[18] Two large radio towers were erected on top of the building, visible for several miles and was thought to the highest point in Ohio for a transmitter; at the time of the move, WJW operated for one hour in late mornings and during the early evenings, but Weimer promised an expanded broadcast lineup.

[23] Examiner Hyde recommended denying the application, citing a lack of evidence to support another Akron radio station, but the FRC reversed his findings and gave full approval on September 8, 1930.

Graney and Dudley's narration of the pennant run had captivated the region, with all other forms of entertainment—even the Cleveland Browns—suffering steep declines in attention and revenue; one Akron business firm canceled their long-running radio program after finding out their customers were listening to the games on WJW instead.

[112] With assistance from concert promoter Lew Platt, the first such event—the Moondog Coronation Ball—was booked for March 21, 1952, at the Cleveland Arena, with Paul Williams, Tiny Grimes, The Dominoes, Varetta Dillard and Danny Cobb among the featured performers,[126] with a ticket price of $1.50.

[141] Myers' acting abilities—having trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, attempted work as a character actor in New York City[142] and participated in community theater[143]—helped foster the adoption of his "Mad Daddy" persona, which partially came out of desperation to create a "career-making splash".

A native of Butler, Fisher started his radio career at WMAN while also working in the News Journal mailing room,[157] spending time at stations in Zanesville and Moline, Illinois before joining WJW in 1962.

[174] Lake Erie Broadcasting was headed primarily by Cleveland Browns owners Art Modell and Al Lerner, with WJW general manager Richard Bremkamp and WEWS sportscaster Gib Shanley holding minority stakes.

[201] WHK's longstanding radio contract for Browns games was set to expire at the end of the 1983 season, and Lake Erie made a substantial bid that included the team taking partial ownership of the station.

[179] While the FCC no longer issues three-letter call signs, they allowed the change to take place via a waiver on September 16, 1985,[218] albeit at a slower pace than channel 8 management had expected, delaying a marketing campaign related to the new name.

[242] Proclaimed as "the most influential DJ in America" by Time in 1955, and regarded as a "rock and roll trailblazer"[243] in the same vein as Alan Freed, Randle was a market veteran at multiple stations since his 1949 arrival in Cleveland.

[246] Additionally dabbling as a lawyer, college professor and writer,[247] Randle refused to adhere to a playlist upon joining WRMR and objected to the term "nostalgia",[248] bringing a dynamism rarely seen in the adult standards format.

[241] Plain Dealer columnist Mary Strassmeyer put Macek—who also was the station's assistant program director[258]—on the same footing as Randle, Reese and Barrett, once complementing all four in her newspaper column "for bringing class to Cleveland radio".

[249] The station repeatedly drew respectable ratings but was perceived as an "underperformer" because it approached older demographics less attractive to ad agencies;[259] as a result, WRMR had less commercials than the competition, but Randle's bankruptcy law firm was a frequent advertiser.

[241] Enjoying alternative rock and jazz as much as big bands,[248] Randle frequently wove contemporary music from acts like Shania Twain, Jewel and *NSYNC into his airshift[246] and was one of the first to play 13-year-old LeAnn Rimes on the air.

[267] Work began on a facility upgrade to 50,000 watts daytime upon the Independent Group takeover, with an initial proposal of a new six-tower transmitter site in Granger Township,[268] but it failed to get local government approval after NIMBY opposition by area residents.

[273][275] The joint sale came after Jacor amassed a dominant position in the market by purchasing WTAM and WLTF in April 1997[276][277] and WKNR by August 1997[278] and merging into Nationwide Communications by October 1997,[279] making it impossible for the other groups to remain competitive financially.

[332] The station attracted unwanted attention on September 27, 2004, when Bruce Drennan's home was raided by FBI and IRS agents as part of a wide-ranging investigation into illegal sports gambling,[333] a problem compounded by Salem's reputation as a "family-friendly" broadcaster.

Salem's continued practice of clearing brokered programming and infomercials on WKNR[338] prevented the station from broadcasting ESPN's MLB play-by-play throughout this era,[339] including the entirety of the 2004 World Series.

[345] Good Karma's founder and president Craig Karmazin considered Cleveland to be "the next logical market" for the chain to expand to, already operating sports talkers in Madison, Milwaukee and West Palm Beach.

[347][352] Craig Karmazin saw WKNR as "a dream scenario"[348] and a "sleeping giant" that still had a loyal audience despite the many ownership and programming changes, and did not even anticipate owning both stations until Salem agreed to the sale.

[358] The following month, WMMS/WMJI personality Mark "Munch" Bishop was hired for afternoon drive and former Cavaliers TV play-by-play voice Michael Reghi took over as host for a local Cavs post-game call in show, moving Kenny Roda to early evenings.

[316] Hooley also joined the station amid controversy, having been fired from Ohio State flagship WBNS-FM in March 2011 after openly criticizing Jim Tressel for failing to address a recruiting scandal with the Buckeyes football team,[372] purportedly angering the university.

[378] Browns president Alec Scheiner favored the CBS-Good Karma bid as neither station would have schedule conflicts with Indians games, which had been an issue with WTAM since Clear Channel was awarded the rights in 1999.

[373] One Cleveland Scene story suggested WKNR dropped their subscription to Nielsen Audio because The Really Big Show was now being outdrawn substantially by WKRK-FM's Baskin and Phelps and termed the Browns contract a loss leader for both sports stations.

[391] The stunt backfired when Dan Le Batard played audio from Rizzo's outburst on his ESPN Radio show and suggested listeners donate to the parade's GoFundMe page, which doubled their fundraising goal in less than 24 hours.

[392] WKNR unveiled a subscription-driven platform billed The Land on Demand on May 1, 2017, enabling full access to audio archives for the station's live programming and podcasts for either a monthly or annual fee.

[394] Former programming executive Jason Barrett suggested on his media analysis website that WKNR could add more exclusive content to entice subscribers, but applauded the station for taking a risk and noted that any improvement would further help refine the platform.

[400] WWGK temporarily switched on April 22, 2020, to a relay of Sirius XM's "Doctor Radio" channel and related COVID-19 information programming[401] following a similar move by Good Karma's WAUK in Milwaukee.

[405] Director of content Matt Fishman, who joined the station in January after prior work with KCSP and Sirius XM,[406] stated that the move was not driven by any particular incident or issue, but after gauging listener feedback when controversial subjects were brought up.

[413] Local weekday programming on WKNR includes The Really Big Show with Tony Rizzo and Aaron Goldhammer late mornings, and The Next Level with Je'Rod Cherry and Emmett Golden in afternoon drive.