WCLV

[[File:Students broadcasting over radio station WBOE, Cleveland, Ohio (1939).jpg|thumb|upright=1.13|

Early student-produced broadcast over WBOE, {{Circa|1939}}.{{Cite news |date=May 1939 |title=Cover photograph |volume=24 |page=1 |work=School Life magazine |publisher=United States Office of Education |issue=8 |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015022428349&view=1up&seq=255&skin=2021 |url-status=live |access-date=July 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813183358/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015022428349&view=1up&seq=255 |archive-date=August 13, 2020 |via=HathiTrust}}|alt=|left]]

Organized radio broadcasting was introduced in the United States in the early 1920s, and by the mid-1930s, the standard amplitude modulation (AM) broadcast band was considered to be too full to allow any meaningful increase in the number of stations. Looking to expand the number of available frequencies, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began to issue licenses to parties interested in testing the suitability of using higher transmitting frequencies between roughly 25 and 44 MHz. These stations were informally known as "Apex" stations, due to the tall height of their transmitter antennas, which were needed because coverage was primarily limited to local line-of-sight distances. These original Apex stations operated under experimental licenses, and like standard broadcasting stations, used AM transmissions.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Public School system in Cleveland, Ohio, had shown interest in utilizing radio broadcasts as an instructional aide as early as 1925,{{sfn|Helman|1949|p=53}} broadcasting a music appreciation class over WTAM twice each week.{{sfn|Atkinson|1942|p=26}} Contracting with WHK in 1929, the school system purchased 15-minute blocks of airtime at reduced rates, focusing on specific subjects like arithmetic, music and geography; two Cleveland schools were selected for this experiment, with their existing public address system connected to WHK's signal. By February 1932, the district moved their broadcasts back to WTAM, now NBC-owned, which offered them a daily block of airtime.{{sfn|Rice|1941|p=35}} During the WTAM partnership, the school programs became more sophisticated, including a 43-part series on literacy, geared towards specific age groups from elementary to high school.{{sfn|Rice|1941|pp=36–37}} It would be a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation's General Education Board in 1937,{{Cite news |last=Levenson |first=William B. |date=April 1941 |title=FM for Cleveland School System: How Cleveland's WBOE, Now Changed to FM, Serves as Educational Auxiliary |volume=1 |pages=5–7, 45–46 |work=FM Magazine |issue=6 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-FM-Magazine/FM-1941-Apr.pdf#page=7 |access-date=July 18, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=April 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408000743/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-FM-Magazine/FM-1941-Apr.pdf#page=7 |url-status=live }} coupled with the demands of accommodating commercial radio, that prompted the school system to enter broadcasting.{{sfn|Atkinson|1942|p=28}}

File:Drury Plaza Hotel (26715054576).jpg).]]

On July 22, 1937, the Cleveland Board of Education filed paperwork to establish an experimental radio station on {{Frequency|26.4|MHz}}{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=70058 |title= History Cards for WBOE|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) but the FCC reallocated the Apex frequencies after discovering ionospheric strengthening from high solar activity resulted in strong and undesirable skywave, with two existing stations being heard as far away as Australia.{{Cite news |last=Ferrell Jr. |first=Perry |date=December 1937 |title=Ultra-High: When to Listen – What to Listen For |volume=3 |pages=628–629, 664–666 |work=All-Wave Radio |issue=12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Wave-Radio/All-Wave-1937-12.pdf |access-date=July 19, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=March 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322180909/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Wave-Radio/All-Wave-1937-12.pdf |url-status=live }} Announced in October 1937, the new allocations resulted in a dedicated band for Apex stations consisting of 75 channels with {{Frequency|40|kHz}} separations, and spanning from {{Frequency|41.02–43.98|MHz}}.{{Cite news |date=November 1, 1937 |title=Upper Bands Set Aside for Television |volume=13 |pages=60–61 |work=Broadcasting |issue=9 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1937/1937-11-01-BC.pdf |access-date=July 19, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151437/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1937/1937-11-01-BC.pdf |url-status=live }} In addition, the band's first 25 channels, from {{Frequency|41.02–41.98|MHz}}, were reserved in January 1938 for non-commercial educational stations.{{Cite news |date=February 1, 1938 |title=Ultra-high Waves Granted Educators |volume=14 |page=17 |work=Broadcasting |issue=3 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1938/1938-02-01-BC.pdf |access-date=July 19, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151333/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1938/1938-02-01-BC.pdf |url-status=live }}{{r|FMmagWBOE}}{{efn|Although there had been stations operated by educational institutions on the standard AM band since the early 1920s, including Ohio State University's WOSU, those stations were not under a separate license classification up to this point.}} The school board's application was accordingly modified on January 31, 1938, from an experimental station to an educational station at {{Frequency|41.5|MHz}} with 500 watts.{{r|history}} Assigned the WBOE call sign, the station became fully licensed on November 21, 1938, as the first authorized educational broadcasting station{{Cite book |last=Hill |first=Harold E. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015005258184&view=1up&seq=67&skin=2021 |title=The National Association of Educational Broadcasters: A History |publisher=The National Association of Educational Broadcasters |year=1954 |location=Urbana, Illinois |pages=29 |access-date=July 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713023005/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015005258184&view=1up&seq=67 |archive-date=July 13, 2020 |url-status=live |via=HathiTrust}}{{Cite news |date=November 26, 1938 |title=Listening to Learn |volume=8 |page=14 |work=Radio Guide |issue=6 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Guide/1938/Radio-Guide-38-11-26.pdf#page=16 |url-status=live |access-date=July 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703124907/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Guide/1938/Radio-Guide-38-11-26.pdf#page=16 |archive-date=July 3, 2020 |via=World Radio History}} with facilities and transmitter located at Lafayette School on Abell Avenue.{{r|history}} 150 custom-built crystal radio sets were purchased by the district and distributed to all the schools, tuned to pick up WBOE and the respective school's public address system.{{sfn|Atkinson|1942|p=28}} Because conventional radio sets could not pick up the Apex band, WBOE did not have any discernable audience otherwise; as educator Paul C. Reed summarized the station, "WBOE, as originally set up, could reach its schools but could not reach an adult audience at home."{{sfn|Reed|1941|p=36}}

At launch, WBOE only operated on school days for seven hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.{{r|FMmagWBOE}} with instructional material for students from kindergarten to high school.{{sfn|Atkinson|1942|p=31}} Because of the prior arrangements on WTAM and WHK, several divisions in the school district already boasted as much as eight years of broadcasting experience.{{sfn|Helman|1949|p=53}} Studios were constructed on the sixth floor of the Board of Education building in Downtown Cleveland, which radio supervisor William B. Levenson boasted as "one of the finest in the country".{{r|FMmagWBOE}} All but one of the high schools in the district launched radio workshops that originated educational programming for WBOE in a method likened to affiliate stations contributing to a radio network.{{sfn|Levenson|1946|p=308}} In the spring of 1939, WBOE experimented with facsimile transmissions sent outside of regular programming hours for distributing printed materials such as lesson instructions, announcements and maps;{{Cite news |date=June 1939 |title=The Radio Month in Review |volume=10 |pages=711, 748–750 |work=Radio-Craft |issue=12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Craft/1930s/Radio-Craft-1939-06.pdf |access-date=July 19, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=October 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211002050544/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Craft/1930s/Radio-Craft-1939-06.pdf |url-status=live }} this was demonstrated during the American Association of School Administrators' annual conference held in Cleveland.{{Cite news |date=March 1, 1939 |title=Facsimile in Cleveland |volume=16 |page=62 |work=Broadcasting |issue=5 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1939/1939-03-01-BC.pdf |access-date=July 19, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108154943/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1939/1939-03-01-BC.pdf |url-status=live }}

File:WBOE FM xltr.jpg exciter (right) donated by Major Edwin Howard Armstrong, the inventor of FM]]

