History
The station traces its history to WADC which debuted as a temporary station for a February 1925 car show at the Central Garage. The call letters were derived from the name of the Automobile Dealers Co. that sponsored the show. After the show ended, Allen T. Simmons, owner of the Allen Theater, bought the station and obtained a permanent license which was granted on March 23, 1925. It was the second radio station in Akron (after WOE which went on the air on April 27, 1922, but was off the air in July 1923). Regular broadcasts began on April 8, 1925 from studios in the Portage Hotel. The station originally broadcast at 1160 kHz with 100 watts, but its signal increased to 500 watts by 1926.
WADC was a charter member of the CBS Radio Network, being one of the 16 stations that aired the first CBS network program on September 18, 1927. The station soon opened new studios in Tallmadge and increased its power to 5,000 watts. Its frequency jumped around from 1160 to 1010 to 1260, and to 1320 after the FRC's General Order 40 went into effect on November 11, 1928. On March 29, 1941 it moved to 1350 kHz as part of the NARBA frequency shifts.
As the CBS affiliate during the 1930s and 1940s, WADC was the leading Akron radio station, rivaled later only by WAKR after it took to the air in 1940. Akron had no NBC Red affiliate, since WTAM's signal from Cleveland covered the area. WADC's success was symbolized by the two-story art-deco WADC Building, which was completed on May 6, 1949 and became a local landmark on the southeast corner of Main and Mill Streets in downtown Akron. The entire second floor of the building was occupied by the station's studios and offices.
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