They brought pleasure to the average Clevelanders workday with segments like Token Jokes of the Morning, Spousal Arousal and Blow Something Up. Signing on in 1946 as the FM adjunct to WHK, the WMMS call letters were affixed in 1968 under Metromedia ownership, having stood for "MetroMedia Stereo" and meant as a compliment to the newly established progressive rock format, but have since taken on a variety of other meanings. Matt Harris served in the interim until WMMS hired Dick Dale (Bert Morris) from WPLA/Jacksonville. Today, she is a regular DJ on oWOW Radio on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. [152][156][157][158], Comedian Chad Zumock was a co-host until his dismissal on December 3, 2012, after being arrested for driving while intoxicated;[159] Zumock was acquitted of the charge on May 3, 2013. The show is known for its outrageous stunts and banter. The Alan Cox Show is a daily talk show on 100.7 WMMS in Cleveland hosted by Alan Cox with co-hosts Bill Squire, Mary . Needless to say, for health reasons, this contest changed the way promotions were done going forward at WMMS. Lawrence James Travagliante - aka Kid Leo. Win a Monster Zero Sugar prize pack from Circle K! The station first turned to adult contemporary, big band, the Drake-Chenault automated Hit Parade '69 and finally Top 40,. "They did a number of formats, and I was at the right place at the right time with a lot of other people. [90][92], During the now infamous broadcast, WMMS engineer William Alford snipped a broadcast wire used for the Stern show's satellite feed. Halper left Cleveland in 1975 to work at Mercury Records in New York City, then spent years working in radio as a consultant and various other capacities.
alan cox (@alancoxshow) / Twitter Warren Zevon, John Mellencamp, Lou Reed, Tim Buckley, Peter Frampton, and a host of others performed on the program over the years, recordings of which are still widely available as bootlegs. ". At the same time, the music communicates frustration and a constant longing to escape. All we can do is hope to create something cool so that in 20 years people will say, 'Man, remember what WMMS used to be like? Denny left WMMS to start another local station, but returned for a long stay at WMJI. The other DJs in the photo are, from left: Doc Nemo, Vic Boc, Martin Perlich and Pat Mack. Arriving from Boston in Cleveland in September 1976, BLF was highly opinionated. [117] BuzzardFest 2000 was held on June 30, 2000, at the Nautica Stage; Stone Temple Pilots, performing in Cleveland for the first time in six years, headlined the event.[118]. [140] The Maxwell Show gradually evolved from airing mostly music to all talk, with Maxwell joined by WMMS music director Dan Stansbury and Tiffany "Chunk" Peck, the program's phone screener. ', Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 19781984, List of programming syndicated by iHeartMedia, List of radio stations owned by iHeartMedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WMMS&oldid=1137903859, Active rock radio stations in the United States, Articles with dead external links from July 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Articles with dead external links from February 2023, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with MusicBrainz place identifiers, Articles which contain graphical timelines, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, The Cleveland Plaza/Statler Office Tower (now, This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 00:47. The station serves as the FM flagship for both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Guardians radio networks. He was also a member of "The Buzzard Morning Zoo" in the mid-1980s. "[86] From 1991 to 1993, WMMS served as the FM flagship for the Cleveland Browns, sharing coverage with then-sister WHK; the late Nev Chandler served as play-by-play announcer. Belkin Productions staged these events, attracting popular hard rock bands and as many as 88,000 fans. [114] BuzzardFest II was held the very next fall (September 1995) again at Blossom and featured performances from the Goo Goo Dolls, Alanis Morissette, Jewel, as well as the Dance Hall Crashers, Eleven, Green Apple Quick Step, Prick and Sons of Elvis. [68][69][70] WMMS also began referring to its frequency in promotions as "101 FM", a rounding-off which continued for the next decade.
iHeart Will Move Cleveland Stations Downtown - Radio World WMMS beat out large market radio stations like WNEW in New York, WMMR in Philadelphia and KROQ in Los Angeles. The change was done for many reasons: as a nod to the sudden influence Z100's format had on the Malrite group; Gorman and Sanders intention to stay with the current music trends as the album-oriented rock (AOR) format was, even then, in a state of decline; and as a means to attract a female audience. In the early '90s, she started her own DJ and karaoke company, Amalon Entertainment, with husband Frank Amato, the lead singer for Beau Coup. Win tickets to The Sonic Temple Art and Music Festival, Radio Daze: Stories from the Front in Clevelands FM Air Wars, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. [51] On July 31, 1947, W8XUB began broadcasting at 100.7MHz. WMMS does not air additional network programming. (Additional reporting by cleveland.com staff. While both Rover and Alan Cox are primarily "hot talk" programs, rock music airs during regular middays, nights, overnights, weekends and online during Cavaliers and Guardians play-by-play. Morning Show, Promotions Director KGGI. Brian Chalmers, Rock 'N' Roll Artist", "Film; Paul Schrader Plumbs Grassroots Rock", "iHeartMedia Cleveland To Move To New Facility As Company Begins Cloud Based Tech Rollout", "Downtown TV station group may move to the suburbs", "Cleveland Broadcast Radio Archives WMMS timeline", "Rock in Akron: The Music Of Greater Akron", "The Second WMMS Music Marathon Station TV Spot", "Recalling a couple of wacky radio guys", http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1994/RR-1994-11-04.pdf, http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1994/RR-1994-12-02.pdf, "Billboard/Airplay Monitor Radio Awards Bestowed", "Kevin Metheny, a.k.a. Photo: Courtesy of John Gorman), One of the young DJs legendary WMMS program director John Gorman brought to the Buzzard when he took over again as WMMS chief in the early 1990s. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Get Started Channel Hosts In Your Vehicle Streaming HOWARD STERN Howard 100 Hoda Kotb Today Show Radio Peter Mansbridge Canada Talks Sandra Bernhard Radio Andy Erin Burnett CNN Billy Idol 1st Wave Mad Dog Russo Mad Dog Sports Radio "I think it's like a young nation, the changes of the times," said John Gorman, the station's program director during its 1970s and '80s Buzzard heyday.
