In 1973 WMMS unveiled a new logo The Mushroom. Play-by-play announcers Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus call games on-site. All rights reserved (About Us). Yes, the station had lost its way for a bit, but MMS was the standard. In September 1995, he was hired to do nights at WRKR-FM in Kalamazoo, MI. WMMS sponsored the concerts. The second logo, first one in print, used by WMMS was the Tongue Logo. He later took his groundbreaking progressive rock show to WNCR FM/95.5, working alongside pioneering Cleveland rock deejays Billy Bass and David Spero. Cleveland's Rock Station, home of Rover's Morning Glory, The Alan Cox Show, and FM Home of Cleveland Guardians Baseball. He influenced many listeners of the station and kept the momentum alive pushing new music into the ears and speakers of the audience of WMMS. It really was an awesome time.' Danny Czekalinski and Darla Jaye teamed up in October 1997 with Liz Wilde holdover Cory Lingus (Cory Gallant) until August 1998. Signing on in 1946 as the FM adjunct to WHK, the WMMS call letters were affixed in 1968 under Metromedia ownership, having stood for "MetroMedia Stereo" and meant as a compliment to the newly established progressive rock format, but have since taken on a variety of other meanings. He also managed Grammy-winning R and B superstar Luther Vandross. [170][171][172], WMMS has also served as the FM flagship station for the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network since 2013, again sharing network flagship status with AM sister station WTAM. Stern's ratings exploded and this along with a growing urgency from management not to compete with or mention Stern on the air led to a sudden and steep ratings decline for The Buzzard Morning Zoo. On August 9, 1978, there was no hotter ticket in Cleveland. In 1958, both WHK and WHK-FM were sold to Metropolitan Broadcasting, itself renamed MetroMedia two years later. [103] Despite signs of success, the stations were sold again in 1996: WMMS went to Nationwide Communications,[105] while WHK went to Salem Communications. When WMMS program director John Gorman found out Rio was not under contract in Houston, he offered Rio a job, and the comedian eventually moved to Cleveland. WHK-FM became one of a handful of commercial stations in the country to try that format, many of which were owned by MetroMedia. The new logo depicted the sex, drugs and rock and roll image that the owner was looking for. [114] BuzzardFest II was held the very next fall (September 1995) again at Blossom and featured performances from the Goo Goo Dolls, Alanis Morissette, Jewel, as well as the Dance Hall Crashers, Eleven, Green Apple Quick Step, Prick and Sons of Elvis. 16 Times Riley Green Was The Hottest Bachelor On Instagram Nov 05, 2020. [125] As part of the stunt, Denny Sanders returned to host an airshift, programming the music at his discretion. Today, he is the principal and chief content officer of WOW Media, LLC -- the parent company of oWOW. [137][138], In 2000, the station turned to Wakin' up with Wolf and Mulrooneyhosted by Bob Wolf and John Mulrooneyfrom Albany's WPYX, which initially continued to originate and simulcast the program. His iconic rants have been preserved for posterity on the CD "Murray Saul: The Get Downs, Vol. The announcement came less than two weeks before the show. They brought pleasure to the average Clevelanders workday with segments like Token Jokes of the Morning, Spousal Arousal and Blow Something Up. Good old Red! The WMMS Coffee Break Concert was a weekly music-interview show broadcast live from the station's studio, and later with an audience at the Agora Ballroom. Denny Sanders came to WMMS in 1971 from Boston where hed been working as a DJ from the time he was just 16 years old. Throughout the 1970s and '80s, the station played home to some of Cleveland's most recognizable personalities: Matt the Cat, Denny Sanders, Murray Saul, Betty "Crash" Korvan, Ruby Cheeks, BLF. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It's a big birthday for The Buzzard. He now lives in Texas and works at an addiction recovery center, but he still does the Mr. Leonard character on former WMMS DJ Jeff Kinzbach's morning show on Akron's WONE-FM/97.5. The phallic like logo depicted a large mushroom with a little elf hanging out smoking a joint. ", "We had the right staff, the right soundtrack at the time. As WMMS celebrates the anniversary, both on-air and online, using archival audio, memorabilia and station-related artifacts to offer a cross-section of the station's diverse history and the. Craig Ehlo. Ferenc also has a small advertising agency called Flashpoint. [160], WMMS's program lineup currently features Rover's Mornings Glory in morning drive, Dan Stansbury middays, The Alan Cox Show in afternoon drive and Corey Rotic evenings. The people who put it together aren't even smart enough to know where our city boundaries are." During his time at WMMS, Bass coined the phrase, "Cleveland: The Rock 'n' Roll Capital of the World." Dean DePiero, then mayor of Parma, criticized the song and its accompanying YouTube video: "It's pretty sick. Following the prank announcement, station management placed Maxwell on probation for 90 days. [120] Meanwhile, ownership would change yet again as Nationwide Communications was bought out by Jacor in November 1997. who killed athena in the witch of portobello; what game relates to a rainbow; ventura county obituary past 3 days; sri lanka parliament election 2015 preferential votes; [72] Rather, WMMS adopted a buzzard as its mascot in April 1974 because of the then tenuous economic state of Cleveland less than five years away from becoming the first major American city to enter into default since the Great Depression[73] and the winged-creature's classification as a scavenger. It was the same logo used by all of the FM radio stations owned by Metromedia at the time. : Michael K. McIntyre's Tipoff", "Cleveland radio personality Chad Zumock no longer working at WMMS after OVI arrest", "Bo Matthews to Program Cleveland's New 99X", "Bo Matthews Named VP Of Programming For