| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | WHK-AM and WHK-FM |
| Title: | WHK Radio Station Records |
| Dates: | 1974-1998 |
| Dates: | 1996-1997 |
| Extent: | 0.40 linear feet (1 container) |
| Abstract: | Radio station WHK-AM in Cleveland, Ohio, is one of the oldest radio stations in the United States, having received its commercial broadcasting license in 1922. The station received one of the first FM broadcasting licenses in the United States in 1946, and this station became WMMS in 1968. Ownership and broadcasting formats of these stations has changed multiple times throughout their existence, and in 1996 WHK was sold to Salem Communications and WMMS was sold to Nationwide Communications. In 1997 WHK and WHK-FM adopted a Christian format and eliminated all local programming. The collection consists of agreements, contracts, correspondence, forms, and reports. |
| MS Number | MS 5323 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English |
Historical sketch courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
WHK of Cleveland, Ohio, was one of the first six radio broadcasting stations in the United States. Started under the call letters 8ACS in 1921, it was owned by Warren R. Cox and operated from his home at 3138 Payne Avenue to serve as a hobby for the members of the Cleveland Radio Association. When the United States Department of Commerce in February 1922 made it unlawful to broadcast any information from amateur radio stations without a limited commercial license, Cox immediately applied for one, and soon afterward 8ACS became WHK. Assigned the frequency of 1,420 kilocycles, the new WHK aired for the first time on March 5, 1922, from the rear room of a Radiovox store at 5005 Euclid Avenue. By 1925 Cox sold the station to the Radio Air Service Corporation. Increased in power to 5,000 watts for both day and night operations, WHK joined CBS in 1930. Its original program format of largely recorded music was changed and expanded into one that included speeches, sermons, news, concerts, interviews, and weather reports. Purchased by the Plain Dealer in 1934, WHK became a part of Forest City Publishing Company. By the 1940s, WHK had switched its network affiliation to the Mutual Broadcasting System. Forest City sold WHK in 1958 for approximately $750,000 to the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation (Metromedia). In 1972 it was purchased by the Cleveland-based Malrite Communications Group, Inc., which also owned local station WMMS-FM. Long located at 5000 Euclid Avenue, WHK moved to studios in the Statler Office Tower in 1976 and to Tower City's Skylight Office Tower in 1992, when it adopted a news-talk format. In 1993 WHK and WMMS were sold to Shamrock Broadcasting Inc., which in turn sold them to OmniAmerica within less than a year. OmniAmerica attempted to revive the struggling WHK by moving toward a sports-only format but sold the station in 1996 to Salem Communications, a California-based religious broadcaster. In its first year of ownership, Salem relocated WHK to the Summit 4 office building in Independence, Ohio, and set about improving the station's radio tower and equipment. The new WHK emphasized Bible-teaching and Christian-talk programming.
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for radio station WHK
The WHK Radio Station Records, 1974, 1994-1998, and undated (bulk dates 1996-1997) consist of agreements, contracts, correspondence, forms, and reports.
This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of radio station WHK in Cleveland, Ohio, in the mid-1990s during the time it was sold to Salem Communications in 1996 and changed its broadcasting format to a Christian/Bible based one in 1997. The collection includes all paperwork that was filed with the Federal Communications Commission and required to be available to the public regarding change of ownership, change of format, and change of location from Cleveland to Independence, Ohio. The collection documents advertising sales rates for commercial and political clients and other reports regarding the operation of the stations.
None.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 5323 WHK Radio Station Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Gift of WHK in 1997.
Processed by Margaret Burzynski-Bays in 2015.
WHK Radio Station Records 1974-1998 undated |
|||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Public file access visitor log 1997 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Federal Communications Commission Form 303, renewal of license 1996 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | FCC Form 316, transfer of license 1996-1997 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Federal Communications Commission Form 302, application for broadcast license 1996-1997 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Federal Communications Commission Form 314, assignment of license 1996-1998 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Federal Communications Commission Form 301, construction permit undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | MM Docket 91-302, application for minor changes 1989-1993 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Federal Communications Commission Form 701, extension to complete construction undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Federal Communications Commission Form 323, ownership reports 1994-1997 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Citizens agreements undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | News agreements 1996 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Federal Communications Commission Form 395, employment reports 1995-1997 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Federal Communications Commission Form 396, equal employment opportunity program reports 1995-1998 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Federal Communications Commission Form 732, AM frequency consent to assign 1994-1997 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Public notice certification 1996 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Federal Communications Commission complaint 1997 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Emergency Alert System test 1997 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Federal Communications Commission procedure manual 1974 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | News programming 1996-1997 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Rate cards (advertising) 1996 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Community ascertainment 1991 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Public service announcements 1997 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Issues/Program lists 1997-1998 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Political records (advertising) 1996 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Letters from the public 1995-1998 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Time brokerage undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Miscellaneous 1997 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7-8 | Federal Communications Commission borrowers security agreement 1997 | |||||||||