\u201cNBC got the idea into its head that it wanted to blanket the East Coast in terms of TV broadcasting. In those days, TV and radio came as packages,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n
NBC sought to be the primary carrier of coverage from Boston to Washington.<\/p>\n
To do that the network needed outlets in major cities, but they didn\u2019t own anything in Philadelphia. So NBC wanted to see if a station in Philadelphia would swap for one of theirs. They found a Westinghouse station, Klein said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey approached and said, \u2018Could you move KYW radio and TV to Cleveland? In exchange we will move our station to Philadelphia.\u2019 This had not been done before in any major way. They took the proposal to the Federal Communications Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe FCC said, \u2018OK, you can do it. What are you doing, basically switching stations?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The deal was approved Dec. 28, 1955.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the first time the FCC allowed this type of swap, and it went along beautifully,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The stations switched call letters, personnel \u2013 everything. If you\u2019re wondering why NBC didn\u2019t just try to buy the Philadelphia station outright, it\u2019s because a five-station ownership limit was in place.<\/p>\n
Westinghouse was OK with the swap, especially when NBC sweetened the deal by throwing in $3 million.<\/p>\n
So: KYW moved from Philadelphia to Cleveland and became 1100 AM and 105.7 FM and channel 3. WTAM AM and FM and WNBK channel 3 moved to Philadelphia, changed their call letters and became WRCV.<\/p>\n
Behind the scenes, though, the Justice Department had a bad taste in its mouth, suspecting possible anti-trust violations. Federal anti-trust laws promote free trade and remain vigilant against unlawful mergers.<\/p>\n
As Klein writes in his book: \u201cWhat should have been a simple transfer rapidly became a complicated mess.\u201d<\/p>\n
But at first, it was a honeymoon.<\/p>\n
![\"KYW](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FDHX6SJVU5FVXDBEUMSZ7OVSQE.jpg\")
KYW started in Cleveland on Feb. 13, 1956 \u2013 the day before Valentine\u2019s Day. The station was introduced in Cleveland newspaper ads playing off that theme.Plain Dealer archivesWelcome to Cleveland, KYW<\/p>\n
KYW, which started in Chicago in 1921, holds the eighth oldest call letters in the country. It was the first station to air a live broadcast of an opera along with several firsts in football and baseball. It moved to Philadelphia in 1934. Three years later, a KYW reporter broadcast a live account of the Hindenburg zeppelin explosion from a phone booth.<\/p>\n
A welcoming gala drew hundreds of dignitaries to the Statler Hotel in downtown Cleveland in 1956.<\/p>\n
\u201cCleveland welcomed KYW,\u201d Klein said. <\/p>\n
An industry publication summed the station\u2019s mission perfectly, Klein said. Clevelanders would enjoy top-notch entertainment, news coverage and technical perfection typical of the Westinghouse broadcasting company. It cited public-oriented programming and community trust.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the philosophy of KYW,\u201d he said. \u201cThe public loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
KYW started as a traditional middle-of-the-road station. Gradually, programming changed, Klein said. It embraced innovative programming, news, entertainment, community service and education. <\/p>\n
They filled the station on Superior Avenue with big names of the day: Specs Howard, Joe Finan, Dick Goddard, Harry Martin, Wes Hopkins and others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey put a stamp on KYW second to none,\u201d he said. \u201cThey made people feel happy about the station.\u201d<\/p>\n
No idea was too crazy. They promoted Bermuda Shorts Day, where they urged everyone to wear Bermuda shorts to work. One Hopkins promotion offered a chance for people to guess a dog\u2019s weight by its bark. The winner would receive a Beagle puppy. They even had a traffic-court show, where they would go to court \u201cand try to convince people to be better drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n
And they had a couple of catchy slogans, like \u201cWhen it\u2019s news elsewhere, it\u2019s history at KYW\u201d and \u201cHave a KYWonderful weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1961, KYW went to all rock and roll, not long before the Beatles hit the scene. KYW brought in Ken Draper to guide the programming.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a real dynamo,\u201d Klein said. \u201cHe later went on to get his fame in Hollywood. He was the kind of guy who could sell iceboxes to Eskimos, as we used to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1962, they brought in Martin and teamed him with Howard. The first week he was in town, Klein said, he attended a baseball game and danced in Indians gear. He took people on cruises on Lake Erie. But he made his mark with his comedy partner in crime on the Martin and Howard Show, where they created zany characters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public loved it,\u201d Klein said. \u201cThey ate it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
When you spitball ideas, some stick, some fall flat. And the station had its share of flops.<\/p>\n
When KYW pulled \u201cThe Eternal Light,\u201d a popular religious themed show, callers protested. <\/p>\n
Hopkins and Finan got hit with payola charges. Some promotions didn\u2019t fly.<\/p>\n
But for the most part, the spitballing worked.<\/p>\n
