references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . february 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message wnir city kent ohio broadcast area akron metropolitan area branding wnir 100 fm slogan the talk of akron frequency 100.1 mhz first air date february 19 1962 format talk erp 4 200 watts haat 120 meters 394 feet class a facility id 41077 transmitter coordinates 41 06 28.00 n 81 21 19.00 w 41.1077778 n 81.3552778 w 41.1077778 ; 81.3552778 callsign meaning winner 100 former slogan former callsigns wknt fm 1962 79 affiliations westwood one network salem radio network abc news radio owner media com inc. media com inc. sister stations w16do d waoh cd wjmp webcast listen live website wnir.com wnir 100.1 mhz branded wnir 100 fm is a commercial fm talk radio station . wnir is licensed to kent ohio and serves the akron metro area . owned by media com inc. the station airs mostly local shows in the day and evening while carrying nationally syndicated personalities jim bohannon and mike gallagher at night . the wnir studios are in franklin township while the station transmitter is located on holiday drive near interstate 76 in kent . 1 in addition to a standard analog transmission wnir is available online . contents 1 history 2 current programming 3 references 4 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on february 19 1962 as wknt fm . 2 it shared its call letters with its sister station am 1520 wknt now wjmp which signed on two years later and most programming was simulcast on both stations . the stations were owned by the publisher of the kent ravenna record courier newspaper and primarily served the portage county area with an adult contemporary radio format . the stations were purchased in 1972 by media com inc. a family owned business headed by richard klaus . klaus lured a young howie chizek from youngstown to host a five hour midday talk show changing the station s history forever . the call sign for the fm station was changed to wnir on april 19 1979 and it was branded winner 100 . eventually the ac music was dropped and the station became all talk adding joe finan in late afternoons in 1985 to replace a gameradio afternoon drive show hosted by bob roberts and joey harper . a cult favorite of the late 1980s and early 1990s was wnir s dial a date . the program was hosted nightly by jim albright . albright would pick one contestant from the phone lines and talk to that person about their life for about 10 minutes . at the end of the conversation albright would ask late night listeners of the opposite sex if they would like to meet the contestant . he would then answer often live on the air potential date calls . jim albright would sort through the prank calls and pick three potential dates for the contestant . after some talking back and forth the contestant would pick a date and exchange phone numbers off the air . howie chizek 1947 2012 was northeast ohio s dean of talk radio with multiple 1 rankings for over 38 years . chizek died june 17 2012 in florida at the start of his annual trip to disney world with underprivileged children . joe finan retired in december 2004 and was replaced by former cleveland browns player bob golic . wnir remains unique in this day and age dominated by syndicated talk radio with live local programming from morning to night . wnir began internet audio streaming of its programming on january 2 2009 and launched an improved website . on january 14 2011 a wnir app for iphones became available . wnir announced that an app for the droid and blackberry would follow . mediacom was founded by richard dick klaus who died on january 28 2006 at the age of 86 . sons robert and william continue today with the family ownership and management of the station . inside radio noted that during summer 2005 wnir was the highest rated fm talk station in america in terms of market rank and market share . 3 current programming edit when wnir became a talk station in the 1970s it was unusual in that it is an fm talk station whereas most talk stations were am . now talk stations on fm are fairly common many of them aimed at younger audiences . however wnir has always operated as more of a traditional am style talk radio station with hourly newscasts and an affiliation with abc news radio . wnir does not broadcast in stereo . wnir s weekday schedule consists primarily of locally hosted programming . the station airs the morning buzz during morning drive time with chris fox angela bellios steve french and phil ferguson . long time morning host stan piatt retired in september 2013 the same month that maggie fuller resigned . former cleveland browns pro bowl nose tackle bob golic hosts the afternoon drive show . longtime wnir voice tom erickson was heard in the evenings until his death in 2012 . longtime ne ohio radio personality and newspaper writer jim isabella was then brought in to fill the timeslot . 4 5 longtime midday host howie chizek died in june 2012 . after a couple of months of guest hosts filling the midday slot on august 10 2012 longtime chizek show caller john couch burner denning became the new full time midday host . 6 late night programming consists of nationally syndicated shows hosted by jim bohannon from westwood one and mike gallagher from salem radio network respectively . the station s weekday personalities also host saturday programs until 7pm . long time fill in host bob earley hosted a live local weekend show until he resigned in february 2014 . 7 the saturday and sunday evening slot was filled by brimfield ohio police chief david oliver . 8 his 7 10pm show breaking good with chief david oliver debuted on august 2 2014 . 9 however breaking good was placed on hiatus january 14 2015 when david oliver was suspended from the brimfield police department amid allegations of gender discrimination . 10 david oliver formally resigned as police chief on january 16 11 and the show was dropped from the station s schedule on january 22 . 12 it was announced on june 3 2011 that longtime morning show newsman jim midock was retiring from wnir due to health reasons but remains with the station hosting the midock minute featuring interviews with various local wnir sponsors . references edit http radio locator.com cgi bin patg id wnir fm 1 dead link the inside story with mike kinosian fm talk . . ftp.media.radcity.net . retrieved 16 february 2015 . wnir fm tom erickson . wnir.com . retrieved 16 february 2015 . wnir fm program guide . wnir.com . retrieved 16 february 2015 . couch burner to succeed howie chizek on wnir . ohio.com . retrieved 16 february 2015 . rich heldenfels . weekend talk show host bob earley latest to leave wnir radio . ohio.com . retrieved 16 february 2015 . rich heldenfels . brimfield police chief to host wnir show . ohio.com . retrieved 16 february 2015 . wnir fm breaking good with chief david oliver . wnir.com . retrieved 16 february 2015 . brimfield police chief david oliver suspended . the record courier . retrieved 16 february 2015 . ohio police chief with outsize facebook following resigns . toledo blade . retrieved 16 february 2015 . trexler phil 2015 01 22 . chief oliver show dropped for good by wnir . akron beacon journal . retrieved 2015 01 23 . external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for wnir radio locator information on wnir query nielsen audio s fm station database for wnir v t e radio stations in the akron ohio market by am frequency 640 1150 1350 1590 by fm frequency 88.1 88.9 89.7 91.3 94.9 97.5 98.1 100.1 by callsign wakr waps warf wcue whlo wkdd wksu wnir wone fm wqmx wstb wzip online black squirrel radio defunct 1520 wjmp 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 v t e news talk radio stations in the state of ohio stations wabq painesville wakr akron wasn youngstown wbex chillicothe wbtc uhrichsville wclt newark wcvx cincinnati weol elyria lorain were cleveland heights cleveland whbc canton whio dayton whio fm piqua whk cleveland whlo akron wint willoughby wkbn youngstown wkrc cincinnati wlw cincinnati wman mansfield wman fm fredericktown wmoh hamilton cincinnati wmrn marion wnir kent akron wonw defiance wspd toledo wtam cleveland wtod toledo wtvn columbus defunct wjmp kent akron see also adult contemporary classic hits college country news talk npr oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in ohio retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wnir fm & oldid 732811639 categories radio stations in akron ohionews and talk radio stations in the united stateskent ohioradio stations established in 19621962 establishments in ohiohidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from february 2015articles lacking reliable references from february 2015all articles lacking reliable references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 3 august 2016 at 11 51 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia 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