City | Cleveland, Ohio |
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Broadcast area | Greater Cleveland |
Branding | AM 1260 The Rock |
Frequency | 1260 kHz |
First air date | April 30, 1950 |
Format | Religious (Catholic) |
Power | 10,000 watts (daytime) 5,000 watts (nighttime) |
Class | B |
Facility ID | 17015 |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°17′10.00″N 81°38′34.00″W / 41.2861111°N 81.6427778°W |
Callsign meaning | Cleveland Catholic Radio |
Former callsigns | WDOK (1950–65) WIXY (1965–76) WMGC (1976–78) WBBG (1978–87) WMJI (1987–88) WRDZ (1988–95) WMIH (1995–98) WWMK (1998–2015) |
Affiliations | EWTN Radio |
Owner | St. Peter the Rock Media, Inc. (St. Peter the Rock Media, Inc.) |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | am1260therock |
WCCR (1260 AM) – branded AM 1260 The Rock – is a commercial religious radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland. Owned by St. Peter the Rock Media, Inc., a nonprofit corporation which has applied for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service, WCCR airs Catholic programming as the Cleveland affiliate for EWTN Radio. The WCCR studios are located in the Cleveland suburb of Broadview Heights, while the station transmitter resides in neighboring Brecksville.
The station began on April 30, 1950, as WDOK when Wayne Mack resigned his position at WGAR (AM) to establish the station with Frederick C. Wolf and chief engineer Morris Pierce, who became station president. Wolf himself was a longtime ethnic broadcaster on Cleveland stations WHK, WJAY, and WGAR (AM), in addition to being the founder of Cleveland Recording Co. for the production of spot commercials, nationality music, and auditions.
Early programming was highlighted by Wayne Mack's imaginary concert programs, such as "Hometown Band Concert", "Candlelight Concert", and "Waltz Palace." WDOK's format was soon simulcast full-time on WDOK 102.1-FM, which originated as WEWS-FM in 1950. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, the station maintained a format of adult standards, although it did buck contemporary music trends by broadcasting two hours of classical music programming each night. By 1957, WDOK also was the radio home for 18 different nationality programs, most of them broadcast on Sundays. Wolf sold his stake in WDOK and WDOK-FM to Transcontinent Television Corp. of New York in 1962.