WJMO (1300 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Cleveland, Ohio, and featuring an urban gospel format known as "Praise 94.5". Owned by Radio One, the station covers Greater Cleveland. In addition to a standard analog transmission, the station is simulcast over low-power FM translator W233CG (94.5 FM) and the HD digital subchannel of co-owned WENZ, and streams online. WJMO's studios are located along the Euclid Avenue Corridor in Cleveland's east side, while the station transmitter resides in the Cleveland suburb of Parma.
History
WERE (1300 AM)
Early years
WJMO began as WERE on July 6, 1949, broadcasting as 1300 kHz; unlike most AM stations of the time, WERE actually went on the air a year after its FM sister station, WERE-FM at 98.5 MHz. Both stations were founded by former Cleveland mayor Ray T. Miller under the name Cleveland Broadcasting Incorporated. After the FM station’s launch, WERE-FM would primarily simulcast the programming of its more popular AM sister station.
During the 1950s, WERE was the first popular Top 40 station in the market, spearheaded by now-legendary personalities like Bill Randle, "Captain" Carl Reese, Phil McLean, Ronnie Barrett, Howie Lund and Bob Forster. Randle was the most influential of the group, as he was the first major-market disk jockey in the Northeast United States to play Elvis Presley, and bolstered the careers of a number of young musicians, including The Four Lads, Bobby Darin, and Fats Domino. Future NBC announcer and voice-over artist Danny Dark also was a host on WERE in the early 1960s.
In the 1960s, the station was a middle-of-the-road radio station with personalities that included sportscaster Bob Neal in morning drive, the team of Jeff Baxter and Jack Riley (who would later achieve fame as Eliot Carlin on The Bob Newhart Show) in afternoon drive, and Bill Gordon with a nightly talk show from his apartment on East 30th Street; Gordon's show was known as "Apartment 13," for the station's 1300 kHz signal.
Cleveland Broadcasting Incorporated would later add stations to their holdings, first purchasing WLEC and WLEC-FM in Sandusky in 1960; then KFAC (1330 AM) and KFAC (92.3 FM) in Los Angeles in 1962. WERE had also obtained a construction permit in the mid-1950s for WERE-TV on channel 65; however, due to the obscurity of the UHF dial at the time, the television station never made it on the air.
After Ray T. Miller's death in 1966, Cleveland Broadcasting Incorporated was acquired by Atlantic States Industries (ASI) for a combined $9 million in May 1968. Due to ASI already owning five AM stations and one FM station, and because of an interim policy/proposed rule by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that prohibited the purchase of an AM and FM station in the same market—the "one-to-a-customer" policy—the FCC ordered the divestiture of WERE-FM, along with WLEC and WLEC-FM, to a third party. WLEC and WLEC-FM were divested to RadiOhio that December, and WERE-FM was sold to L. E. Chenault (of Drake-Chenault Enterprises) concurrently; both deals fell through. WLEC AM/FM were ultimately retained by the sellers and spun off to a limited partnership, Lake Erie Broadcasting.
KFAC and KFAC-FM in Los Angeles were given waivers to the "one-to-a-customer" policy, and the deal was approved by the commission on October 29, 1969, on the condition that WERE-FM would be sold "as soon as practicable." General Cinema Corporation acquired WERE-FM in May 1970 for $525,000, the deal was approved that July; ASI was later granted a tax break by the FCC with the sale.
WERE served as the flagship station for the Cleveland Browns twice: once from 1950 to 1951, and again from 1962 to 1967. During the Browns' second stay at the station, it was the memorable broadcast team of Gib Shanley and Jim Graner providing play-by-play and color commentary, respectively. From 1951 until 1972, WERE was the flagship station for Cleveland Indians radio broadcasts, and was the first flagship for the expansion Cleveland Cavaliers in 1970 and 1971; in addition to hosting an evening sports call-in show hosted by Pete Franklin. Both the Cavs and Indians radio rights, as well as Franklin's Sportsline program, moved from WERE to WWWE in 1972.