WDLW

WDLW (1380 AM) – branded Kool Kat Oldies 1380 AM & 98.9 FM – is a commercial oldies radio station licensed to Lorain, Ohio. Owned by WDLW Radio, Inc., the station serves Lorain County and western parts of Greater Cleveland. WDLW also simulcasts over Lorain translator W255CW (98.9 FM). The WDLW studios are located in the city of Oberlin, while the transmitters for both WDLW and W255CW reside in Sheffield Township. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WDLW is available online.

For the Watertown, Massachusetts radio station that held the call sign WDLW at 1330 AM from 1979 to 1989, see WRCA.
WDLW
CityLorain, Ohio
Broadcast areaLorain County
Greater Cleveland (limited)
Frequency1380 kHz
BrandingKool Kat Oldies 1380 AM & 98.9 FM
Programming
FormatOldies
AffiliationsFox News Radio
ONN Radio
Ownership
OwnerWDLW Radio, Inc.
(WDLW Radio, Inc.)
Sister stationsWOBL
History
First air dateDecember 4, 1969 (1969-12-04)
Former call signsWLRO (1969–84)
WRKG (1984–97)
WELL (1997)
Call sign meaningcurrent owners Doug and Lorie Wilber
Technical information
Licensing authorityFCC
Facility ID70108
ClassD
Power500 watts (daytime)
57 watts (nighttime)
Transmitter coordinates41°25′48.00″N 82°09′7.00″W
Translator(s)98.9 W255CW (Lorain)
Links
Public license informationProfile
LMS
WebcastListen live
Websitewdlwradio.com

History

WLRO

WLRO began operating on December 4, 1969[1] under a temporary permit. (The official license for the station was not granted for over a year.) Owned by Lorain Community Broadcasting Corporation, the station replaced WWIZ after two and a half years of silence on 1380. WWIZ's license renewal had been denied because of an improper transfer of control of the station, and it left the air in 1967, by which time Lorain Community had already filed to replace it on 1380.

WLRO initially had a middle of the road and oldies format. The initial staff was composed of Bill King, Bob Ladd, Rodger Glover, sports anchor Jim Allen, news director Bill Wilkens, production director Jeff Baxter and music director Norm N. Nite. During this time, it was also an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System and carried Mutual's coverage of Notre Dame football throughout the 1970s and 1980s. WLRO also carried Cleveland Indians daytime games in 1971 and 1972.

WRKG

On July 7, 1984, WLRO was sold by Lorain Community Broadcasting to local real estate developer Jon Veard. Shortly thereafter, on July 13, the call sign was changed to WRKG and a pop standards format was installed. The WRKG calls stood for their new slogan, "WoRKinG for you is our business." The station's studios were moved to the Antlers Hotel in downtown Lorain, of which Veard also owned. The station still remained as a daytime station for many years, with overnight service (via just 57 watts) being added as of the fall of 1986.

Among the air talent that was on "Golden 13 Radio" at this time included Dick Conrad, John Antus, Donovan "D.K." Kent, Charles LuBear, Dave Rush, Lauren Wreath, John Ryan and sportscaster Jim Allen. Newscasts were handled by Craig Demyan, Joan Lowry, Mike Partin and Terry Burnabell. Ethnic programming on Sundays included the Ecos Latinos Hispanic music show hosted by Miguel Berlingeri, The Polka Express with Jimmy Bryda and The Friendly Promoter Club with Matty Bright.[2]

On February 12, 1990, Jon Veard sold WRKG to Victory Radio, Inc. headed by Vernon Baldwin, who was also the owner of WZLE 104.9-FM. (Clear Channel Communications since acquired WZLE in 1999 and changed the music format to Top 40 as "Kiss 104.9.") WRKG's format changed to country gospel during the day with personalities Terry Lee Goffee and Teri Drda, with Hispanic music played in the evening and overnight hours.

WDLW

By the spring of 1997, WRKG entered into a daytime-only simulcast arrangement with WELW in Willoughby, Ohio. WRKG ended up carrying WELW's mixture of ethnic programming and brokered-time talk shows, plus carried the television audio from WOIO-TV's morning, noon and 6 p.m. newscasts. Accordingly, the callsign was first changed to WELL on June 6, 1997 – but eventually switched it again to WDLW that August 1. The WDLW calls previously were used on a Waltham, Massachusetts station during the 1980s.[3]

This simulcast did not last long, however, and WDLW was flipped into a 24-hour Spanish/tropical format by January 1999. With programming leased over to the Latino Media Group, this move made WDLW the first, and only, such licensed-station in Ohio. WDLW also offered Spanish-language broadcasts of Cleveland Indians baseball and Cleveland Crunch indoor soccer.[4] The station ended up becoming popular in the Hispanic and Latino community within Lorain, and even in portions of the Cleveland area. The flagship show was their morning show The Milton Rivera Show which starred Milton Rivera and his co-host and producer Chris Haslage.

