| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Cleveland (limited) |
| Frequency | 1560kHz |
| Branding | Sports Radio 1560 WATJ |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Music Express Broadcasting Corporation of Northeast Ohio |
| WKKY | |
| History | |
First air date | June 16, 1962 (62 years ago) (1962-06-16) |
Last air date | October 1, 2004 (20 years ago) (2004-10-01) |
Former call signs |
|
Call sign meaning | "Warren and Ted Jones" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 20337 |
| Class | D |
| Power | 1,000 watts (daytime only) |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°34′3.00″N81°11′33.00″W / 41.5675000°N 81.1925000°W /41.5675000; -81.1925000 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
WATJ was a commercialdaytime-onlyradio station licensed toChardon, Ohio, at 1560AM, and served parts ofGreater Cleveland. The station broadcast from 1962 to 2004, ceasing operations when the owners voluntarily turned theirlicense back to theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) for cancellation.
What ended up becoming WATJ first went on the air on June 16, 1962, as WGLD, a mere 500-watt daytimer.[2] WGLD fell silent around 1965. Al Kipp, who was the general manager ofWELW in Willoughby at the time, was hired by a new group to put the station back on the air. They built studios and a four-towerdirectional array on Aquilla Road east of Route 44 in Chardon, boosting power to 1,000 watts with a very tight directional pattern, the largest lobe of the signal beamed up into populous Lake County.
At one time, WBKC even had a satellite studio at the Great Lakes Mall. Al Kipp did much of the field engineering work for the construction permit. The call letters WBKC stood for this: the B was forOliver Bolton, CongresswomanFrances Bolton's son, and one of the owners. The K stood for Albert King, owner of the Chardon-based King Trucking Company, another owner. The C stood for Chardon.
This group owned the station, with Al Kipp as GM, until it was sold to Dale Broadcasting, headed by Painesville businessman Donald L. Smith, for $264,000 in January 1980.[3] Clarence Bucaro ofWERE (1300 AM), who had been a salesman at WBKC in the mid-1970s, became the general manager.
In late November 1985, Dale Broadcasting purchased Painesville station WQLS for $750,000,[4] while concurrently selling off WBKC to Kendee Broadcasting for $350,000.[5] The call letters for WQLS were changed toWBKC (1460 AM) on March 3, 1986, with WBKC taking the call sign WCDN, for Chardon. Kendee Broadcasting eventually sold WCDN to the Music Express Broadcasting Corp., headed by Warren, Alison and Ted Jones, for $150,000 in December 1988.[6] Following the purchase, WCDN's call letters were changed to WATJ, after the principal owners.
WATJ once played abeautiful music format with ethnic programming on the weekends, but last aired asports radio format under the name "SportsRadio 1560AM," later serving as an affiliate forSporting News Radio programming.
Music Express Broadcasting shut down WATJ's operations, and turned the license back in to the FCC, on October 1, 2004.