see wtam ld . wtam city cleveland ohio broadcast area greater cleveland northeast ohio branding newsradio wtam 1100 slogan cleveland s newsradio frequency 1100 khz first air date september 26 1923 format news talk power 50 000 watts unlimited class a facility id 59595 transmitter coordinates 41 16 50.00 n 81 37 22.00 w 41.2805556 n 81.6227778 w 41.2805556 ; 81.6227778 callsign meaning am band former callsigns kyw 1956 1965 wkyc 1965 1972 wwwe 1972 1996 former frequencies 750 khz 1923 1926 770 khz 1926 1927 1070 khz 1927 1941 affiliations city club of cleveland cleveland cavaliers radio network cleveland indians radio network fox news radio fox sports radio iheartradio premiere networks total traffic and weather network wkyc tv owner iheartmedia inc. citicasters licenses inc. sister stations waks wgar fm whlk wmji wmms webcast listen live website wtam 1100 wtam 1100 am branded newsradio wtam 1100 is a commercial news talk radio station licensed to cleveland ohio serving greater cleveland and much of surrounding northeast ohio . owned by iheartmedia inc. wtam is a clear channel station with an extended nighttime range often identifying itself as the big one . wtam serves as the cleveland affiliate for fox news radio the glenn beck program the rush limbaugh show and coast to coast am ; the am flagship station for the cleveland cavaliers and cleveland indians radio networks ; and the home of radio personality mike trivisonno . the wtam studios are located in the cleveland suburb of independence while the station s transmitter resides in nearby brecksville . besides a standard analog transmission wtam had also broadcast over a single hd radio channel hd radio transmission off air since 2013 and is available online via iheartradio . 1 the station first carried the wtam call letters from 1923 to 1956 ; assigned sequentially by the fcc the letters were later treated as a backronym for where the artisans meet . the station re adopted the same call letters in 1996 to reinforce the station s position on the am band ; station management considered the historical tie a nice bonus but ... more incidental than anything else . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 wtam 1923 1956 1.1.1 early years 1.1.2 clear channel status 1.1.3 the nbc years 1.2 kyw the westinghouse years 1.3 wkyc years 1.4 wwwe years 1.5 wtam 1996 present 2 current programming 2.1 weekdays 2.2 weekends 2.3 sports coverage 3 references 4 external links history edit wtam 1923 1956 edit early years edit wtam began broadcast operations on september 26 1923 . 3 it was one of several stations that started between 1922 and 1923 with a call sign assigned sequentially by the commerce department with w as the first letter and a as the third . 4 it was originally owned by s.e. lawrence and theodore willard in the name of the willard storage battery company . 5 initially the station only offered three hours of nightly programming but soon expanded its on air lineup . studios were located in the willard factory on taft avenue at east 131st street . 3 by june 30 1924 wtam was broadcasting with 1000 watts and sharing the 770 khz frequency with wjax . 6 wjax had signed on earlier in 1922 owned by the union trust co. in 1924 it was known as the wave from lake erie . goodyear tire & rubber co. purchased wjax in 1925 and changed to the callsign to wear . finally willard battery purchased wear to have control of shared frequency allocation . 7 wtam was the first radio station to broadcast coverage of a political convention when it covered the 1924 republican national convention at cleveland s public auditorium on june 10 12 1924 . 3 5 the station s power increased to 2500 watts in 1925 and to 3500 watts in 1926 as the studios moved to the union trust building now the huntington building . by june 30 1927 wtam and wear broadcast on 750 khz with wtam broadcasting with 3500 watts . 8 the january 31 1928 radio service bulletin of the commerce department listed wtam broadcasting with 3500 watts at night and 5000 watts during the day . 9 clear channel status edit after willard battery threatened to close the station wtam and wear were purchased by the cleveland electric illuminating company now part of firstenergy and the van sweringen brothers on may 31 1928 . in a statement announcing the purchase the new owners declared recognizing the fact that this radio station is a civic asset to the greater cleveland district and that the cessation of its operation would be a real loss the van sweringen interests and the illuminating co. entered into arrangements to continue it . every effort will be made to maintain the station on a plane which will make it of maximum value to the community . 10 when the new federal radio commission instituted general order 40 after the passage of the radio act of 1927 wtam along with sister station wear at that point absorbed into wtam entirely claimed the clear channel frequency allocated to cleveland and on november 11 1928 it began broadcasting at 1070 khz with wtam broadcasting at 50 000 watts . 11 in 1929 the station built two broadcast towers in brecksville ohio each 200 feet high . 3 the nbc years edit gene carroll and glenn rowell in 1935 with its national prominence as a clear channel giant established wtam became a valuable radio property . nbc purchased wtam on october 16 1930 and the studios were moved to the auditorium building . 3 the station became a major link in the nbc red network contributing some programming to the network . around 1930 gene carroll and glenn rowell brought their vaudeville humor to wtam with the gene and glenn show . 