were from 1949 to 2007 see wjmo . were city cleveland heights ohio broadcast area greater cleveland branding newstalk 1490 slogan the people s station frequency 1490 khz first air date december 12 1947 format news talk power 1 000 watts daytime 1 000 watts nighttime class c facility id 74472 transmitter coordinates 41 30 48.00 n 81 36 5.00 w 41.5133333 n 81.6013889 w 41.5133333 ; 81.6013889 former callsigns wsrs 1947 58 wjmo 1958 2007 affiliations abc news radio syndication one westwood one owner radio one blue chip broadcasting licenses ltd. sister stations wenz wjmo wzak webcast listen live website newstalkcleveland.com were 1490 am branded newstalk 1490 is a commercial news talk radio station licensed to cleveland heights ohio . owned by radio one the station serves greater cleveland . in the cleveland radio market were is the am affiliate for the tom joyner morning show and the sole affiliate for redding news review red eye radio and abc news radio while sharing keepin it real with rev. al sharpton with sister station wjmo . its studios are located along the euclid avenue corridor in cleveland s eastside while the station transmitter resides near university circle . contents 1 history 1.1 call letters 1.2 wsrs 1.3 wjmo 1490 am 1.3.1 later years 1.4 2007 frequency trade 1.5 newstalk 1490 2 current programming 3 references 4 external links history edit call letters edit in 1932 the fcc assigned the call letters were to a station in erie pennsylvania which had been known as wedh . 1 wsrs edit wsrs founded by samuel r. sague on december 12 1947 broadcast 24 hours a day on 1490 khz while licensed to suburban cleveland heights and had an fm sister station of wsrs fm at 95.3 mhz now wkrk fm . wsrs am wsrs fm billed itself as the community information voice of cleveland . wjmo 1490 am edit not to be confused with cleveland radio station wjmo . on february 1 1958 friendly broadcasting of columbus assumed control of wsrs 1490 am and 95.3 fm from sam r. sague and switched callsigns studios facilities and staffs selling off their former frequencies to tuschman broadcasting company . wjmo took over the former wsrs offices at 2156 lee road in cleveland heights and wsrs fm became wjmo fm later wcuy . the 1540 am facility became wabq with the switch whose format and call letters currently reside at 1460 am and the 106.5 facility ultimately signed on as wabq fm and became wxen in 1960 . the 1540 am frequency is currently wwgk while the 106.5 facility is now home to whlk . shortly after the frequency change in the early 1960s wjmo moved to a black oriented r & b format . in 1970 a dispute arose over working conditions and the lack of blacks in key positions . key station personnel staged a sick out which took the station off the air . the dispute attracted the involvement of a number of groups including the cleveland chapter of the southern christian leadership conference . 2 the sclc asked sponsors to withhold advertising from wjmo or face a boycott by black community groups . in retaliation the personnel involved in the sick out were fired . in the efforts to resolve matters the fired personnel were reinstated and kennard ken hawkins was appointed the station s general manager . hawkins became the first african american to hold that position at a cleveland radio station . 3 united broadcasting ran into problems with the fcc regarding the operation of its stations in washington and miami . it was also alleged that eaton bribed the abc network to gain favorable terms for three of its stations . meanwhile in cleveland united broadcasting had other problems . on december 11 1973 station vice president van lane real name morris schecter and engineer john rees of washington s wrc radio pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of bugging hawkins office . it was later revealed that the lines were linked between hawkins office at the station and lane s home in shaker heights . lane and rees were fined 500 each . former united broadcasting controller and vp morton silverman of columbia maryland was also charged with three felony counts of illegal wiretapping but the justice department agreed to reduce the charges to a misdemeanor . 3 a year later on december 2 1974 washington based attorney roy f. perkins jr. the former attorney for united broadcasting pleaded guilty in federal court to a misdemeanor charge of bugging hawkins office . he was fined 2 000 . perkins claimed that he authorized the bugging because of rumors of payola at the station . 3 in january 1990 united broadcasting re acquired the 92.3 mhz facility by now wrqc and changed its callsign to wjmo fm . united broadcasting sold wjmo and wjmo fm in 1992 to zebra communications owned by xenophon zapis owner of zapis communications and wzak lynn tolliver wzak program director and bobby otis rush wzak dj . although tolliver and rush were both african americans zapis was a key party in the new ownership and the sale was contested by the southern christian leadership conference . 3 the sale was approved by the fcc in 1993 4 and wjmo became the first radio station with significant african american ownership in the cleveland area . in 1994 as a result of the legal battles the sclc gained significant control of wjmo 5 which was seen as less profitable than wjmo fm and wzak . the sclc appointed a local group dubbed newco that directly had an input in stations programming and produced talk and public affairs shows between the hours of 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. meanwhile due to the high legal fees incurred by zapis zebra and the sclc all of the local deejays on the station were replaced with abc radio s solid gold soul music service . 