WHK (AM)

Template:Infobox radio

WHK is the oldest radio station in Cleveland, 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.

History

Early years

WHK began on July 26, 1921 when experimental station 8ACS signed on under a license obtained by Warren C. Cox in the name of Cox Mfg. Co. He broadcast on a wavelength of 200 meters (which translates to a frequency of 1500 kHz) from his home at 3138 Payne Avenue. Only about 1000 listeners were able to hear the first broadcast, and most of them were members of the Cleveland Radio Association. By 1922, licensees were barred from broadcasting on 200 meters, so Cox applied for a commercial broadcasting license.

On February 21, 1922 Warren Cox received a commercial license for his station with the callsign WHK (the Commerce Department was still issuing mostly three-letter callsigns to commercial radio stations before April 4, 1922). It was only the 52nd commercial radio license issued by the Commerce Department. The station broadcasted at a wavelength of 360 meters (a frequency of 833 kHz) which was the standard broadcast frequency for entertainment radio stations at the time. The station started broadcasting on March 5, 1922 from facilities located in the rear of a Radiovox store at 5005 Euclid Avenue. By 1924, WHK broadcasts had moved to 1060 kHz.

Warren Cox sold the station to Radio Air Service Corporation in 1925. In the following years, the station facilities underwent a series of moves, including 5105 Euclid Avenue, the Hotel Winton at 1025 Bolivar Road (later the Hotel Carter), the Standard Building at St. Clair and Ontario, the top floor of the Higbee Company on Public Square, and Carnegie Hall at 1220 Huron Road. By 1927, the station broadcasts were heard at 1130 kHz, and the station was broadcasting with 500 watts at night. By 1928, the station was located in the Engineer's Building at 1370 Ontario Avenue.

In 1930 WHK became a CBS affiliate and increased its power to 5000 watts for both day and night transmission. It was broadcasting on 1390 kHz. On March 9, 1931, the station moved to the Terminal Tower, and celebrated its move with the live broadcast of Faust from its auditorium.

United Broadcasting Company

In 1934 Radio Air Service Corporation sold WHK to the parent company of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which organized United Broadcasting Company as the station owner. WHK was broadcasting with a daytime power of 2500 watts and a nighttime power of 1000 watts. In 1936 WHK broadcasted a full season of Cleveland Indians baseball games, with announcers Jack Graney and Pinky Hunter. On October 30, 1936, United Broadcasting also purchased station WJAY, which had been broadcasting since January 5, 1927 at 610 kHz. WJAY's callsign was changed to WCLE, and its studios are relocated to the Terminal Tower to join sister station WHK.

In 1937 WHK switched its network affiliation from CBS to the NBC Blue Network and the new Mutual Broadcasting System. In 1943, when the NBC Blue Network was sold to Edward Noble to eventually become ABC, the Blue Network switched its affiliation to WJW radio, leaving WHK with the Mutual affiliation. Mutual brought its popular Queen for a Day program to Cleveland Music Hall on April 5, 1946 for a two days of broadcast with local contestants chose by WHK.

On March 29, 1941, WHK like most radio stations changed its frequency. WHK moved from 1390 to 1420 kHz, the frequency it occupies today.

In 1945 as the FCC began implementing a ruling limiting station owners to a single AM outlet in a market, United Broadcasting moved WCLE to Akron, Ohio and changed to callsign to WHKK and the frequency to 640 kHz. In turn, United moved the 610 frequency to Columbus, Ohio to create WHKC from WAIU (formerly WBAV) which had been broadcasting daytime only on 640. WHKC became WTVN in the 1950s. WHKK became WHLO in 1962.

In August 1946 WHK received one of the earliest experimental FM licenses, under the call W8XUB, broadcasting at 107.1 MHz. Upon receipt of a commercial license, the station became WHKX at 100.7 MHz, and eventually WHK-FM.

In 1951 WHK moved its studios to 5000 Euclid Avenue, a location that it would continue to occupy for the next 26 years, and presently the site of the Agora Theater. With the wane of network radio in the 1950s, WHK adopted a rock and roll Top 40 format that included Pete "Mad Daddy" Meyers.

Metromedia Ownership

In 1958 United Broadcasting sold WHK to Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation, which became Metromedia two years later. Metromedia obtained a television license for WHK-TV on Channel 19, but the station never made it on the air, due to the problems at that time of launching a UHF station in a VHF market such as Cleveland.

By the early 1960s WHK was Top 40 powerhouse, adopting the slogan "Color Radio" and "Color Channel 14." The DJs included Johnny Holliday. When The Beatles made one of their North American tours in 1964, WHK outmaneuvered rival KYW-AM to sponsor the Beatles appearance at Cleveland Public Auditorium on September 15, 1964. In the mid 1960s, the WHK DJs adopted the name the "Good Guys" and included Joe Mayer. On the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album, a doll wears a sweater emblazoned with "Welcome The Rolling Stones" and "Good Guys", a possible reference to the WHK DJs. But, by 1967, WHK had dropped the Top 40 format and switched to an adult contemporary format called "beautiful music."

In 1968, the FCC mandated that FM sister stations could no longer duplicate their AM sister's programming, and WHK-FM adopted a new progressive rock sound, one of a handful of commercial stations in the country to try that format. The callsign of WHK-FM was changed to WMMS on September 28, 1968.

Later years

In 1972, Metromedia sold WHK and WMMS to Malrite Broadcasting of Ohio (later Malrite Communications), and Malrite moved its headquarters to Cleveland. WHK tried the Top 40 format briefly again in 1973, but settled on a country music format in 1974 featuring controversial morning show talk host Gary Dee. On February 14, 1977, WHK along with its sister FM outlet WMMS moved from 5000 Euclid Avenue to the Statler Office Tower. WHK broadcasted the Cleveland Browns games in 1984, and it returned to a nostalgic 1960s Top 40s music in 1984 using the designation 14K WHK Solid Gold. That format lasted from April 24, 1984 to November 15, 1988, when WHK adopted a news/talk form using the name "AllNewsPlus."

In 1992 studios were moved to the Skylight Office Tower, and on August 10, 1992, popular talk show hosts Merle Pollis and Joel Rose left WERE and joined WHK. WHK and WMMS were sold by Malrite to Shamrock Broadcasting in 1993, which sold them to OmniAmerica in April 1994. WHK adopted a sports talk format featuring Les Levine and Pat McCabe. The station was sold to Nationwide Communications in 1996 and to Salem Communications later that year. Salem Communications adopted a religious programming format.

On July 3, 2001, Salem Communications and several other radio license owners in Cleveland swapped frequencies, and WHK moved to 1220 kHz, previously occupied by WKNR which moved to 850 kHz. The 1420 kHz location was occupied by a new AM outlet of WCLV. WCLV-AM (later called WRMR) failed to find an audience, and the frequency was sold back to Salem, which returned to WHK call letters on April 5, 2005 and introduced a conservative talk format that it still airs. The religious programming at 1220 kHz was continued, and the call for that station was changed to WHKW.

References

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