At the same time the {{Frequency|41–44|MHz}} Apex band was established, the FCC noted that research would begin on the technical requirements of frequency modulation as a possible alternative to the ultra high frequency broadcasts that Apex utilitzed.{{r|upper}} FM experimentations soon revealed significant advantages to Apex, especially with sound quality and resistance to interference from static, including from lightning.{{Cite news |last=Robertson |first=Bruce |date=February 1, 1939 |title=Armstrong Soon to Start Staticless Radio |volume=16 |pages=19, 56 |work=Broadcasting |issue=3 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1939/1939-02-01-BC.pdf |access-date=July 19, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151243/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1939/1939-02-01-BC.pdf |url-status=live }} The reassigned Apex band was also still prone to extreme skywave propagation, with WBOE receiving reception reports throughout the western and southwestern U.S. and as far as England.{{Cite news |last=Powell |first=Marie M. |date=September 10, 1939 |title=3 R's—by Radio |page=5 |newspaper=The Montana Standard Magazine |agency=Every Week Magazine |location=Butte, Montana |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55790271/3-rsby-radio/ |access-date=July 19, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720004628/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55790271/3-rsby-radio/ |url-status=live }} In May 1940, the FCC decided to authorize an FM broadcast band, effective January 1, 1941, operating on 40 channels spanning {{Frequency|42–50|MHz}}, with the first five channels reserved for educational stations.[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112059131711&view=1up&seq=767 "FCC Order No. 67"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115061240/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112059131711&view=1up&seq=765 |date=January 15, 2022 }}, Federal Register, May 25, 1940, page 2011. Apex stations were subsequently informed by the Commission that they needed to either go silent or convert to FM transmission, effectively eliminating the Apex band.[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044107899262&view=1up&seq=91 "FCC Order No. 69"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704191723/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044107899262&view=1up&seq=91 |date=July 4, 2020 }} Federal Communications Commission, May 22, 1940. WBOE was one of only three educational Apex stations to have ever signed on, the other two being WNYE in New York City{{Cite news |date=April 1, 1939 |title=Radio and Education (photograph caption) |volume=16 |page=74 |work=Broadcasting |issue=7 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1939/1939-04-01-BC.pdf |access-date=July 26, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151323/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1939/1939-04-01-BC.pdf |url-status=live }} and WBKY in Beattyville, Kentucky.{{Cite news |date=February 1941 |title=Radio Education by Short-Wave Makes History in Kentucky |volume=3 |page=3 |work=FREC Service Bulletin |publisher=Federal Radio Education Committee |issue=2 |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2564342&view=1up&seq=69&skin=2021 |url-status=live |access-date=July 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712115824/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2564342&view=1up&seq=69 |archive-date=July 12, 2020 |via=HathiTrust}}

WBOE applied on August 5, 1940, to change to FM operation with 1,000 watts on {{Frequency|42.5|MHz}}{{r|history}} and new FM radio receivers were purchased for placement in the participating schools. A transmitter and FM exciter{{Cite news |last=Pruitt |first=Bert |date=December 1943 |title=Education By Radio |volume=10 |pages=14–15 |work=The Broadcast Engineers' Journal |publisher=National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians |issue=12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Broadcast-Engineers-Journal/BEJ-1943-12.pdf |access-date=July 17, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=September 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923013042/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Broadcast-Engineers-Journal/BEJ-1943-12.pdf |url-status=live }} were donated to the station by FM's inventor, Major Edwin Howard Armstrong, who was impressed with the station's educational work during a tour of their facilities.{{r|BMEduFM}} On February 3, 1941, WBOE achieved several firsts: it became the first licensed non-commercial educational station on FM in the United States, the first licensed FM station in Cleveland and one of the first in the state of Ohio,{{efn|When WBOE's conversion took place, only about a dozen FM stations were on the air in the entire country, most of them experimental stations. W45CM in Columbus, Ohio, which was founded as experimental FM station W8XVH, became the first licensed commercial FM station in the state later in the year.{{Cite news|date=November 9, 1941|title=W45CM Brings 'Static-Free' Radio To Columbus|page=20|newspaper=Columbus Dispatch|location=Columbus, Ohio}}}} still maintaining a schedule from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on school days.{{Cite news |date=February 10, 1941 |title=Education by FM |volume=20 |page=49 |work=Broadcasting |issue=5 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1941/1941-02-10-BC.pdf |access-date=July 26, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151219/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1941/1941-02-10-BC.pdf |url-status=live }} The National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB) expressed hope WBOE's FM conversion and the coming availability of FM sets entering the marketplace could help the station find listeners outside of the classroom, a sentiment shared by U.S. Commissioner of Education John W. Studebaker, who lobbied for the {{Frequency|42–44|MHz}} non-commercial allotment.{{Cite news |date=October 15, 1940 |title=FM speeds use of radio in adult education |pages=1–3 |work=NAEB Newsletter |publisher=National Association of Educational Broadcasters |location=Urbana, Illinois |url=https://archive.org/details/naeb-b110-f09-21/mode/2up?q=WBOE |access-date=July 19, 2022}}

{{Quote box

| quote = Judging by the interest of educators in the operation of the Cleveland School Station WBOE, it is quite probable that there will be a steady, if not rapid, growth of such FM transmitters throughout the country.

| author = William B. Levenson

| source = supervisor of radio activities, Cleveland Board of Education{{r|FMmagWBOE}}

| align = right

| width = 275px

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Four years later, the FCC announced that, due to interference concerns, it was reallocating the current FM "low band" frequencies to other services, and existing FM band stations would be relocated to {{Frequency|88–106|MHz}} (later expanded to {{Frequency|108|MHz}}). Once again this meant that the transmitter had to be replaced, and the school radios upgraded for reception on the new band.{{Cite news |last=Bailey |first=Bill |date=July 2, 1945 |title=FCC Allocates 88-106 mc Band to FM |volume=29 |pages=13–14 |work=Broadcasting |issue=1 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1945/1945-07-02-BC.pdf |access-date=July 26, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151446/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1945/1945-07-02-BC.pdf |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=July 2, 1945 |title=FCC Allocations Order Text |volume=29 |pages=64, 68 |work=Broadcasting |issue=1 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1945/1945-07-02-BC.pdf |access-date=July 26, 2022 |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151446/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1945/1945-07-02-BC.pdf |url-status=live }} In July 1946, the FCC directed that FM stations currently operating on {{Frequency|42–44|MHz}} would have to move to new frequencies by the end of the year,{{Cite news |date=July 20, 1946 |title=Filling in the Spectrum |volume=2 |page=1 |work=Television Digest and FM Reports |issue=29 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-TV-Digest/40s/TV-Digest-1946-07.pdf#page=17 |url-status=live |access-date=July 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609111225/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-TV-Digest/40s/TV-Digest-1946-07.pdf#page=17 |archive-date=June 9, 2020 |via=World Radio History}} and WBOE was reassigned to {{Frequency|44.3|MHz}}.{{Cite news |date=January 1947 |title=FCC Orders Cessation of FM Broadcasts in Low Band |volume=9 |page=3 |work=Service Bulletin of the FREC |publisher=Federal Radio Education Committee |issue=1 |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2564342&view=1up&seq=261 |url-status=live |access-date=July 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925180141/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2564342&view=1up&seq=261 |archive-date=September 25, 2020 |via=HathiTrust}} WBOE's initial assignment on the new FM "high" band was for {{Frequency|90.1|MHz}}, however a subsequent reallocation in the fall of 1947 moved the station to {{Frequency|90.3|MHz}}.{{Cite news |date=June 23, 1947 |title=New Frequency Assignments for FM Stations in the United States |volume=32 |page=38 |work=Broadcasting |issue=25 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1947/1947-06-23-BC.pdf#page=39 |url-status=live |access-date=July 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609111409/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1947/1947-06-23-BC.pdf#page=39 |archive-date=June 9, 2020 |via=World Radio History}} During a transition period, the FCC allowed stations to simultaneously broadcast on both their old and new assignments, and in July 1948 the Board of Education requested permission to remain on {{Frequency|44.5|MHz}} "for as long as possible",Letter to FCC dated July 13, 1948. and from September 1 to the end of the year WBOE was permitted to broadcast on both frequencies.{{Cite news |date=January 3, 1949 |title=Low-Band FM Dropped by 11 Stations |volume=36 |page=42 |work=Broadcasting |issue=2 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1949/1949-01-10-BC.pdf |access-date=July 26, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108155239/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1949/1949-01-10-BC.pdf |url-status=live }} On January 1, 1949, WBOE began broadcast solely on {{Frequency|90.3|MHz}}, increasing its transmitter power to 3,000 watts and an effective radiated power (ERP) of 10,000 watts; a power upgrade to 5,000 watts and an ERP of 15,000 watts took place on December 9, 1959.{{r|history}}

{{Quote box

| quote = No other school system in the country, as yet, has carried the experiment of direct teaching by radio quite so far. For example, a history broadcast for elementary classes may be scheduled. Classroom teachers have tuned in at the proper hour and from the loudspeaker their pupils might hear: "Good morning, children. In my visit with you, today, I shall talk about the three-cornered trade route which was so important to our country's early development." The clear, distinct voice of a teacher, carefully selected for her radio personality, for her success as a classroom teacher, and for her ability to sense the reaction of the unseen hundreds she now instructs, is speaking.

