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WQAL

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For the Philadelphia radio station which identified as WQAL from 1959 to 1970, see WUMR (FM).
WQAL
Broadcast area
Frequency104.1 MHz (HD Radio)
BrandingQ104
Programming
FormatHot adult contemporary
SubchannelsHD2: Channel Q
AffiliationsWestwood One
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
April 1948 (76 years ago) (1948-04)
Former call signs
  • WJW-FM (1948–1968)
  • WCJW (1968–1971)
Call sign meaning
"Quality"[1]
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID72889
ClassB
ERP12,000 watts
HAAT293 meters (961 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
41°20′28.00″N 81°44′24.00″W / 41.3411111°N 81.7400000°W / 41.3411111; -81.7400000
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live (via Audacy)
Websitewww.audacy.com/q104

WQAL (104.1 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, featuring a hot adult contemporary format known as "Q104". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves Greater Cleveland and surrounding Northeast Ohio. WQAL's studios are located at the Halle Building in Downtown Cleveland, while the station transmitter is in the Cleveland suburb of North Royalton. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WQAL broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online via Audacy.

WQAL originated as WJW-FM in 1948, the FM extension of WJW (850 AM). Because of persistent schedule conflicts with ABC Radio programming on WJW, WJW-FM became the primary flagship station for the Cleveland Indians Radio Network during their 1948 championship season, and helped initiate early FM adoption in the Cleveland market. From 1950 until 1965, WJW-FM simulcast WJW outright, then aired taped classical music after mandates that FM stations needed unique programming. The station became WCJW in 1968 with Nashville sound-focused country music, but was sold off by Storer Broadcasting at the end of 1970 due to major financial losses incurred from Northeast Airlines. Adopting the WQAL call sign in 1971, it featured a popular beautiful music format through the 1970s and 1980s, and since 1991 has carried its present adult contemporary format and "Q104" branding.

History

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Early years

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Further information: WKNR

WQAL took to the air in April 1948 as WJW-FM, an FM adjunct to WJW (850 AM), owned by William M. O'Neil, Jr.[3] The sign-on was largely coordinated with the beginning of the 1948 season for the Cleveland Indians, as WJW agreed to become the flagship of a statewide radio network.[4] Due to WJW's contractual obligations with ABC Radio, the majority of games during the season aired solely on the FM station,[5] a problem exacerbated by the team moving the start time for games to earlier in the afternoon in the middle of ABC programming.[6] Less than 10,000 FM receivers were estimated to be in use in the region when the season began,[7] with an increase in the purchase of FM tuners attributed directly to WJW-FM carrying the games.[8] At the end of 1948, WJW-FM was named flagship of the Standard Network, a 14-station statewide service for FM stations.[9] While the schedule conflicts were resolved for WJW the following year,[10] WERE (1300 AM) took over as Indians radio flagship in 1950.[11]

From 1950 onward, WJW-FM operated as a pure simulcast of the AM station. Both WJW and WJW-FM were sold to Storer Broadcasting on October 8, 1954,[12] and moved to a combined facility with co-owned WXEL (renamed WJW-TV[13]) at Playhouse Square in 1956.[14] By March 1961, WJW and WJW-FM were operating from studios at the AM station's transmitter site in North Royalton, which also housed the FM's transmitter.[15] The AM/FM simulcast was partially broken up on November 8, 1965, with taped classical music and concert programming from International Good Music airing daily over WJW-FM after 12 p.m.;[16] the separation was made after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated FM stations could no longer fully duplicate the programming of their AM counterparts.[17]

WJW-FM was fully relaunched as WCJW on January 15, 1968, featuring a country music format dubbed "The Countrypolitan sound of Cleveland".[18] WCJW represented the first full-time country station in the Cleveland market; prior to this, the format was only heard over WSLR in Akron, Ohio, and in the late hours on ethnic station WZAK.[19] Charles Renwick, general manager for WJW and WCJW, was given full leeway by Storer to choose the new format, and selected country after investigating the "Nashville sound" through several trips to Nashville.[20] WJW personalities were heard over WCJW via voice-tracking, but by 1970, WCJW hired Al Moore as a dedicated host in afternoons and upgraded to stereo.[21] WCJW's tower was also moved to the WJW-TV tower in Parma and began 24-hour broadcasting.[20] While still largely automated, music was selected and scheduled locally by production manager Merrill Cosgrove.[22]

Beautiful music era

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In late 1970, Storer sold off WCJW and WPNA in Philadelphia to SJR Communications—the broadcast division of San Juan Racing Association—for a combined $1.4 million.[23] The sale came as Storer experienced substantial financial losses operating Northeast Airlines, and proceeded to divest themselves of all but one of their FM stations.[24] A format change was largely expected and Cosgrove told the Cleveland Press in a profile on her that she would not be retained.[22] The deal closed on May 12, 1971, and WCJW was relaunched as WQAL, featuring an automated beautiful music format.[25] SJR selected the calls to stand for "quality" and to counter negative perceptions Clevelanders had toward the city.[1] Press columnist Bill Barrett printed letters from dismayed WCJW listeners in his column, suggesting FM listeners are "... showing the same traits now as the AM audience involvement in programing [sic] and prompt a strong reaction when a favorite sound is disturbed."[26] WQAL's format was at first largely programmed by SJR's WJMD in Washington, D.C., and new studios were set up on Euclid Avenue; it also proved to be an immediate success in Cleveland Arbitron ratings, jumping from 20th place overall to 11th place.[27]

WQAL had no air talent from their launch until March 19, 1973, when "Tall Ted" Hallaman debuted in morning drive; Hallaman's arrival was the latest in a series of popular personalities on the AM dial that moved to FM.[28] Al James, formerly with WWWE and WHK, joined WQAL in early 1975 for afternoons and later said of his switch to FM, "looking back, I'm really happy I made the move—but I admit I gave it a lot of thought before doing it".[29] James "Jay Lynn" Threatt joined the station three months after it launched to operate the automation system; by 1974, Lynn was the overnight host,[30] a role he kept until retiring in 2002.[31] The additions of personalities helped further WQAL's ratings growth: in multiple Arbitron surveys through the 1970s, it was top-ranked among adults 18 and older, and the April-May 1978 Arbitron showed WQAL listeners tuned into the station for 12 hours and 24 minutes every week.[1][30] Ed Fisher, long the morning-drive host at WJW, joined WQAL in 1979 in the same capacity.[32]

SJR merged most of their broadcasting assets, including WQAL, to Gulf United Broadcasting in 1981; Gulf would later spin off WQAL to WIN Communications, a locally-run company, in October 1984 for $4.8 million.[33]

WQAL's format throughout the 1970s and 1980s was beautiful music as "Easy 104 WQAL" with some of Cleveland radio's best-known personalities; Kevin Coan did news reports and co-hosted early mornings with Larry Morrow;[34] Chris "Daniels" Eicher hosted middays, while Margo Johnson hosted evenings.

WQAL was the last station in Cleveland to feature beautiful music after WDOK switched to soft AC in 1987;[35] even in 1984, industry analysts regarded Cleveland as unusually receptive to beautiful music as other large markets only had one station remaining in the format.[36] WQAL updated their playlist in early 1989 with a larger amount of vocals, but its ratings declined by 2.8 percent between the winter and summer 1989 books.[37]

Move to adult contemporary

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Facing both declining ratings and an increasing amount of advertisers unwilling to associate with the format, WQAL abruptly switched to soft AC on March 31, 1990. Morrow addressed the change on-air by saying, "you told us you wanted the originals rather than the instrumentals".[38] Renamed "Soft Hits 104.1", WQAL registered a service mark for the brand and filed a cease and desist against WDOK from using "soft hits" in their station promos and advertising.[39] WDOK, which branded as "soft favorites", countersued WQAL in Ohio Common Pleas court,[40] prompting WQAL to quietly rebrand as "Great Hits 104.1". After prevailing in court, WDOK hosted an internal "guess the WQAL slogan contest" among advertising agencies, where the winner would receive $1,002 in cash.[41] Plain Dealer critic David Sowd called the "pillow fight" litigation between the two stations "... a reflection of how wimpy and bland Cleveland radio has become".[40]

When we were easy listening, much of our presentation was more traditional - a radio version of The Wall Street Journal, if you will. Now we've evolved to more of a USA Today: we're more interesting and exciting and easily digestible.

Dave Erwin, WQAL program director[42]

WQAL's soft AC switch largely flopped as both it and WDOK saw audience declines in the spring 1990 Arbitron ratings, but contemporary-focused WLTF became top-ranked in the market.[43] Industry veteran Dave Ervin was hired as program director in December 1990; within five weeks, all softer-sounding songs were removed from the playlist and the station was relaunched as "Q104", with WLTF now as their main competition.[44] Ervin considered his arrival to be "the final stage" of WQAL's "evolution" from the beautiful music era[42] to hot AC.[45] Larry Morrow and Jay Lynn were retained in their respective morning and overnight timeslots and were joined with Sally Spitz as Morrow's co-host, Johnny Williams for middays, Dan Deely for afternoons and Jon Russell for evenings.[46] Morrow was called "a gold mine" by Ervin for his tenure in the market and ties to the community,[45] and marketed the station around him; while still successful in mornings, Morrow expressed frustration over having stiff competition from John Lanigan at WMJI and Howard Stern at WNCX.[47]

WIN Communications Inc. sold off WQAL to Chancellor Media in January 1999, joining WDOK, WJMO (1490 AM), WRMR (850 AM), WZAK and WZJM under the Chancellor umbrella via simultaneous buyouts for $275 million;[48] it was, at the time, the largest radio station sale in Cleveland broadcasting history. On July 13, 1999, Chancellor Media merged with Capstar Broadcasting – which owned WKNR (1220 AM) – to form AMFM Inc., at that time the nation's largest radio-station owner with 465 stations. When AMFM, Inc. merged with Clear Channel Communications in August 2000, Clear Channel was forced to sell off WQAL along with the other Cleveland AMFM properties to comply with market ownership restrictions. WZJM, WDOK and WQAL were sold to Infinity Broadcasting, which later became CBS Radio.