CCM+E-Cincinnati", "Cavaliers and iHeartMedia Announce AM/FM Simulcast", "Cavs and Monsters Announce Multi-Year Extensions of Radio Broadcast Agreements", "As a reminder, we cannot stream @Cavs or @Indians on the Internet or via the @iHeartRadio app", "Nope - you'll want to grab the exclusive NBA Game Time app for that", "No, but you can listen free online w/ NBA Audio League Pass or paid w/ the NBA League Pass app", "Cleveland Indians, WTAM AM/1100 reach 5-year deal to broadcast games", "Cleveland Indians, WTAM, WMMS reach multiyear deal to carry games through (at least) 2023", "Per MLB rules we are not allowed to stream games", "MLB At Bat app only for streaming audio", "Streaming? WMMS News anchor, Mike Olszewski paints a picture of the scene on that dreadful day. In 2014, Springsteen finally released the Agora concert officially on CD and download. Now Debbie joins Dave Noriega to host a daytime radio broadcast "Dave and Dujanovic" where they discuss Utah news, culture, and . From celebrities and high profile sports stars, to iconic DJs who know music, SiriusXM has the best hosts in radio. It was the first time Stone Temple Pilots performed in Cleveland in six years. Thats how big MMS was. She worked in radio in Los Angeles from 1973-76 at KLOS and KMET. The ritual lasted through his entire career at the Buzzard. [121] The Jacor purchase closed on August 10, 1998; 59days later, on October 8, 1998, Clear Channel Communications won a bidding war for Jacor in a $6.5billion deal. WMMS's studios are located at the Six Six Eight Building in downtown Cleveland's Gateway District;[48][49] the station transmitter resides in neighboring Seven Hills. The band clearly enjoyed performing on Nautica's stage, right next to the waterfront, with Weiland stopping at one point to point out the large boats that were passing by. He would read some commercial copy and then "throw them in the bash bucket where they belong" and openly criticize music he didn't care for. The debut issue of Buzzard Bone, arrived in September of 1995 and featured the brand new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the cover story, with an article tracing the history of the museum, which had its grand opening that same month. A major contributor to the ratings success was an airstaff that remained fundamentally unchanged for many years: personalities like Kid Leo, Jeff & Flash, Matt the Cat, Dia Stein, Denny Sanders, Murray Saul, Debbie Ullman, Betty "Crash" Korvan, Ruby Cheeks (Debra Luray), BLF Bash (Bill Freeman), TR (Tom Renzy) and the late Len "Boom" Goldberg were invaluable to the station's popularity. The WMMS Coffee Break Concerts were booked and directed by Denny Sanders and hosted by Len "Boom" Goldberg, Debbie Ullman, and later, Matt the Cat. No Doubt performed Buzzard Fest on May 18, 1996. Kinzbach left the station in 1994. Before FM took over the airwaves, before WMMS became the undisputed champ of Cleveland rock radio, WIXY 1260 AM ruled. One of their biggest contributions to our fine city was spearheading a grass roots effort to get the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here in Cleveland. By 1984, the WMMS format moved to an CHR/AOR hybrid, playing a great deal of Top 40 rock singles in hot rotation mixed with album cuts; this new blended rock/Top 40 format was soon known by those at the station as Rock Forty. (Plain Dealer file photo), "Spaceman Scott" - Scott Hughes, better known as Spaceman Scott, was a member of WMMS-FM/100.7's top-rated "Buzzard Morning Zoo" in the 1980s, along with Jeff Kinzbach, Ed "Flash" Ferenc, and others. You gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta get dooooooowwwwn!, His rant followed Bruce Springsteens Born to Run. The kickoff to the weekend continued with Ian Hunters Cleveland Rocks and Earth Quakes Friday on my mind.. (Plain Dealer file photo), Proud Parma natives, this longtime duo is better known as the affable hosts of "The Brian and Joe Show." [135] Former Lex and Terry producer Jason Carr was named the new WMMS assistant program director on February 1, 2018. February 7, 2021 WMMS. Win tickets to The Sonic Temple Art and Music Festival, 'People Magazine' Hits Newsstands On This Date in 1974, We're Celebrating Women Who Make Music & Culture. On-site, play-by-play announcer Tim Alcorn calls games alongside color analyst Jim Chones, a former Cavaliers center. The station claimed it was simply "a marketing strategy" and "much in line with what many stations did. 26 Celebrities & Their Moms May 06, 2022. "[83] Negative reaction was swift and widespread;[44][45] some called the scheme a mere "lack of judgement,"[44] while a reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal compared the station's response to that of discredited former Vice-president Spiro Agnew.[84]. WMMS also airs The Week in Cox, a weekly recap show on Sunday mornings. [57], Following a legal dispute with a competing station owner over non-compete clauses in their contracts, former Top 40 WIXY personalities Dick "the Wilde Childe" Kemp and Lou "King" Kirby were signed by MetroMedia for the top 40 format. Featuring Kevin DuBrow on vocals, Frankie Banali on drums, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Carlos Cavazo on guitar. The show's big following has spawned an annual summer festival, Roverfest, which has been held in Lorain for the past three years. Lawrence James Travagliante - aka Kid Leo. [115][116], The next of these multi-act shows, simply titled BuzzardFest, was held in May 1996 at Blossom Music Center and featured performances from 311 and No Doubt, along with Candlebox, The Nixons, Goldfinger, Gods Child, Dash Rip Rock, Holy Barbarians, and Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. Other shows, like The Buzzard Morning Show with Rick and Megalis (Rick Eberhart, Tom Megalis) and WMMS Mornings with Sean, Cristi, and Hunter (Sean Kelly, Cristi Cantle, Hunter Scott), came and went in quick succession. Lonnie Gronek, then general manager of the station, claimed in The Plain Dealer article that the process had gone on "for years", however other accounts dispute Gronek's claim.