| author = Marie M. Powell

| source = for Every Week Magazine{{r|Montan19390910p49}}

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From its 1938 sign on and in the 39 years that followed, WBOE operated as an adjunct of the Cleveland Public Schools, with broadcasts limited to school days and going dark during weekends, holidays and summer vacations.{{Cite magazine |last=Carson |first=Saul |date=April 11, 1949 |title=On the Air: Midwest Model |volume=120 |pages=28–29 |magazine=The New Republic |issue=15 |location=New York, New York |id={{EBSCOhost|14610646}} |via=EBSCOhost}} Additional "preview" programming was sometimes transmitted for teachers during after-school hours, introducing any forthcoming series and to familiarize themselves with course material and the presenters.{{sfn|Levenson|1946|pp=308–309}} By 1949, the school system employed eleven scriptwriters on a full-time basis, more than any of the 12 commercial radio stations in the city.{{r|TNR19490411p28}} Programs often had periods of silent intervals in order for teachers to present supplemental materials,{{r|RadioGuideV8I6p14}}{{sfn|Atkinson|1942|pp=28, 32–33}}{{efn|One of the reasons the Cleveland Public Schools entered radio broadcasting via WBOE was the resistance by commercial radio of such silent intervals during their programs, noting that "there is a basic distinction between educational and commercial broadcasting.{{sfn|Atkinson|1942|p=33}}}} and some programs incorporated the use of lantern slides in the classroom as a visual component.{{sfn|Levenson|1946|p=309}}

Saul Carson, writing for The New Republic, called WBOE "a model for the country" and "the most exciting broadcasting job being done".{{r|TNR19490411p28}} Contemporary historian Carroll Atkinson, Ph.D. regarded the Cleveland schools as the "strongest exponent of the 'master teacher' ideal in the value of radio instruction"{{sfn|Atkinson|1942|p=28}} while William B. Levenson called WBOE "America's Pioneer School Station".{{sfn|Levenson|1946|p=308}} The station would soon have an international influence when Levenson was a featured speaker at a March 1946 conference for the Canadian National Advisory Council on School Broadcasting, with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation executives in attendance.{{Cite news |date=March 4, 1946 |title=Education Meet |volume=30 |page=68 |work=Broadcasting |issue=9 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1946/1946-03-04-BC.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=July 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721155936/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1946/1946-03-04-BC.pdf |archive-date=July 21, 2020 |via=World Radio History}} The "Cleveland Plan" became a sobriquet to describe WBOE as a model for educational radio, but station director Edwin F. Helman downplayed this in 1949, writing, "we have the natural feeling that there is nothing different about our aims or programming—only the differences... from being a local and not a regional station."{{sfn|Helman|1949|p=53}} Edward L. Hoon of the Ohio Education Association cited WBOE as a way to effectively reach students who were sick, hospitalized or unable to physically attend classes.{{Cite news |last=Hoon |first=Edward L. |date=January 10, 1951 |title=School Time |page=7 |newspaper=Chillicothe Gazette |location=Chillicothe, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106061319/school-time/ |access-date=July 22, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722012744/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106061319/school-time/ |url-status=live }}

File:Elementary_classroom_with_WBOE_c_1941.jpg

Even as WBOE was a non-commercial station, the Cleveland Public Schools made special arrangements with WTAM, WHK, WGAR, WCLE and WJW{{efn|Licensed to Akron, Ohio, when WBOE signed on, WJW moved to Cleveland in 1943. Likewise, WCLE moved from Cleveland to Akron in 1945.}} to provide access to educational sustaining programs from the four major radio networks: NBC, Blue/ABC, CBS and Mutual.{{r|FMmagWBOE}}{{sfn|Levenson|1946|p=309}} All stations supplied private lines to WBOE's studios for the purpose of either directly broadcasting sustaining programs to a classroom{{efn|Sustaining programs were usually presented on commercial radio networks with no in-program advertisements.}} or to record them for future rebroadcast, sometimes with added narration.{{Cite news |date=June 20, 1944 |title=Program Planning for FM School Stations |volume=2 |pages=4–6 |work=Education for Victory |publisher=United States Office of Education |issue=24 |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_education-for-victory_1944-06-20_2_24/page/n3/mode/2up |access-date=July 19, 2022}} Provided daily listings from all four networks, WBOE had the ability to broadcast live speeches or addresses from world leaders if any network carried it.{{r|FMmagWBOE}} Newscasts from all four networks were also rebroadcast, along with locally originated programs from the stations if they were of educational interest.{{sfn|Atkinson|1942|pp=31–32}} Sustaining programs relayed over WBOE during the 1939–1940 school year included Mutual's Intercollegiate Debates, NBC's Gallant American Women and Between the Bookends, and CBS's Young People's Concerts.{{r|FMmagWBOE}} This arrangement was briefly imperiled in November 1945 when American Federation of Musicians president James Petrillo directed networks to ban the duplication of programs containing music on FM stations, preventing WBOE from accessing CBS's The American School of the Air via WGAR;{{Cite news |date=October 30, 1945 |title=Petrillo Order Bars FM Use Of Network |page=7 |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |agency=Associated Press |location=Baltimore, Maryland |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105933130/petrillo-order-bars-fm-use-of-network/ |access-date=July 19, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720004630/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105933130/petrillo-order-bars-fm-use-of-network/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=October 30, 1945 |title=Cleveland Schools' FM Radio Only Slightly Hurt By Latest Petrillo Ban |page=8 |newspaper=The Coshocton Tribune |agency=International News Service |location=Coshocton, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105932668/cleveland-schools-fm-radio-only/ |access-date=July 19, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720004628/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105932668/cleveland-schools-fm-radio-only/ |url-status=live }} the AFM relaxed the ban for WBOE a few weeks later.{{Cite web |last=Ramsburg |first=Jim |title=DECEMBER IN THE GOLDEN AGE |url=http://www.jimramsburg.com/december-in-the-golden-age.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222080408/http://www.jimramsburg.com/december-in-the-golden-age.html |archive-date=December 22, 2021 |access-date=July 19, 2022 |website=Gold Time Radio |language=en}} WBOE also rebroadcast installments of The Ohio Story, a regionally syndicated anthology series WTAM originated{{r|TNR19490411p28}} by arrangement of Ohio Bell with all commercials excised.{{sfn|Helman|1949|p=54}}

