WMMS
WMMS, commonly identified as "The Buzzard," is a commercial radio station serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Widely regarded as one of the most influential rock stations in America throughout its history, the station has also drawn controversy for unusually aggressive tactics both on and off the air. Owned by iHeartMedia, and broadcasting a mix of active rock and hot talk, WMMS is currently the flagship station for Rover's Morning Glory, the FM flagship for the Cavaliers AudioVerse and Cleveland Guardians Radio Network, the Cleveland affiliate for The House of Hair with Dee Snider and the home of radio personality Alan Cox.
Signing on in 1946 as the FM adjunct to WHK, the WMMS call letters were affixed in 1968 under Metromedia ownership, having stood for "MetroMedia Stereo" and meant as a compliment to the newly established progressive rock format, but have since taken on a variety of other meanings. Created in April 1974 as "an ironic twist on Cleveland's down-and-out reputation as a decaying Rust Belt city," the station's longtime promotional mascot has been an anthropomorphic "Buzzard" cartoon character. In 1981, Radio & Records identified "the malevolent feathered figure" as "the best-known station symbol in the country." "De-emphasized" in the fall of 2007, the scavenger was revived the following spring to coincide with the station's 40th anniversary and with the arrival of morning personality Rover.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, WMMS had a stable of personalities that remained fundamentally unchanged, attained a dominant market share in the local ratings and posted market record-high figures "never duplicated by any other Cleveland radio station since." WMMS played a key role in breaking several major acts in the US, including David Bowie, Rush, and Bruce Springsteen. Station employees went on to take director and executive-level positions in the recording industry, namely with labels RCA, Mercury, and Columbia. Considered "a true radio legend," WMMS DJ Kid Leo was chosen for Rolling Stone's "Heavy Hundred: The High and Mighty of the Music Industry" and named "The Best Disc Jockey in the Country" in a special 1987 issue of Playboy. Noted filmmakers, including Cameron Crowe and Paul Schrader, have called on both The Buzzard and its personnel while preparing for various rock-themed productions. WMMS was also a major driving force behind the successful campaign to bring the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to Cleveland.
Rolling Stone named WMMS "Best Radio Station" nine straight years as part of the magazine's annual Readers' Poll, but the station admitted to stuffing the 1987 ballot following a February 1988 front-page story in The Plain Dealer exposing manipulation. Seven years later, members of the station's staff and management pleaded guilty to disrupting a national broadcast of The Howard Stern Show that originated via the local Stern affiliate, cross-town rival WNCX. A federal offense, the act nearly cost WMMS its broadcasting license. Owned by Malrite Communications from 1972 to 1993, subsequent consolidation in the radio industry saw WMMS change ownership five times in seven years, and has been in iHeartMedia's portfolio since 1999.
WMMS's studios are located at the Six Six Eight Building in downtown Cleveland's Gateway District; the station transmitter resides in neighboring Seven Hills. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WMMS broadcasts over two HD Radio channels and is available online via iHeartRadio. WMMS-HD2, which relays its signal over low-power FM translator W256BT, broadcasts a classic hip hop format as "Throwback 99.1". WMMS-HD3, which relays its signal over low-power FM translator W266CD, is the Cleveland affiliate for iHeart's all-news oriented Black Information Network.
History
Early years – WHK-FM
On March 30, 1946, radio station WHK – owned at that time by United Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of Forest City Publishing, itself the parent company of The Plain Dealer – launched an experimental FM station under the callsign W8XUB at 107.1 megahertz. On July 31, 1947, W8XUB began broadcasting at 100.7 MHz. On November 13, 1947, the new FM station transitioned from experimental to commercial status; increased its power; and changed its callsign to WHKX.On November 11, 1948, the station adopted the callsign WHK-FM. In 1958, both WHK and WHK-FM were sold to Metropolitan Broadcasting, itself renamed MetroMedia two years later. Like most early FM stations, WHK-FM mostly simulcast the Top 40 programming of its AM sister station. In 1966, in an effort to make the medium more commercially viable, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission mandated that FM stations could no longer duplicate the programming of their AM sister stations. Seeing a small but significant groundswell of support for the medium in the market, WHK-FM adopted a new progressive rock format on August 15, 1968. WHK-FM became one of a handful of commercial stations in the country to try that format, many of which were owned by MetroMedia. To firmly establish a separate identity, and to reflect the station's ownership, the WHK-FM callsign was changed to WMMS on September 28, 1968.
Progressive rock (1968–1973)
MetroMedia found major success with progressive rock at KMET Los Angeles, KSAN San Francisco, WMMR Philadelphia and WNEW-FM New York City, but a lack of commitment from MetroMedia led the company to drop the format at WMMS by May 1969. The station first turned to adult contemporary, big band, the Drake-Chenault automated Hit Parade '69 and finally Top 40,.Following a legal dispute with a competing station owner over non-compete clauses in their contracts, former Top 40 WIXY personalities Dick Kemp and Lou "King" Kirby were signed by MetroMedia for the top 40 format. The top 40 format also failed to make any major ratings impact. Soon after, the station revered back to the Progressive Rock format to battle WNCR of Nationwide Communications, itself filling the void created by the brief absence of WMMS on the album rock scene. The top 40 deejays were retained, but it was soon obvious that they were inadequate hosts for a progressive rock format. Album deejay Denny Sanders was brought in from Boston and key WNCR personnel were soon hired by WMMS, taking most of their audience with them. During this time, WMMS used slogans derived from its call sign: first as "Music Means Satisfaction", and later as the place "Where Music Means Something". Sounds described the station programming at this time as "totally off-the-wall in its choice of records, playing anything it liked. It is most famous for heavily plugging the MC5, The Velvets and The Dolls on one hand and science-art groups like Soft Machine and King Crimson on the other."
