Establishment as WDGO Douglas G. Ovaitt, Jr., half of a father-son real estate developer team from
Geauga County (father Douglas Ovaitt, Sr. was also the mayor of
South Euclid), filed paperwork with the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on February 3, 1960, to construct a radio station at , and was granted a construction permit on September 20. Ovaitt originally considered building an AM station in
Chardon, Ohio, but began pursuing an FM station after realizing the signal limitations of an AM facility. Named after both father and son, WDGO's transmitter and studios were co-located at Eastgate Shopping Center in
Mayfield Heights, where Ovaitt constructed several storefronts. The frequency became available for broadcasting after
WCUY in
Cleveland Heights moved from to following a transmitter and power upgrade. WDGO took to the air on April 10, 1961, carrying a
fine art format focused on
classical music.
Plain Dealer critic Russell W. Kane lauded their intent but questioned its commercial viability, saying, "... right or wrong, they are entering an area with laws just as inexorable as those of the real jungle, laws that
The Law and Mr. Jones is finding tough to repeal or evade." The station's classical programming was supplemented by concert recordings from the International Good Music service. WDGO also featured a daily afternoon program oriented towards school-aged children. Ovaitt Sr.'s wife owned
French poodles and included one of them on station
letterhead, giving rise to the transposed misidentification of "WDOG". The Ovaitts sold WDGO to Janssen Broadcasting Company on November 17, 1961; Ovaitt, Jr. retained a minority ownership stake. Under Janssen ownership, WDGO began broadcasting in
multiplexed stereo, and identified any
monaural recordings for the benefit of listeners tuning into the station with stereo equipment. WDGO's stereo signal, however, encountered multiple weak spots due to the transmitter being in Mayfield Heights instead of a more centralized location like
Seven Hills or
North Royalton. WDGO was also the only FM station in Cleveland to broadcast classical music full-time, as other signals only programmed classical on a part-time basis.
Sale to Radio Seaway, change to WCLV WDGO was sold for the second time in less than a year in August 1962 to Radio Seaway, Inc., a partnership headed by the station's sales manager Cecil K. "Pat" Patrick, and Robert Conrad, program director and co-founder of
Detroit classical station
WDTM. Patrick considered buying the station but had no experience in programming, and was introduced to Conrad from his network of contacts. Approved on October 18, 1962, the sale price was misidentified as $38,000, which Patrick corrected to $80,000. Intending to create a new image for the station, Patrick and Conrad requested new WCLV calls; as Conrad told the
Plain Dealer, "... some of the announcers have trouble saying WDGO, and some of our listeners address us as WDOG, and even WGOD." Patrick and Conrad chose WCLV after realizing no other station in Cleveland was named after the city, and were inspired by
WNYC in
New York City,
WDET-FM in Detroit and
WBUF in
Buffalo, New York. The WCLV calls took effect on November 1, 1962; programming on that day included a Unity Center meditation,
Broadway show tunes,
folk music, and a recording of
Romeo and Juliet starring
Claire Bloom and
Albert Finney. Patrick and Conrad promised to maintain the existing classical format, along with adding more live programming and linking with New York station
WQXR-FM. The station operated at a loss financially for the first four years under Patrick and Conrad, with both earning less money than the other staff, and operated with frugality. WCLV launched their signature program,
Symphony at Seven, on October 5, 1964, with
Cleveland Trust as the title sponsor; Cleveland Trust's sponsorship was the largest such contract in the station's history to that point and it, along with the program, continues to this day through successor banks Ameritrust, Society Bank and
KeyBank.
Heinen's became the title sponsor of
Morning at the Pops on February 4, 1965, and eventually the title sponsor for the evening
Concert Hall, the latter airing nightly over WCLV and its successor station through 2003. The
Cleveland Catholic Diocese leased a WCLV
SCA subchannel beginning in 1965 to offer in-school instructional programming. Commercials with
jingles were generally rejected as they did not fit the image of the station.