As radio networks phased out sustaining programming,{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Adriene |date=May 29, 2014 |title=Public radio's teachable moment |url=https://www.marketplace.org/2014/05/29/public-radios-teachable-moment/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415091406/http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/learning-curve/public-radios-teachable-moment |archive-date=April 15, 2015 |access-date=July 23, 2022 |website=Marketplace |publisher=American Public Media |language=en-US}} WBOE began carrying shows through the NAEB Tape Network, which functioned through mail order reel-to-reel tapes{{Cite news |date=May 28, 1953 |title=Program Offering – To: All NAEB Stations; From: NAEB HEQ.; Re: School Program Series: Meeting the Situation |page=56 |work=Programs, Correspondence, 1951-1954 |publisher=National Association of Educational Broadcasters |url=https://archive.org/details/naeb-b071-f02/page/n55/mode/2up?q=WBOE |access-date=July 21, 2022}} instead of dedicated phone lines.{{Cite news |last=Stagg |first=Mildred |date=November–December 1954 |title=The NAEB Tape Network |volume=2 |pages=25–28 |work=Magnetic Film & Tape Recording |issue=1 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Tape-Recording/50s/Tape-Recording-1954-12.pdf |access-date=July 21, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=October 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211012071949/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Tape-Recording/50s/Tape-Recording-1954-12.pdf |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=November 1953 |title=This is the NAEB Tape Network |volume=18 |pages=2–3 |work=WOSU Program Bulletin |publisher=Ohio State University |issue=3 |location=Columbus, Ohio |url=https://archive.org/details/naeb-b081-f06/page/n127/mode/2up?q=WBOE |access-date=July 21, 2022}} WNYE had already been supplying recordings of their weekly Assignment: U.N. to WBOE, which was utilized for high school students.{{sfn|Helman|1949|p=53}} By 1954, WBOE was one of approximately 90 stations that participated in the service, and one of nine in the state.{{r|TapeRecNAEB}} WBOE occasionally did broadcast outside of the school day: for a two-week period in January 1954, WBOE experimented with a five-hour evening program block aimed at adults; such fare already aired over WBOE during semester breaks.{{Cite news |date=January 23, 1953 |title=Plans Evening Broadcasts |page=2 |newspaper=Springfield News-Sun |agency=Associated Press |location=Springfield, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106057640/plans-evening-broadcasts/ |access-date=July 21, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722012745/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106057640/plans-evening-broadcasts/ |url-status=live }} When WERE-FM (98.5) suspended broadcasting as part of an antenna upgrade, WBOE broadcast that station's evening programming commercial-free from late January 1958 until March 1958, with WERE-FM management sending a "sincere thank you" in return.Proceedings of the [Cleveland] Board of Education, Vol. 79. WBOE and WERE-FM also collaborated for an experimental stereophonic sound broadcast over two Sunday nights in April 1959.Proceedings of the [Cleveland] Board of Education, Vol. 80. Starting in 1960 and running through 1967, the station aired Healthlines, a weekly series aimed at physicians by the Academy of Medicine of Cleveland & Northeast Ohio that WGAR originated.{{Cite news |date=January–February 2007 |title=Healthlines Reaffirms Commitment to Public Health, Adds New Voice to Program |volume=91 |pages=1–2 |work=AMCNO Northern Ohio Physician |publisher=The Academy of Medicine of Cleveland & Northern Ohio |issue=1 |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.amcno.org/assets/docs/2007%20janfebfinal.pdf |access-date=July 29, 2022 |archive-date=July 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730033753/https://www.amcno.org/assets/docs/2007%20janfebfinal.pdf |url-status=live }} The NAEB Tape Network was reorganized into the National Educational Radio Network in 1963, then sold to National Public Radio (NPR) as part of that network's 1971 launch; the tape network affiliates (including WBOE){{Cite news |last=Clark |first=Ken |date=September 27, 1968 |title=National Educational Radio: Seventh Report, Radio Programs for the Disadvantaged |page=3 (51) |work=Programs, Correspondence, 1968, August–December |publisher=National Association of Educational Broadcasters |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://archive.org/details/naeb-b071-f05/page/n49/mode/2up |access-date=July 21, 2022}} did not join NPR proper despite the changes, a distinction NPR emphasized.{{Cite book |last=Howard |first=Jon R. |url=https://archive.org/details/evolutionofeduca00howa/page/n79/mode/2up |title=Evolution of an educational radio program service network in the United States: a history of networks 1914-1971 |publisher=Kansas State University |year=1987 |location=Manhattan, Kansas |pages=76–80 |access-date=July 21, 2022}}

File:Dr. William B. Levenson.jpg

The Cleveland school's emphasis on visual aides, including instructors and recorded music, to accentuate programs over WBOE led Variety to describe the radio station in their March 8, 1944, issue as "a close facsimile to actual television", suggesting that WBOE could be a forerunner to educational television.{{Cite news |date=March 8, 1954 |title=Cleveland paves way for Tele Education |volume=153 |page=35 |work=Variety |issue=13 |location=New York, New York |url=https://archive.org/details/variety153-1944-03/page/n89/mode/2up |access-date=July 21, 2022}} During a keynote speech at the NAEB's 1953 Lincoln Lodge Seminar, Levenson reflected on WBOE's effectiveness as a learning tool, seeing television as a step forward and a way for students to learn by being emotionally involved in the course material.{{sfn|Levenson|1953|pp=51–52}} Levenson also noted that television courses need to be presented not as supplementary to a course, but intrinsic to it, a process that had been successful at WBOE.{{sfn|Levenson|1953|p=56}} While many teachers in the district were initially reluctant to work with the medium, a full generation of teachers had "grown up with radio" and thus saw the value and potential of mass media.{{sfn|Levenson|1953|p=58}} Earlier in 1953, the Board of Education set aside $200,000 (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|200000|1953}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) for possible investment into a television station, committing to investigate the necessary costs.{{Cite news |date=January 6, 1953 |title=Cleveland Board Of Education To Study TV Costs |page=11 |newspaper=The Newark Advocate |agency=Associated Press |location=Newark, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106057212/cleveland-board-of-education-to-study/ |access-date=July 21, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722012744/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106057212/cleveland-board-of-education-to-study/ |url-status=live }}

It would not be until 1961 that area civic leaders, including Cleveland mayor Anthony J. Celebrezze, agreed to a plan financing the construction of six educational UHF stations throughout Northeast Ohio, including one in Cleveland.{{Cite news |date=August 18, 1961 |title=Plan To Build 6 Educational TV Stations |page=7 |newspaper=Lancaster Eagle-Gazette |agency=Associated Press |location=Lancaster, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106057844/plan-to-build-6-educational-tv-stations/ |access-date=July 22, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722012745/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106057844/plan-to-build-6-educational-tv-stations/ |url-status=live }} Similar to radio 30 years earlier, the Cleveland schools forged arrangements with the city's three existing television stations—KYW-TV, WEWS-TV and WJW-TV—at the end of 1961, with each station providing a daily 15-minute block to air shows developed by WBOE staff; the schools were also furnished with up to $30,000 ({{Inflation|index=US|value=30000|start_year=1961|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}) worth of television sets.{{Cite news |date=December 5, 1961 |title=Cleveland Plans Educational TV |page=14 |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal |agency=Associated Press |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103279728/cleveland-plans-educational-tv/ |access-date=July 21, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722012745/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103279728/cleveland-plans-educational-tv/ |url-status=live }} Levenson had been elevated to Cleveland schools superintendent earlier in 1961{{Cite news |date=June 13, 1961 |title=Levenson Named Schools' Head At Cleveland |page=5 |newspaper=The News-Messenger |agency=Associated Press |location=Fremont, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106156371/levenson-named-schools-head-at/ |access-date=July 23, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723195356/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106156371/levenson-named-schools-head-at/ |url-status=live }} and held the position until resigning in 1964 amid demands to implement desegregation busing with three predominantly white schools, but declined to cite that as the reason for his resignation.{{Cite news |date=February 14, 1964 |title=School Chief Won't Tell Why He Quit |page=12 |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal |agency=Associated Press |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106155634/school-chief-wont-tell-why-he-quit/ |access-date=July 23, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723195357/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106155634/school-chief-wont-tell-why-he-quit/ |url-status=live }}

WVIZ signed on as Cleveland's educational television outlet on February 7, 1965, owned by a consortium and based out of Max S. Hayes High School.{{Cite web |last=Dawidziak |first=Mark |date=September 16, 2013 |title=Betty Cope, founding president of WVIZ Channel 25, dies at 87 |url=https://www.cleveland.com/tv-blog/2013/09/betty_cope_founding_president_of_wviz_channel_25_dies_at_87.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702031120/https://www.cleveland.com/tv-blog/2013/09/betty_cope_founding_president_of_wviz_channel_25_dies_at_87.html |archive-date=July 2, 2022 |access-date=July 2, 2022 |website=cleveland.com |publisher=The Plain Dealer |language=en |publication-place=Cleveland, Ohio}} Like WBOE, WVIZ strictly carried in-school instructional fare during the school day and was aligned with school districts throughout the area.{{Cite news |last=Shippy |first=Dick |date=February 1, 1965 |title=Another Choice of Program: WVIZ Brings Educational Television To Area |page=A12 |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106054500/another-choice-of-program-wviz-brings/ |access-date=July 21, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722012745/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106054500/another-choice-of-program-wviz-brings/ |url-status=live }} Even with the competition from television, WBOE continued with educational fare. Southern Illinois University professor Richard Swerdlin considered educational radio in 1967 to be an inexpensive and overlooked alternative to television, citing WBOE as one of several "outstanding" stations in the field.{{Cite journal |last=Swerdlin |first=Richard |date=February 15, 1967 |title=The Overlooked Medium – Radio|journal=Educational Technology |location=Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey |publisher=Educational Technology Publications, Inc. |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=20–21 |jstor=44421872}} In 1963, Leetonia High School in Leetonia, Ohio, began playing programs taped from both WBOE and Kent State University's WKSU-FM, showing tangible results among the student body.{{Cite news |last=Schotten |first=Glenn |date=April 17, 1963 |title=Recordings Stimulate Students' Interest |page=1 |newspaper=The Salem News |location=Salem, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55793254/recordings-stimulate-students-interest/ |access-date=July 21, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722012746/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55793254/recordings-stimulate-students-interest/ |url-status=live }} One 1964 series directed toward junior high students centered around communism and life in Soviet Russia in both an economic and historical context.{{Cite journal |last=O'Hara |first=Kenneth G. |date=January 1964 |title=An Experiment with Individual Grade Books|journal=The Clearing House |publisher=Taylor & Francis|volume=38 |issue=5 |page=306 |jstor=30187832}} One of the station's highest-profile moments came when two students from Glenville and South High, respectively, interviewed Louis Stokes after his 1968 election to the U.S. House, which WBOE later broadcast.{{Cite news |date=August 24, 2015 |title=Students Had Privilege of Interviewing Louis Stokes |work=Targeted News Service |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1706473045 |access-date=July 21, 2022 |id={{ProQuest|1706473045}} |via=ProQuest |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722012750/https://www.proquest.com/docview/1706473045 |url-status=live }}

