WHKW (1220 AM, "The Word") is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, United States, featuring a Christian radio format. Owned by Salem Media Group, the station serves both Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. WHKW's studios are located in Independence and its transmitter is in neighboring Broadview Heights. Along with a standard analog transmission, WHKW is relayed over low-power Cleveland translator W245CY () and streamed online.
This station was launched on December 15, 1930, as WGAR, a merger of two separate radio stations that operated in a frequency timeshare—WFJC in Akron and WCSO in Springfield— and were moved to Cleveland. Under the ownership of George A. Richards' Goodwill Station group, WGAR became a core affiliate of the CBS Radio Network, the originating station for Wings Over Jordan and an early home to comedian Jack Paar. Reflecting Richards' reactionary conservative beliefs, Fr. Charles Coughlin's weekly broadcasts originated on WGAR throughout the 1930s until the outbreak of World War II. WGAR moved to its current dial position of in 1944, and increased power to 50,000 watts in 1947. Richards became embroiled in a lengthy license dispute with the Federal Communications Commission over accusations of news manipulation and bias that, while centered around his Los Angeles station, placed all of his stations at risk of license revocation. This dispute ended with Richards' death in 1951; two years later, his widow sold WGAR to Peoples Broadcasting, the forerunner to Nationwide Communications.
WGAR transitioned into a personality-driven adult contemporary format in 1970, headlined by personalities Don Imus, John Lanigan, Norm N. Nite and Chuck Collier. While among the higher-rated stations in the Cleveland market throughout the 1970s, WGAR began to falter against stiff competition, primarily on the FM dial. Lanigan left the station in 1984; later that year, WGAR flipped to satellite-delivered country music while its FM adjunct, which had a locally-programmed country format, was renamed WGAR-FM (99.5). By 1986, WGAR simulcast WGAR-FM outright. Nationwide spun off WGAR in 1990, which was renamed WKNR; with Cablevision as a backing investor and eventually the majority owner, WKNR soft launched a sports format over the course of a year. WKNR was the flagship for the Cleveland Indians from 1992 through 1997 and was co-flagship for the Cleveland Browns from 1994 until the team relocated to Baltimore. WKNR changed ownership multiple times between 1997 and 2000, and was ultimately purchased by Salem Communications. Under Salem, assumed WHK ()'s callsign and Christian format on July 3, 2001, as the result of a complex radio station/intellectual property asset swap. Since 2005, this station has been known as WHKW. From 2001 to 2019, was simulcast with WHKZ in Warren for the Youngstown market.
Prior history as WCSO and WFJC
WHKW has traditionally dated its debut to December 15, 1930, when it made its first formal broadcast as WGAR. However, WGAR's formation was the result of the consolidation of two existing stations, WCSO in Springfield, Ohio, and WFJC in Akron, Ohio, which both started in the early 1920s. (Guide to reading History Cards)
WCSO was first licensed as WNAP, on October 13, 1922, to Wittenberg College in Springfield, operating on the standard "entertainment" wavelength of . The station's call letters were changed to WCSO—for Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio—on March 6, 1925.
WFJC's first license, for 100 watts on , was issued in May 1924 under the station's original call sign, WDBK, to the M. F. Broz Furniture, Hardware & Radio Company at 13918 Union Avenue in Cleveland's Mount Pleasant neighborhood. It began broadcasting on May 15, 1924. WDBK was deleted in the fall of 1924, then relicensed the following spring, again with 100 watts, but now on . Automobile dealer W. F. Jones purchased WDBK on July 15, 1927, and was granted a permit to move WDBK, which was renamed WFJC, to Akron.
WGAR (1930–1990)
George A. Richards, Leo J. Fitzpatrick and P. M. Thomas—owners of WJR in Detroit—incorporated the WGAR Broadcasting Company to establish "Cleveland's fourth radio station". On September 6, the company filed an application with the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) for authorization to "consolidate stations WFJC and WCSO into a new station with new equipment at Cleveland Ohio", which was approved that same month. The WGAR Broadcasting Company took over ownership of WCSO on September 26, 1930, later recognized as a casualty of the Great Depression. WFJC was acquired seven days earlier, the deal was approved despite opposition from the chambers of commerce for both Akron and Cleveland, in addition to local community groups and competing Cleveland radio stations. WCSO made its final broadcast on October 11, 1930, after coverage of the Wittenberg Tigers-Washington & Jefferson Presidents football game and its license was formally deleted at the end of the month.
As construction for the new station began immediately, WFJC continued to broadcast from Akron until December 14; the December 13, 1930, Akron Beacon Journal informed its readers that WFJC would cease operations the next day at midnight, "to make way for WGAR, at Cleveland, which purchased its claim to the ether". In its fifth annual report, the FRC reported that, effective June 12, 1931, WCSO and WFJC had been consolidated "to form new station WGAR, Cleveland, Ohio". WADC eventually moved into the Beacon Journal building studios vacated by WFJC.