A classical music mainstay from 1968 until 1986. Conrad and Patrick welcomed competition from other FM stations that carried classical music, believing it would improve all the stations and provide additional listenership, and successfully persuaded NBC to retain the format over
KYW-FM when they retook ownership of the station as WKYC-FM. This coincided with an overall move of classical from AM to FM; while two other FM stations still had classical by 1967, only WCLV featured live programming. WCLV added
Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts in 1969 after
WGAR dropped it, becoming the first FM-only affiliate in the Opera's network of AM stations. The Opera broadcasts were mono-only until 1973, when the network began offering them in stereo; the Opera continues to be heard over WCLV's successor station into the present day. The
City Club of Cleveland's
Friday Forum moved to WCLV on October 9, 1970, after WGAR also dropped it. The
Friday Forum originated over WCLV and its successor station until 2008, when it moved to
WCPN. The station's reception issues worsened in the mid-1960s, when
WLDM in Detroit (which also broadcast at ) underwent a power increase. WCLV's transmitter was thus moved to downtown Cleveland's
Terminal Tower in 1968, with the antenna mounted on the tower's
flagpole; new studios were constructed in the tower's fifteenth floor. Patrick estimated the new transmitter would add up to 300,000 potential listeners and improve reception both in downtown and to the west of Cleveland. WCLV's transmitter height increased from at Eastgate to at the Tower, but it came with a reduction in transmitter power output to 8.9 kW, and 21.9 kW vertical
effective radiated power, in order to protect WLDM. WCLV was among the first FM stations in the market to broadcast continuously through the overnight hours. The Friday overnight slot took a much different tone with booth announcer
Martin Perlich. A graduate of
Columbia University and
University of Chicago and a student at
Juilliard School, Perlich debuted
The Perlich Project in late 1966, a mixture of classical with
progressive rock selections along with interviews, personal comments and editorials on events of the day.
The Perlich Project was one of the earliest such shows on commercial radio in Cleveland, as similar shows debuted over ethnic station
WZAK and
Top 40 station
WIXY, both in the overnight hours. Perlich also hosted
Audition Booth, devoted to newer classical recordings, operated local music store chain Discount Records and once conducted interviews with Orchestra director
George Szell and
Pink Floyd in the same hour. Perlich was dismissed from WCLV in October 1970 after growing
facial hair that ran counter to the Orchestra's public image, and subsequently joined
WNCR. WCLV started recording performances by the
Cleveland Orchestra in 1963, and began airing the Orchestra's 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon concerts on November 1, 1965, both live and
live to tape with Conrad as host and commentator. This followed similar moves made by the
Philadelphia Orchestra and the
Boston Symphony Orchestra. This marked a return to live radio for the Orchestra as WGAR originated broadcasts for
CBS Radio from 1941 to 1962. WCLV invested heavily in recording equipment at
Severance Hall, owing to the demands of then-director Szell. Prior to the first broadcast, Conrad and Perlich co-anchored live coverage of the Orchestra's return to Cleveland from a tour in Europe and the
Soviet Union. The Orchestra immediately boasted affiliates in the United States and Canada, and on both commercial and
non-commercial educational stations; revenue generated from the tape rentals went to the Orchestra's
pension fund. Patrick led the drive to acquire the Orchestra, later saying, "I wanted people in the street to hear it. I thought I'd be doing something great for the arts. I never thought of syndication, but it exploded." Conrad remained as lead commentator for the Orchestra broadcasts through the late 2010s, a record in American radio. Seaway Productions was established in 1981, with Dennis Miller—a former manager at
WKSU-FM in
Kent—hired as syndication vice president. Along with the Orchestra, WCLV syndicated broadcasts of the
Detroit Symphony, the
Royal Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the
Rotterdam Philharmonic and the
San Francisco Symphony, along with the
Friday Forum. A satellite network for program distribution was set up in conjunction with
WFMT in Chicago; Seaway Productions had four syndication clients by 1981, which grew to 17 by 1992 and distributed programs to 550 stations by 1995. WCLV also began producing and syndicating
Adventures in Good Music, which
Karl Haas created for
WJR in Detroit, on March 22, 1970. It was, at its peak, one of the most-listened-to classical music programs in the world. While Haas still considered WJR his flagship station as late as 1977, the program was largely recorded at
Carnegie Hall and WCLV received all fan mail. Haas continued producing new episodes of
Adventures in Good Music until his retirement in 2002, while reruns continued airing until 2007, two years after his death. WKSU-FM, which carried a mix of National Public Radio (
NPR), classical, and
jazz, upgraded their signal to reach Cleveland to take advantage of a public radio vacancy in the market. A feud between Conrad and WKSU general manager John Perry emerged in 1982; Conrad claimed a verbal agreement existed to provide WCLV with NPR programming including
a radio adaptation of the first Star Wars film trilogy (which commercial stations could do due to an NPR rule change) but was rescinded, Perry claimed no agreement was made and the NPR board rejected Conrad's request. in response, Conrad pulled from WKSU the
Chicago Symphony, the
Milwaukee Symphony and
New York Philharmonic, threatened to pull the Metropolitan Opera, and WCLV aired promos promoting their commercial status. WCLV also threatened to deny WKSU further broadcast rights to the Cleveland Orchestra. Don Robertson of the
Cleveland Press criticized WCLV for both the feud with WKSU and their loosening of standards for advertising, considering the commercials "fatuous junk" and "so bad, they're unreal". The dispute was largely settled at the end of 1982, with WKSU being allowed to continue airing the Cleveland Orchestra broadcasts, but on Saturday mornings. Conrad enacted a rule forbidding the playing of recordings with
sopranos until 9 a.m. daily; the "Conrad No Soprano Until 9 Rule" persisted into the early 2010s. Another policy forbade recordings from recent composers during drive time hours out of concern they would alienate the audience. Composer
Donald Erb took offense to this and to a remark by Conrad that modern composers are "speaking
Swahili", prompting Erb to distribute
bumper stickers reading "" (WCLV is Boring). After moving to Dallas to lead the
American Music Center, Erb denounced Conrad for "pompous contentiousness" in a newsletter editorial, while Conrad said in reply, "we are probably the only radio station in Ohio that plays Erb's music". The station collaborated with the Cleveland Composer Guild in 1998 for
Not The Dead White Male Composers Hour, showcasing music from active area composers; the humorous title was a direct nod to ''
Not the Nine O'Clock News'' while also reflecting Conrad's sensibilities. WCLV became the first radio station in the region to utilize
compact discs for recordings in mid-1983, followed by
WMMS and WKSU. The station's studios were moved again to
Warrensville Heights on September 30, 1986, in a $2 million investment. This originally included unveiling a new tower and power increase expected to improve reception to the west, east and south of Cleveland, particularly in the Akron area, but technical issues delayed the transmitter move until later in 1987. WCLV's tower, which also housed the mast for in Cleveland Heights, was also opened up to rentals for other broadcasters; by 1992, up to 60 different antenna were mounted onto the tower, creating an additional revenue stream for Radio Seaway. In September 1995, WCLV won the
National Association of Broadcasters'
Marconi Award for Classical Music Station of the Year, followed days later by the
Gabriel Award for radio station of the year. During the
Cleveland Browns relocation controversy, WCLV aired promos boasting they were "the radio home of the team that wins every time it plays, and will not move to Baltimore: the Cleveland Orchestra". Tying to the start of the
1996 Cleveland Indians season, WCLV featured a
Bach and Baseball marathon, combining works from Bach with classic baseball recordings and highlights.
Cleveland Orchestra fundraiser marathons In 1970, WCLV began an annual on-air fundraiser for the Cleveland Orchestra, pre-empting regular programming for one weekend in favor of requested Orchestra recordings. The first marathon raised over $30,000 in a 54-hour span. Prior to this, any outstanding debt from the Orchestra was covered by board members who would draw names from a hat, and the board approached WCLV to consider an alternative. WCLV was no stranger to such marathons: it devoted much of October 1970 to air recordings from George Szell after his death, and aired a 17-day marathon of recordings from
Lorin Maazel after he became Orchestra conductor in 1971. Guest conductors and musicians during the marathons have ranged from
Mitch Miller to
Bobby McFerrin. The Orchestra fundraiser marathon quickly became a WCLV fixture and inspired similar fundraisers elsewhere, in particular
WCRB's efforts for the Boston Symphony. By 1973, the Orchestra fundraisers were moved from the WCLV studios to
Westgate Mall and
Severance Center. Within the first 25 years of the fundraiser marathon's existence, WCLV raised up to $3.7 million total for the Orchestra. Conrad told the
Plain Dealer in 1971, "the Orchestra is to WCLV what the
Browns are to [then-radio flagship]
WHK".
WCLV Saturday Night On Saturday night, WCLV presented an eclectic program of
folk,
novelty music and comedy—primarily
British comedy—titled
WCLV Saturday Night, hosted by Conrad; it debuted on WDGO four weeks prior to the change to WCLV. The program typically aired live on Saturdays and rebroadcast on Wednesdays as
WCLV Saturday Night on Wednesday Afternoon, but the inverse occurred whenever Conrad emceed Saturday night Orchestra concerts at
Blossom Music Center, a practice that continued for nearly 25 years. Area jewelry store chain owner Larry Robinson (who later became a radio station owner), served as the program's title sponsor in 1965. The show was credited for being the first on American radio to play recordings from
Monty Python,
The Goon Show and
P. D. Q. Bach, and was described as an "evangelistic lifeline for younger listeners" by the
Akron Beacon Journal and "has to be heard to be appreciated" by the
Plain Dealer.
WCLV Saturday Night spawned an hourlong syndicated version in 1982 titled
Weekend Radio. By 1990, Conrad retired the local program in favor of the hourlong show, later telling the
Plain Dealer, "my wife grew tired of being a Saturday night widow".
Airstaff continuity and stability From their relaunch as WCLV, the station boasted an airstaff that had significant stability. Tony Bianchi befriended Conrad when the two worked together in Detroit and was present for Conrad and Patrick signing the paperwork purchasing WDGO in 1962, but was
drafted the next day. Conrad's invitation to Bianchi was open-ended and he debuted on Labor Day 1964. Bianchi's shift was dubbed
Gassenhauer in 1972 after the
musical piece of the same name and represented the first major attempt for on-air talent to show personality, which proved a ratings success. Albert Petrak, who previously programmed KYW-FM/WKYC-FM, became WCLV's morning host in 1973, credited for increasing the station's visibility in mornings and known for his daily "up, up, up" exhortation to listeners. Petrak left briefly in 1977 for a managerial role at
WQED-FM, but returned in six months. John Simna, who also joined WCLV in 1973, took over as music director from Petrak in 1977, a role he continues to hold. Simna also took over the weekend program
Jazz comes to WCLV in 1978 from original host Christopher Colombi. Wayne Mack, an announcer in Cleveland radio since 1931, joined WCLV in 1981; initially hosting the late-evening program, he later helmed
Noontime throughout the 1990s. Mack also produced a perennial series of
big band concert recreations—a concept he originated while at WDOK AM-
FM and carried over to WCLV—filled with
sound effects and detailed descriptions of the imaginary locations and guests, often fooling listeners into believing the concerts were real. The
Presss Don Robertson equated Mack's stature to that of
Walter Cronkite, saying, "his voice is instantly recognizable; it has a calm and a benevolence that is positively buttery, its professionalism is wondrous to hear". The station hired veteran newsman Hugh Danaceau in November 1980 to be their first news anchor; Danaceau continued in this position until his death in 2003. WCLV's unusual level of continuity among their airstaff resulted in Danaceau being described as "one of the newest hires" in 2000, nineteen years after his debut. In 1976, soloist
A. Grace Lee Mims approached Conrad about hosting a show on WCLV devoted to contributions to fine arts, classical music and jazz made by African Americans, feeling it would accentuate the station's ethnic programming.
Black Arts debuted over WCLV on May 8, 1976. Conrad offered her the show under the condition she hosted it for at least six months. Mims also hosted the daily interview program
Arts Log from 1980 to 2010. She continued to write, produce and host
Black Arts over WCLV and its successor station for 43 years until her death in 2019. Rebecca Fischer joined WCLV in November 1979 as the station's first female announcer, moving to Cleveland from
Kansas City after meeting Conrad at a fundraiser marathon there. Aside from a brief ten-month stint in Europe, Fisher became a fixture at the station and took over as morning host in 1989 following Petrak's retirement, initiating their first major schedule change in 12 years. Owing to family commitments, Fischer left the station in March 2000, prompting a nationwide search for her replacement. Jacqueline Gerber succeeded Fischer as
First Program host in April 2001, a role she continues to hold. Gerber's arrival coincided with Tony Bianchi's retirement, concluding for him a 37-year run at WCLV. Mack retired from WCLV in 1998, but taped reruns of past shows continued until his death on October 15, 2000, at age 89. Bill O'Connell was named program director in early 1998, the second in its history and succeeding Conrad; under O'Connell, the station instituted the five-hour
Monday Music Marathon, eschewing all commercials and most on-air announcements aside from the noon
BBC World Service bulletin. The change ran contrary to other large-market classical stations that emphasized shorter pieces in the daytime. By 2001, O'Connell became the afternoon drive host, succeeding Bianchi.
Industry consolidation challenges Rapid consolidation in radio ownership took place throughout 1998 in Cleveland, punctuated by one transaction where three local operators collectively sold six stations to
Chancellor Broadcasting for a combined $275 million. WCLV thus became the lone remaining commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland that was still locally owned. As Conrad told the
Plain Dealer, "the glory days for radio in this town are over". The station poked fun of their new distinction with print advertising that read, "when it's raining on the North Coast, only one Cleveland FM radio station owner actually gets wet." In 1989, 41 commercial radio stations in the United States carried a classical format. By 2000, the number dropped to 33, and followed high-profile format switches by commercial classical stations in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit, in addition to a threatened switch in Miami. Conrad told the
Miami Herald "tens of millions" were offered by various groups for WCLV, but declined every time "... because WCLV is not a commodity, but a community service for the Cleveland Orchestra, the
opera and
ballet. It also has longtime employees who'd have difficulty getting jobs in any other kind of radio. So why sell it? We make a very good living." Conrad said in 1997 that while the station could generate more revenue with a more commercially accessible format, "we choose to be a classical music station ... it is a matter of our corporate will." == The 2001 "frequency swap" ==