Ultimately, educational radio had a mixed legacy: even with WBOE's relative success, the concept failed to materialize on a national level. School districts that did not operate stations often did not have radio sets in their schools, while those that did either had issues with picking up stations, coordinating their classes with programs offered, or finding said programs to vary significantly in quality; Catholic University of America professor Josh Sheppard would later explain, "if you talk to old practitioners in public broadcasting, they actually use 'educational radio' as a pejorative."{{r|MktplaceEduFM}} Levenson's hope in 1941 of "a steady, if not rapid growth" in FM educational stations throughout the U.S.{{r|FMmagWBOE}} largely occurred by the early 1950s,{{r|TapeRecNAEB}} but the FM band itself remained obscure overall; by 1958, WBOE was the only Cleveland FM station in operation that also had full coverage in neighboring Akron.{{Cite news |last=Cullison |first=Art |date=March 18, 1958 |title=WCUE Wins FM License |page=24 |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103275130/wcue-wins-fm-license/ |access-date=July 23, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723195357/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103275130/wcue-wins-fm-license/ |url-status=live }} Existing educational stations eventually moved away from in-school programming and focused on educational fare for a general audience, seen as a developmental influence for public radio in the present day.{{r|MktplaceEduFM}}

File:National_Malleable_&_Steel_Castings_Co.jpg

Owing to educational radio's effectiveness being reduced by television, work slowly began in the early 1970s to revamp WBOE. The June 28, 1973, Cleveland Board of Education meeting authorized contracts to move WBOE's studios from the Board of Education Building to the Woodhill-Quincy Administration building on the city's east sideProceedings of the [Cleveland] Board of Education, Vol. 94. originally built for the National Castings Company in 1921.{{r|CLEAreaHist}} The studio move was completed on December 16, 1974;{{Cite web |title=WBOE audio track for slideshow about National Public Radio (NPR) Affiliation -1/09/1975 |url=https://www.clevelandmetroschools.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=32805&ViewID=E324842B-E4A3-44C3-991A-1E716D4A99E3&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=38437&PageID=19202 |url-status=live |access-date=July 18, 2022 |website=CMSD History – Audio Archive |publisher=Cleveland Metropolitan School District |location=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en |archive-date=July 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720015737/https://www.clevelandmetroschools.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=32805&ViewID=E324842B-E4A3-44C3-991A-1E716D4A99E3&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=38437&PageID=19202 }} additionally, the station's transmitter was moved from Lafayette School to a new tower in Parma, Ohio, along with a power upgrade to 50,000 watts.{{r|history}} A multimedia slideshow prepared by WBOE in early January 1975 touted the station's planned conversion into a public radio outlet and planned link with NPR{{r|WBOEslideshow}} but progress was slowed by both technical matters and a lack of willingness by school board officials to follow through.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}} WBOE continued to operate solely from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on school days featuring in-school programming, with light entertainment, public service or classical music selections to conclude the broadcast day.{{Cite news |date=March 28, 1976 |title=Complete guide to area radio |page=22 |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal TV Preview |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105800560/complete-guide-to-area-radio/ |access-date=July 17, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717235902/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105800560/complete-guide-to-area-radio/ |url-status=live }} The delays also impacted the launch of the Cleveland Radio Reading Service (CRRS): originally intending to broadcast over a {{Frequency|67|kHz}} Subsidiary Communications Authorization (SCA) subchannel of WBOE, the CRRS had to contract with WXEN{{Cite book |last=Boninger |first=Walter |url=https://archive.org/details/radioreadingserv00walt/page/11/mode/2up |title=Radio Reading Service: The Ohio Story |publisher=Ohio Rehabilitations Services Commission |year=1977 |location=Columbus, Ohio |pages=11–12}} until WBOE's SCA subchannel was activated in July 1977.{{r|history}}

Cleveland lawyer William Bradford "Brad" Norris{{Cite web |date=February 4, 2006 |title=William Norris Obituary – Death Notice and Service Information |url=https://www.legacy.com/link.asp?i=ls000016583463 |access-date=July 15, 2022 |website=Legacy.com |language=en |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715214625/https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/william-norris-obituary?pid=16583463&view=guestbook |url-status=live }} founded Cleveland Public Radio (CPR) in 1976 with the intent to finally bring NPR programming to Cleveland, which at the time was the largest U.S. city without a local fulltime NPR station,{{Cite news|last=Feagler|first=Dick|author-link=Dick Feagler|date=October 11, 1978|title=Public radio isn't dead yet|page=E2|newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal|location=Akron, Ohio|via=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55786630/public-radio-isnt-dead-yet/|access-date=July 21, 2020|archive-date=March 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329180823/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55786630/public-radio-isnt-dead-yet/|url-status=live}} a situation the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was also reportedly embarrassed by.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}} Norris garnered attention acting as Cleveland's pro bono legal counsel during the city's antitrust litigation against Cleveland Electric Illuminating (CEI) and envisioned WBOE becoming a radio equivalent to WVIZ.{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=5}} Norris' initial proposal to the Board of Education had CPR assume control of WBOE and convert it to a public radio outlet with all in-school programming moved to a second SCA subchannel, but the board was not interested.{{Cite news |last=Frolik |first=Joe |date=September 2, 1984 |title=Public Radio Here At Last |pages=10–11, [https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings//eyfoerpfrysskukhrejfhhxnzevqcjiz_wma-gateway005_1662870649903 12], [https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings//vpvebpxyqjyzzqhzopqtxgckllmvajro_wma-gateway013_1662870762286 13], [https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings//vkcxxkrykjydlclrhounzivulphorjkq_wma-gateway016_1662870798201 14] |newspaper=The Plain Dealer Magazine |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings//wpqktcaluzyueqwhmcbduwvwlqoldugs_wma-gateway006_1662870590107 |url-status=live |access-date=September 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314082428/https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings//wpqktcaluzyueqwhmcbduwvwlqoldugs_wma-gateway006_1662870590107 |archive-date=March 14, 2024}} At the end of December 1976, WBOE added NPR's flagship program All Things Considered to the lineup, extending the broadcast day to 6:30 p.m; as 1977 started, WBOE operated for 18 hours daily, officially as an NPR member.{{r|AkronB19781011p 16}} WBOE's NPR addition was regarded as "half-hearted, poorly conceived and badly funded" as the station continued airing in-school educational programming during the weekday,{{Cite news |date=January 29, 1978 |title=Guide to area radio stations |page=20 |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal TV Preview |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105798548/guide-to-area-radio-stations/ |access-date=July 17, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717235851/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105798548/guide-to-area-radio-stations/ |url-status=live }} did not set up a local news department or conduct pledge drives.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}} With CPR unable to file for a non-commercial license of their own due to the Cleveland market being saturated with FM signals and the acquisition of a commercial license being cost-prohibitive, Norris again approached the Board of Education with the offer, along with endorsements from multiple Cleveland city councilmen and area community organizations, but were rejected.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}}

