greater cleveland branding am 1420 the answer slogan news . opinion . insight . frequency 1420 khz first air date march 5 1922 format talk power 5 000 watts daytime 5 000 watts nighttime class b facility id 313743 transmitter coordinates 41 21 30.00 n 81 40 3.00 w 41.3583333 n 81.6675000 w 41.3583333 ; 81.6675000 callsign meaning h. k. carpenter former callsigns whk 1922 2001 whkk 2001 wclv 2001 03 wrmr 2003 05 former frequencies 830 khz 1922 24 1060 khz 1924 27 1130 khz 1927 30 1390 khz 1930 41 affiliations akron zips bloomberg radio cleveland state vikings saint ignatius wildcats salem radio network westwood one owner salem communications common ground broadcasting inc. sister stations wfhm fm whkw webcast listen live website whkradio.com whk 1420 am branded am 1420 the answer is commercial talk radio station licensed to cleveland ohio serving greater cleveland . whk was the first radio station to broadcast in ohio and is the 15th oldest station still broadcasting in the united states . 1 owned by salem media group whk serves as the cleveland affiliate for the salem radio network the mark levin show and akron zips football . the station also airs coverage of cleveland state vikings men s basketball . the whk studios are located in the cleveland suburb of independence while the station transmitter resides in neighboring seven hills . besides its standard analog transmission whk is available online . contents 1 history 1.1 experimental license 1.2 whk 1922 2001 1.2.1 united broadcasting ownership 1.2.2 metromedia ownership 1.2.3 malrite years 1.2.4 shamrock and omniamerica 1.2.5 salem simulcast 1.3 2001 frequency swap 1.4 wclv 1420 am 1.5 wrmr 1420 am 1.6 whk 2005 present 1.6.1 newstalk 1420 1.6.2 am 1420 the answer 2 current programming 3 references 4 external links history edit experimental license edit whk began on july 26 1921 when experimental station 8acs signed on under a license obtained by warren c. cox in the name of cox mfg. co. 2 he broadcast on a wavelength of 200 meters which translates to a frequency of 1500 khz from his home at 3138 payne avenue . 3 only about 1000 listeners were able to hear the first broadcast and most of them were members of the cleveland radio association . 4 by 1922 licensees were barred from broadcasting on 200 meters 2 so cox applied for a commercial broadcasting license . whk 1922 2001 edit warren cox received a commercial license for his station on february 21 1922 with the callsign whk the commerce department was still issuing mostly three letter callsigns to commercial radio stations before april 4 1922 5 and hk standing for the station s first vice president and general manager h. k. carpenter . 6 7 it was only the 52nd commercial radio license issued by the commerce department . 8 the station broadcast at a wavelength of 360 meters 2 a frequency of 830 khz which was the standard broadcast frequency for entertainment radio stations at the time . the station started broadcasting on march 5 1922 from facilities located in the rear of a radiovox store at 5005 euclid avenue . 3 by 1924 whk broadcasts had moved to 1060 khz . warren cox sold the station to radio air service corporation in 1925 . 3 in the following years the station facilities underwent a series of moves including 5105 euclid avenue the hotel winton at 1025 bolivar road later the hotel carter the standard building at st. clair and ontario the top floor of the higbee company on public square and carnegie hall at 1220 huron road . by 1927 the station broadcasts were heard at 1130 khz and the station was broadcasting with 500 watts at night . by 1928 the station was located in the engineer s building at 1370 ontario avenue . 4 whk became a cbs affiliate in 1930 and increased its power to 5000 watts for both day and night transmission . it was broadcasting on 1390 khz . on march 9 1931 the station moved to the terminal tower and celebrated its move with the live broadcast of faust from its auditorium . 4 united broadcasting ownership edit radio air service corporation sold whk in 1934 to forest city publishing company the parent company of the plain dealer . forest city then organized united broadcasting company as the station owner . whk was broadcasting with a daytime power of 2500 watts and a nighttime power of 1000 watts . whk broadcast a full season of cleveland indians baseball games in 1936 with announcers jack graney and pinky hunter . 4 on october 30 1936 united broadcasting also purchased station wjay which had been broadcasting since january 5 1927 at 610 khz . 9 wjay s callsign was changed to wcle and its studios are relocated to the terminal tower to join sister station whk . 10 whk switched its network affiliation in 1937 from cbs to the nbc blue network and the mutual broadcasting system which had started three years earlier . in the 1940s whk like most mutual affiliates became a participant in network programming . rhythm and rhyme time was a saturday night band concert on mutual that originated from the terrace room of the statler hotel through the whk s facilities . in 1943 when the nbc blue network was sold to edward noble to eventually become abc the blue network switched its affiliation to wjw radio leaving whk with the mutual affiliation . mutual brought its popular queen for a day program to cleveland music hall on april 5 1946 for a two days of broadcast with local contestants chosen by whk . 