100.7 WMMS - Cleveland's Rock Station On May 4, 1970 four students were killed by gunfire from the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University. [133] "Chris Tyler" Merluzzo, former program director for Providence's WHJY, took over for Bo Matthews as WMMS program director on February 17, 2014. Since 1998, he's hosted "America's Workforce" a one-hour program sponsored by labor unions on WERE-AM/1490.
The short-lived music magazine featured a diverse mix of interviews, opinion pieces, album reviews, Buzzard playlists, concert listings and photos from station events. Mr. Leonard supposedly worked at the Buzzard, as the assistant public service director, but he was never able to make it into the office. (Plain Dealer file photo), A true radio renaissance man, Perlich got his start in the 1960s as host of syndicated Cleveland Orchestra radio broadcasts, interviewing everyone from Aaron Copland to Isaac Stern. wmms radio personalities. (Plain Dealer file photo). She left Cleveland to take a radio job in Florida. Most station imaging is produced out-of-market by national voice talents "David Lee" Olejniczak, Malcolm Ryker,[166] Rena-Marie Villano, and former WMMS creative services director Miles Hlivko; additional voice-over audio is produced on-site by WMMS imaging director Billy Black. After two years, Cox left The Loop to begin his own radio show. [51] Like most early FM stations, WHK-FM mostly simulcast the Top 40 programming of its AM sister station. [160], WMMS's program lineup currently features Rover's Mornings Glory in morning drive, Dan Stansbury middays, The Alan Cox Show in afternoon drive and Corey Rotic evenings. "The station, like any radio station, it really reflects the people who are running it and the ownership of the station. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. WMMS does not air additional network programming, and the station only airs select games during spring training. Thats how big MMS was. [148][146][152][153][154][155], A devoted fan of heavy metal, Cox considers himself more of a comedian than a disc jockey. Perlich moved to Los Angeles in 1972 and became a radio legend in that town, too, working at KMET and later KFAC and KCSN, where he hosted acclaimed interview shows. WHK later became WMMS) (Plain Dealer file photo), Gained fame in local radio in the 1980s as part of "Jeff and Flash's Morning Zoo" on WMMS-FM/100.7. On August 9, 1978, there was no hotter ticket in Cleveland. He also managed Grammy-winning R and B superstar Luther Vandross. People in radio say he was not an easy guy, that dealing with him was like a daily root canal. Under Malrite ownership, WMMS would become an album-oriented rock (AOR) powerhouse, much in the same vein as its former MetroMedia progressive rock siblings. Win tickets to see Adam Sandler at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Win tickets to see Weezer at Blossom Music Center, Win tickets to see Disturbed at Blossom Music Center. Radio Home of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mark Madden, and The Woody Show.
Here's what some of your favorite personalities from the past are up to now. [146] Rover is under contract with WMMS through 2022. [51] Seeing a small but significant groundswell of support for the medium in the market, WHK-FM adopted a new progressive rock format on August 15, 1968. WMMS was the first radio station to employ full-time promotion and marketing directors: Dan Garfinkel and his successor, Jim Marchyshyn. (Plain Dealer file photo). Mike had been heard on a number of Cleveland radio stations over the years, putting in 40 years ol the air. With content being supplied by journalists and WMMS personnel, it was the perfect companion to what WMMS was doing on air at the time with a focus on the new bands and artists of the alternative music era. Sanders eventually turned over the program director job to Gorman, too, and they were close partners in building the station into a powerhouse. Guest spots on WJR's Morning Show for Hollywood and Gossip Reports. [103] Despite signs of success, the stations were sold again in 1996: WMMS went to Nationwide Communications,[105] while WHK went to Salem Communications. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. The show's big following has spawned an annual summer festival, Roverfest, which has been held in Lorain for the past three years. He helped launch progressive-rock radio as a DJ and programmer at both WMMS-FM/100.7 and WNCR-FM/99.5. [122] Closing in May 1999, Clear Channel was renamed iHeartMedia in 2014. Gorman has also written a book about his days at WMMS, "The Buzzard: Inside the Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio."