WCLV situation isn't clearly understood

["Tim Davisson" <rdavisson@neo.rr.com>]

I live near Cleveland (Akron) work in the radio business myself, and have
some information that's not generally known outside the area, re: WCLV and
why they sold 95.5 when they did.

Due to the addition of a new, powerful direct classical competitor in the
late 1990's (WKSU/Kent tripled their antenna height) & the reality that
aging baby boomers just don't like classical to the degree the World-War II
generation (etc.) does/did....WCLV's advertising base began to erode.  At
the same time
Radio Seaway got offer after offer to sell the station.

The owners are in their late 60's....knew they wouldn't or couldn't keep it
going forever...and decided to: get rewarded for 39 years of hard work, and
still keep classical music alive as best they could. So, they got their $40
million and two stations...a 104.9 suburban FM and a 5kw AM (1420).  The FM
will be donated to a non-profit foundation that contains a non-com FM (90.3)
& WVIZ (TV25) so that classical music can continue "as long as there are
those who want to hear it"...in  co-owner Bob Conrad's words.

These owners could've kept 95.5 and they still would've gotten their huge
payoff...maybe even more money if they'd waited a few years. However, the
owners figured if they'd waited to sell 95.5, would there be any type of FM
station they could move the classical music to?  If not, classical music
would very well have died in Cleveland...like it has on the commercial band
in quite a few large markets.

Before adding 1420AM, WCLV had always been a stand-alone FM, with no other
stations owned any where. WCLV, did intend to simulcast the FM on 1420, but
when Salem announced plans to ditch their 50kw standards format on 850AM
(WRMR...for 20 years standards in Cleveland), the WCLV-FM owners decided the
AM would be a more successful station picking up standards..even though on
smaller 5kw signal.

By the way, Bob Conrad really believes there's a good chance that AM may go
digital some day soon. He may suffer from wishful thinking, but the
well-known Conrad has the reputation of being an honest,
straight-shooter......and is by no means a b.s.-er!

By the way...I don't work for WCLV, have met Bob Conrad only once in my life
(about 35 years ago), and myself don't especially like classical music. So,
there's no bias  toward WCLV on my part.