Steven J Sobol wrote in message ...
Jeff Strieble wrote:
While NBC did sell WKYC-AM about 1970, the FM station, which was sold
at the same time, IIRC, did not become WMJI until 1981. Between
WKYC-FM and WMJI was WWWM-FM "M105" in the early '70s. WWWM was
operated by the same sports promoter who purchased WKYC-AM from NBC.
The M in the station's new callsign was the first letter of the new
owner's last name.

Would that have been Leonard Maltz of Malrite Communications? He also
owned several other properties in Cleveland including WMMS and (later)
WOIO-TV, and some radio stations in other cities (including, notably, Z-100
in New York).

Was a real shame when Malrite got out of the business. In particular, WMMS
was sold to Nationwide, which later sold out to Jacor, which later sold out
to Clear Channel, and has never been the same since.

WWWM-FM ran automated easy-listening music from
1972 until 1975 or so (during which they used an identification
announcement "We've changed our name, but not our tune; we're WWWM,
Cleveland"), then it went to live DJs and rock in '75. When the
station was sold the second time, the callsign was changed to WMJI,
and the format, under yet another new owner, was changed to oldies, as
it is today (although the station has been accused by another AM
oldies station here in Lake County

WELW in Eastlake?

Yup, that's it. WELW ran (and may still be running) spots for a
while--in fact, what I am about to mention also appears on their web
site, welw.com--in which they made a point of the fact that WMJI plays
only "300 'safe' tracks", while WELW plays every (?) song which used
to be "top 40" on radio from the '50s through the '80s.
where I live, of not being a true
"oldies" station by virtue of playing only music from the 1960s and
'70s

Well, yeah, that's because a lot of what WMJI otherwise would be playing
was on Mix 106.5 when they were playing "the best mix of the 80's, 90's and
70's". 'course, I can't see why some of the stuff on Mix couldn't also be
played on Majic. But that's just me.

I listen to WMJI quite a bit--I have and did for years, even when
they were WKYC-FM and WWWM--and know for a fact they do have an
extensive oldies library going back to the '50s.

yeahbut... when you're only playing the thirty or forty most popular songs in
your library, doesn't really matter, does it?
WMJI does run specials on weekends in which they concentrate on playing songs with a certain theme, which changes every week; some of those records, I'm sure, come from the station's archives and are from the '50s.

west, and to Akron to the south). I live about 35 miles northeast of
Cleveland and can hear WMJI extremely well on every FM radio in my
apartment, so the new owners may have improved the station's signal
somewhat since its NBC days.

May have? Probably did. Jacor and Clear Channel probably didn't have much
trouble justifying investing in WMJI, which has been #1 in the ratings in
Northeast Ohio for most of the last 15-20 years.

I don't know if WMJI has a better signal now or not. I moved to
Fairport Harbor over four years ago from Wickliffe; I had to get a
special amplified FM antenna for my stereo just to hear some of the
Cleveland stations noise-free, and even at that I cannot hear certain
stations, such as Mix 106.5, very well. (TV reception here in my
apartment is so bad I must have cable to get decent signals. I do not
get channel 3 at all on an antenna, and the other two VHF stations are
fair to downright poor. Ironically, however, the UHF stations, all but
WVIZ [PBS] channel 25, are watchable with good to excellent color
pictures. I like having cable, however, because it gives me better
reception, more stations to watch, and the fact that I have two PBS
stations on the cable here (WVIZ, of course, in Cleveland, plus WEAO
49 in Akron) which allow me to watch certain shows an hour apart (like
the NewsHour, Charlie Rose, et al.)

Are Cleveland's FM stations' signal patterns meant to cover the area
east of Mentor, including Painesville, Fairport and environs? I would
think, noting that none of the Cleveland stations mention Perry,
Painesville, etc. very often in their commercials, they probably think
this area is a never-never land, shut off from greater Cleveland by 35
miles. I grant you, the distance is a factor, but I still wonder why
central and eastern Lake County aren't mentioned often in the
commercials broadcast by Cleveland stations.

So Jeff, how's Fairport? I used to be your neighbor - lived in Mentor on
the Lake until last July. (Lived in Painesville for a while, too.)

Aside from the radio/TV reception problems (I am also a ham radio
operator and have problems getting my radios to work, as I must use
indoor antennas), I like Fairport Harbor a lot. When I was a kid
growing up in Wickliffe, I used to dream of the day when I'd live in a
small town like this; now that I'm grown up(I'm almost 48 years old),
I am here, and I like it. Took me my entire first year here just to
get settled in my apartment, and another year or two to get used to
living in a small town. However, it was all worth it. As I said, I
like living here now and plan to stay here quite a while.

Good luck and very kind regards,

Jeff Strieble, WB8NHV (mailto: )
Fairport Harbor, Ohio