WKNR

WKNR (850 AM) – branded ESPN 850 WKNR – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKNR is one of two Cleveland affiliates for ESPN Radio; together, WKNR and sister station WWGK comprise a local sports radio duopoly known as ESPN Cleveland. WKNR itself also serves as: a co-flagship station for the Cleveland Browns Radio Network; the primary Cleveland affiliate for the Ohio State IMG Sports Network; and the radio home of Jerod Cherry, Tony Grossi, Matt Wilhelm, and Brian Windhorst. WKNR also shares limited local coverage of the Lake Erie Monsters. The WKNR studios are located in the Galleria at Erieview in Downtown Cleveland, while the station transmitter resides in the Cleveland suburb of North Royalton. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WKNR is available online.

Historically, the station is perhaps best known by its former WJW call letters. During the early 1950s, Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed began to popularize the term "rock and roll" as a name for the music genre both through his late night WJW radio show, and by what is often considered the first major rock and roll concert: the WJW-sponsored Moondog Coronation Ball.

WKNR (disambiguation)

WKNR may refer to:

WNIC

WNIC is an American radio station serving Detroit, broadcasting at 100.3 MHz FM. Owned by iHeartMedia and licensed to Dearborn, Michigan serving the Metro Detroit area, WNIC broadcasts an adult contemporary format. WNIC's transmitter is located near Schoolcraft and Livernois Avenue in the City of Detroit on the near west side. WNIC broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 32,000 watts from an antenna 600 feet in height. It can be heard as far as Webberville, Michigan to the west, London, Ontario to the east, and Elmore, Ohio to the south.

WNIC's studios and offices are located in Farmington Hills.

History

WKMH-FM

WNIC went on the air around 1950 as WKMH-FM, sister to WKMH/1310. Both stations were, and still are, licensed to Dearborn, Michigan.

WKNR-FM and top 40 format

On Halloween 1963, WKMH became WKNR, and legendary Top 40 radio station "Keener 13" was born, beginning a three-and-a-half-year reign at the top of Detroit's radio ratings until it was toppled by Windsor, Ontario's CKLW in 1967. WKMH-FM similarly became WKNR-FM, and chiefly simulcast Keener AM (with automated Top 40 programming during non-simulcast times) until 1969, when, inspired by the success of groundbreaking progressive rock station 99.5 WABX, the station adopted its own progressive rock sound. "Uncle" Russ Gibb was the WKNR-FM personality who helped to spread the rumor that Paul McCartney was dead. According to Gibb, a college student in Ann Arbor called him on the air one Sunday afternoon and explained the theory to him. The rumor took off from there and generated lots of publicity for Gibb and WKNR-FM. It was air personality Chris Randall who phoned WABC New York personality Roby Yonge, who put the rumor on the air in New York and was responsible for it spreading nationwide.