WAKS
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| City | Akron, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Greater Cleveland Northeast Ohio |
| Branding | 96.5 KISS FM |
| Slogan | Cleveland's #1 Hit Music Station |
| Frequency | 96.5 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | March 12, 1958 |
| Format |
Contemporary hit radio HD2: Mainstream urban |
| ERP | 31,000 watts |
| HAAT | 189 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 49952 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°16′50.00″N 81°37′22.00″W / 41.2805556°N 81.6227778°W |
| Callsign meaning | KISS-FM |
| Former callsigns | WCUE-FM (1958–77) WKDD (1977–2001) |
| Affiliations |
City Club of Cleveland iHeartRadio Premiere Networks Premium Choice Total Traffic and Weather Network |
| Owner |
iHeartMedia, Inc. (Capstar TX LLC) |
| Sister stations | WGAR-FM, WHLK, WMJI, WMMS, WTAM |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 96.5 KISS-FM |
WAKS (96.5 FM) – branded 96.5 KISS-FM – is a commercial contemporary hit radio (CHR) radio station licensed to Akron, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., WAKS serves as the Cleveland affiliate for Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, On Air with Ryan Seacrest, and American Top 40; and the home of radio personality "Java Joel" Murphy. The WAKS studios are located in the Cleveland suburb of Independence, while the station transmitter resides in neighboring Brecksville. Besides a standard analog transmission, WAKS broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online via iHeartRadio.
On March 12, 1958, WCUE (1150 AM) of Akron, Ohio launched an FM sister station at 96.5 Megahertz, WCUE-FM.
By 1977, WCUE-FM – which at that time was broadcasting an album oriented rock (AOR) format – switched its format to "mellow rock" and callsign to WKDD. John Gorman, then Program Director at Cleveland rock station WMMS, recalls competing with WKDD in the Akron and Canton radio markets in its earlier days: "... the station attempted to create a 'Mellow Rock' mascot... " By the late 1980s, WKDD unseated WMMS as the highest rated station in the Akron market, including both Summit and Portage counties. The two stations continued to struggle for ratings dominance well into the 1990s. Often, one of the two claimed the number one position in the Birch ratings service, while the other won Arbitron's top spot.
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