WCLV

For the Cleveland AM radio station which carried the WCLV callsign from 2001–2003, see WHK.

For the Cleveland FM radio station which carried the WCLV callsign from 1962–2001, see WFHM-FM.

WCLV

City of license	Lorain, Ohio
Broadcast area	Greater Cleveland Northeast Ohio
Branding	WCLV 104.9
Slogan	Northeast Ohio's Classical Music Station
Frequency	104.9 (MHz) (also on HD Radio)
First air date	January 20, 2003 (as WCLV) July 23, 1975 (as WZLE)
Format	Analog/HD: Classical
ERP	6,000 watts
HAAT	100 meters
Class	A
Facility ID	70109
Transmitter coordinates	41°25′29.00″N 82°08′58.00″W
Callsign meaning	W-"CLeVeland"
Former callsigns	2001-2003: WCLV-FM 1999-2001: WAKS 1999: WMTX (4 days only) 1975-1999: WZLE
Affiliations	Associated Press BBC World Service
Owner	Ideastream (Radio Seaway, Inc.)
Sister stations	WCPN, WVIZ
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	WCLV.com

WCLV (104.9 FM) — branded WCLV 104.9 — is a commercial classical radio station licensed to Lorain, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and western parts of surrounding Northeast Ohio. WCLV is one of the few remaining commercial classical music stations in the United States.

Ideastream, the non-profit parent organization of WCPN public radio and WVIZ public television, has owned WCLV since May 2011. Although WCLV continues to operate as a commercial radio station with paid advertising, the station's "excess profits" are shared with five local cultural institutions: the Cleveland Orchestra; the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Cleveland Institute of Music; the Cleveland Play House; and the Cleveland Foundation.

During the week of December 6, 2010, the WCLV studios relocated to Idea Center in Playhouse Square. The WCLV transmitter remains in the Cleveland suburb of Avon.

History

WZLE

WCLV (104.9 FM) began on July 23, 1975 as WZLE, a station licensed to Lorain, Ohio broadcasting at 104.9 Megahertz (MHz) (104.9 MHz was originally associated in the early 1950s by a station identified as WLAL licensed to Lakewood, Ohio, though it is not known if this station actually went on the air, and if so, for how long). First owned by Gene Sens, WZLE's first studios were located in what was formerly a shoe store at the Sheffield Shopping Center. The station was programmed by Jeff Baxter; David Mark served as production voice (previously, Baxter was Jack Riley's radio partner at WERE in the 1960s; Mark was the promotional voice of many TV and radio stations around the world from the 1970s, something he would continue into the 21st century). By 1990, WZLE and AM station WRKG came under common ownership by Cincinnati broadcaster Vernon Baldwin, with studios in the historic Antlers Hotel in downtown Lorain. The WZLE format varied from pop standards to Christian contemporary, the latter being more successful. In late 1998, WZLE was sold off to Jacor Communications; Jacor itself was acquired by Clear Channel the very next year.

WAKS (104.9 FM)

Not to be confused with Cleveland/Akron area radio station WAKS.

Logo before July 2001.

On May 20, 1999, WZLE dropped its Christian contemporary format for automated Top 40 as KISS 104.9. The WZLE studios were then moved to Downtown Cleveland in the Tower City Center's Skylight Office Tower with sister stations WMMS and WMVX.

Soon, however, a fight broke out between Clear Channel and Radio One over local rights to the "KISS" brand. Weeks earlier, Radio One had flipped station WENZ from modern rock to hip-hop/R&B as Kiss 107.9, adopting the brand from their Washington, D.C. hip-hop outlet, WKYS. Clear Channel claimed ownership using Los Angeles Top 40 giant KIIS as the basis for their claim, as it had already launched similar stations in Dayton and Cincinnati. Radio One eventually lost the fight; that September, WENZ became Z-107.9. On September 13, 1999, WZLE briefly changed its call letters to WMTX. Four days later, on September 17, 1999, the station adopted the call letters WAKS.

2001 "frequency swap"

On July 3, 2001, WAKS was one of seven Northeast Ohio radio stations involved in a complex exchange between three radio companies. Although generally reported as a "frequency swap," in reality these seven area radio stations mostly traded callsigns along with their respective formats and staffs — all to facilitate the transfers of ownership of four of the seven stations. As part of this multilayered exchange, Clear Channel Communications sold the broadcast license for pop/contemporary hit radio (CHR) radio station WAKS to Radio Seaway, Inc. The station callsign was changed to WCLV-FM, and the format was changed to classical music. The station branded itself WCLV 104.9.

For more information on the July 3, 2001 exchange involving seven Northeast Ohio radio stations, see 2001 in radio.

WCLV-FM

Station logo 2001–2003.

On November 1, 2001, Radio Seaway donated commercial radio station WCLV-FM (104.9 FM) to the non-profit WCLV Foundation. Radio Seaway partners Robert Conrad and Rich Marschner arranged the transaction in response to what they and others felt was a disturbing trend in larger radio markets — corporate buyouts of traditionally classical commercial stations, with the new owners invariably discontinuing the format. In addition to assuring the continuation of the classical music format, the transfer of commercial station WCLV-FM to the non-profit WCLV Foundation provided funding via the station's "excess profits" for local arts organizations: the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Play House, and the Cleveland Foundation.

WCLV-FM (104.9 FM) struggled to provide coverage to eastern parts of the Greater Cleveland area particularly in Lake County. Beginning in 2001, WCLV-FM remedied this problem with a simulcast of the classical format over an AM station in the eastern Cleveland suburb of Painesville — WBKC (1460 AM).

WCLV

On January 20, 2003, the station changed its callsign from WCLV-FM to WCLV. This occurred when the WCLV callsign (without the "-FM" suffix) became available following the callsign change of WCLV (1420 AM) to WRMR (1420 AM). The station continued to brand itself WCLV 104.9.

On August 4, 2003, WCLV (104.9 FM) began HD Radio broadcasts. The station was second only to Elyria-licensed WNWV to broadcast via HD Radio in the Cleveland radio market. In 2006, WCLV (104.9 FM) ceased its simulcast over WBKC (1460 AM).

On June 29, 2007, WCLV broadcast the final episode of Adventures in Good Music. The program, which had been airing weeknights at 8 p.m., had actually discontinued production some four years earlier — two years before the death of host Karl Haas, who began the show on a Detroit radio station in 1959. The show's syndication to other classical stations, mostly affiliated with NPR, also ended. Essential Classics, another program of recorded music, replaced Adventures in Good Music on the WCLV schedule. Local personalities heard on WCLV include Jacqueline Gerber (mornings), Mark Satola (middays), Bill O'Connell (afternoon drive), John Simna (evenings), and Rob Grier (overnight)

Ideastream

On August 10, 2010, WCLV announced it would move from its long-time "Radio Ranch" studios in Warrensville Heights to the Idea Center facility of public broadcast stations WVIZ (area PBS affiliate) and WCPN (area NPR affiliate) at Playhouse Square in Downtown Cleveland. The station's transmitter site will remain in Avon. The move occurred in December 2010. On May 4, 2011, it was announced that WCLV would be donated to Ideastream, making WCLV (104.9 FM) a sister station to both WVIZ (channel 25) and WCPN (90.3 FM).

External links

• Official website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WCLV
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WCLV
• Radio-Locator information on WCLV
• Aerial photo of WCLV transmitter from Google Maps
• ideastream.org