WDLW

WDLW (1380 AM) – branded Kool Kat Oldies 1380 AM & 98.9 FM – is a commercial oldies radio station licensed to Lorain, Ohio. Owned by WDLW Radio, Inc., the station serves Lorain County and western parts of Greater Cleveland. WDLW also simulcasts over Lorain translator W255CW (98.9 FM). The WDLW studios are located in the city of Oberlin, while the transmitters for both WDLW and W255CW reside in Sheffield Township. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WDLW is available online.
History.
WLRO.
WLRO began operating on December 4, 1969 under a temporary permit. (The official license for the station was not granted for over a year.) Owned by Lorain Community Broadcasting Corporation, the station replaced WWIZ after two and a half years of silence on 1380. WWIZ's license renewal had been denied because of an improper transfer of control of the station, and it left the air in 1967, by which time Lorain Community had already filed to replace it on 1380.
WLRO initially had a middle of the road and oldies format. The initial staff was composed of Bill King, Bob Ladd, Rodger Glover, sports anchor Jim Allen, news director Bill Wilkens, production director Jeff Baxter and music director Norm N. Nite. During this time, it was also an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System and carried Mutual's coverage of Notre Dame football throughout the 1970s and 1980s. WLRO also carried Cleveland Indians daytime games in 1971 and 1972.
WRKG.
On July 7, 1984, WLRO was sold by Lorain Community Broadcasting to local real estate developer Jon Veard. Shortly thereafter, on July 13, the call sign was changed to WRKG and a pop standards format was installed. The WRKG calls stood for their new slogan, "WoRKinG for you is our business." The station's studios were moved to the Antlers Hotel in downtown Lorain, of which Veard also owned. The station still remained as a daytime station for many years, with overnight service (via just 57 watts) being added as of the fall of 1986.
Among the air talent that was on "Golden 13 Radio" at this time included Dick Conrad, John Antus, Donovan "D.K." Kent, Charles LuBear, Dave Rush, Lauren Wreath, John Ryan and sportscaster Jim Allen. Newscasts were handled by Craig Demyan, Joan Lowry, Mike Partin and Terry Burnabell. Ethnic programming on Sundays included the "Ecos Latinos" Hispanic music show hosted by Miguel Berlingeri, "The Polka Express" with Jimmy Bryda and "The Friendly Promoter Club" with Matty Bright.
On February 12, 1990, Jon Veard sold WRKG to Victory Radio, Inc. headed by Vernon Baldwin, who was also the owner of WZLE 104.9-FM. (Clear Channel Communications since acquired WZLE in 1999 and changed the music format to Top 40 as "Kiss 104.9.") WRKG's format changed to country gospel during the day with personalities Terry Lee Goffee and Teri Drda, with Hispanic music played in the evening and overnight hours.
WDLW.
By the spring of 1997, WRKG entered into a daytime-only simulcast arrangement with WELW in Willoughby, Ohio. WRKG ended up carrying WELW's mixture of ethnic programming and brokered-time talk shows, plus carried the television audio from WOIO-TV's morning, noon and 6 p.m. newscasts. Accordingly, the callsign was first changed to WELL on June 6, 1997 – but eventually switched it again to WDLW that August 1. The WDLW calls previously were used on a Waltham, Massachusetts station during the 1980s.
This simulcast did not last long, however, and WDLW was flipped into a 24-hour Spanish/tropical format by January 1999. With programming leased over to the Latino Media Group, this move made WDLW the first, and only, such licensed-station in Ohio. WDLW also offered Spanish-language broadcasts of Cleveland Indians baseball and Cleveland Crunch indoor soccer. The station ended up becoming popular in the Hispanic and Latino community within Lorain, and even in portions of the Cleveland area. The flagship show was their morning show "The Milton Rivera Show" which starred Milton Rivera and his co-host and producer Chris Haslage.
On January 2, 2002, WDLW was sold to WOBL Radio, Inc.'s owners, Doug and Lorie Wilber (which also resulted in a call letter bacronym). Technical upgrades were made to the air signal, and WDLW's studios were moved from the Antlers Hotel to WOBL's studio/transmitter facility in Oberlin, but the station kept the Hispanic format. But by that November 8, citing a lack of advertising revenue in order to keep the Hispanic format on a full-time basis, WDLW switched to a 1950s/1960s rock-and-roll oldies format as "Kool Kat Oldies 1380-AM." "Kool Kat" was a play on "Cool Cat," the name of a 1960s Warner Bros. cartoon character, and a popular catch-phrase in that same period. The very first song played after the format switch was The Tremeloes' "Here Comes My Baby."
In late October 2015, WDLW acquired Elkhart, Indiana FM translator W293AZ (106.5 FM) for $20,000, a sale consummated in early January 2016. Paperwork was subsequently filed to relocate W293AZ to Lorain as W255CW (98.9 FM), and serve as a rebroadcaster for WDLW. W255CW launched under that purpose on June 15, 2016.
Current programming.
The station's airstaff currently includes Gene Briscoe in mornings, David Q. Velez in middays, market veteran Denny Sanders in afternoons and "Hey Look What I Found!" with Pete Delmonico on Friday nights (from April until August). Newscasts are handled by broadcaster Brian Engle, with sports covered by Jim Allen. Weekend hosts include Matt Slys, Rick Williams, Wally Mintus and David "Q" Velez.
WDLW also features ten hours of Hispanic and Spanish-language programming on Sunday afternoons and evenings (a holdover from the previous format) and "The Polka Express" on Sunday morning, whose on-air tenure spans that of 1380-AM's current incarnation with two different hosts – first with Jimmy Bryda from 1969 until his death in 2003, and with Tom Borowicz from 2003 to the present.
WDLW broadcasts high school football, basketball and hockey. Sister station WOBL broadcasts the same, along with Oberlin College football, Cleveland State men's basketball (in a shared affiliation with WDLW) and OHSAA radio broadcasts.
WDLW is also a local affiliate for Fox News Radio and for ONN Radio.