Under the leadership of station manager Billy Bass and program director Denny Sanders, WMMS helped break many new rock artists nationally, most notably David Bowie. Based on considerably high record sales in the Cleveland market, Bowie kicked off his first U.S. tour in "The Rock Capital". The WMMS-sponsored concert was a "phenomenal success" and prompted the station to sponsor a second show that year. This second show sold out immediately, and was held at the city's largest venue: Cleveland Public Hall.
In November 1972, WMMS was sold to Malrite Communications, a Michigan-based firm that relocated to Cleveland upon purchase. Under Malrite ownership, WMMS would become an album-oriented rock powerhouse, much in the same vein as its former MetroMedia progressive rock siblings.
Coffee Break Concerts
During this time, WMMS also began broadcasting a remarkable number of live concerts, many of which originated in Cleveland and were produced by the station itself. The WMMS 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, Tim Buckley, Peter Frampton, and a host of others performed on the program over the years, recordings of which are still widely available as bootlegs. The WMMS Coffee Break Concerts were booked and directed by Denny Sanders and hosted by Len "Boom" Goldberg, Debbie Ullman, and later, Matt the Cat. The concert series continued on well into the 1990s and early 2000s, albeit much less frequently.Album-oriented rock (1973–1994)
From "Find Me" to FM powerhouse
In July 1973, John Gorman joined WMMS as music director and was promoted to program director and operations manager two months later where he remained for thirteen years. During this time, with Denny Sanders as his creative services director and Rhonda Kiefer as programming assistant, WMMS broke all Cleveland ratings and revenue records. WMMS was the first radio station to employ full-time promotion and marketing directors: Dan Garfinkel and his successor, Jim Marchyshyn.In time, the station adopted new slogans reflecting the callsign: "We're your Modern Music Station" and "your Music Marathon Station." Although never used on the air, listeners alternately knew the callsign as an acronym for "Weed Makes Me Smile" and "Magic MushroomS," the latter referencing the somewhat controversial logo used before the Buzzard. WMMS also began referring to its frequency in promotions as, a rounding-off which continued for the next decade.
Contrary to what many believe, the choice of the second Malrite logo had nothing to do with Buzzard Day, the annual "folksy event" held in Hinckley Township, Ohio. Rather, WMMS adopted a buzzard as its mascot in April 1974 because of the then tenuous economic state of Cleveland – less than five years away from becoming the first major American city to enter into default since the Great Depression – and the winged-creature's classification as a scavenger. In other words, the carrion-eating bird represented "death and dying" – a darkly comic reflection of the city's decline. EC horror comics, Fritz the Cat, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Looney Tunes – all served as inspirations for the "bird of prey with attitude" concept. The station was known as "The Home of the Buzzard" at first. was the co-creation of Gorman, Sanders and American Greetings artist David Helton.
A study conducted by MBA students at Case Western Reserve University in 1975 found that the new WMMS logo was more recognizable to those living in Greater Cleveland than both Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians and even Coca-Cola.
From the onset, Helton's streamlined artwork resulted in an aggressive, yet family-friendly symbol for the station, one that continues to endure more than 40 years later. The Buzzard became synonymous with WMMS, Cleveland radio and the city itself, spawning a series of T-shirts so numerous that they are now impossible to catalog, many with slogans like "Where Music Means Something" and "Ruler of the Airwaves."
A major contributor to the ratings success was an airstaff that remained fundamentally unchanged for many years: personalities like Kid Leo, Jeff & Flash, Matt the Cat, Dia Stein, Denny Sanders, Murray Saul, Debbie Ullman, Betty "Crash" Korvan, Ruby Cheeks, BLF Bash, TR and the late Len "Boom" Goldberg were invaluable to the station's popularity. Of all the personalities that worked at WMMS, Len "Boom" Goldberg remained the longest. He joined the station in early 1972 before its sale to Malrite, and stayed in different capacities until 2004. He was best known as the voice for the station's hourly IDs, music segues, sweepers, and commercials, and was also a member of The Buzzard Morning Zoo in the mid-80s.
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WMMS during this period would play a key role in breaking several major acts in the US, including: Rush, Roxy Music, Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny, Fleetwood Mac, Meat Loaf, The Pretenders, the New York Dolls, Lou Reed, Mott the Hoople, Boston, and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Of special note was the early support of Bruce Springsteen by Kid Leo and others, prior to the release of the Born to Run album. For the station's tenth anniversary in 1978, WMMS hosted and broadcast a live Springsteen concert at the Agora Ballroom independent of his concert tour. Heavily bootlegged, the concert further cemented the relationship between the two in fans' minds, and well into the 2000s Cleveland remains one of Springsteen's strongest bases. Right up until his departure in 1988, Kid Leo played "Born to Run" as his signature sign-off song every Friday night at 5:55 to kick off the weekend for area listeners.