History
The station began on February 19, 1962 as WKNT-FM. It shared the call letters with AM station WKNT (now WJMP) which signed on two years later, and most programming was simulcast on both stations. The stations were owned by the publisher of the Kent Ravenna Record-Courier newspaper and primarily served the Portage County area with an adult contemporary format.
The stations were purchased in 1972 by Media-Com, Inc., a family-owned business headed by Richard Klaus. Klaus lured a young Howie Chizek from Youngstown to man a five-hour midday talk show, changing the station's history forever. The call sign for the FM station was changed to WNIR on April 19, 1979, and it was called "Winner 100." Eventually, the AC music was dropped, and the station became all talk, adding Joe Finan in late afternoons in 1985 to replace a "GameRadio" afternoon drive show, hosted by Bob Roberts and Joey Harper.
A cult favorite of the late 1980s and early 1990s was WNIR's Dating Show. The program was hosted nightly by Jim Albright. Albright would pick one "contestant" from the phone lines and talk to that person about their life for about 10 minutes. At the end of the conversation, Albright would ask late-night listeners of the opposite sex if they would like to meet the contestant. He would then answer, often live on the air, potential "date" calls. Jim Albright would sort through the prank calls and pick three potential dates for the contestant. After some talking back and forth, the contestant would pick a date and exchange phone numbers off the air.
Howie Chizek (1947–2012) was Northeast Ohio's "Dean of talk radio" with multiple #1 rankings for over 38 years. Chizek died June 17, 2012 in Florida at the start of his annual trip to Disney World with underprivileged children. Joe Finan retired in December 2004 and was replaced by former Cleveland Browns player Bob Golic. WNIR remains unique in this day and age dominated by corporate syndicated radio - live local programming from morning to night.
The 100.1 frequency was assigned in the early 1950s to a station identified as WIKH licensed to Shaker Heights, Ohio.
WNIR began internet audio streaming of its programming on January 2, 2009, and launched an improved website. On January 14, 2011, a WNIR app for the iPhone is now available. WNIR announced that an app for the Droid and Blackberry will follow soon.
Read more about this topic: WNIR (FM)
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