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. "Those guys who pilot those ships through here? Springsteen played the Agora in the spring of 1974 as part of "The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle Tour." WMMS does not air additional network programming. [34], Loveline, Westwood One's nationally syndicated call-in show hosted by Dr. Drew, aired weeknights from August 2008 through June 2010. The concert series continued on well into the 1990s and early 2000s, albeit much less frequently.[64][65]. Since AEG Presents purchased the venue, it has invested $3 million in improvements and upgrades to the legendary concert club. "[33] By April 2008, the station had reverted to branding as The Buzzard but using a road sign-style logo similar to a U.S. Route shield in an allusion to the mascot. [142], On April 3, 2009, The Maxwell Show went on the air claiming that Metallicain Cleveland for the 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony the very next daywas playing a free show in the WMMS parking lot later that evening. The station also started to devote weekend programming to the classic rock format. No Doubt shared the 2 stage show at Blossom with Candlebox, Patti Rothberg, The Tragically Hip, 311, and the Holy Barbarians. Denny was also instrumental in convincing former WMMS owner Milton Maltz to continue the stations rock format in the mid-1970s. [88] Management ordered a change to the Buzzard by giving it a flat-top and mullet. From 1978 on, Belkin Productions conditioned its funding of the Free Clinic on the nondisclosure of the number of Clinic staff on duty at the concerts, the nature of conditions treated and the number of patients treated.[79][80]. Brian and Joe were moved to afternoons in February 1997 after a change in ownership, with shock jock Liz Wilde (Anne Whittemore) from WPLL/Miami taking their place; her firing less than a year later sparked a successful lawsuit against both the station and then-owner Nationwide Communications. The team did later relocate to Cleveland, but lasted only a few months until an acrimonious breakup between Wolf and Mulrooney. In 2014, Springsteen finally released the Agora concert officially on CD and download. Music News German City Cancels Roger Waters Concert, Calls Him Antisemitic Feb 28, 2023. . The Clash played just nine shows during its first trip to North America in 1979. ", A 10-song set that lasted nearly an hour. Morgan Wallen. [56], MetroMedia found major success with progressive rock at KMET Los Angeles, KSAN San Francisco, WMMR Philadelphia and WNEW-FM New York, but a lack of commitment from MetroMedia led the company to drop the format at WMMS by May 1969. The top 40 deejays were retained, but it was soon obvious that they were inadequate hosts for a progressive rock format. 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. Boston's Agora show, called "Feeling It In Cleveland," is highly coveted on vinyl and features everything you love from the band. The WMMS morning show Dick Dale & Rick hosted the event. [129][130] Radio & Records twice named WMMS "Rock Station of the Year: Markets 1-25" (200506) as part of the now defunct publication's annual Industry Achievement Awards. Jeff and Flash were accompanied by a list of other talent over the years which made up the Buzzard Morning Zoo. Brian Chalmers, Rock 'N' Roll Artist", "Film; Paul Schrader Plumbs Grassroots Rock", "iHeartMedia Cleveland To Move To New Facility As Company Begins Cloud Based Tech Rollout", "Downtown TV station group may move to the suburbs", "Cleveland Broadcast Radio Archives WMMS timeline", "Rock in Akron: The Music Of Greater Akron", "The Second WMMS Music Marathon Station TV Spot", "Recalling a couple of wacky radio guys", http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1994/RR-1994-11-04.pdf, http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1994/RR-1994-12-02.pdf, "Billboard/Airplay Monitor Radio Awards Bestowed", "Kevin Metheny, a.k.a. Seth "the Barbarian" Williams took the overnight shift when Pennington moved to evenings in 2001. blink-182. Rumor has it that WMMS had ballots printed so the public could fill them out at various events. [51] On July 31, 1947, W8XUB began broadcasting at 100.7MHz. 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. [33] Regarding the change, WMMS program director Bo Matthews (Alex Gutierrez) said, " nobody's killing anything Chief Wahoo is not on every piece of Indians promotional material Ronald McDonald is not in every McDonald's commercial We're not losing the letters. [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. They brought pleasure to the average Clevelanders workday with segments like Token Jokes of the Morning, Spousal Arousal and Blow Something Up. [134] Following Merluzzo's departure, senior vice president of programming for iHeartMedia's North Ohio region Keith Abrams was named as program director on December 4, 2017. All we can do is hope to create something cool so that in 20 years people will say, 'Man, remember what WMMS used to be like? [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. She was well on her way to becoming the queen of rock and roll. The year 1988 was a weird stretch for Neil Young. And indeed, it remains a special show in the memories of Springsteen, Weinberg and the members of the E Street Band too. Cleveland's Rock Station, home of Rover's Morning Glory, The Alan Cox