Alternative rock station 87.7 FM, which dubbed itself “Cleveland sound,” will be changing to a Hispanic format after scarcely more than a year on the air.
The station advertised itself as “a local station for Clevelanders by Clevelanders.” Owners Tom Embrescia and Tom Wilson have roots in local radio, but there was nothing particularly local about its mixed-bag format of offbeat album tracks and hyper-familiar hits, current and classic artists. It cancelled Pat Johnson’s weekly Inner Sanctum local music show in September.
The station has faced challenges from the start. It’s at the far left of the dial, below the college radio frequencies and occasionally mistaken for John Carroll University’s established and well-respected WJCU at 88.7 FM. Its frequency is the audio channel of a low-power television station. It’s hard to find and can be hard to hear.
Many of its air staff were inexperienced. It held highly publicized “auditions” for announcers at the Beachland Ballroom, but “found” people like over-caffeinated morning man Archie Berwick aka “The Black Mr. Rogers,” who had no previous on-air experience — and it showed. Still, Berwick was more or less the face of a station, featured in its unforgettable, head-scratching promotional videos and acting as emcee at station-sponsored events. He was let go last month.
Embrescia’s and Wilson’s company, Murray Hill Broadcasting, which operates out of the Agora building at E. 50th and Euclid, have made a deal with a Spanish-language broadcaster out of Cincinnati which broadcasts in Cincinnati and Columbus as “La Mega.” The change is due January 1.
Fans mourning the demise of the “Cleveland Sound” should know it wasn’t long for this world anyway. Low-powered TV signals like the one it’s broadcasting on are scheduled to convert to digital by September 2015 and won’t be able to broadcast as radio stations anymore.
One Response to “@877Cleveland to Change Formats in January”
Mark
I’m really not surprised. I’m sad for the loss of a radio preset option, but not surprised. It could never quite figure out what it wanted to be.