Production of in-school materials continued under coordinator Charles Siegel, with shows like Living today: Survival, It's your decision!{{Cite web |title=Script for WBOE radio broadcast, "Living today, Survival! It's your decision: How you can get involved in ecological survival since pollution is a personal thing," Cleveland Public Schools Horticultural Department |url=https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/urbanfarm/id/1700/ |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org |language=en |via=Cleveland Memory Project |archive-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717235953/https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/urbanfarm/id/1700/ |url-status=live }} and The Plain Dealer Green Thumb Club{{Cite web |title=Script for Green Thumb Club Radio Broadcast, "How to enroll for home gardens, revised 1978," Cleveland Public Schools Horticultural Department |url=https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/urbanfarm/id/1596/rec/19 |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org |language=en |via=Cleveland Memory Project |archive-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717235845/https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/urbanfarm/id/1596/rec/19 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=WBOE Radio Lessons in Horticulture |url=http://www.clevelandmemory.org/school-gardens/wboe.html |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=www.clevelandmemory.org |via=The Cleveland Memory Project |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707041418/http://www.clevelandmemory.org/school-gardens/wboe.html |url-status=live }} among the offerings. Students in Glenville High's telecommunications program produced Music Connection, a weekly show on music appreciation centered around rock and roll and R&B that ran on WBOE over the summer of 1977.{{Cite magazine|last=Kmetzko |first=Mark |date=July 28, 1977 |title=Sleepless Nights |volume=8 |page=4 |magazine=Scene Entertainment Weekly|issue=29|jstor=32629317}} Several announcers joined the station as a result of the programming expansion, including onetime WJMO announcer Karl Johnson, who had already been working for the school district as public relations director.{{Cite web |last=Segall |first=Grant |date=June 30, 2016 |title=82-year-old leads foot and Segway tours: My Cleveland |url=https://www.cleveland.com/mycleveland/2016/06/karl_johnson_82_leads_local_to.html |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=cleveland.com |publisher=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en |archive-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717235857/https://www.cleveland.com/mycleveland/2016/06/karl_johnson_82_leads_local_to.html |url-status=live }} British classical pianist Clive Lythgoe, who already had a nationally distributed television program originating from WVIZ, hosted similar radio shows over both WBOE and WKLV-FM.{{Cite news |date=July 7, 1978 |title=British pianist returns to Hoover Auditorium |page=14 |newspaper=News Herald |location=Port Clinton, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105800980/british-pianist-returns-to-hoover/ |access-date=July 17, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717235909/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105800980/british-pianist-returns-to-hoover/ |url-status=live }} John Basalla, involved with Baldwin Wallace College's radio station WBWC since 1972, began working at WBOE as a part-timer in 1976 and also began archiving recordings and transcriptions used by the station throughout its history, many of which came from 16-inch electrical transcription discs, which he has continued to the present day.{{Cite web |last=Kinsey |first=Linda |date=July 18, 2014 |title=John Basalla of Berea on the air and living his dream at WBWC: Faces of the Suns |url=https://www.cleveland.com/faces-of-the-suns/2014/07/john_basalla_of_berea_on_the_a.html |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=cleveland.com |language=en |archive-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717235850/https://www.cleveland.com/faces-of-the-suns/2014/07/john_basalla_of_berea_on_the_a.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Basalla |first=John |date=June 2, 2014 |title=A personal look back at WBOE |url=https://www.marketplace.org/2014/06/02/personal-look-back-wboe/ |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=Marketplace |publisher=American Public Media |language=en-US |archive-date=June 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623160125/https://www.marketplace.org/2014/06/02/personal-look-back-wboe/ |url-status=live }}

Ethnic shows, traditionally a staple of commercial station WZAK,{{efn|WXEN also broadcast ethnic programming on a full-time basis until a format change the previous year; WZAK also dropped such programming outright in 1981.}} were added to the Saturday lineup, with WBOE joining WOSU, KQED-FM and WUSF among non-commercial educational stations that also broadcast ethnic fare.{{Cite book |last=Grame |first=Theodore C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vxNaodoPCZ4C |title=Ethnic Broadcasting in the United States |publisher=American Folklife Center, Library of Congress |year=1980 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=101–104 |via=Google Books |access-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717235843/https://books.google.com/books?id=vxNaodoPCZ4C |url-status=live }} WBOE was one of several stations in the area that picked up NPR's Jazz Alive! along with featuring jazz in assorted hours.{{Cite news |date=September–October 1978 |title=Coast to Coast: Ohio |pages=67–68 |work=Musician, Player and Listener |publisher=Amordian Press |issue=14 |location=Boulder, Colorado |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_musician_september-october-15-1978_14/page/68/mode/2up |access-date=July 21, 2022}} Jay Robert Klein, involved with the school district since the end of World War II, became WBOE's final station manager in 1974{{Cite web |last=Baranick |first=Alana |date=October 30, 2008 |title=Jay Robert Klein: Cleveland schools administrator, greeter for visitors |url=https://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/2008/10/jay_robert_klein_cleveland_sch.html |access-date=July 15, 2022 |website=cleveland.com |publisher=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715214629/https://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/2008/10/jay_robert_klein_cleveland_sch.html |url-status=live }} while junior high school programmer Tom Altenbernd was with WBOE from 1952 until retiring in 1977.{{Cite news |date=April 28, 1991 |title=Thomas C. Altenbernd, volunteer |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F173D9D1DA8100EC8 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 21, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722012753/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news%2F173D9D1DA8100EC8&f=basic |url-status=live }} WBOE's visibility in the market remained imperceptible, however, failing to attract more than one percent of listeners in area Arbitron ratings.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}}

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| source = Cleveland Municipal School District superintendent{{Cite news |last=Stuart |first=Reginald A. |date=April 8, 1978 |title=Cleveland schools in financial limbo |language=en-US |page=9 |work=The New York Times |location=New York, New York |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/08/archives/cleveland-schools-in-financial-limbo-officials-look-elsewhere-for.html |access-date=2022-07-16 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025835/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/08/archives/cleveland-schools-in-financial-limbo-officials-look-elsewhere-for.html |url-status=live }}

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While WBOE started to evolve into a public radio station, the Cleveland school district entered a cataclysmic period. The NAACP's Cleveland branch sued the district in what became Reed vs. Rhodes{{Cite news |date=February 25, 1994 |title=Deal could end Cleveland desegregation lawsuit |pages=C1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686522/deal-could-end-cleveland-desegregation/ C4] |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal |agency=Associated Press |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686489/deal-could-end-cleveland-desegregation/ |access-date=July 16, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025837/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686489/deal-could-end-cleveland-desegregation/ |url-status=live }} on December 12, 1973, alleging the fostering of segregation and demanded the institution of desegregation busing.{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1973 |title=Desegregate Order |page=3 |newspaper=The Tribune |agency=United Press International |location=Coshocton, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686812/desegregate-order/ |access-date=July 16, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025837/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686812/desegregate-order/ |url-status=live }} Arnold R. Pinkney, the school board's Black president, expressed worry that the lawsuit would heighten racial tensions in the city;{{Cite news |date=December 17, 1973 |title=Pinkney Worried About Suit |page=10 |newspaper=The Galion Inquirer |agency=United Press International |location=Galion, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686879/pinkney-worried-about-suit/ |access-date=July 16, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025837/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686879/pinkney-worried-about-suit/ |url-status=live }}{{efn|For further context, see Glenville shootout and Hough riots.}} the district later claimed fears of white flight precluded them from implementing a plan of their own volition.{{Cite news |last=Stevens |first=William K. |date=March 17, 1976 |title=Cleveland is Likely to Be the Next Battleground in Controversy Over the Busing of Students for Integration |language=en-US |page=21 |work=The New York Times |location=New York, New York |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/03/17/archives/cleveland-is-likely-to-be-the-next-battleground-in-controversy-over.html |access-date=July 15, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025837/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/03/17/archives/cleveland-is-likely-to-be-the-next-battleground-in-controversy-over.html |url-status=live }} Presiding over the case, U.S. District Judge Frank J. Battisti ruled on August 31, 1976, that both the local and state boards of education were guilty of deliberately inducing segregation practices,{{Cite news |last=Delaney |first=Paul |date=September 1, 1976 |title=Judge Says Cleveland's Schools Are Deliberately Segregated |language=en-US |page=25 |work=The New York Times |location=New York, New York |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/09/01/archives/judge-says-clevelands-schools-are-deliberately-segregated.html |access-date=July 15, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025837/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/09/01/archives/judge-says-clevelands-schools-are-deliberately-segregated.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=August 31, 1976 |title=Cleveland Race Policies Illegal |page=2 |newspaper=The Tribune |agency=United Press International |location=Coshocton, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686725/cleveland-race-policies-illegal/ |access-date=July 16, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025837/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686725/cleveland-race-policies-illegal/ |url-status=live }} issuing the first of what would become 4,000 court orders over the next six years.{{cite web|url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cleveland-public-schools|title=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: Cleveland Public Schools|publisher=Case Western Reserve University|access-date=June 25, 2020|author=Edward M. Miggins|archive-date=September 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927075719/https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cleveland-public-schools|url-status=live}} The school board was mandated to institute a busing plan, but needed to raise money to fund it; a mill levy referendum failed on April 6, 1978, by a 2–1 margin almost entirely on racial lines,{{Cite news |last=Peterson |first=Iver |date=April 16, 1978 |title=Defeat of School Levy in Cleveland Strikes Angry Blow at Busing Plan |language=en-US |page=24 |work=The New York Times |location=New York, New York |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/16/archives/defeat-of-school-levy-in-cleveland-strikes-angry-blow-at-busing.html |access-date=July 15, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025837/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/16/archives/defeat-of-school-levy-in-cleveland-strikes-angry-blow-at-busing.html |url-status=live }} putting the district in debt of $30 million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|30000000|1978}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) and threatening an outright closure of the district.{{Cite news |last=Zaidan |first=Abe |date=April 8, 1978 |title=Cleveland Schools Await Ohio Emergency Session |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/04/08/cleveland-schools-await-ohio-emergency-session/4768c0c6-7036-4e47-91dc-4e316764b7b0/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=August 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828164804/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/04/08/cleveland-schools-await-ohio-emergency-session/4768c0c6-7036-4e47-91dc-4e316764b7b0/ |url-status=live }} Faculty, which had not been paid for nearly a month, appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court after the levy failure for the schools to close so they could file for unemployment benefits.{{r|NYT19780408p9}} Battisti, who sought to keep the schools operational,{{r|WaPo19780408a}} twice found the school board in contempt of court for failing to comply with his orders{{Cite news |last=Stuart |first=Reginald |date=November 13, 1978 |title=Cleveland Caught in Long Decline |language=en-US |page=A1 |work=The New York Times |location=New York, New York |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/13/archives/cleveland-caught-in-long-decline-cleveland-is-mired-in-a-long.html |access-date=July 15, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025839/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/13/archives/cleveland-caught-in-long-decline-cleveland-is-mired-in-a-long.html |url-status=live }} but agreed to delay the busing plan until 1979.{{Cite news |date=August 16, 1978 |title=Decision up to board |page=20 |newspaper=News-Journal |agency=United Press International |location=Mansfield, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105685967/decision-up-to-board/ |access-date=July 16, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025840/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105685967/decision-up-to-board/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=August 26, 1978 |title=Cleveland School Integration Stalled |page=1 |newspaper=The Tribune |agency=United Press International |location=Coshocton, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686206/cleveland-school-integration-stalled/ |access-date=July 16, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025941/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686206/cleveland-school-integration-stalled/ |url-status=live }}

