Chapter 7. Years of Cleveland Radio: What A Ride!

As Cleveland radio approached the half century mark, a flurry of radio activity marked the new decade of the 1970s.  FM stereo had been established years before, but two stations on that band joined to show what surround-sound four track stereo would sound like.  WCLV had been airing classical programming for a number of years and joined with WGAR’s FM outlet to announce it would air a Cleveland Orchestra concert under the baton of conductor George Szell from Boston’s famed Symphony Hall.  WCLV’s general manager C.K. Patrick stated, “the necessary equipment is being added at WGAR-FM to make it a permanent stereo operation” adding “We are extremely grateful to its management for the co-operation with us in this venture”.  Boston was chosen because it already had the special facilities required, though the Cleveland broadcast would be the first of its time in the Midwest.  Fifty years of radio what a ride!

An interesting point about WGAR was the arrival of its new general manager, Jack Thayer, who promised he would shake things up and he lived up to his word.  He started that August and would arrive at the station promptly at 6:45 in the morning.  He answered his phone, “Jack Thayer, at your service” and made it clear he expected staff members at every level to perform at their peak.  He brought in a new program director, John Lund, and they set their sights on the morning show. Within days of Lund’s arrival, they named a new guy named Imus who would be manning the morning mic.^[1]  You’d be hearing plenty more about Don Imus.   They made an immediate change in the music as well, playing more contemporary hits and abandoning the middle of the road playlist.  As Lund put it, “We want to play records that have not been played before on WGAR”.  When pressed if the station would go to a full rock format he replied with a sneer, “We might go up-tempo Presbyterian hymns or middle-of-the-road Bach”.    How long would they continue the experiment?  Lund just answered the Plain Dealer reporter with a shrug.

WGAR’s experiment earlier in the year with four track stereo resulted in another try that summer, this time with the AM teaming with its FM outlet, now called WNCR-FM, and its progressive format for a “tri-sonic” experience.  With a combined 100-thousand watts, the combined AM & FM paired to debut music from Cleveland’s Damnation of Adam Blessing, the entire “Woodstock” soundtrack and cuts from Orson Welles’ “Begetting of the President”.^[2]  Calls poured in from across the US as the AM signal was much stronger than the FM side.  Only northeast Ohio benefited from the tri-sonic experience.  Weeks later, the WNCR staff walked off the job as their demands for contracts, management changes and autonomy for their programs fell on deaf ears.  Jack Thayer held firm and simply stated he didn’t think they would return and promised a new staff within days. The jocks responded, with Mitch Michaels stating, “We’d like the chance to prove we can blow anyone of the air in our progressive category”, with Jerry Dean adding, “After putting together an air sound that put WNCR in a strong rating position for the first time, we have been sold out!”  Chuck Lansing called it “a matter of principles” with Ginger Sinton declaring. “What we did was build up a radio station and got ripped off for it!”  Apparently, things got off on the wrong foot with the staff when Thayer introduced himself as having the “dubious distinction” of being their general manager, later saying the FM station was like “inmates running the asylum”.  They’d only been on the air with that format for a little over two months, admitted to some on air goofs, but noting they’d been the first to break a couple of national hits.  They also pointed out that the station had $100 thousand in ad sales in just ten weeks.  One of their demands?  As they told the Plain Dealer’s Jane Scott, along with more money, they wanted Thayer “off our backs”.^[3]  The staff were relieved of their duties permanently at WNCR.

