WWGK was a commercial daytime-only radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, United States, that broadcast on from 1947 until 2021. Last owned by Good Karma Brands, WWGK's transmitter tower was located on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland's Fairfax neighborhood.
This station signed on in 1947 as WJMO, owned by and named after drugstore owner Wentworth J. Marshall. WJMO was a daytime-only independent station with an emphasis on recorded music and local talent. By 1952, WJMO was sold to Richard Eaton, owner of several stations in Maryland and Virginia, under the "Friendly Broadcasting Company" name. In January 1959, Eaton purchased WSRS and WSRS-FM and used the AM facility as a 24-hour home for WJMO; to facilitate the purchase, and an unbuilt permit for a station at were sold to Tuschman Broadcasting Company. Tuschman relaunched as WABQ, programming primarily to a Black audience with a mixture of rhythm and blues and pop hits and an all-Black airstaff. Famed Olympic athlete Harrison Dillard became the station's sports director and later co-host of a daily talk show, Ring-A-Ding, aimed at the Black community. The FM permit signed on as WABQ-FM in 1960 simulcasting WABQ, then became ethnic-formatted WXEN in 1961. Tuschman sold off both stations to Booth Broadcasting in 1964.
Throughout the 1960s, WABQ was known as "Tigeradio" with a fast-paced Top 40 and R&B format. WABQ was granted special dispensation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate around-the-clock commercial-free for four straight days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., earning the station critical, community and industry acclaim. The station's white ownership and upper management became problematic: in January 1975, a coalition of Black advocacy groups and organizations entered the station's studios and demanded the airstaff walkout, taking WABQ off-air for several days. The walkout resulted in the hiring of Black management and a revamp of the station's format to a mix of R&B and jazz, which proved popular by the late 1970s despite the station's low power and daytime-only status.
In 1980, Booth spun off WABQ to Jack Linn; the following year, Linn moved WABQ to urban gospel with an emphasis on Christian talk and teaching, which it maintained throughout the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Linn sold the station in 2002 to Dale Edwards, a Black radio host who previously gained notoriety as a police detective and a onetime bodyguard for Mike Tyson. Good Karma Broadcasting purchased WABQ in 2006 after claiming the ESPN Radio affiliation for the Cleveland market. Despite the station's inability to broadcast at night, was relaunched in October 2006 as "ESPN Radio 1540" WWGK. Two months later, Good Karma purchased competing sports station and prior ESPN affiliate WKNR, and moved the network back there. In turn, WWGK was re-branded "KNR2" with a mixture of ESPN and Fox Sports Radio shows. Aside from a period in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic when WWGK relayed SiriusXM's "Doctor Radio" channel, the station continued to carry ESPN Radio fare as a compliment to WKNR until shutting down entirely in December 2021.
History Early years as WJMO
On January 17, 1946, Wentworth J. Marshall filed paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to construct a new radio station at , operating at 1,000 watts during the daytime hours only, with facilities at the Williamson Building in downtown Cleveland. Marshall served as president of the locally-based Marshall Drug Co. drugstore chain since 1936. Initially designated for hearing, the FCC removed the designation and granted the permit on December 26, 1946. It was the fifth radio station in Cleveland and the first new station in the city since WCLE relocated to Akron in 1945 as WHKK. By May 1947, the studios and transmitter were authorized to be at the Perry-Payne House on 2157 Euclid Avenue. Dave Baylor, formerly program director of WGAR, was hired as WJMO's general manager. The station took to the air at 4 p.m. on June 1, 1947, with a 45-minute program largely inspired by Norman Corwin's work at CBS, using the alphabet to introduce on-air talent and station policies, followed by a "schedule in miniature" previewing WJMO's lineup.
With no network affiliation, the station opted to specialize in recorded music and newscasts alongside ethnic block programming on Sundays, billing itself "Cleveland's News and Music Station". Gene Carroll, formerly one half of the "Jake and Lena" team alongside Glenn Rowell at WTAM, hosted the morning show. Carroll was a recurring presence on NBC Radio's Fibber McGee and Molly reprising his "Lena" character and took a leave of absence from that show to help launch WJMO. By August 1948, Carroll hosted shows on WJMO for 18 hours a week. WJW host Howie Lund joined WJMO to host two daily shows, Fun with Lund and Here's Howie; a white personality, Lund spoke in jive talk and was mentored by Charlie Eckstein, a Black Clevelander who learned the dialect in Harlem. Bob Evans, son of former Cleveland Indians manager Billy Evans, became the station's lead sportscaster. Paul Nakel joined the station three weeks after launching and by 1949 hosted two daily polka shows.
Lund championed jazz, particularly selections from Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Illinois Jacquet, and publicly mocked Guy Lombardo, vowing to "drop dead" if he ever played a Lombardo recording. Lund left WJMO in July 1949 and Carroll, who also began hosting a weekly show over WEWS-TV, left in October to concentrate on his talent school. By the station's two-year anniversary, WJMO employed nine disc jockeys, had eighteen regularly-scheduled programs, fourteen daily newscasts, and played an average of 190 songs a day. WJMO also carried Western Reserve College Red Cats football games in 1948 and again in 1949. In 1949, responding to an overabundance of Christmas music that "...detracts immeasurably from the sacredness of our most sacred of Christian holidays", Baylor forbade WJMO from playing such music until Christmas Eve.