4 on march 29 1941 whk like most radio stations changed its frequency as a result of the north american regional broadcasting agreement . whk moved from 1390 to 1420 khz the frequency it occupies today . in 1945 as the fcc began implementing a ruling limiting station owners to a single am outlet in a market united broadcasting moved wcle to akron 10 and changed to callsign to whkk and the frequency to 640 khz . in turn united moved the 610 frequency to columbus to create whkc from waiu formerly wbav which had been broadcasting daytime only on 640 . 11 whkc became wtvn in the 1950s . whkk became whlo in 1962 . in august 1946 whk received one of the earliest experimental fm licenses under the call w8xub broadcasting at 107.1 mhz . upon receipt of a commercial license the station became whk fm at 100.7 mhz and later in 1968 wmms . whk would also obtain a construction permit for television station whk tv on channel 19 12 but the station never made it on the air due to the problems at that time of launching a uhf station in a vhf market such as cleveland . ironically the channel 19 position was later occupied by woio which was purchased in 1985 by whk s eventual owner malrite communications . whk moved its studios in 1951 to 5000 euclid avenue a location that it would continue to occupy for the next 26 years and presently the site of the agora theatre and ballroom and lava room recording . metromedia ownership edit united broadcasting sold whk in 1958 to metropolitan broadcasting corporation 4 which became metromedia two years later . the new owners soon adopted a rock and roll top 40 format . morning man ernie anderson was let go because he did not fit into the new format . ironically anderson would later find local fame with his ghoulardi character that would have been ideally suited as an early rock disk jockey . pete mad daddy myers another early iconic rock dj was lured away from rival wjw for a successful stint in whk s early rock and roll years before he left for new york . whk centaur interview at the space power chamber december 1963 by the early 1960s whk was top 40 powerhouse adopting the slogan color radio and color channel 14 . the station soared with fast talking deejays like johnny holliday who broadcast from the glass cage at 5000 euclid and dubbed the station s echo chamber reverberation its stratophonic sound . the action central newsroom included young reporters tim taylor and dave buckel . when the beatles made one of their north american tours in 1964 whk outmaneuvered rival kyw am to sponsor the beatles appearance at cleveland public auditorium on september 15 1964 . the station offered free tickets to listeners with an on air promotion ; the winners were selected in what is believed to be the first automated audience selection . those receiving tickets were selected by an ibm computer . 13 in the mid 1960s the whk djs adopted the name the good guys and included joe mayer . on the cover of the beatles sgt. pepper album a doll wears a sweater emblazoned with welcome the rolling stones and good guys a possible reference to the whk djs . 4 late in 1967 whk stopped rocking to become the good life station with easy listening music and phone in shows aimed at older listeners . possibly the biggest reason for the format change at whk was the pressure put on the station by newcomer wixy an am station at 1260 which started playing top 40 music in 1966 . in 1968 the fcc mandated that fm sister stations could no longer duplicate their am sister s programming and whk fm adopted a new progressive rock sound one of a handful of commercial stations in the country to try that format . the callsign of whk fm was changed to wmms on september 28 1968 . from 1968 through 1984 whk was the flagship station of the cleveland browns radio network . gib shanley provided play by play commentary for the majority of the browns run at whk ; he was succeeded by nev chandler . color commentary duties were first held by jim graner then jim mueller and finally doug dieken who continues in that position to this day . 14 malrite years edit metromedia sold whk and wmms in 1972 to malrite broadcasting of ohio later malrite communications and malrite moved its headquarters to cleveland . whk dropped the beautiful music and tried a modified top 40 format briefly again in 1973 called cover hits and developed by consultant mike joseph . the station ended up settling on a country music format in 1974 featuring controversial morning show talk host gary dee and famed cleveland disk jockey joe finan as the housewife s friend from 10 am to 2 pm until the eventual format change in 84 . another notorious personality don imus also returned to cleveland in 1978 to do afternoon drive on whk one of the few times that he would ever host a non morning drive position in his entire career . imus had previously had a morning show on wgar am for 1 years ending in 1971 and lasted at whk until september 1979 when he returned to wnbc in new york . on february 14 1977 whk and wmms moved their studios from 5000 euclid avenue to the statler office tower near playhouse square . 4 wgar am which signed on there in december 1930 had moved to the suburbs at their transmitter site in broadview heights . seeking to recapture its past glory again whk returned to a nostalgic 1950 s and 60s top 40s music on april 24 1984 using the designation from their dial position 1420am ... making it 14k whk solid gold becoming the first oldies totally formatted station in cleveland ohio . prior to the format change long time morning man gary dee was relocated to malrite s sister station in washington dc and newly hired program director bill stedman who was brought in from wlw cincinnati with a new dj lineup that consisted