During the 1950s, WERE, and by extension, WERE-FM, was the first popular Top 40 station in the market, spearheaded by now-legendary personalities like Bill Randle, "Captain" Carl Reese, Phil McLean, Ronnie Barrett, Howie Lund and Bob Forster.

Randle was the most influential of the group, as he was the first major-market disk jockey in the Northeast United States to play Elvis Presley and bolstered the careers of a number of up-and-coming musicians, including The Four Lads, Bobby Darin and Fats Domino.

[9][10] KFAC and KFAC-FM in Los Angeles were given waivers to the "one-to-a-customer" policy,[11] and the deal was approved by the commission on October 29, 1969,[1] on the condition that WERE-FM would be sold "as soon as practicable.

[1] WGCL began as an affiliate of the Drake-Chenault Solid Gold and Hit Parade formats, which featured a Top 40/Oldies mix, but eventually went live and local with personalities such as Tim Davisson, David Mark and Mike Dix (formerly of the legendary WIXY 1260).

WGCL enjoyed some of the areas best-known air personalities over time, such as: J. Michael Wilson, Bumper Morgan, Dave Sharp, Eric Cramer & Uncle Vic.

[21] The planned new format for the station notably boasted a large on and off-air staff composed mostly of Cleveland radio veterans–eight of whom had directly departed WMMS.

[21] To signal a sign of the changes to come, after WGCL's CHR format was dropped on October 20, the station stunted by playing Beatles records non-stop for 72-hours.

[24] Just four months into the station's high-visibility launch, on February 9, 1987, WNCX abruptly -- and with no explanation -- switched formats to classic hits; employing Mike McVay's consulting firm.

[29] By April, Rhonda Kiefer, Spaceman Scott and Nancy Alden left;[30] followed shortly thereafter by Bernie Kimble,[31] then Denny Sanders at the end of August;[23] Paul Tapie was the only on-air staffer from the previous format that remained.

[35] Sanders joined WMJI in 1988 and succeeded Gorman as program director in 1996, with the station winning the National Association Of Broadcasters "Large Market Station Of The Year" award in 1998; Spaceman Scott went to WRQK in Canton as program director, then rejoined WMMS in the early 90s;[36] Nancy Alden went to WDOK later in 1987[37] and was a fixture at that station for many years; Bernie Kimble joined WNWV as program director;[38] and newscaster Jack Speer is currently a news anchor for NPR in Washington, D.C.[39][40] Throughout January 1987, Metropolis entered in negotiations to purchase WWDC and WWDC-FM in Washington, D.C. for $53 million,[41][42][43] but a tentative deal was never fully reached.

[54] Perhaps the station's best-known local personality, area rock musician Michael Stanley joined WNCX on September 17, 1990, to host an early-evening program entitled In the Heartland.

[55][56] The success of that one-hour show eventually led to Stanley taking over the afternoon shift outright in May 1992,[57] which he continued to host for nearly 29 years until his death on March 5, 2021.

[60] Tapie left the station in April 1989;[23] after WNCX posted several full-page ads advertising their morning-drive job opening, the position was filled with Those Guys in the Morning: Rick Rydell and Todd Brandt, with Trivisonno continuing as sportscaster.

The station's next attempt at a morning show—Mad Dogs and Englishmen—launched on September 17, 1991, co-hosted by former Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley,[55][56] who had signed on as WNCX's evening host in December 1989.

[72][73] Stern continued on with the program over a phone line as engineers quickly patched the broadcast wire back together: Any time you have to sabotage a show and you can't concentrate on what you're doing on the air, then it means you're in trouble.

[78] In the wake of Stern's departure, CBS Radio (the renamed Infinity Broadcasting) launched a hot talk format titled Free FM; while WNCX did not adopt this brand or format, it did sign up for one of the regionally syndicated morning shows CBS offered under the banner: The David Lee Roth Show, hosted by musician David Lee Roth, which premiered on January 3, 2006.

[79] Due to very low ratings nationally and critical drubbings in the press,[80] Roth's show was canceled on April 21;[81][82] WNCX opted for a rotation of local hosts in the timeslot before hiring Mud (Wynn Richards), Kim Mihalik and newscaster Mike Olszewski in July 2006.

[87] Local personality Slats (Tim Guinane), previously heard on WMMS and WXTM (WKRK-FM's predecessor), took over as morning host that November 7, where he remains to this day.

[90][91] WNCX personalities Slats (Tim Guinane) [88] Don "Nard" Nardella, Paula Balish and Joe Czekaj host the morning, midday, afternoon and evening shifts, respectively.