station which has identified as wclv since 2003 . for other uses see wclv disambiguation . wclv city lorain ohio broadcast area greater cleveland northeast ohio branding wclv classical 104.9 slogan northeast ohio s classical music station frequency 104.9 mhz also on hd radio first air date july 23 1975 format classical erp 6 000 watts haat 100 meters class a facility id 70109 transmitter coordinates 41 28 32.00 n 81 59 24.00 w 41.4755556 n 81.9900000 w 41.4755556 ; 81.9900000 callsign meaning cleveland former callsigns wzle 1975 99 wmtx 1999 waks 1999 2001 wclv fm 2001 03 affiliations associated press bbc world service owner ideastream radio seaway inc. sister stations wcpn wviz webcast listen live website wclv.org wclv 104.9 fm branded wclv classical 104.9 is a non commercial educational classical radio station licensed to lorain ohio . owned by ideastream the station serves greater cleveland and parts of surrounding northeast ohio . the wclv studios are located at playhouse square in downtown cleveland while the station transmitter resides in the cleveland suburb of avon . besides a standard analog transmission wclv broadcasts over a single hd radio channel 1 and is available online . wclv was actually established as a commercial classical music station on november 1 1962 on 95.5 . on july 3 2001 wclv moved to 104.9 selling the 95.5 frequency to salem communications who established wfhm . on january 1 2013 wclv 104.9 became a non commercial station . contents 1 history 1.1 wzle 1.2 waks 104.9 fm 1.3 2001 frequency swap 1.4 wclv 104.9 2 current programming 3 references 4 external links history edit wzle edit the current wclv license began on july 23 1975 as wzle under license to lorain ohio . 2 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 . initially carrying a format of pop standards billed as mellow gold wzle was sold to lorain christian broadcasting company in 1983 and subsequently flipped to religious programming which later evolved into christian contemporary . in late 1998 wzle was sold off to jacor communications ; jacor itself was acquired by iheartmedia then clear channel communications the very next year . waks 104.9 fm edit not to be confused with cleveland market radio station waks . logo as waks 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 fm as the basis for their claim as it had already launched similar stations in dayton and cincinnati . 3 4 radio one eventually lost the fight ; that september wenz became z 107.9 . 4 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 . 4 2001 frequency swap edit for more information on the july 3 2001 exchange involving seven northeast ohio radio stations see 2001 in radio . 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 radio stations mostly traded intellectual properties 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 complex exchange clear channel communications sold waks to radio seaway ; both companies retained their respective on and off air staff . radio seaway then changed the waks callsign to wclv fm ; changed the station s format to classical ; and rebranded the station wclv 104.9 . in effect this new wclv fm 104.9 fm licensed to lorain became the successor to the former wclv 95.5 fm licensed to cleveland . 5 wclv 104.9 edit former station logo 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 . 6 when compared to wclv 95.5 fm 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 . 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 august 10 2010 wclv announced it would move from its long time radio ranch studios in warrensville heights to the idea center at playhouse square in downtown cleveland home to area pbs member wviz and area npr member wcpn . 7 the station s transmitter site will remain in avon . 7 the move occurred in december 2010 . 8 on may 4 2011 radio seaway announced it was donating wclv to wviz and wcpn s owner ideastream . under the terms of the deal cleveland classical radio which has long operated the station on behalf of radio seaway continued to operate the station until november 1 2012 the 50th anniversary of the wclv intellectual unit . on that date wclv officially became part of ideastream . 9 commercial operation continued until january 1 2013 when the station joined wviz and wcpn in operating as a non commercial public radio station . 10 11 12 also on january 1 2013 a new hd broadcast of wclv was made available via sister station 90.3 wcpn on its hd 2 channel 90.3 hd 2 . this addition allowed those in eastern suburbs to once again receive wclv via fm albeit requiring a hybrid digital hd radio . from 2001 through 2012 wclv was one of the few remaining commercial classical music stations in the united states . 13 current programming edit 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 14 15 on sunday afternoons dennis lewin of the rock band beau coup hosts turning you onto classical music . 16 references edit http hdradio.com station guides widget.php id 70 hd radio guide for cleveland page 37 feran tom may 26 1999 . one station may have to kiss name goodbye . the plain dealer . the plain dealer publishing co. p. 1e entertainment . a b c feran tom september 25 1999 . swoboda backs to news as anchor on tv 5 at 11 . the plain dealer . the plain dealer publishing co. p. 6e entertainment . quinn jim june 29 2001 . it s time to reset your radio dial seven stations will get new frequencies tuesday . akron beacon journal . beacon journal publishing co. p. b1 entertainment . feran tom november 8 2000 . completing the score on the wclv deal . the plain dealer . the plain dealer publishing co. p. 1e arts & life . a b washington julie e. october 9 2010 . wclv to move in share facilities at idea center . the plain dealer . the plain dealer publishing co. p. e4 arts & life . wclv to move facilities to the idea center on playhouse square the week of december 6 . wclv.com . wclv foundation . 2010 . retrieved december 26 2010 . washington julie february 19 2011 . wclv fm 104.9 fits right in at idea center in cleveland . the plain dealer . retrieved march 22 2011 . http wclv.com page.php pageid 1012 lewis zachary september 25 2012 . cleveland s wclv fm 104.9 planning switch to non commercial format . the plain dealer . retrieved september 27 2012 . classical music station wclv fm to join ideastream . crain s cleveland business . crain communications inc. may 4 2011 . retrieved december 3 2011 . the wclv foundation . wclv.com . wclv foundation . 2010 . retrieved december 26 2010 . classical pick radio days . the new yorker . cond nast digital . retrieved december 3 2011 . wclv personalities station guide cleveland oh . hdradio.com . hd radio . 2011 . retrieved february 9 2011 . the dennis lewin radio program ideastream northeast ohio public radio television and multiple media . ideastream.org . retrieved 2014 08 18 . external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for wclv query nielsen audio s fm station database for wclv radio locator information on wclv v t e radio stations in the cleveland ohio market by fm frequency 87.7 88.3 88.3 88.7 89.3 90.3 91.1 91.5 92.3 93.1 95.5 96.5 98.5 99.1 99.5 100.7 102.1 103.3 104.1 104.9 105.7 106.5 107.3 107.9 by am frequency 850 930 1000 1040 1100 1220 1260 1300 1320 1330 1380 1420 1460 1490 1540 1560 defunct by wx frequency 162.55 by callsign khb59 w256bt wabq waks watj defunct wbwc wccd wccr wclv wcpn wcrf fm wcsb wdlw wdok wenz weol were wfhm fm wgar fm whk whkw whlk whwn wint wjcu wjmo wjtb wkhr wknr wkrk fm wlfm lp wmji wmms wncx wnwv wobl wqal wruw fm wtam wwgk wzak online owow radio ohio radio markets akron canton cincinnati cleveland columbus dayton lima marietta toledo youngstown warren other ohio radio regions ashtabula ironton mid ohio sandusky southern ohio wheeling steubenville see also list of radio stations in ohio radio stations in southwestern ontario clear channel stations with extended nighttime coverage