12 13 the duo became famous for their characters jake & lena . wtam originated the program for nationwide broadcast on the nbc red network and it aired six days a week for five years . nbc began to make substantial investments to station facilities in the 1930s . in 1937 a new tower was built in brecksville which was 480 feet tall . that tower is still in use today by wtam and fm stations waks a wtam sister station and wzak . 14 in 1937 or 1938 the station moved to 815 superior avenue and the building was renamed the nbc building . the building is known today as the superior building . on march 29 1941 with the implementation of narba wtam moved its broadcast frequency from 1070 to 1100 khz maintaining its clear channel status . during the 1940s the station continued to contribute some programming to the nbc radio network . on march 19 1946 bob hope brought his tuesday night 10 pm pepsodent radio show to cleveland along with jerry colonna frances langford and the skinnay ennis orchestra for a broadcast on the nbc radio network . guests included ohio governor frank lausche . recordings of this program are still available from collectors of old radio programs . 15 16 17 wtam also broadcast the 1948 world series games of the cleveland indians against the boston braves with announcers jim britt and mel allen . in 1951 wtam originated an nbc radio network broadcast of the cleveland orchestra . 3 nbc also expanded its broadcasting interests in cleveland beyond am radio . on october 31 1948 nbc launched a sister television outlet wnbk on channel 4 . a few weeks later on december 6 1948 sister station wtam fm began broadcasting on 105.7 mhz simulcasting the am programming . the broadcast tower for wtam am fm and wnbk was moved to parma ohio in the early 1950s . the am radio outlet continued to use the parma tower until 1974 when transmissions were moved back to the original broadcast tower in brecksville . wtam also aired cleveland browns games during the 1952 1953 and 1955 seasons ; jim graner provided color commentary during the 1955 season . 18 kyw the westinghouse years edit in late 1955 nbc persuaded westinghouse to trade its philadelphia stations kyw radio and wptz television now kyw tv in return for nbc s cleveland properties and 3 million in cash compensation . 19 nbc had long wanted to own a station in philadelphia the nation s third largest market at the time . the swap went into effect on january 22 1956 . 20 westinghouse wanted to keep the historic kyw callsign which had been chicago s oldest radio facility before being transferred to philadelphia on december 3 1934 . therefore on february 13 1956 the cleveland stations became kyw am fm tv ; the philadelphia stations became wrcv am tv . 21 the wtam callsign was later picked up by wgls in atlanta georgia . in the early 1960s under westinghouse ownership kyw known on air as ky11 became a top 40 powerhouse with disc jockeys jim runyon the weeeellll voice of the chickenman series jim stagg jay lawrence jerry g. and the morning duo of harry martin and specs howard . 22 23 24 its main top 40 rival in the cleveland market was color channel 14 whk at 1420 am . wkyc years edit almost immediately after the trade was finalized westinghouse complained to the federal communications commission fcc and the justice department about nbc s coercion . 25 26 it was discovered that westinghouse only agreed to the trade when nbc made implications that it would pull its television programming from wptz and westinghouse s other nbc affiliate wbz tv in boston . 27 in 1964 after a protracted legal battle the fcc ordered the swap of stations reversed without nbc realizing any profit on the deal . 28 nbc regained control of the cleveland stations on june 19 1965 and changed their call letters to wkyc am fm tv which kept the popular ky slogan and identity westinghouse brought into cleveland . 29 30 to this day the kyw stations insist that they moved to cleveland in 1956 and returned to philadelphia in 1965 . however the two stations facilities remained the same . 31 further information nbc red network kyw am kyw tv wkyc and westinghouse broadcasting wkyc continued as a top 40 outlet the only such formatted station under nbc ownership with djs harry martin specs howard jay lawrence and jerry g holding over from kyw westinghouse . when program director ken draper left for chicago s wcfl in early 1965 prior to the ownership change both jim stagg 32 33 and jim runyon wasted no time following him . 34 bill winters came in about this time . jim labarbara was wooed away from a 3 day stint at wixy to do evening prime time . chuck dann and klif s morning duo charlie and harrigan signed on . jim gallant was doing overnights . 35 in late 1966 popular afternoon dj jerry g jerry ghan also decided to follow draper to wcfl . 36 he was replaced by wixy s evening man jack armstrong who then decided to call himself big jack . labarbara was moved to overnight to accommodate armstrong s installation as the evening jock . in early 1967 the on air staff consisted of labarbara overnight ; charlie and harrigan morning drive ; bob cole late morning ; jay lawrence mid afternoons ; chuck dann afternoon drive ; and big jack in the prime time slot . wkyc radio 11 was a large record selling influence as far away as new york city and miami . however its main local competition in those days was wixy 1260 super radio . unlike wixy wkyc being an nbc owned and operated station in a situation not unlike wrc in washington was obligated to carry all nbc radio programming such as the weekend monitor as well as all top of the hour nbc radio