WRMR

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WRMR
Broadcast area	Cleveland, Ohio
Branding	AM 850 WRMR
Slogan	Music of Your Life
Frequency	850 (kHz)
First air date	June 11, 1985 ceased operations July 3, 2001
Format	Pop Standards
Power	pre-1999: 5,000 watts post-1999: 50,000 watts (daytime) 4,700 watts (nighttime)
Class	B
Callsign meaning	W ReMembeR
Affiliations	CNN Radio (1985-2001)
Owner	1985-1990: Booth Broadcasting 1990-1999: Independent Group Ltd. 1999-2000: AMFM, Inc. 2000-2001: Salem Communications

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 first used on the 850-AM frequency from 1985 to 2001. 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 February 2005 when current owner Salem Communications placed the WHK calls on the signal.

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

WRMR's origins dated back to when Booth Broadcasting acquired WJW (AM) from Lake Erie Broadcasting in 1985. WJW dated back to 1927 as a small Mansfield station, whose calls were derived from station founder John F. Weimer. WJW moved to Akron in 1932, and finally to Cleveland in 1943 at 850 kHz. WJW soon came under the ownership of Storer Broadcasting and soon gained a television station in the 1950s, changing that stations' calls to WJW-TV.

Storer sold off WJW (AM) to Lake Erie in 1977, keeping the television station and changing that stations' calls to WJKW-TV. But as a condition of the 1977 sale, the WJW calls had to be retired by the AM station if it were ever sold off again. Consequently, the WRMR calls were selected by Booth and installed on June 11, 1985, and WJKW changed their call sign to just WJW.

While WJW-AM's music format became a mixture of call-in talk shows and easy listening music from 1960 until 1985, WRMR adopted the "Music of Your Life" format, which was a mixture of ballads, standards and big band music of the 1940s and 1950s. Studios for WRMR were moved to One Radio Lane.

[edit] WBBG

The pop standards format, however, originally appeared in the Cleveland market on station WBBG. Initially a talk station at 1260-AM, the talk format never caught on in its' three year run. The station was sold to local jeweler Larry "J.B." Robinson in 1982, and WBBG turned to an oldies format before finally changing to - and finding success with - a big band based music format programmed by local radio veteran Jim Davis.

The station enjoyed much success including "Billboard Station of the Year" (for its format) in 1983 with a nomination for "Program Director of the Year" going to Davis. During its glory years (July 1981-October 1987) on-air talent, in addition to Davis, included Al James, Tom Armstrong, Bill Randle, Carl Reese, Ronnie Barrett, Dick Conrad, John Webster, Ted Alexander and Joe Black.

WBBG's call letters (originally stood for "Boys from Bowling Green"), soon took the meaning "Big Band Grandstand." Robinson sold both WBBG and FM station WMJI to Jacor Communications in 1985. Jacor kept both stations' formats in place until they decided to cancel the big band format on October 29, 1987 mere days following a failed repurchase of the station by Robinson. WBBG simulcast the soft AC programming of WMJI-FM - and took the WMJI calls - until Jacor sold off the station six months later.

[edit] "Music of Your Life"

WRMR would assume WBBG's former format as "Music of Your Life," a mixture of 1940s, 50s and 60s ballads, standards and big band music, sprinkled with newer artists such as Harry Connick, Jr., and Diana Krall. 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.

Former WBBG program director Jim Davis also served like duties - including on-air work - for WRMR from 1988 through 1996. The station became the 'flagship' station for the "Music of Your Life" format, with Davis also serving as the Director of Operations for the nationally syndicated Al Ham format from 1991 to 1996.

Other on-air talent included, at one time or another, Bill Randle, Carl Reese, Ted Hallaman, Ronnie Barrett, Frank Macek, Chris Daniels, Ray Marshall, Chris Quinn, Ted Alexander, Allan Parrish, and Rob Schuler. Throughout the 1990s, WRMR achieved high ratings - and even reached number one in the age 12 and over Arbitron ratings for the Spring 1996 period; the last ratings period under Davis’ first programming regime at 850.

On May 15, 1999, WRMR upgraded its daytime signal to 50,000 watts with a new transmitter pattern built at the old WJW/WRMR site in North Royalton. The station's daytime signal is dominant in much of northern Ohio, but it must protect the signal of WNTJ AM 850 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 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 WKNR 1220-AM owner Capstar Broadcasting to form AMFM Inc., at that time the nation's largest radio station owner with 465 stations. AMFM then sold WRMR and WKNR 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, Jim Davis returned to the programming chair, as well as a midday on-air shift. WRMR itself started to segue into playing more contemporary ballads, which were billed on the air as "easy-listening oldies." In order to generate more revenue, ownership began airing long blocks of brokered talk shows in the evenings and weekends, most of which were carried over from brokered talk station WERE 1300-AM and the inconsistency proved to be the fatal blow to regenerating the format's success.

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 officially 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.

[edit] Move to 1420-AM

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. This inconsistency of branding, along with ownership and management’s attempt to make the format overly sophisticated and too stuffy sounding also failed in attracting a large enough listening audience to satisfy advertisers, and by July 2004, it became apparent that the standards format, under such conditions, could not work 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.

Small reminders of WRMR remains on the 1420-AM signal, as WHK airs "Jerry Quinn's Irish Hour" from 10am to noon, and "Music & Mermories" (a two hour program of standards) Saturdays at 7pm and Sundays at noon.