WZAK

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**WZAK**

Broadcast area	Cleveland, Ohio
Branding	93.1 WZAK
Slogan	Cleveland's R&B Leader
First air date	May 26, 1963
Frequency	93.1 (MHz)
Format	Urban Adult Contemporary
ERP	27,500 watts
Class	B
Callsign meaning	MuZAK(or Xenophon ZApis)
Owner	Radio One
Website	www.931wzak.com

WZAK is a commercial FM radio station in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, broadcasting at 93.1 MHz with an Urban Adult Contemporary format. WZAK is the Cleveland affiliate for Tom Joyner's syndicated morning show.

[edit] History

WZAK began as an ethnic radio station, signing on the air on May 26, 1963. It was founded by Xenophon Zapis, from whose last name the call letters were derived, and Joseph and Elizabeth Bauer, who operated the station. Zapis and the Bauers had been previously involved with WXEN, an earlier ethnic programmer in Cleveland, which Zapis also founded (and which had call letters derived from Zapis' first name). WZAK was Cleveland's first full-time ethnic radio station, presenting programming in 17 foreign languages, including programs in Hungarian, German (hosted by the Bauers), Italian, Slovenian), Greek (hosted by Zapis and his wife Lula), Irish, Arabic, Lebanese, and Hindi. Some groups had multiple different programs; there were, for example, five different programs offered in Spanish and five different German programs. Most programs were brokered, that is, the program producers were not station employees, but independent producers who put the program on the air, determined program content, and sold the advertising for the program. Although the program content varied, most programs primarily featured music from the homeland, along with some news or discussion. Although foreign languages seemed to dominate, English was actually used about half of the time during the station's broadcasts [1].

WZAK's only competition in the Cleveland market came from WXEN which also featured ethnic programming for a portion of its schedule. WZAK was the city's only full-time ethnic station—and its last. By 1979 the station, then owned by Trans World Broadcasting Corp. of Cleveland whose president was Zapis, found it difficult to maintain its ethnic format. The number of listeners was declining, several of the program hosts had died or retired, and the overall financial situation was discouraging. The station began straying from its all-ethnic format, as Wayne Mack began a program of "beautiful music" on the station. In 1980, Zapis bought out his partners to become the majority owner of the station, forming Zapis Communications.

On March 2, 1981 the station adopted a black-oriented urban contemporary programming, continuing its ethnic programming only on Sundays (for a while). Ratings improved with the arrival in May 1982 of program director and DJ Lynn Tolliver, Jr. and general sales manager Mike Hilber. Several controversial promotions also drew media attention to the station. Over the next few years, the station's ratings climbed, and it finished first in the Aribtron ratings on April 5, 1990. Critical opinion also improved. In 1993, for example, it won three Billboard magazine awards [2]. Zapis Communications purchased and operated radio stations in Atlanta, Boston (WWTM, WAAF), Akron and Youngstown (WPAO, WICT, WWSY).

In 1997 the station replaced its popular Three's Company morning show with the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show. The January 16, 1997 [3] and January 15, 1998 Arbitron ratings again showed WZAK to be the number one station in Cleveland.

On August 12, 1998, Chancellor Media Corporation of Texas announced its purchase of WZAK from Zapis Communications, along with its purchase of five other Cleveland radio stations, WZJM, WDOK, WQAL, WRMR and WJMO, for $275 million [4]. It was, at the time, the largest radio deal in Cleveland broadcasting history. 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 WZAK to Radio One on July 20, 2000 as part of a required divestiture when AMFM merged with Clear Channel Communications [5].