identified as wkrk fm from 1997 to 2007 see wxyt fm . wkrk fm city cleveland heights ohio broadcast area greater cleveland northeast ohio branding sports radio 92.3 the fan frequency 92.3 mhz also on hd radio first air date december 19 1947 format sports radio hd2 sports radio hd3 sports radio erp 40 000 watts horizontal 36 000 watts vertical haat 167 meters class b facility id 74473 transmitter coordinates 41 26 32.00 n 81 29 28.00 w 41.4422222 n 81.4911111 w 41.4422222 ; 81.4911111 callsign meaning k rock former callsigns wsrs fm 1947 59 wjmo fm 1959 60 wcuy 1960 71 wlyt 1971 83 wrqc 1983 90 wjmo fm 1990 94 wzjm 1994 2001 wxtm 2001 06 wxrk 2006 07 wkri 2007 former frequencies 95.3 mhz 1947 59 affiliations cbs sports radio cleveland browns radio network cleveland gladiators westwood one owner cbs radio cbs radio stations inc. sister stations wdok wncx wqal webcast listen live website 92.3 the fan wkrk fm 92.3 fm branded sports radio 92.3 the fan is a commercial sports radio station licensed to cleveland heights ohio serving greater cleveland and much of surrounding northeast ohio . owned by cbs radio wkrk fm is the cleveland affiliate for cbs sports radio ; a co flagship station for the cleveland browns radio network ; and the radio home of jeff phelps and dustin fox . wkrk fm also airs coverage of the cleveland gladiators . the wkrk fm studios are located at the halle building in downtown cleveland while the station transmitter resides in the cleveland suburb of warrensville heights . in addition to a standard analog transmission wkrk fm broadcasts over three hd radio channels and is available online . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 1940s 50s 1.2 1960s 70s 1.3 1980s 90s 1.4 2000s 1.5 92.3 the fan 2 current programming 2.1 talk 2.2 play by play 3 references 4 external links history edit 1940s 50s edit founded by sam r. sague the station debuted on december 19 1947 on 95.3 mhz as wsrs fm and simulcast sister station wsrs 1490 am also licensed to cleveland heights . 2 wsrs am fm billed itself as the community information voice of cleveland . 3 on february 1 1959 friendly broadcasting of columbus assumed control of wsrs 1490 am and 95.3 fm from sam r. sague switching call letters licenses studios and facilities . 4 5 the am and fm stations took on separate identities wjmo took over the former wsrs offices at 2156 lee road in cleveland heights and wsrs fm became wjmo fm later wcuy . 2 the 1540 and 106.5 frequencies were sold off to tuschman broadcasting company with the am station becoming wabq while the fm station instead signed on as wabq fm . 1960s 70s edit wcuy maintained an eclectic mix of beautiful music jazz and ethnic fare independent of the am station a rarity at the time . wjmo adopted a rhythm and blues format focusing primarily on the african american community which it still does to this day . wcuy vacated 95.3 and moved to 92.3 mhz in the early 1960s while wdgo in cleveland signed on the 95.5 frequency and wlkr fm in norwalk on the 95.3 frequency . the station s music format turned to all jazz in the mid 1960s . voices at wcuy s microphones in the mid 1960s until the station dropped jazz in 1971 included chris columbi who also wrote about jazz for the cleveland plain dealer ray allen who also served as program director dave smith gary stark mark kaufman len anthony phil fink david mark and joanie layne . citation needed in 1971 wcuy changed calls to wlyt 6 7 standing for we love you truly and chosen through a station contest . wlyt first held a gold based oldies format but then bounced about between aor as 92 rock automated top 40 and then disco as disco 92 until the early 1980s . wlyt was beset by a poor signal a limited budget constant staff turnover and low ratings during this period . 1980s 90s edit wlyt changed its call letters to wrqc in spring 1983 8 and switched to pop new wave music as cleveland s new 92 rock using consultant rick carroll of future sister station kroq fm in los angeles . at the time its deejays included daniel dancin danny wright doing morning drive partly due to a fallout with carroll and low ratings against aor chr powerhouse wmms wrqc gradually migrated to chr under new program director kris earl phillips who later departed for a career in the computer software industry succeeded by om pd scott howitt . the line up included various morning hosts over time after dancin danny moved over to wgcl g98 to do afternoons jan mckay jan wrezinski news director linda jackson linda stepan 10am 2pm scott howitt program director doing afternoon drive former b94fm wbzz pittsburgh air personality tom jack daniels 6 10pm mike gallagher 10pm 2am johnny sharp 2 6am skip o brien lew roberts lew snodgrass and jim shea & scott james harry legg and rowdy ron higgins weekends . the chr format remained in place throughout the remainder of the decade first as the new 92q in early 1985 all hit 92q in 1986 under the guidance of the late rick sklar former wabc new york program director turned consultant and later as the all new hot 92 in 1989 . united broadcasting changed wrqc s call sign to wjmo fm on january 22 1990 matching the calls of wjmo marking the second time around with these call letters . 9 the station was re branded jammin 92 and in 1995 jammin 92.3 and kept the contemporary hits format except this time around they shifted towards a dance leaning direction a move that would pay off ratings wise for the station all under the direction of its then pd keith clark . 