On June 5, 1952, in an attempt to emphasize music over disc jockeys, Baylor issued a directive the station play four songs every 15 minutes and dismissed several on-air hosts. Baylor also sought to have the station obtain lists of the top 50 songs and play them over the course of the day; George E. Condon of The Plain Dealer wrote of both ideas, "it is a noble experiment WJMO is doing and one so obvious you wonder why many radio stations haven't done it a long time ago".
Richard Eaton ownership
Mitt Widder of the Cleveland Press reported on June 21, 1952, that WJMO was soon to be sold, and Richard Eaton—who owned stations in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.—was the rumored buyer. By July 16, the Press reported Eaton was in negotiations with Marshall to buy WJMO. Eaton's $100,000 purchase of WJMO was approved by the FCC on August 20, 1952; Broadcasting reported speculation WJMO could adopt a Black-appeal format under Eaton. Baylor resigned as general manager and was replaced by sales manager Robert DeTchon, the airstaff was reduced from nineteen to seven and Nakel was promoted to program director. Eaton placed WJMO under the "United Broadcasting Company of Ohio" name, which drew opposition from The Plain Dealer, who owned WHK through their "United Broadcasting" holding company. Eaton then renamed WJMO's licensee to "U.B.C. of Ohio" but the Plain Dealer also used the "U.B.C." acronym. By November 1952, Eaton again renamed "U.B.C. of Ohio" to "Friendly Broadcasting Company".
Shortly after Eaton took over WJMO, the station added two daily programs of spirituals hosted by Mary Holt, who also worked at WSRS; Eaton hired her after evaluating over 100 transcriptions from different applicants. It was the first sustaining program in Cleveland radio hosted by a Black personality since Wings Over Jordan a decade earlier. Holt continued to host shows over both WSRS and WJMO through the 1950s. WJMO also began airing Milwaukee Braves baseball for the 1953 season, airing all afternoon and twilight games that did not overlap with Cleveland Indians games on WERE; night games were excluded entirely. WJMO switched to carrying Brooklyn Dodgers games for the following season under the same setup, with select games from across the major leagues airing in the event of rain delays.
On February 18, 1958, Friendly Broadcasting applied to the FCC for a construction permit to build an FM station at . The FCC granted the permit on April 8, and assigned it the WJMO-FM call sign. The permit also resulted in every AM station in Cleveland now having a current or future FM adjunct. Nakel left the station in August 1958 to become general manager of WEOL in Elyria, Ohio.
Sale to Tuschman, becoming WABQ and focusing on Blacks
On December 3, 1958, Friendly Broadcasting agreed to purchase WSRS and WSRS-FM (95.3), both based in Cleveland Heights, from Sam R. Sague for $555,000. The deal came after the FCC withheld a proposed sale of WSRS to John Kluge, who then purchased controlling interest in WHK owner Metropolitan Broadcasting. Eaton retained rights to the WJMO call sign and planned to transfer it to WSRS. To complete the sale and comply with FCC regulations on duopoly ownership, Eaton sold WJMO and the FM permit to Tuschman Broadcasting Company, headed by Toledo, Ohio, steel heir Preston G. Tuschman, for $250,000. The deals were both approved on January 14, 1959; at 8:30 p.m. on January 19, WSRS changed call letters to WJMO, bringing over the former WJMO's format and retaining WSRS's ABC Radio Network affiliation. The Press regarded the swaps as a "move to WSRS's frequency, 1490" by WJMO, while The Plain Dealer said "at the same time, WSRS ceased to exist".
The changes resulted in Tuschman having a license but no call letters, no staff and no studios. When the deals were made, WJMO was to be evicted from their Euclid Avenue facilities but had a lease for future studios at 2323 Chester Avenue. Tuschman originally planned to rename the station WCLE, but after learning those calls had since been claimed by WCLE in Cleveland, Tennessee, the WABQ call sign was requested instead and granted by the FCC on January 23. Tuschman was granted permission by the FCC to remain off-air for a month, telling the Plain Dealer the station would be dark "until we're ready to roll". WSRS employees under AFTRA were in a strike when the sale took place, and none were retained by Eaton after the changeover, resulting in the union suing Eaton and Friendly. WABQ's transmitter was also moved to the Chester Avenue studios, but by October 1960 was located on Lake Court in Cleveland's St. Clair–Superior neighborhood.
Tuschman returned WABQ to the air on March 15, 1959, carrying a mixture of rhythm and blues, pop hits, and spirituals aimed at a Black audience and with Black on-air talent. Harrison Dillard, a famed standout athlete at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, was hired as sports director. The move followed research showing "inadequate coverage of Negro news and service" and Tuschman believed more money was available catering to Blacks compared to other options available for independent stations. WABQ's first dollar from the Union Grove Church hung on the wall in the station's control room. Dick Drury, a white announcer from WJW, was hired as program director and dismissed after Tuschman's plans changed. Jerry Lee Gaier, formerly with WSRS and hired alongside Drury, was demoted to off-air duties when the switch occurred; a white, Gaier later sued WABQ for violating fair employment practice law. The FM permit signed on as WABQ-FM on May 4, 1960, as a WABQ simulcast and switching to jazz after WABQ signed off at sunset. By April 2, 1961, WABQ-FM was rechristened WXEN, carrying ethnic programming full-time.