WNCX

WNCX (98.5 FM) – branded 98.5 WNCX – is a commercial classic rock radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Owned by CBS Radio, WNCX serves as a co-flagship station for the Cleveland Browns Radio Network; the Cleveland affiliate for Little Steven's Underground Garage; and the radio home of Michael Stanley. The WNCX studios are located at the Halle Building in Downtown Cleveland, while the station transmitter resides in the Cleveland suburb of North Royalton. Besides a standard analog transmission, WNCX broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online.

History

Early years

The station first went on the air in 1948 as WERE-FM and was the FM outlet for WERE (1300 AM), where it primarily simulcast the programming of its more popular AM sister station over the next 24 years. WERE-FM actually signed on one year prior to its AM counterpart.

Both stations lasted under common ownership for the next fifty years, as WERE-FM primarily simulcast the programming of its more popular AM sister station over the next 24 years. During the 1950s, WERE was the first popular Top 40 station in the market, spearheaded by now-legendary personalities like Bill Randle, "Captain" Carl Reese, Phil McLean, Ronnie Barrett, Howie Lund and Bob Forster. Randle was the most influential of the group, as he was the first major-market disk jockey in the Northeast United States to play Elvis Presley, and bolstered the careers of a number of young musicians, including The Four Lads, Bobby Darin, and Fats Domino. Future NBC announcer and voice-over artist Danny Dark also was a host on WERE in the early 1960s.