On January 2, 2002, WDLW was sold to WOBL Radio, Inc.'s owners, Doug and Lorie Wilber (which also resulted in a call letter bacronym).[5] Technical upgrades were made to the air signal, and WDLW's studios were moved from the Antlers Hotel to WOBL's studio/transmitter facility in Oberlin, but the station kept the Hispanic format. But by that November 8, citing a lack of advertising revenue outside of Lorain in order to keep the Hispanic format on a full-time basis, WDLW switched to a 1950s/1960s rock-and-roll oldies format as "Kool Kat Oldies 1380-AM." "Kool Kat" was a play on "Cool Cat," the name of a 1960s Warner Bros. cartoon character, and a popular catch-phrase in that same period.[6] The very first song played after the format switch was The Tremeloes' "Here Comes My Baby."

In late October 2015, WDLW acquired Elkhart, Indiana FM translator W293AZ (106.5 FM) for $20,000,[7][8] a sale consummated in early January 2016.[9] Paperwork was subsequently filed to relocate W293AZ to Lorain as W255CW (98.9 FM),[10] and serve as a rebroadcaster for WDLW. W255CW launched under that purpose on June 15, 2016.

FM translator
Broadcast translator for WDLW
Callsign Frequency City of license Facility ID ERP HAAT Class Transmitter coordinates
W255CW 98.9 MHz Lorain 148758 90 watts 0 meters D 41°25′48.00″N 82°09′7.00″W

Current programming

The station's airstaff currently includes Gene Briscoe in mornings, Kevin Coan in middays, Denny Sanders in afternoons and "Hey Look What I Found!" with Pete Delmonico on Friday nights (from April until August). Newscasts are handled by broadcaster Brian Engle, with sports covered by Jim Allen. Weekend hosts include Matt Slys, Rick Williams, Wally Mintus and David "Q" Velez.

WDLW also features ten hours of Hispanic and Spanish-language programming on Sunday afternoons and evenings (a holdover from the previous format), The Friendly Promoter Club with Matty Bright, and The Polka Express, whose on-air tenure spans that of 1380-AM's current incarnation with two different hosts – first with Jimmy Bryda from 1969 until his death in 2003, and with Tom Borowicz from 2003 to the present.

WDLW broadcasts high school football, basketball and hockey. Sister station WOBL broadcasts the same, along with Oberlin College football, Cleveland State men's basketball (in a shared affiliation with WDLW[11]) and OHSAA radio broadcasts.[12]

WDLW is also a local affiliate for Fox News Radio[13] and for ONN Radio.[14]

gollark: I should make one of my dragons a cookie maker.
gollark: Dragocookies!
gollark: And then sell offspring.
gollark: It would actually be a good project, too. You could boast of probably being the first to hit 100G.
gollark: We must spread messiness further! Reach new frontiers of stupid lineage length! Create *100G* dragons!

References
  1. "New AM stations" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 22, 1969. p. 60. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  2. Vidika, Ron (March 3, 2011). "FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS: Radio duo to be honored at appreciation benefit". The Morning Journal. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  3. Fybush, Scott (August 7, 1997). "North East RadioWatch: August 7, 1997: A Change of Sale". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
  4. "SG y WDLW transmiten 1er partido de fútbol en español en la radio". 3 (in Spanish). Senor Gol. January–February 1997. p. 1. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
  5. "Radio Station WDLW 1380 To Be Sold" (Press release). LorainCounty.com. January 2, 2002. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
  6. "WDLW 1380AM To Change Program Format" (Press release). LorainCounty.com. November 7, 2002. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
  7. Venta, Lance (October 23, 2015). "Station Sales Week Of 10/23". RadioInsight.com. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  8. "DEAL DIGEST FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 29, 2015". InsideRadio.com. October 29, 2015. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  9. "Arizona Translator Changes Hands". AllAccess.com. January 12, 2016. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  10. Thompson, Blaine (February 8, 2016). "Indiana RadioWatch - Serving Hoosier Broadcasters Since 1998 - 8 February 2016". Indiana RadioWatch. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  11. http://csuvikings.com/sports/m-baskbl/2014-15/releases/20150216f51xb3
  12. http://www.ohsaa.org/news/radio/Affiliates.pdf
  13. "Demos Home | FOX News Radio Affiliate Website". affiliates.radio.foxnews.com. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
  14. "Affiliates". ONN Radio. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
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