WQAL moved to new studios at One Radio Lane, paired with WDOK, in December 2001. Current WQAL program director Dave Popovich held like duties at WDOK from 1999 to 2000 – and also worked at then-"Lite Rock 106½" WLTF, whose studios were at One Radio Lane in the late 1980s. In recent years, WQAL has been leaning more Top 40 in order to attract some of the younger 18- to 25-year-old audience.

On November 13, 2012, WQAL moved from its longtime studio home at One Radio Lane, off East Saint Clair Avenue in Downtown Cleveland, to the Halle Building on Euclid Avenue, also downtown. Sister station WDOK joined WQAL in the move; as a result, all four Cleveland CBS Radio stations are now located in the same building.[49]

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom.[50] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.[51][52]

Current programming

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WQAL personalities include Bill Ryan and Alyssa Rose in mornings,[53][54] along with Jenny Lyte, Kelly McMann[55] and Chase Daniels.[56] WQAL's HD2 digital subchannel carries the Channel Q network.[57][58]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Hart, Raymond P. (July 23, 1978). "Easy listening WQAL sound is rated No. 1". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 3:TV Closeup. Retrieved February 23, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WQAL". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ "Directory of FM Broadcasting Stations in the United States: Ohio". Broadcasting-Telecasting 1949 Yearbook (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 1949. pp. 310, 312.
  4. ^ Schlemmer, Jim (February 25, 1948). "Indians' Broadcast Set". The Akron Beacon Journal. p. 21. Retrieved September 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Stephan, Robert S. (May 14, 1948). "Fans Still Fume on Phones as Games Stay Off AM Air". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 28. Retrieved February 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Offineer, Bee (April 21, 1948). "Baseball Fans Do Slow Burn". The Akron Beacon Journal. p. 28. Retrieved September 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Offineer, Bee (May 16, 1948). "Baseball Fans Lose Patience". The Akron Beacon Journal. p. 14A. Retrieved September 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Stephan, Robert S. (May 19, 1948). "Jack Benny's Capable Cast to Be With Him Again in Fall". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 18. Retrieved February 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Standard Net Begins Origination at WJW". The Billboard. December 4, 1948. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  10. ^ Offineer, Bee (February 28, 1949). "Speculate On Godfrey Rivals". The Akron Beacon Journal. p. 9. Retrieved October 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "WERE, WEWS Will Carry Indians Games". The Akron Beacon Journal. January 13, 1950. p. 1. Retrieved October 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ O'Connell, Tom (October 8, 1954). "Storer Broadcasting Co. Buys WJW for Reported $330,000". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 21. Archived from the original on May 16, 2024. Retrieved May 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ O'Connell, Tom (April 1, 1956). "WGAR to Introduce Five Political Shows". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 6E. Archived from the original on May 17, 2024. Retrieved May 17, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "WXEL Plans to Revamp: Remodeling to Include For New Sister WJW". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. January 2, 1955. p. 10. Archived from the original on May 16, 2024. Retrieved May 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "History Cards for WJW-FM/WCJW/WQAL". Federal Communications Commission.
  16. ^ Peters, Harriet (November 6, 1965). "WJW-FM to Begin Separate Programs". The Cleveland Press. p. 46. Retrieved February 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Peters, Harriet (July 13, 1965). "WJW-FM to Play Classical Music Only in Bowing to FCC Order". The Cleveland Press. p. B10. Retrieved February 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Program notes: Country sound". Broadcasting. Vol. 74, no. 6. February 5, 1968. p. 55.
  19. ^ Peters, Harriet (January 3, 1968). "First All Country-Western Station Opens Here Jan. 15". The Cleveland Press. p. B14. Retrieved February 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ a b Hart, Raymond P. (January 19, 1969). "On WCJW-FM: Country Music Has Built-In Audience". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 6G. Retrieved February 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Hart, Raymond P. (January 26, 1970). "WCJW-FM Adding Personal Touch With Its First 'Live" DJ". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. B2. Retrieved February 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ a b Peters, Harriet (November 16, 1970). "There's a feminine hand behind that FM country-western sound". The Cleveland Press. p. C14. Retrieved February 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Storer FM holdings down to one". Broadcasting. Vol. 80, no. 17. April 26, 1971. p. 56. ProQuest 1016870446.
  24. ^ Wellman, John Floyd (1973). Storer Broadcasting Company--Its History, Organization, and Operation (PhD thesis). Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University of Michigan. pp. 49–52. ProQuest 302651830.
