Founded by Willard Storage Battery and later owned by Cleveland Electric Illuminating and the Van Sweringen brothers as the 1920s ended, WTAM was purchased by RCA in 1930, becoming a core station in the NBC Radio Network.

Booth American (later Secret Communications) took over WWWE in 1990, revamping the lineup several times and hiring Mike Trivisonno as Sportsline host in 1994, later moving him to afternoon drive to much success.

[11] 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.

WTAM also originated the venerable Lum and Abner show on the NBC Red Network five days a week during one year of its run from May 22, 1933, to March 30, 1934, sponsored by the Ford Dealers of America.

[57] Citing disappointing ratings and a waning audience in the market overall for country music, WWWE quietly switched back to an easy listening/MOR format in August 1983, again using the 3WE brand.

[76] Despite Modell's history of questionable investments[70] and concerns he was heavily in debt,[77] he dismissed speculation that Lake Erie did not have the money to complete the deal, claiming "our collective net worth far exceeds the price of these stations".

[85] Along with Franklin, the "new" WWWE's lineup boasted an all-news block in morning drive, followed by hosts John McCullough, Michael Freedman, Merle Pollis and Joel Rose,[83] with NBC Talknet in the overnight hours.

[93] Larry Elder, who was involved with local television productions in Cleveland, was inspired to enter talk radio after sitting in as a guest on Pollis' WWWE show.

[100] WWWE was forced to use a variety of guest hosts for Sportsline that included Nev Chandler[109] and Gib Shanley,[110] along with nationally known figures Bob Costas, Paul McGuire and Dick Vitale.

[109] WWWE general manager Harvey Simms promised a permanent host by the end of 1987,[117] to which Pete Franklin commented, "When Jack Kennedy was shot, they had a guy lined up in a few minutes, but it has taken them seven months to replace (me)... what that tells me is the new owners don't have the money to pay anybody.

[118] While Simms merely suggested at first of "fine-tuning and polishing" the format,[117] program director David George intended to make WWWE the top-rated station in Cleveland overall, "...and we were not going to do it with conventional news/talk".

[118] The station hired shock jock Gary Dee (Gilbert) for the midday slot on January 7, 1988, replacing John Dayle, who would rejoin Merle Pollis and Joel Rose at WERE.

[121] Dee's conservative-leaning populist persona was often compared to onetime WERE host Morton Downey Jr.,[118] while the Beacon Journal's Bob Dyer said, "he makes Jerry Falwell sound like a flaming liberal".

[121] After the acquittal of a Lorain man on charges of molesting his daughter, Dee publicly attacked both the judge and county prosecutor,[122] insinuating that their children should be raped while going into graphic detail on the case and giving out their phone numbers; the station later apologized.

[118] Dee's often-inflammatory remarks, coupled with several off-color statements by Drennan on Sportsline,[123] soon prompted Dyer to ask, "is WWWE trying to corner the market on racism?

38 days after his show debuted, a WJW-TV report filed by Carl Monday revealed Newton was previously convicted on charges of purchasing a videotape that contained child pornography.

[142] The FCC's anti-indecency campaign specifically cited Dee's June 15, 1989, show for multiple discussions on-air regarding sexual fantasies and behavior; WWWE was one of eight stations given a 30-day notice by the agency to address the allegations.

[157] The outgoing Independent Group management retained the ability[158] to hire Tom Hamilton as Herb Score's Indians broadcast partner prior to the start of the 1990 season with Booth's blessing.

[160] A 12-person 24-hour news department was instituted with ABC-Information newscasts replacing CBS; Booth executive Roger Turner cited ABC's "tighter writing and a faster delivery" as the reason for the switch.

[194] Program director Bobby Hatfield (Joe Reilly)[195] confirmed to The Plain Dealer on July 1, 1996, that a call sign change was imminent, management perceived the WWWE letters and "3WE" name as "stodgy and antiquated" that inhibited efforts to recast the station's identity as newer and aggressive.

[197] The station also signed up as a charter affiliate of the Baltimore Ravens radio network for the 1996 season for any Browns fans wanting to follow the team out of curiosity, and filled all local advertising breaks with public service announcements.

[201] A mail-in listener poll conducted by Plain Dealer radio critic Roger Brown in the summer of 1996 named Trivisonno the "Voice of Cleveland", beating WRMR's Bill Randle.

[201] Indeed, Trivisonno often referred to himself as a "dumb dago from the East Side of Cleveland with a 10th grade education"[205] but took it as a compliment whenever people likened him to Pete Franklin, Howard Stern and Gary Dee, all three he held in high regard.

[209] Secret withdrew the Cleveland stations—valued at $45 million—from the deal in mid-January 1997; executive Frank Wood stated the company never wanted to sell them and considered purchasing additional stations in the market.

[224] On August 10, 1998, Jacor traded WKNR to Capstar Broadcasting in exchange for Pittsburgh's WTAE[225] to clear regulatory approval for their $620 million purchase of Nationwide Communications.

[230] Veteran radio executive Kevin Metheny was named WTAM's operations director in June 1998, eventually overseeing the entire Jacor-Clear Channel Cleveland cluster.

[243] Frantz was fired from WTAM on July 8, 2014, due to "corporate restructuring" but alluded heavily to financial issues surrounding Clear Channel[244] which itself was renamed iHeartMedia one month later.

[246]: 152–153  While Lanigan initially viewed the show as a way to "get up in the morning and read the newspapers... (keeping) me alert, alive and involved",[247] he abruptly quit during the middle of the August 8, 2018, episode,[248] citing a lack of enjoyment, disinterest in the topics discussed and feeling unqualified to express his opinion.

[263][264] Geraldo Rivera left at the end of March 2022 owing to an increased role with Fox News;[265] his replacement in the mid-morning time slot was comedian Jimmy Malone, John Lanigan's former co-host at WMJI,[266] a post he held until August 2024.