As the school year began on September 12, 1978, Cleveland's teachers union went on strike,{{Cite news |last=Yemma |first=Andrew A. |date=September 13, 1978 |title=Education Idled For 300,000 In Massive Teachers' Strikes |page=7 |newspaper=The Tribune |agency=United Press International |location=Coshocton, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686349/education-idled-for-300000-in-massive/ |access-date=July 16, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025942/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105686349/education-idled-for-300000-in-massive/ |url-status=live }} closing all school buildings and preventing in-school instructional programming from resuming over WBOE. The Ohio Board of Education provided a financial bailout plan that included a provision for the school board to suspend all operations at WBOE and sell off the station.{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=5}} The teachers union defied a back-to-work court order by Judge Harry A. Hanna on October 5, 1978,{{Cite news |date=October 6, 1978 |title=Teachers Defy Court Order in Cleveland Strike |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/10/06/teachers-defy-court-order-in-cleveland-strike/90de7bfe-1f87-4e9d-bc1b-0762424d1db0/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025952/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/10/06/teachers-defy-court-order-in-cleveland-strike/90de7bfe-1f87-4e9d-bc1b-0762424d1db0/ |url-status=live }} while the station's $280,000 annual budget (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|280000|1978}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) made the station expendable.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}} WBOE ended regular programming at midnight on October 7, with station manager Jay Robert Klein and Cleveland journalist Dick Feagler providing a pre-recorded eulogy; in his syndicated newspaper column, Feagler wrote, "cause of death—a stroke of the pen".{{Cite news|last=Feagler|first=Dick|author-link=Dick Feagler|date=October 6, 1978|title=A fatality in the school crisis|page=C2|newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal|location=Akron, Ohio|via=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55792631/a-fatality-in-the-school-crisis/|access-date=July 21, 2020|archive-date=March 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329180822/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55792631/a-fatality-in-the-school-crisis/|url-status=live}} The school board retained former NPR president Lee Frischknecht to help find ways to keep WBOE functional; Frischknecht made inquiries to both CPR and WVIZ as potential interim operators{{r|AkronB19781011p 16}} and continued to study options when the station was ordered closed.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}}

Further musing over WBOE's demise, Feagler wrote:

{{Blockquote|text=...despite what you may have read in the newspaper, there are no firm plans afoot right now to save (WBOE). But then, when you come right down to it, we are rotten at saving worthwhile things, aren't we? Wouldn't you agree with that? We are much better at destruction than we are at preservation, doesn't it seem that way to you? This is the land of Noah Webster and we haven't learned the difference between progress and destruction. All we have to do is look it up. But I'm getting bitter and there is no place in an obit for bitterness. By the time you write the obit, bitterness is a day late and a dollar short. And I want to keep this an obit. So I'll end it the way they taught me to end obits. WBOE is dead. Friends may call, but it really won't do much good. Memorial services will be held in the memories of all of us who once were Cleveland school children. Interment? Interment will be in the muck of the present.{{r|AkronB19781006p 14}}}}

File:Cleveland Public Library 2.jpg initially won a 1979 auction for WBOE's license, then competed with Cleveland Public Radio for the succeeding license.]]

WBOE's suspension resulted in the Greater Cleveland radio market earning the dubious distinction as being the largest market in the United States, and the only major-market city, without a designated public radio outlet.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55790775/new-station-at-cleveland/|date=September 10, 1984|page=6-B|title=New station at Cleveland|work=News-Journal|location=Mansfield, Ohio|agency=Associated Press|via=Newspapers.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329180819/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55790775/new-station-at-cleveland/|archive-date=March 29, 2022|access-date=July 21, 2020}} In WBOE's absence, WKSU-FM, which carried NPR programming starting in 1973,{{Cite news |last=Zitrin |first=Richard |date=September 22, 1975 |title=Hustler... Perry hunts funds for WKSU-FM |page=B16 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46259525/hustler-perry-hunts-funds-for-wksu-fm/ |url-status=live |access-date=March 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721225800/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46259525/hustler-perry-hunts-funds-for-wksu-fm/ |archive-date=July 21, 2020}}{{efn|See {{section link|WKSU|Joining NPR}}.}} became the de facto sole NPR member station in northeast Ohio.{{r|CPD19800720p7D}} Despite this, the FCC mandated WKSU's signal had to be directional aimed away from Cleveland to protect WBOE as both were third-adjacent signals; this resulted in WKSU having coverage issues throughout Cuyahoga County.{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=7}} WBOE's carrier signal was still active and continued broadcasting the CRRS over their SCA subchannel but continuous dead air over conventional FM receivers; the reading service paid WBOE $73,000 annually to keep two engineers employed,{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=William F. |date=April 3, 1982 |title=Blind may lose radio reading of newspapers |page=7A |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130B31BDADE66584%402445063-130A97F4504B2131%406-130A97F4504B2131?clipid=zhjdexerxdfutozztijscdfkkrucdogv_wma-gateway010_1662869850523 |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040625/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130B31BDADE66584%402445063-130A97F4504B2131%406-130A97F4504B2131?clipid=zhjdexerxdfutozztijscdfkkrucdogv_wma-gateway010_1662869850523 |url-status=live }} thus WBOE never filed an STA request to remain off-air.{{r|history}} The CRRS broadcasts were suspended due to a lack of funding on May 1, 1982, with WBOE going silent completely.{{r|CPD19820403p7A}}{{Cite news |last=Frisby |first=Michael K. |date=April 22, 1982 |title=School board to monitor legal fees |page=10A |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130B811958C458A3%402445082-130A983DD1A40EBA%409-130A983DD1A40EBA?clipid=bvlhsllhofwneeolkgkmectwiugfgktk_wma-gateway020_1662870023019 |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040626/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130B811958C458A3%402445082-130A983DD1A40EBA%409-130A983DD1A40EBA?clipid=bvlhsllhofwneeolkgkmectwiugfgktk_wma-gateway020_1662870023019 |url-status=live }}