10 slogans over the years included cleveland s dance music station the party pig big fun giant jams and cleveland s 1 hit music station . starting in 1993 jammin 92 s evening hours were modeled after mtv featuring equal doses of alternative rock hip hop and pop music . the show was called 92 channel x. in 1992 as federal communications commission fcc ownership rules were relaxed united broadcasting sold wjmo and wjmo fm to zebra communications owned by three key figures from local urban contemporary station wzak owner xenophon zapis program director lynn tolliver and on air personality bobby otis rush . although tolliver and rush were both african americans zapis a greek was a key party in the new ownership . the southern christian leadership conference sclc contested the sale . the sale was approved by the fcc in 1993 11 and wjmo became the first radio station with significant african american ownership in the cleveland area . on february 25 1994 as a result of the legal battles the sclc gained significant control of wjmo which was seen as the less desirable station . 12 the sclc kept the wjmo call letters for their am station and wjmo fm became wzjm a combination of wzak and wjmo . wzjm s format evolved into rhythmic chr and it became one of the highest rated stations in cleveland during the late 1990s even though the station was listed as a top 40 chr reporter in music reporting trades like billboard radio monitor now defunct because of wzjm s inclusion of mainstream pop rock product into its playlist and at the same time keep from overlapping wzak when it came to playing r & b hip hop product and targeting the african american audience . from 1998 to 2001 wzjm suffered through multiple ownership changes and different formats . this started when wzjm wjmo and wzak were purchased by chancellor media in january 1999 along with wdok wqal and wrmr in a 275 million deal . 13 it was at the time the largest radio deal in cleveland broadcasting history . on july 13 1999 chancellor media merged with capstar broadcasting owners of wknr then at 1220 am becoming amfm inc. becoming at that time the nation s largest radio station owner with 465 stations . when amfm merged with clear channel communications in august 2000 clear channel was forced to sell off wzjm along with the other cleveland amfm properties to comply with market ownership restrictions . wzjm wdok and wqal were sold to infinity broadcasting now cbs radio . 14 logo as 92.3 the beat on the air wzjm abruptly dropped its contemporary hits format at 5 00 pm on april 19 1999 . in its place was the amfm branded jammin oldies format as 92.3 the beat . 15 while jammin oldies was popular in the short term in other markets across the country wzjm s attempt was not successful in comparison . as wzjm was sold to infinity speculation grew about a potential format change particularly when all but two of the station s disk jockeys were let go in early 2001 . 2000s edit on may 25 2001 memorial day weekend wzjm flipped to active rock as 92.3 xtreme radio with the call letters wxtm adopted on june 7 2001 . 16 while the rock format helped fill the gap after wenz flipped from modern rock to urban in 1999 wxtm s xtreme format and on air presentation were originally quite different from the old wenz and was in fact a nationally programmed format developed by infinity broadcasting . wxtm was the cleveland affiliate for wnew fm new york based shock jocks opie and anthony from july 2001 until their firing by cbs radio in august 2002 . rover s morning glory hosted by shane rover french debuted on wxtm on march 24 2003 and received its title just days beforehand . it would become the first radio show in modern history to have even been syndicated out of cleveland when wmad in madison wisconsin and wazu now wjyd in columbus ohio both picked up the show . in 2005 the xtreme label was shed in favor of 923x and former wenz disk jockeys re emerged on wxtm during several smells like the end reunion weekends . the playlist was slowly expanded as the station became a full fledged alternative rock station . rover made national headlines when he was selected by cbs radio to be one of four shows to replace howard stern the other three being now canceled adam carolla the junkies and now canceled david lee roth with cbs radio s free fm experiment . rover had his show s flagship relocated to chicago on sister station wckg in order to accommodate this switch . on january 1 2006 wxtm s sister station wxrk of new york new york changed its callsign to wfny fm to reflect its new format . owner cbs radio moved the wxrk call letters to wxtm . the new wxrk of cleveland was suddenly set on random play essentially a wide sweeping commercial modern rock playlist without any dee jays . on air promos hinted of 92.3 it just rocks before the station officially became 92.3 k rock that january 17 . k rock has been a brand utilized by cbs radio on several of their rock stations most notably kroq in los angeles . incidentally kroq was also the station that what was then wrqc tried to emulate back in the 1980s . opie and anthony rejoined the station s lineup on april 26 2006 when they were hired back to replace david lee roth on cbs radio stations in select markets in morning drive . however wxrk and not local roth affiliate wncx picked up the freefm based now wbmp portion of the show on tape delay from 3 00 pm to 6 00 pm . wckg would cancel rover due to extremely low ratings on july 31 2006 and