WDLW
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| City | Lorain, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Lorain County Greater Cleveland (limited) |
| Branding | Kool Kat Oldies 1380 AM & 98.9 FM |
| Frequency | 1380 kHz |
| Translator(s) | 98.9 W255CW (Lorain) |
| First air date | October 26, 1958 |
| Format | Oldies |
| Power | 500 watts (daytime) 57 watts (nighttime) |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 70108 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°25′48.00″N 82°09′7.00″W / 41.4300000°N 82.1519444°W |
| Callsign meaning |
W "Doug and Lorie Wilber" (current owners) |
| Former callsigns | WWIZ (1958–67) WLRO (1969–84) WRKG (1984–97) WELL (1997) |
| Affiliations |
Fox News Radio ONN Radio |
| Owner | WDLW Radio, Inc. (WDLW Radio, Inc.) |
| Sister stations | WOBL |
| Website | woblwdlw |
WDLW (1380 AM) – branded Kool Kat Oldies 1380 AM & 98.9 FM – is a commercial oldies radio station licensed to Lorain, Ohio. Owned by WDLW Radio, Inc., the station serves Lorain County and western parts of Greater Cleveland. WDLW also simulcasts over Lorain translator W255CW (98.9 FM).
WDLW's studios are located in the city of Oberlin, while the transmitters for both WDLW and W255CW reside in Sheffield Township.
WDLW's roots can be traced back to WWIZ, a modest 500-watt daytime-only station at 1380 kHz. The second AM station in Lorain County, WWIZ was the first to directly serve the city of Lorain. Studios were set up in Lorain's downtown area, and a transmitter was built in adjacent Sheffield Township. Among the early radio hosts at "W-WIZ" included Bob Lockwood, Alan Mink, Jeff Baxter (who doubled as program director), Bob Lee and Bob "BJ" Sellers, later known as "The Polka King" in the morning slot. WWIZ signed on on October 26, 1958, and soon promoted itself as "Lorain's Most Listened to Radio Station." Behind the scenes, however, WWIZ's history was troubled right from the start.
The station was founded by Sanford A. Schafitz, a native of the Youngstown area. Schafitz also started up WFAR in Farrell, Pennsylvania and WXTV-TV in Youngstown a few years earlier. But on September 15, 1958 – one month before the station signed on – Schafitz arranged a deal with The Journal in Lorain.The Journal, as it turned out, was a party that actually tried to get the station assigned in the first place via a complicated straw-man transaction designed to circumvent the legal requirements which prevented Journal Publishing from holding a license. This likely came about after the parent company of The Journal's chief competitor, The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, acquired Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting (owner of WEOL AM/FM) months earlier.
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Wikipedia