In 1964, the station, wanting to do something for charity, cut a 45 RPM record: \u201cCleveland Love Song,\u201d<\/a> a 90-second crooning rock song to Cleveland. (It sounds very similar to the Ray Charles Singers\u2019 1964 song, \u201cLove Me With All Your Heart.\u201d<\/a>) On the B side? An ad touting the station\u2019s disc jockeys.<\/p>\n \u201cWho would think of it? Today it would be corny. Then, it sold like hotcakes,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n KYW reached 38 states and four southern Canadian provinces. In 1960, it recorded a listening audience of 8 million people.<\/p>\n John Gorman, a retired radio executive who worked at WMMS and is a radio historian, grew up in Boston but could pick up KYW from Cleveland, 640 miles away.<\/p>\n Gorman said two things contributed to KYW\u2019s success \u2013 a very clear signal and strong on-air personalities.<\/p>\n \u201cAM signals at night would bounce off the ionosphere into distant areas,\u201d he said. That reach boosted its popularity.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen KYW first came on the scene in Cleveland and turned into a top 40 station, it completely annihilated WHK, which was the leading top 40 station,\u201d Gorman said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had strong personalities on the air. All of their DJs were good, solid, New York-quality DJs.\u201d<\/p>\n Gorman added, \u201cIt seemed that the program director gave their personalities a lot of freedom. Not only would they play their hits, but they would play album tracks. Sometimes they would play a song, saying, \u2018It\u2019s been up for a few weeks, we\u2019re not playing it, but I\u2019m going to give it a spin.\u2019 The disk jockeys had the freedom to be a little freeform and do what they wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n Music changes constantly, he said, but DJs remain. So a strong lineup of on-air personalities was key to radio survival then.<\/p>\n \u201cIn those days radio had a lot of influence,\u201d Gorman said.<\/p>\n Also, when other stations were airing simulcast broadcasts on FM and AM, they were experimenting with independent broadcasting, offering 12 hours a day of classical music on FM, Klein said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis station was so innovative, it was unbelievable,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n But as the clich\u00e9 goes, all good things must come to an end.<\/p>\n When KYW started in Cleveland, newspaper ads blared: \u201cYou can be sure it\u2019s a merger for keeps.\u201d<\/p>\n Not quite.<\/p>\n Around 1957, the FCC began to smell a rat, as Klein puts it. There was something off in the deal.<\/p>\n The agency discovered NBC had strongarmed Westinghouse. The network had threatened to take away the NBC affiliation from Westinghouse\u2019s TV stations if Westinghouse did not agree to the original deal fast enough.<\/p>\n The Justice Department pursued it in court. In 1964, a federal district court ruling in Philadelphia determined Westinghouse was forced into the swap. The decision: Reverse the FCC ruling immediately. Return the stations to their previous home cities.<\/p>\n (If you\u2019re wondering how NBC had clout to muscle the deal, the pecking order of the day was NBC, CBS, ABC and then WBC \u2013 Westinghouse, Klein said.)<\/p>\n It became known as \u201cthe big swap.\u201d<\/p>\n In summer 1965, KYW went back to Philadelphia. WRCV \u2013 the station in Philadelphia \u2013 returned to Cleveland, rebranded as WKYC radio and TV.<\/p>\n Why choose WKYC? Look at the two middle letters.<\/p>\n KYW became the second all news station in the country in 1965 in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n About the time the swap was reversed, in mid-1965, WKYC was making plans for an all-color format.<\/p>\n WKYC-AM became rock, but NBC didn\u2019t have experience with rock stations. FM was exploding, and by 1968 Cleveland airwaves had WMMS 100.7, WNCR 99.5 and others.<\/p>\n Nick Mileti bought WKYC\u2019s radio stations and renamed them as 3WE for WWWE-AM and M105 for WWWM-FM. He wanted an outlet for sports, since he owned multiple teams in Cleveland in the 1970s.<\/p>\n KYW remains on air in Philadelphia, on the dial at 1060 AM and 103.9 FM.<\/p>\n When Covid hit, Klein took on the KYW book project, scouring Plain Dealer and other archives. He retired from teaching at Cleveland State and has written a dozen books.<\/p>\n Gorman and Klein said KYW\u2019s tenure in Cleveland had a lasting impact.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a lot of respect for that radio station,\u201d Gorman said. \u201cThat station was actually an influence on me \u2013 I was 15, 16 back then. It definitely stayed with me.\u201d<\/p>\n Klein agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cThey did what they said they would do \u2013 provide entertainment, education, news, sports. You wanted to get up in the morning and couldn\u2019t wait to hear what they were doing,\u201d said Klein, who came to Northeast Ohio from Boston in 1967 for college.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were able to make a difference,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2013 This week marks a golden era on the airwaves in Cleveland, a time that would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-292591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"KYW](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4OARW2VMENCETGZW7RQEBERPPU.jpg\")
KYW\u2019s \u201csound survey\u201d of hits for June 11, 1965, had The Four Tops\u2019 \u201cI Can\u2019t Help Myself\u201d as its No. 1 song.Courtesy of John GormanKYW\u2019s time in Cleveland ends<\/p>\n