WMMS

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WMMS 100.7 is a commercial FM radio station in Cleveland, Ohio with a rich history. It had a quite dominant market share in the 1970s and 1980s.

Contents

1 History

1.1 Early years
1.2 Progressive rock radio years
1.3 Recent years

2 Morning Show
3 On-air schedule

3.1 Weekdays
3.2 Weekends

4 Reference
5 External links

History

Early years

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 WHKX at 100.7 MHz, and eventually WHK-FM.

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 radio format, 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.

Progressive rock radio years

The format went away from progressive rock for a short while, then returned to it again in the early 1970s. During a time, the station was owned by Metromedia and was a sister station of New York's WNEW-FM and Philadelphia's WMMR, both progressive rock stalwarts.

WMMS helped break many new rock artists nationally, including Rush, David Bowie, Roxy Music, and others. Of special note was their early support of Bruce Springsteen by disc jockeys Kid Leo and others, from even before Born to Run came out. In 1978 WMMS live broadcast a Springsteen concert at the Agora Theatre and Ballroom; heavily bootlegged, it further cemented the relationship between the two in fans' minds, and well into the 2000s Cleveland remains one of Springsteen's strongest bases.

With its rock and roll format and its popular "Buzzard Morning Zoo" morning show with Jeff Kinzbach and Ed "Flash" Ferenc, WMMS was long the top-rated station in Cleveland. In the station's heyday, from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, the station was one of the highest rated major market rock stations in the country, often achieving 13 and 14 share ratings in the overall 12+ total listenership category. The airstaff remained fundamentally unchanged for much of the period featuring -- along with Kid Leo and Jeff and Flash -- Matt the Cat, Denny Sanders, Betty Korvan, Bill "BLF Bash" Freeman, Len "Boom Boom" Goldberg, Ruby Cheeks, and Dia Stein. John Gorman was the acclaimed Program Director.

WMMS, at the time, was also broadcasting a remarkable amount of live concert broadcasts, many of which originated in Cleveland and were produced by WMMS itself. The station's Coffee Break Concert was a weekly music-interview show broadcast live from the station's studio (and later with an audience at The Agora Ballroom). Warren Zevon, John Mellencamp, Lou Reed, Peter Frampton, and a host of others performed on the program, recordings of which are widely available as bootlegs.

In the mid-1980s, WMMS was an important contributor in organizing a campaign (along with author-deejay Norm N. Nite) which brought the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to Cleveland. The station was named in Rolling Stone's reader poll as best station several consecutive years, until 1988, when it was revealed that they were stuffing the ballot box over the previous two years. The "ballot box stuffing" revelation is still controversial, with some upset with the deception, while others claim that all stations in every city did their share of "stuffing".

By the late 80's, WMMS was "tinkering" with a hybrid Top 40/Rock format playing the likes of Tiffany and Whitney Houston along with classic bands like Yes and local favorite Michael Stanley. Obviously, a confused and angry audience rebelled and new programmers were brought in to restore The Buzzard's rock image. Around the time of the first Gulf War, WMMS regained it's status as Cleveland's number one radio station burying the competition with it's best ratings ever. While some of the stations original disc jockeys left the line-up, additions like Rocco the Rock Dog (Ric Bennett) and Scooter and Bull (Brad Hanson and Sean Robertson) helped bring The Buzzard into the 90's. In the following years, however, the station was sold numerous times to various corporations signaling the end of the once great radio station.

Regardless, WMMS remains one of the most important rock stations in the history of FM broadcasting.

Recent years

By the 1990s, the station had declined significantly in popularity due to numerous factors. Erratic format modifications after the departure of many of the station's long-running staff members and ownership changes contributed to the decline. WMMS and sister station WHK were sold by Malrite to Shamrock Broadcasting (Roy Disney's family-owned broadcasting firm) in 1992, then to the locally-held OmniAmerica in April 1994.

At this time, John Gorman - who helmed WMMS during much of its heyday - was brought back as program director from new sister station WMJI. Gorman modified WMMS' format to alternative rock from a more general rock format, and while this alienated many longtime listeners who switched to WNCX and their fulltime classic rock format, boosted the station's ratings for the first time in years.

However, Howard Stern was then picked up by WNCX. His ratings exploded and this, along with a mismatch with the new format, forced Jeff and Flash to leave WMMS. (They quietly finished their long-running show on WWWE/WTAM under the banner "Rock 'n Roll Talk Radio" in 1997.)

WMMS was sold again to Nationwide Communications in 1996. WHK was shortly thereafter spun off to Salem Communications months later - marking the first time in fifty years that WMMS and WHK weren't under common ownership. John Gorman departed for CBS Radio/Detroit, and the new management reverted back to old programming formulas, which by then had become dated and ineffective. Nationwide was bought out by Jacor Communications in 1998. Upon Jacor's takover, WMMS had a "death of the Buzzard" month-long stunt in October 1998 that hinted at a format change, but was instead revealed to be a change in programming philosophy.

Today, WMMS is still a rock station, playing a mix of old and new. Its longtime (and current) mascot has been the Buzzard. Its call letters have been used as an initialism 'Where Music Means Something' (last used on air during the station's alternative rock period during the 1990s). It is owned by Clear Channel and—along with WTAM—is the flagship station for the Cleveland Browns.

Morning Show

On June 26, 2006, WMMS first aired the syndicated Bob and Tom Show even though this show appears on a multitude of other stations in the listening area. Local reaction was hostile, and many predict failure for this show as cries of "Bring back Sean, Hunter, and Cristi" resonated throughout Cleveland.

This is the first time since becoming a rock station that WMMS does not have a locally based morning show, though in two different instances, the host originated from his former station before coming to Cleveland.

Since the dismissal of longtime morning duo Jeff Kinsbach and Ed "Flash" Ferenc in 1994, WMMS has been beset by a roster of twelve different morning shows in as many years. One of them, Brian & Joe, is the current morning duo at sister station WMVX.

On-air schedule

Weekdays

6AM to 10AM - The Bob & Tom Show
10AM to 3PM - Maria
3PM to 7PM - Maxwell
7PM to 11AM - The Big Rig
11AM to 12AM - Miles
12AM to 6AM - Seth the Barbarian

Weekends

Various Shifts - Riggs
Various Shifts - Corey Rotic
Various Shifts - Stansbury
Various Shifts - Heather
Various Shifts - Bo Matthews
Various Shifts - Mark "Munch" Bishop

Reference

External links

FM Radio Stations in the Cleveland, Ohio Market [(Arbitron #25)]

By Frequency: 88.3 | 88.7 | 89.1 | 89.3 | 89.7 |90.3 | 91.1 | 91.5 | 92.3 | 93.1 | 95.5 | 96.1 | 96.5 | 97.1 | 98.5 | 99.5 | 100.7 | 102.1 | 103.3 | 104.1 | 104.7 | 104.9 | 105.7 | 106.5 | 107.3 | 107.9

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