WRMR

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WRMR was, in different incarnations from 1985 to 2004, a big band / pop standards station in Cleveland, Ohio. The station ceased operations on July 13, 2004.

The WRMR call letters were used on the 850-AM frequency from 1985 to 2001 when . The format was moved to 1420-AM in July 2001, and while the call letters became WCLV (AM), the WRMR calls were restored on January 2003. They were officially retired on Feburary 2005 when current owner Salem Communications placed the WHK calls on the signal.

History

WRMR at 850: 1985-2001

WRMR origins dated back to when Booth Broadcasting acquired WJW (AM) from Lake Erie Broadcasting in 1985. As a condition of the sale, the WJW calls had to be retired by the new owner. The WRMR calls were selected, and concurrently, WJKW TV-8 - which was once under common ownership with WJW radio and held the WJW-TV calls - changed their call sign to just WJW.

While WJW (AM) music format was a mixture of call-in talk show and easy listening music, WRMR adopted the "Music of Your Life" format, which was a mixture of ballads, standards and big band music of the 1940s and 1950s. WRMR also served as the radio flagship for Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball in the mid-to-late 1980's. Studios for WRMR were moved to One Radio Lane.

WRMR eventually assumed WBBG 1260-AM's music format and personalities in 1988 after owner Jacor dumped the programming in favor of a simulcast of FM station WMJI. In 1990 Booth sold the station to Independent Group Ltd., a local group that also owned WDOK and headed by Tom Embrescia, Tom Wilson, and Larry Pollock. Throughout the 1990's, WRMR achieved high ratings - and reached number one in the ratings for the Spring 1996 period - with disk-jockeys Bill Randle, "Captain" Carl Reese, Ronnie Barrett, Ted Alexander, "Tall Ted" Hallaman, program director Jim Davis, Chris Quinn, Allan Parrish and Rob Schuler behind the mike.

In 1998, WRMR upgraded its' daytime signal to 50,000 watts, with a new transmitter pattern built at the old WJW/WRMR site in North Royalton. 850-AM's daytime signal is dominant in much of northern Ohio, but must protect WNTJ 850-AM's signal in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, imparing the signal to the south and as close in as Cuyahoga Falls and Akron [1].

On August 12, 1998, Chancellor Media Corporation of Texas announced its purchase of WRMR and WDOK from Independent Group Ltd., along with its purchase of five other Cleveland radio stations, WZJM 92.3-FM, WZAK 93.1-FM, WQAL 104.1-FM, WKNR 1220-AM and WJMO 1490-AM, for $275 million [2]. It was, at the time, the largest radio deal in Cleveland broadcasting history.

Then, on July 13, 1999, Chancellor Media merged with Capstar Broadcasting to form AMFM Inc., at that time the nation's largest radio station owner with 465 stations. AMFM sold WRMR to Salem Communications and WDOK to Infinity Broadcasting on July 20, 2000 as part of a required divestiture when AMFM merged with Clear Channel Communications [3].

Under Salem ownership, WRMR started to segue into playing more contemporary ballads, which were billed on the air as "easy-listening oldies." WRMR also started to air talk shows in the evenings and weekends, most of which had previously aired on talk station WERE 1300-AM.

On October 2000, a seven-way frequency swap was announced that involved four stations in Cleveland. WCLV owner Radio Seaway was to trade their 95.5-FM signal to Salem Communications in exchange for Clear Channel's 104.9-FM signal in Lorain and Salem's 1420-AM facility. Salem, in turn, would trade their 98.1-FM signal in Canton to Clear Channel. Salem Communications, which owned WRMR, sports talker WKNR, gospel WCCD 1000-AM in Parma, and religious WHK 1420-AM, found itself with one less AM signal in the market - meaning that one of their stations had to sign off.

In May 2001, Salem offically announced plans to move the WHK calls and religious format from 1420-AM to 1220-AM, and the WKNR calls and sports talk format were to move from 1220-AM to 850-AM. In turn, the standards format on WRMR was set to sign off, with the brokered talk shows in the evenings to be carried over to WKNR.

WCLV/WRMR at 1420-AM: 2001-2004

While Radio Seaway intended to program WCLV (AM) as a direct simulcast of the 104.9-FM sister station, it instead wound up acquiring the intellecual programming of WRMR from Salem for an undisclosed amount following a sizable outcry from longtime WRMR listeners. This paved the way for the standards format to relocate to the 1420-AM frequency on July 3, 2001.

While the calls for 1420-AM were first WCLV (AM) as "WCLV Classic Pops 1420-AM", the call sign was changed back to WRMR as "The Songs You Love" in January 1, 2003. By July 2004, it became apparent that the standards format was not working, and the AM station was sold back to Salem Communications, and the format was changed to syndicated talk under the original WHK calls.

The permanent sign-off of WRMR was made more poignant as it came just two days after the passing of signature WRMR personality Bill Randle, on July 11, 2004. The final day of programming on WRMR was punctuated with the final installment of a long-running music program hosted by Randle that had been pre-recorded just days earlier.

A small piece of WRMR remains on 1420 as WHK airs "The Great American Songbook" with Mike Young (a 1 hour program of standards) Sundays at noon.