6 in addition the call letters of the fm station were changed to wzjm a combination of wzak and wjmo . the wjmo fm calls did resurface on the 99.5 mhz facility in washington dc then co owned with wjmo in 1999 . today it broadcasts as wiht . on august 12 1998 chancellor media corporation of texas announced its purchase of wjmo and wzjm from zebra communications along with its purchase of four other cleveland radio stations wzak wdok 102.1 fm wqal 104.1 fm and wrmr 850 am for 275 million . 7 it was at the time the largest radio deal in cleveland broadcasting history . on july 13 1999 chancellor media merged with capstar broadcasting which at the time owned wknr to form amfm inc. at that time the nation s largest radio station owner with 465 stations . amfm sold wzak and wjmo to radio one on july 20 2000 as part of a required divestiture when amfm merged with clear channel communications . 8 later years edit logo under the wjmo praise 1490 gospel format 1999 2007 the station became a gospel music outlet on may 17 1999 after nearly forty years with an r & b format which was reputed by many to have been the longest running such station in the country . 9 2007 frequency trade edit on june 4 2007 radio one radio stations wjmo 1490 am and were 1300 am were involved in what was then reported as a frequency trade . in reality these two stations swapped call letters along with their respective formats . wjmo changed its call letters to were and changed its format to news talk . 10 newstalk 1490 edit beginning in 2007 am 1490 has carried were s talk format which was transferred over from am 1300 . current programming edit weekday programming includes the tom joyner morning show from reach media aired in simulcast with sister station wzak in morning drive ; news one now with roland s. martin 11 and keepin it real with al sharpton both from syndication one air middays through early afternoon sharpton s show is simulcast on sister gospel station wjmo am 1300 ; local program america s workforce hosted by ed flash ferenc airs in afternoon drive and replayed in the late evenings ; rob redding s gcn syndicated redding news review airs in the early evenings and is replayed in the overnight hours . 12 and trending today with carl nelson syndication one airs late evenings . hourly updates from abc news radio air at the top of the hour . through the week various brokered programming may also air in the evening hours occasionally preempting scheduled programming . 13 14 15 16 weekend programming includes syndicated talk shows hosted by bob brinker and larry kudlow from westwood one keep hope alive with jesse jackson sunday nights from premiere networks red eye radio from westwood one overnights 17 and various ethnic programming on sundays . 13 18 references edit wedh now were pdf . broadcasting . march 1 1932 . retrieved 1 october 2014 . van tassel david d. ed. ; grabowski john j. 1996 . wjmo . the encyclopedia of cleveland history 2nd ed . . bloomington indiana university press . pp. 1058 59 . isbn 0 253 33056 4 . retrieved 2007 01 01 . a b c d wjmo history . cleveland broadcast radio archives project . retrieved 2007 01 01 . santiago roberto may 22 1993 . wjmo sale approved by fcc but sclc appeal is likely . the plain dealer . pp. 1b . retrieved 2007 01 01 . santiago roberto december 10 1993 . sclc gains control of wjmo am . the plain dealer . pp. 1a . retrieved 2007 01 01 . santiago roberto february 18 1994 . fcc approves transfer of two urban stations . the plain dealer . pp. 4b . retrieved 2007 05 21 . company news ; chancellor media to buy six cleveland radio stations . the new york times . august 13 1998 . retrieved 2007 01 01 . justice department requires clear channel and amfm to divest 99 radio stations in 27 markets . required sale is largest radio divestiture ever press release . u.s. department of justice . july 20 2000 . retrieved 2007 01 01 . feran tom may 19 1999 . wjmo gives up soul for gospel . the plain dealer . pp. 2e . retrieved 2007 05 21 . washington julie may 19 2007 . were and wjmo trading am frequencies . cleveland.com . cleveland live inc. retrieved june 4 2007 . watch roland martin in newsone now preview . roland martin reports . 2013 09 16 . retrieved 2014 08 17 . redding news review moves to live clearance on were . allaccess.com . 2014 02 18 . retrieved 2014 08 17 . a b show schedules were am 1490 . newstalkcleveland.com . retrieved 2012 11 08 . redding news review affiliates . reddingnewsreview.com . retrieved 2012 11 08 . were am 1490 blackplanet radio by songza . newstalkcleveland.com . retrieved 2012 11 08 . radio ink magazine . radioink.com . retrieved 2014 08 17 . stations . keep hope alive radio . retrieved 2012 11 08 . cumulus media networks adds affiliates for shows services . allaccess.com . 2012 10 15 . retrieved 2014 08 17 . external links edit official website query the fcc s am station database for were radio locator information on were query nielsen audio s am station database for were 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