"The Friendly Station"
Under a separate license issued by the FRC, this combined station was named WGAR, derived from G. A. Richards; the station also now broadcast on with daytime and at night. New studios were built on the 14th floor penthouse of the Hotel Statler in Downtown Cleveland. Regular programming debuted on December 15, 1930, with local speeches beginning at 6:00 p.m. before switching to NBC Blue programming with Amos 'n' Andy at 8:00. The initial plan was to move WCSO's transmitter to the Statler but due to technical issues, the debut broadcast instead was transmitted over WHK's rented auxiliary transmitter, located at the Standard Bank Building. A Beacon Journal column the next day was critical over WGAR's signal experiencing interference on multiple channels on the frequency as the evening progressed, denoting that WHK and nighttime skywave from Buffalo's WKBW were more easily accessible.
The station's transmitter was moved from the Statler to a newly constructed facility in Cuyahoga Heights on July 20, 1931, with a Blue concert by John McCormack airing after an on-air dedication, a move that partially improved reception in Akron albeit with continued interference from some listeners. In further bids to improve WGAR's signal, power was increased to during daytime hours by December 1932, then to during the daytime and at night by 1938. WGAR and WJR were eventually joined by KMPC in Los Angeles, which Richards purchased on May 5, 1937.
The station became one of the first stations in the United States, and one of the first in Cleveland, to employ a staffed news room beginning in 1936 under the direction of Ralph Worden. Worden instituted a policy of "facts, not opinion" which prevented newscasts from having any commentary, later maintained by general manager John Patt. Originally with two reporters on staff, the news department grew to three staffers in 1943 and to four in 1945, and contracted for a news bureau in Washington, D.C. during World War II; WGAR also became one of the first radio stations to play recorded sound bites during newscasts. The station's coverage of events during World War II included multiple weekly programs—ranging from anthologies to light entertainment and dramatic fare—that encouraged patriotism, support of the war effort and bond drives. Program director David Baylor and operations manager Carl George were both dispatched to the European and Pacific theaters, respectively, filing news reports for the station.
In addition to NBC Blue programming, WGAR started to feature assorted fare from the Quality Network and its successor, the Mutual Broadcasting System. A round-robin affiliation swap with Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) affiliate WHK and independent WJAY on September 26, 1937, saw WGAR became Cleveland's new CBS affiliate; WJAY took the Mutual affiliation under new WCLE calls, while WHK took NBC Blue. Cleveland Orchestra radio broadcasts moved to WGAR on December 6, 1941, and were carried over CBS and related shortwave facilities as a sustaining program sponsored entirely by the station. WGAR and CBS's relationship with the Orchestra lasted until 1962. WGAR also originated several public affairs programs including the City Club of Cleveland's Friday Forum, which the station began carrying on October 18, 1937.
Father Coughlin
Throughout the 1930s, WGAR carried The Golden Hour of the Little Flower, hosted by Roman Catholic priest Fr. Charles Coughlin, a close friend of George A. Richards. Coughlin's career in radio preceded Richards' 1929 purchase of WJR but Richards encouraged Fr. Coughlin to eschew religious topics in favor of political commentary. CBS carried The Golden Hour in 1930 but dropped it after several affiliates objected to Coughlin's views and the network requested advance scripts of his sermons. This led Coughlin to establish a network of his own, financially backed by Richards and with WJR and WGAR as core stations. In August 1932, it boasted 25 affiliates and grew to 58 affiliates by 1938, regarded at the time as the largest independently-run radio network in the U.S.
Fr. Coughlin attained notoriety for anti-capitalist and anti-Semitic views and accusing bankers of causing the Great Depression; such rhetoric directly mirrored that of Richards, who was a reactionary conservative. Initially supporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his economic policies, Fr. Coughlin broke ranks outright to form the National Union for Social Justice (NUSJ), predicting electoral success in Ohio at a May 11, 1936, rally at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Supporting Union Party presidential candidate Rep. William Lemke, Fr. Coughlin gave the Union's convention keynote address at Municipal Stadium on August 16, 1936, but fainted near the end of his speech. Coughlin also spoke at the Townsend Convention held at Cleveland Public Hall one month earlier. The Golden Hour was briefly suspended after the NUSJ underperformed at the polls in the 1936 presidential election but revived two months later.
Rhetoric on The Golden Hour became increasingly virulent, with Coughlin expressing conspiracy theories against Jewish people and sympathizing with Nazi Germany and Italian fascism. The outbreak of World War II in Europe prompted the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to adopt a self-regulating code on October 1, 1939, prohibiting member stations from airing sponsored programs that contained editorializing or controversial subjects, written with Fr. Coughlin in mind. John F. Patt, general manager for both WJR and WGAR, assailed the NARB code as "censorship and abridgement of free speech", suggesting it could lead to "an emasculation of private enterprise in broadcasting with a solar plexus blow to freedom in this country and an invitation for further government regulation". While WJR and WGAR threatened to leave the NAB in protest, Patt disclosed that both stations had cancellation clauses in their contracts with Coughlin that could be exercised if necessary; the majority of affiliate contracts expired at the end of October, effectively ending the program.
Jack Paar