  25. ^ "For the Record: Call Letter Actions" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 24, 1971. p. 74. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  26. ^ Barrett, Bill (May 26, 1971). "Country music fans are upset as station drops their sound". The Cleveland Press. p. C15. Retrieved February 23, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ Hart, Raymond P. (February 13, 1972). "Good Pops Music Scores: Neophyte WQAL-FM Is Making Its Mark". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 8G. Retrieved February 23, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ Hart, Raymond P. (March 13, 1973). "On-Air 'Refinements' Scheduled at WQAL". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 7B. Retrieved February 23, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ Hart, Raymond P. (July 30, 1975). "Al James and WQAL-FM make for a contented match". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 8E. Retrieved February 23, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ a b Peters, Harriet (July 11, 1975). "Dee Jay Lynn is soft on QAL". The Cleveland Press. p. 13:Showtime. Retrieved February 23, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ O'Connor, Clint (October 19, 2002). "Q-104's Lynn says goodbye to night shift after 31 years in radio". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. E9. Retrieved February 23, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ^ Hart, Raymond P. (July 29, 1979). "Ed Fisher is hitched to a new vehicle". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. pp. 17–18:Five. Retrieved February 23, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. ^ "For the Record: Ownership Changes" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 3, 1984. pp. 126–127. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  34. ^ Morrow, Larry (2010). This Is Larry Morrow. Cleveland, Ohio: Gray & Co. ISBN 9781598510690.
  35. ^ Sowd, David (April 29, 1988). "WQAL gaining easy listeners". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. pp. 27, 40:Friday!. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  36. ^ Frolik, Joe (April 26, 1984). "WMMS, WDOK, WQAL out front, but hold on". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 11E. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. ^ Sowd, David (July 21, 1989). "TV is WNCX's ratings boost". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 22:Friday!. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ^ Sowd, David (April 3, 1990). "Elevator music given ride right out of WQAL-FM". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 14B. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  39. ^ "WQAL out of elevator and jousting". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. April 10, 1990. p. 14B. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. ^ a b Sowd, David (April 22, 1990). "Airwave wars more like a pillow fight". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. pp. 1H, 8H. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ^ Dyer, Bob (May 6, 1990). "Sports talker does the best with the juice he's got". The Akron Beacon Journal. p. C2. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  42. ^ a b Sowd, David (February 10, 1991). "Radio's New Main Men". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 1H, 6H. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  43. ^ Sowd, David (July 20, 1990). "WLTF maintains top rating". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 32:Friday!. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  44. ^ Sowd, David (January 4, 1991). "Birch ratings gain importance". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. pp. 23, 30:Friday!. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  45. ^ a b Santiago, Roberto (June 10, 1993). "WQAL director riding crest of hot adult contemporary". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 12E. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  46. ^ Stark, Phyllis (August 8, 1992). "Billboard's PD of the week: Dave Ervin, WQAL Cleveland". Billboard. Vol. 104, no. 32.
  47. ^ Santiago, Roberto (August 8, 1993). "Integrity guides Larry Morrow's life and work". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. pp. 1I, 9I. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  48. ^ "Company News; Chancellor Media to buy six Cleveland radio stations". The New York Times. August 13, 1998.
  49. ^ "New 102 Is Moving Tomorrow, Kory Remembers One Radio Lane « Cleveland's New 102". New102.cbslocal.com. November 12, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  50. ^ "CBS Radio To Merge With Entercom". RadioInsight. February 2, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  51. ^ "Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio". Entercom. November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  52. ^ Venta, Lance (November 17, 2017). "Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger". Radio Insight. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  53. ^ Venta, Lance (May 16, 2022). "Bill Ryan Joins WQAL Morning Show". RadioInsight. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
  54. ^ Venta, Lance (April 3, 2024). "Alyssa Rose Comes Home To Join Bill Ryan In Mornings At WQAL". RadioInsight. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
  55. ^ Venta, Lance (February 15, 2022). "WQAL Promotes Kelly McMann To Assistant Brand Manager". RadioInsight. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
  56. ^ Venta, Lance (March 8, 2023). "Chase Daniels Moves To Audacy Cleveland As Operations Manager". RadioInsight. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
  57. ^ "Miller To Lead Audacy's Cleveland Cluster". Radio & Television Business Report. July 10, 2024. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
  58. ^ Morales, Jennifer (October 11, 2019). "Entercom LGBTQ+ Talk Radio Network Channel Q Expands Again to Four Additional Markets" (Press release). Philadelphia: Entercom. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
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