Even without considering the WNCR fiasco, Thayer was getting some heavy flak from the press.  Columnist Bill Hickey wrote that October that, “What has happened to WGAR since August 10 when Jack G. Thayer took over as general manager is simply unbelievable” claiming “Had Thayer been hired and given explicit instructions to destroy the station as quickly as possible he could not have done a better job!”
Wow!^[4]

Hickey was one of the old-line hard nose writers, and he didn’t hold back charging that Thayer, removed every vestige of class from a station whose trademark was a certain sense of eliteness. In lieu of class he’s offered Clevelanders a station that absolutely reeks of cheapness and is the personification of poor taste” which he likened to a mortal sin in broadcasting.  Continuing his critique, Hickey likened the new morning man Don Imus to “a caricature of all the disc jockeys in the world rolled into one” and while granting Imus had talent, he lacked judgement in “what is funny and what is tastelessly funny”.  Calling the show “schlock radio” for lack of a more tasteful term, Hickey targeted Thayer once again for forcing out many long-time employees stating he could write pages more about what was wrong with the station, but “why beat a dead 50-thousand-watt horse?”  It was likely that every radio salesperson in town other than the folks at WGAR were xeroxing like mad and sending copies off to their clients.  But Thayer wasn’t going to ignore the charges.

Speaking to the City Club at a Sigma Delta Chi luncheon, Thayer said, “It’s hard to cut out fat and nostalgia at the same time.”   Adding to the confusion he stated, “Perhaps we should have changed our call letters when we changed our programming concepts.  We now plan to be a steppingstone station, between rock and roll on the one hand and super sweet music on the other.  With this, we hope to reach the get set, those between 18 to 34 who are getting their first job, first home, first baby.” ^[5]  That may seem a bit narrow today but remember that FM saturation was years away and AM was looking for its niche audiences.  50-thousand watts could reach a pretty large niche.

Cleveland radio got a report card that year and it wasn’t good.  It basically stated the stations put generating revenue over community needs.  The report was put together by a joint survey of the Cleveland Council of Churches and the Radio-TV Department of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, and they didn’t hold back.^[6]  In fact, they stated in the report titled, “A Time to Serve” that only a technicality stopped them from recommending out right denial of license renewals for WDBN-FM and WZAK-FM!  The report read, “We compared what the station promised to do when it applied for its license in 1967, what it actually did and the 1970 program proposals.”  They looked at how much time was spent on news, community affairs and public service and didn’t like the numbers.  The report said with very few exceptions, “Cleveland area stations lack sensitivity in attempts to ascertain the community’s needs.  With no priority for the area’s needs and problems, the majority of our broadcast outlets are now promising to continue a minimum of public service programming.”  As a final slap, it stated that Cleveland’s broadcasters were “lacking in commitment and courage to no other than enhance corporate profits”.  They urged the FCC to take a close look at WZAK and WDBN’s license renewal requests, though WZAK management replied that every one of the ethnic programs that made up its format was actually a public service and more than offered by any other station.  WDBN defended itself stating closer inspection would show “As an independent FM station, we are meeting public needs which no other station is providing in the Cleveland-Akron area.”   Interesting point.  The report stated WERE was fulfilling its public service commitment, but that was before its upcoming format change.

Bill Randle had signed yet another contract extension that would keep him at WERE until September 1971 but made it clear he had no intention of staying after that date.  His teaching career and a book he was writing were too demanding as far as his schedule was concerned.  There was already talk that Phil McLean would be his replacement with the station’s program director Bob West stating, “There are probably only a dozen fellows in the business with a voice like Phil’s”, adding “There used to a lot of announcers with deep, resonant voices.  But they faded away because they didn’t have the radio personality to go with it.  Phil does.”  McLean would soon find a radio home at WHK battling Randle in the same time slot.^[7]

In the summer of 1971, columnist Ray Hart predicted very little change on the dial after the WGAR dust up.  He assessed every station and expected the field to be “serene”.   Boy was he in for a surprise.  Changes were on the way…big time.

