WKNR

WKNR

Cleveland, Ohio United States
Broadcast area	Greater Cleveland
Frequency	850 kHz
Branding	850 ESPN Cleveland
Programming
Language(s)	English
Format	Sports
Affiliations	Cleveland Browns ESPN Radio Motor Racing Network Ohio State Buckeyes
Ownership
Owner	Good Karma Brands (Good Karma Broadcasting, LLC)
History
First air date	December 31, 1926 (97 years ago) (1926-12-31)
Former call signs	WLBV (1926–29) WJW (1929–85) WRMR (1985–2001)
Former frequencies	1300 kHz (1926–27) 1450 kHz (1927–28) 1210 kHz (1928–41) 1240 kHz (1941–44)
Call sign meaning	Previously used on the current WHKW
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	28509
Class	B
Power	50,000 watts (daytime) 4,700 watts (nighttime)
Transmitter coordinates	41°19′0.19″N 81°43′50.47″W / 41.3167194°N 81.7306861°W / 41.3167194; -81.7306861
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen live
Website	www.espn.com/cleveland/

WKNR (850 AM) – branded as 850 ESPN Cleveland – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKNR is the Cleveland affiliate for ESPN Radio and the AM flagship station for the Cleveland Browns Radio Network; the Cleveland affiliate for the Ohio State Sports Network, and the radio home of Je'Rod Cherry and Tony Grossi. The WKNR studios are currently located in the East Bank of The Flats in Downtown Cleveland,^[2] while the station transmitter resides in the Cleveland suburb of North Royalton, And due to the 4-tower array at the site, WKNR’s daytime signal can be heard as far as Mansfield, and even as far as Newark and Zanesville. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WKNR is available online.

WKNR originated as WLBV in Mansfield in 1926. After adopting the WJW call letters in 1929, the station relocated twice, first to Akron in 1932 and again to Cleveland in 1943. During the early 1950s, disc jockey Alan Freed began to popularize the term "rock and roll" as a name for the music genre both through his late-night radio show, and by what is often considered the first major rock and roll concert: the WJW-sponsored Moondog Coronation Ball.^[3] WJW also served as an early home for Dorothy Fuldheim, Soupy Sales, and Casey Kasem.

Under Storer Broadcasting ownership from 1952 to 1977, WJW sported a beautiful music format throughout the 1960s. After Art Modell's Lake Erie Broadcasting purchased WJW, the format transitioned into middle of the road in 1978, and again to talk radio in 1982. Relaunched as WRMR in 1985, the station became best known as an adult standards outlet from 1988 to 2001 featuring Bill Randle.

A complex series of asset swaps resulted in the transfer of WKNR's all-sports format and call sign from 1220 AM to 850 AM on July 3, 2001. Since 2007, WKNR has been under the ownership of Craig Karmazin's Good Karma Brands.