WRMR

WRMR was a staple of the Cleveland airwaves for more than 40 years under its original call letters of WJW. The station was started in Mansfield, OH, in 1926 by John F. Winer, who placed a "W" before his own initials for the call letters. The station did not come to Cleveland until 13 Nov. 1943, when Wm. M. O'Neil purchased it and then moved WJW to the Guardian Bldg., where it operated as Cleveland's 5th radio station, at 850 kilocycles and 5,000 watts and the local affiliate of ABC, formed from the old NBC Blue Network; WJW brought the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts to Cleveland. During its history, WJW also featured news commentary by DOROTHY FULDHEIM and ALAN FREED's "Moondog" ROCK `N' ROLL show. O'Neil sold WJW on 17 Nov. 1954 to Storer Broadcasting, which teamed it with its local television operation, WXEL, and 2 years later moved both into a remodeled Georgian building at 1630 Euclid Ave. as WJW Radio & TV. Storer dropped the ABC radio affiliation in 1957 to become independent, although the station later had a brief affiliation with NBC before becoming independent again. During the 1960s the "Ed Fisher Show" was immensely popular during a 10-year run, as was the station's adult contemporary format of news, talk, and jazz. Sold to Erie Broadcasting in the fall of 1976, WJW began to highlight talk shows and adult popular music. It had begun separate FM programming in 1965 on a station that eventually passed into separate ownership as WGCL. WJW was sold 1986 to Booth American Broadcasting, at which time it exchanged its long-familiar call letters for WRMR and moved to One Radio Lane. In 1990 Booth sold the station to Independent Group Ltd., a local group that owned WDOK.