, radio veteran Scott Miller was brought in to captain the three-person (Miller, Mihalik, and Mike) morning show. Kim Mihalik was dropped from the lineup in 2008, leaving the morning show to the duo of Miller and Mike Olszewski (a Cleveland native and former longtime WMMS jock) In March 2009, Olszewski departed and was replaced by local stand-up comedian Jeff Blanchard, of which the program was retitled "The 'NCX Morning Show."
On October 27, 2010, WNCX announced the hiring of radio personality Maxwell (Ben Bornstein) as host of the station's new morning show. The Maxwell Show
The Maxwell Show
The Maxwell Show was a hot talk radio show which aired weekday mornings on classic rock radio station WNCX in Cleveland, Ohio. The show first began in April 2004 on noted Cleveland rock station WMMS , and over the course of the next five years, grew to become the Cleveland radio market's #1...
, best known to area listeners as the former afternoon drive
Drive time
Drive time is the daypart analog to prime time for radio broadcasting. It consists of the morning hours when listeners wake up, get ready, and/or head to work or school, and the afternoon hours when they are heading home and before their evening meal. These are the periods where the number of...
program at rival WMMS
WMMS
WMMS — branded 100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, widely recognized as one of the most influential rock stations in America throughout much of the history of FM broadcasting...
, began airing on WNCX on November 1. The move replaced former morning co-hosts Scott Miller and comedian Jeff Blanchard, along with show producer Dave Jockers. Regarding their dismissal, Program Director Bill Louis commented, "sadly, this a bottom-line business."
WNCX cancelled The Maxwell Show on August 25, 2011, less than ten months after the show's arrival at the station. Local media speculated that, in addition to "flagging ratings," WNCX cancelled the show to make room for "a new, high-profile, multi-person morning show" at sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
WKRK-FM
WKRK-FM
WKRK-FM — branded Sports Radio 92.3 The Fan — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio, WKRK-FM is owned by CBS Radio and broadcasts a sports format...
(92.3 FM) as that station transitioned to a new sports
Sports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...
format. On August 29, 2011, the morning shift was assigned on an interim basis to local radio personality Nard (Dom Nardella) — the former DJ
Disc 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...
and Program Director of WNCX sister station WKRK-FM
WKRK-FM
WKRK-FM — branded Sports Radio 92.3 The Fan — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio, WKRK-FM is owned by CBS Radio and broadcasts a sports format...
during its years as an alternative rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
outlet. The show was the first music-oriented morning show to air on WNCX since at least 1992, the year Howard Stern first began to air on the station.
On November 7, 2011, radio personality Slats (Tim Guinane), formerly heard on WNCX rival WMMS
WMMS
WMMS — branded 100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, widely recognized as one of the most influential rock stations in America throughout much of the history of FM broadcasting...
and WNCX sister station WXTM
WKRK-FM
WKRK-FM — branded Sports Radio 92.3 The Fan — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio, WKRK-FM is owned by CBS Radio and broadcasts a sports format...
(now WKRK-FM), took over the WNCX morning shift. The new morning show is the sixth to air on WNCX following Stern's move to Satellite in 2006.
Weekdays
Weekday programming currently includes Slats (Tim Guinane) mornings, Bill Louis middays, Michael StanleyMichael Stanley
Michael Stanley is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and disc jockey. Both as a solo artist and with the Michael Stanley Band, his brand of heartland rock was popular in Cleveland and around the American Midwest in the 1970s and 1980s.-Biography:Michael Stanley Gee graduated from Rocky...
afternoons, and Paula Balish evenings. Bill Louis also hosts a 1 hour request show, The Classic Cafe, during his midday shift.
Weekends
Saturday programming includes The Beatle Years hosted by Bob Malik (via Westwood OneWestwood One
Westwood One was an American radio network and was based in New York City. At one time, it was managed by CBS Radio, the radio arm of CBS Corporation, and Viacom and was later purchased by the private equity firm The Gores Group...
); The Beatle Years airs early Saturday mornings from 5-6 a.m. Following Malik, two hours of infomercials air Saturday from 6-8 a.m. Beginning at 8, classic rock shifts are hosted by local personalities Sue (Sue Csendes), Chris V., and Mr. Classic (Walt Garrett), who hosts the Saturday Night House Party request show.
Sunday programming includes: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again hosted by area war veteran John Tidyman from 7-8 a.m., the shortened two hour version of Flashback!
Flashback (radio program)
Flashback is an American radio show syndicated by Cumulus Media Networks . It is hosted by the "irreverent" Bill St. James , and is programmed by Tom Powell. The show is produced by Powell, Rob Frankel and Frank Guida. Guida also writes the show...
hosted by Bill St. James (via Citadel Media) from 8-10 a.m., classic rock shifts hosted by Sue, Chris V. and Mr. Classic; and closing out the weekend from 10 p.m. to midnight, Little Steven's Underground Garage
Underground Garage
Underground Garage is the name shared by two related but different radio outlets, a syndicated show and a satellite radio station, both created and supervised by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt to present rock 'n' roll and garage rock on radio...
hosted by Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt is an Italian-American musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the stage names Little Steven or Miami Steve...
(via Renegade Nation).