The ‘71 fall ratings book showed WIXY dropping to third place behind WKYC and WHK, but numbers are crunched and advertisers looked at stations appealing to certain age groups.  Even so, any drop in numbers comes to the attention of station management.  That November, the Plain Dealer’s Bill Hickey announced with glee, “There is great news on the local radio scene.  WGAR disk jockey Don Imus is leaving Cleveland”.  Hickey made no secret of his dislike for Imus who was stirring up the WGAR airwaves and even introducing a local TV movie that was cancelled over “policy differences”.  He called him the “Ding a Ling in the Morning” and said money was calling Imus to New York City’s WNBC where “he should do very well with his Toilet Talk Varieties” and suggesting Imus rechristen himself the “Gotham Garbage Mouth”. Hickey also claimed he gave the New York station Imus’ private phone number and a great reference to help him on his way.  His replacement wouldn’t be on staff until December 30th.  His name was John Lanigan, who would settle in for a long stay [ radio on both the AM and FM bands with some TV to boot.^[8]

WHK was quickly approaching its golden anniversary and feeling pretty good about itself.  The station management credited its adult programming and a solid news department for its stability.  The question remained whether kit could appeal to high-money sponsors and its sales staff had their work clearly cut out for them.  The WHK anniversary also marked a moment when Cleveland radio was about to undergo a seismic shift.

WERE had ratings, but sales were stagnant.  Bill Randle was talking to management about extending his stay and knew he held the upper hand.  He casually suggested that installing a shower in the upstairs men’s room might be an added incentive to his staying on for another contract and management happily obliged.   But no one anticipated his reaction when told about the upcoming change to a controversial format to be called “People Power”.  Randle would stay on as would Howie Lund, but plans were underway to bring in a volatile new voice from Fresno, California, named Gary Dee.  Other hosts would be hired as well, and they would be allowed to call out any issues they cared to talk about in a “scorch the earth’ policy…and Randle made it clear he wanted no part of it.  He turned in his resignation, and when news got out that he was leaving the station he put on the radio map Randle would only say, uncharacteristically, “No comment!”.  WERE’s general manager Richard McCauley would only say, “Randle is leaving of his own accord – effective immediately.  I regret his departure, but I respect his wishes in the matter”.  McCauley would be replaced within weeks by Paul Neuhoff, the station’s sales manager who knew Dee from Fresno.   More hosts were quickly added including the outspoken Reverend Farley Wheelwright, a local Unitarian minister known for taking highly controversial stands.

The new format was unveiled on Valentine’s Day, and the switchboard was flooded with complaints, so much so that rumors started flying within weeks that the station would approach Randle about returning.  He was on a skiing trip in Yugoslavia so it would be tough to get hold of him, but the station was hemorrhaging sponsors.  Ratings in the first book were a disaster, and emergency action had to be taken to save money in any possible way.  The program director, Robert Whitney, knew his neck was on the line as were some other station officials.  There was talk about getting rid of engineers with the station being run on a remote-control system and even discontinuing traffic reports that would save up to $100 thousand a year.  Nick Mileti’s Cleveland Indians would leave for his radio acquisition as soon as the FCC approved his license.  The staff was encouraged to maintain a positive and enthusiastic attitude, though clearly many were in panic mode.^[9]

The decision was made to stay the course even without Randle.  The station was drowning in red ink, Randle could draw back his old sponsors over night, but “The “Randle Memorial Shower” as it was known would never be used by its namesake.  The station started to lure back some of the departed advertisers but couldn’t call itself profitable despite ratings jumps in the coming months.  As “People Power” started to take off with programming that would be questionable even by today’s standards, WERE was still not meeting budget demands.   The sales staff simply couldn’t sell the station, and competition was fierce.  It should also be pointed out that if you have ratings and what would turn into the consistently number one show in town with Gary Dee and you still can’t generate revenue, it’s not the air talent’s fault.

After 50 years, Cleveland radio still prospered against the threat of television and changing social trends.  In just a few years FM would start its march to dominance, thanks to increased presence in cars and FM adapters, leaving a few AM stations hanging in the balance right through the mid-80s.  Stations bobbed and weaved in the fight for ratings dominance, with Gary Dee’s talk and John Lanigan’s humor keeping the AM band in play until FM saturation took over.  Radio continues and while the platforms may have changed due to podcasting and satellite usage the medium is still with us more than a hundred years after its debut.  The spirit of radio is alive and well.