Show, and FM Home of Cleveland Guardians Baseball. Cleveland Magazine has called the show a "juggernaut", and readers of Cleveland Scene named Rover the best Cleveland radio personality in 2009, 2014, and 2015 (Scene had previously recognized either Rover or his show four straight years, from 2004 to 2007, all prior to the move to WMMS). Murray Saul joined the WMMS staff as a salesman. Seth's Big Fat Barbarian Wedding - August 19th, 2005 at Shooters on the Water. The first buzzard which has penned the name The Wrath of the Buzzard can be seen sitting atop a mushroom paying homage to the former logo along with the competitors call letters WGCL and WIXY grasped in its beak. [117] BuzzardFest 2000 was held on June 30, 2000, at the Nautica Stage; Stone Temple Pilots, performing in Cleveland for the first time in six years, headlined the event.[118]. Sat 03 Jun 2023 Jiffy Lube Live Bristow, VA, US. The announcement came less than two weeks before the show. Album deejay Denny Sanders was brought in from Boston and key WNCR personnel (including former WHK-FM/WMMS personalities Martin Perlich and Billy Bass, and station newcomer David Spero) were soon hired by WMMS, taking most of their audience with them. The phallic like logo depicted a large mushroom with a little elf hanging out smoking a joint. Play-by-play itself is also limited to over-the-air FM; due to league restrictions, the WMMS webcast on iHeartRadio does not stream play-by-play coverage online. He came to the Agora armed with a new album, Darkness on the Edge of Town. Matt remains one of the most popular air personalities from WMMS' fifty year history. WMMS DJs interviewed then-little known acts such as U2 and John Cougar Mellencamp when they came through town, many of which would play the station's fabled Coffee Break Concert series too.. [44][45][46] Seven years later, members of the station's staff and management pleaded guilty to disrupting a national broadcast of The Howard Stern Show that originated via the local Stern affiliate, cross-town rival WNCX. Tom Waits WMMS Cleveland Coffee Break Concert 12-03-75 5,244 views Feb 8, 2017 125 Dislike Share Save Dadalorian 31 subscribers 1. Mama, come get your baby boy! Date unknown. EC horror comics, Fritz the Cat, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Looney Tunes all served as inspirations for the "bird of prey with attitude" concept. [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. [107][108][109][110], During this time, WMMS held a series of sold-out rock festivals that featured many of the new up-and-coming artists receiving station airplay. Born in Belgium, but raised in Cleveland and Maple Heights, Matt the Cat Lapczynski was a radio fan from an early age. The very first logo to ever be created for WMMS was a red and white rainbow. Belkin Productions staged these events, attracting popular hard rock bands and as many as 88,000 fans. BLF also praised musicians and was a great fan of the Texas Tornadoes and Blue Cheer. "I gotta blast this baby all the way to New Jersey," Springsteen quipped. Candlebox headlined the 2 stage show at Blossom Music Center on May 18, 1996. Jack and Meg played 22 songs with an encore capped by "Seven Nation Army.". [81], In the mid-1980s, WMMS was an important contributor in organizing a campaign (along with former Cleveland ad agency president Edward Spizel and author-deejay Norm N. Nite) which brought the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to Cleveland. In studio, WTAM sports director Mike Snyder hosts The Tip-Off Show, The Halftime Report, and The Nightcap Recap the network pregame, halftime, and postgame shows, respectively. . It was supposed to be a colorful logo including all the rainbow colors - but at the time, the station didn't have the budget to do multiple colors so they kept it one color. Denny Sanders & Fred Griffith. Attendance was by general admission. WMMS also airs The Week in Cox, a weekly recap show on Sunday mornings. Over the next twenty years Matt did mostly middays and hosted the weekly Coffee Break Concerts, likely introducing more concerts than anyone in Cleveland history. [128] WMMS again served as the FM flagship to the Cleveland Browns Radio Network from 2002 to 2012, with Jim Donovan and Doug Dieken as announcers. Though, one of the was "Heartbreaker.". [87] Unable to service its growing debt, Malrite chose to leave radio and sold off all its remaining properties in 1993:[37] WMMS went to Shamrock Broadcasting, the Roy Disney broadcasting firm. Features Breaker s original line-up and is their only official live recording to date. In 1988 The Plain Dealer printed a story which said the employees of WMMS had stuffed the ballot box to reign as 10 year champions. Cleveland Police wearing riot gear were called in just as headliner Green Day took the stage. [78] Concertgoers occasionally fell or jumped off the steep stadium upper deck onto the concrete seating area far below, causing serious injury. The flick which takes place in the 70s tells the story of a teenage boy who writes for Rolling Stone with the main focus being the rock band Stillwater. Based on considerably high record sales in the Cleveland market, Bowie (in his Ziggy Stardust persona alongside The Spiders from Mars) kicked off his first U.S. tour in "The Rock Capital" (a term coined by Bass). WMMS Coffee Break Concert, The Agora, Cleveland 1982 by Michael Stanley Band (Bootleg): Reviews, Ratings, Credits, Song list - Rate Your Music Black Friday Sale: 30% off yearly subscriptions for first-time subscribers WMMS Coffee Break Concert, The Agora, Cleveland 1982 Rate/Catalog --- Catalog Set listening Tags Review Track ratings 1 Issue . It was the same logo used by all of the FM radio stations owned by Metromedia at the time. All rights reserved (About Us). Springsteen Concert Poster - Agora - August 9th, 1978, Springsteen - Agora - Scene Magazine - August, 1978. Tarara Summer Concerts (Fee-Based) Leesburg. For the next three hours, spread across two sets, Springsteen did just that, telling stories and playing the best of his catalog, including a lengthy version of "Growin' Up," in which he told the tale of being sent to have a conversation with God about what he should do with his life, encountering Kid Leo along the way, who was "prayin' for more watts" for WMMS. Thu . Until Aug 21, 2022. Len "Boom" Goldberg's unmistakable voice was heard for three decades on 100.7 WMMS. Saul kicked off the weekend every Friday at 6:00pm with his Get Down rants helping Clevelanders get ready for the weekend. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- If you plan on going to the Agora in the near future, you'll notice a few eye-popping changes. His album with backing band The Bluenotes "This Notes For You," was different than anything Young had released before. For the station's tenth anniversary in 1978, WMMS hosted and broadcast a live Springsteen concert at the Agora Ballroom independent of his concert tour. One day a co-worker overheard him ranting in the halls of the radio station and got the idea to feature him on the air with a salute to the weekend. [41] WMMS also lured popular morning personalities Brian Fowler and Joe Cronauer away from rival WENZthen also an alternative rock stationas the successors to Jeff and Flash (Jeff Kinzbach, Ed Ferenc) on The Buzzard Morning Zoo. [51] Seeing a small but significant groundswell of support for the medium in the market, WHK-FM adopted a new progressive rock format on August 15, 1968. The station serves as the FM flagship for both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Guardians radio networks. On October 26, 2010, Rover hired a witch doctor to curse LeBron James after the NBA star left the Cleveland Cavaliers. [136], From the 1994 exit of Jeff Kinzbach and Ed Ferenc until the arrival of Rover's Morning Glory in 2008, WMMS gained notoriety for airing 13 distinct shows in morning drive. [51], Among the most notorious broadcasts of The Howard Stern Show occurred on June 10, 1994. On-site, play-by-play announcer Tim Alcorn calls games alongside color analyst Jim Chones, a former Cavaliers center. Jeff & Flash were also credited as being major contributors in bringing the Rock Hall to Cleveland, by heavily promoting on-air a USA Today reader poll to decide which city should get it.[82]. Other stations carried their birthday show. The movie is loosely written about director, Cameron Crowes life who as a child did in fact write for Rolling Stone and spent time on tour with bands like Led Zeppelin, Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In time, the station adopted new slogans reflecting the callsign: "We're your Modern Music Station" and "your Music Marathon Station. Rover regularly takes calls throughout the show, and often interviews guests in studio and over the phone. Following the prank announcement, station management placed Maxwell on probation for 90 days. Being one of the highest-rated radio stations in the country, he became the afternoon drive DJ in 1974, all the way until December of 1988 - which he then decided to part pays with Cleveland. Rolling Stone once called it the greatest live LP in Springsteen's catalog. Kid Leo Interviews Van Halen April 20, 1980. [102], While the change in programming alienated many longtime listeners, many of whom switched to WNCX and their full-time classic rock format, WMMS boosted its ratings for the first time in years with a new, younger audience. [28][29][30] Owned by iHeartMedia, and broadcasting a mix of active rock and hot talk, WMMS is currently the flagship station for Rover's Morning Glory, the FM flagship for the Cavaliers AudioVerse and Cleveland Guardians Radio Network, the Cleveland affiliate for The House of Hair with Dee Snider and the home of radio personality Alan Cox. The program ran on the station from the early 70s to the early 80s and featured an amazing number of noteable performers in performance from the WMMS studios. [131][132], In September 2007, WMMS management chose to "de-emphasize" both The Buzzard and WMMS call letters, referring to the station as simply "100.7", save for the FCC-mandated legal ID at the top of every hour. The band would return that December with its star on the rise. [96][98] Billboard and Airplay Monitor magazines together named WMMS Rock Station of the Year (Medium Market) in 1995,[103] and Modern Rock Station of the Year (Medium Market) in 1996. Official Post from melodicrock. Yes, that includes "More Than a Feeling. The call letters WMMS stand for "MetroMedia Stereo". The Buzzard became synonymous with WMMS, Cleveland radio and the city itself, spawning a series of T-shirts so numerous that they are now impossible to catalog, many with slogans like "Where Music Means Something" and "Ruler of the Airwaves.". 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