Lee C. Howley, Jr., board president of the Cleveland Public Library (CPL), revealed at the end of 1978 that the system had been negotiating with the school board over the past several months to buy WBOE, prompting WVIZ to withdraw their interest in the station.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}} A library operating a radio station was not without precedent, as WPLN-FM in Nashville, Tennessee, and WFPL in Louisville, Kentucky, were both established by their city's respective public libraries.{{Cite news |last=Hart |first=Raymond P. |date=May 12, 1979 |title=Public radio expected back in the early fall |page=3D |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-1303F91073AF4863%402444006-1303A3C7225DBA4D%4060-1303A3C7225DBA4D?clipid=jkcrzjjmwzovwvnjsgwbjpjzysnypgqj_wma-gateway003_1662869182761 |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040628/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-1303F91073AF4863%402444006-1303A3C7225DBA4D%4060-1303A3C7225DBA4D?clipid=jkcrzjjmwzovwvnjsgwbjpjzysnypgqj_wma-gateway003_1662869182761 |url-status=live }} CPL's interest in WBOE was criticized as the Cleveland school board had appointed many of the library's trustees.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}} The school board held an auction for the station's license, with the minimum bid set at $200,000,{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=5}} and a stipulation that the winner would be responsible for renewing the station's license.{{r|AkronB19820910p 34}} Cleveland Public Radio bid $234,360.87 ({{Inflation|index=US|value=234360.87|start_year=1979|r=2|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}) but this was rejected by the school board, which insisted that bids needed to be all-cash; CPR's bid was a mixture of a pledge from The George Gund Foundation{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=5}} and assumption of a Health, Education and Welfare obligation and other outstanding debt.{{Cite news |last=Hart |first=Raymond P. |date=May 3, 1979 |title=Library bid on WBOE not a closed book |page=11E |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-1303EF09D15309BA%402443997-1303E8E873A70FFB%40110-1303E8E873A70FFB?clipid=prjhyisrhdodkxmzkrtxcuhvygciabfy_wma-gateway013_1662869132050 |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040629/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-1303EF09D15309BA%402443997-1303E8E873A70FFB%40110-1303E8E873A70FFB?clipid=prjhyisrhdodkxmzkrtxcuhvygciabfy_wma-gateway013_1662869132050 |url-status=live }}{{efn|The Health, Education and Welfare obligation was valued at $61,208.80 ({{Inflation|index=US|value=61208.80|start_year=1979|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}). Cleveland Public Radio also pledged $150,000 ({{Inflation|index=US|value=150000|start_year=1979|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}) in public service, with only $23,152.07 ({{Inflation|index=US|value=23152.07|start_year=1979|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}) as cash.}} CPL held the winning bid of $205,000 ({{Inflation|index=US|value=205000|start_year=1979|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}){{r|AkronB19820910p 34}} and intended to relaunch the station as WCPL by year's end{{r|CPD19790512p3D}}{{Cite news |last=Elving, Ph.D. |first=Bruce F. |date=July 1979 |title=FCC FM News |page=10 |work=VHF-UHF Digest |publisher=Worldwide TV-FM DX Association |url=https://www.wtfda.org/vud70s/1979/07-79%20vud.pdf |access-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-date=September 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920002125/https://www.wtfda.org/vud70s/1979/07-79%20vud.pdf |url-status=live }} with paperwork transferring the license filed with the FCC,{{Cite news |date=September 3, 1979 |title=For the Record: Ownership Changes: Applications |volume=97 |page=76 |work=Broadcasting |issue=10 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1979/BC-1979-09-03.pdf#page=76 |access-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308043910/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1979/BC-1979-09-03.pdf#page=76 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |via=World Radio History}} but prior to consummation, WBOE's license was discovered to have expired{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=Daniel |date=September 10, 1982 |title=Cleveland may try public radio again |page=D5 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55789658/cleveland-may-try-public-radio-again/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329180819/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55789658/cleveland-may-try-public-radio-again/ |archive-date=March 29, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} on October 1, 1979.{{r|history}}

File:Brad_Norris.jpgWhile the losing bidder in the auction, CPR contested WBOE's transfer to the library, filing a competing application for the {{Frequency|90.3|FM}} frequency on October 17, 1979.{{Cite web |last=FCC Internet Services Staff |date=October 18, 1982 |title=Application Search Details: BPED-19791017AD (WCPN) |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=14536 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723074030/http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=14536 |archive-date=July 23, 2020 |access-date=July 22, 2020 |website=licensing.fcc.gov}}{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=5}} CPR chairman Brad Norris explained the filing was within the bounds of the FCC's 30-day period for public comment set aside for radio station transactions.{{Cite news |last=Hart |first=Raymond P. |date=August 4, 1979 |title=Losing bidder to file: Race for WBOE heats up |page=3D |work=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130445D8B98998D3%402444090-1303EBA64AF41D9A%4052-1303EBA64AF41D9A?clipid=zvjwvjcanmdqpusrnlwbthdmqcbxgswp_wma-gateway011_1662869008270 |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040641/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130445D8B98998D3%402444090-1303EBA64AF41D9A%4052-1303EBA64AF41D9A?clipid=zvjwvjcanmdqpusrnlwbthdmqcbxgswp_wma-gateway011_1662869008270 |url-status=live }} Norris again offered a compromise and merger proposal with CPL by late 1979 that would create a new board with all 30 CPR trustees and all seven CPL trustees, giving CPR a 30–7 majority but also allowing for the WBOE license to be taken over as soon as possible and returned to air;{{Cite news |last=Hart |first=Raymond P. |date=November 29, 1979 |title=Merger plan offers WBOE ray of hope |page=8D |work=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-13059761B8D8603D%402444207-13044CD51B48DC50%4095-13044CD51B48DC50?clipid=extdhvdrherywlgqybaecoggckenxaua_wma-gateway020_1662869038371 |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040707/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-13059761B8D8603D%402444207-13044CD51B48DC50%4095-13044CD51B48DC50?clipid=extdhvdrherywlgqybaecoggckenxaua_wma-gateway020_1662869038371 |url-status=live }} Howley rejected this proposal, calling CPR's finances into question even with funding from the Gund Foundation.{{Cite news |last=Hart |first=Raymond P. |date=December 6, 1979 |title=WBOE compromise deal off |page=11B |work=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-13063EDF34F57772%402444214-1305A3E02A298580%4037-1305A3E02A298580?clipid=wdosukkdmxprheydxcpvjtsuwgsmyljf_wma-gateway002_1662869063187 |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040650/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-13063EDF34F57772%402444214-1305A3E02A298580%4037-1305A3E02A298580?clipid=wdosukkdmxprheydxcpvjtsuwgsmyljf_wma-gateway002_1662869063187 |url-status=live }}{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=5}} The Cleveland Board of Education filed to renew WBOE's license on July 11, 1979,{{Cite web |last=FCC Internet Services Staff |date=October 18, 1982 |title=Application Search Details: BRED-19790711UA (DWBOE-FM) |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=11878 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723030902/http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=11878 |archive-date=July 23, 2020 |access-date=July 22, 2020 |website=licensing.fcc.gov}} which the FCC turned down on June 16, 1981, designating for hearing CPR and CPL's applications{{Cite news |date=June 29, 1981 |title=For the Record: In Contest |volume=100 |page=79 |work=Broadcasting |issue=26 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1981/BC-1981-06-29.pdf |access-date=July 15, 2022 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=January 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127061203/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1981/BC-1981-06-29.pdf |url-status=live }} as mutually exclusive.{{Cite news |title=Memorandum Opinion and Order: Cleveland Board of Education |volume=87, second series |pages=9–17 |work=Federal Communications Commission Reports |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ien.35559002076713&view=1up&seq=35 |url-status=live |access-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703142336/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ien.35559002076713&view=1up&seq=35 |archive-date=July 3, 2020 |via=HathiTrust}}

Pleadings with an FCC-assigned administrative law judge had both groups spar over which would best "serve the public interest". CPR touted its desire to be a community based nonprofit with regional support, while CPL saw the radio station as a valuable addition to its existing role as an information service.{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=5}} Animosity between Howley and Norris worsened as Howley called CPR "a nothing organization" in an FCC filing, while Norris publicly criticized Howley's conduct.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}} Compounding matters, Howley was also the son of CEI's lead counsel,{{cite news |last=Egan |first=D'Arcy |date=October 25, 2008 |title=Hosting marsh fellows Sandusky Bay has 18 waterfowl hunting clubs focused on preserving the wetlands habitat |page=D2 |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid%2Finfoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F12410763966DAB30 |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 12, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=September 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913153804/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/12410763966DAB30&f=basic |url-status=live }} the utility Norris helped litigate against.{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=5}} Donald R. Waldrip, the court-appointed desegregation administrator for the Cleveland school board, filed a request with Judge Frank Battisti by late August 1981 to cancel the sale of WBOE to the library and instead sell the assets to CPR.{{Cite news |date=August 25, 1981 |title=Station's control debated |page=14 |newspaper=The Newark Advocate |agency=Associated Press |location=Newark, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105659622/stations-control-debated/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715214626/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105659622/stations-control-debated/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=September 10, 1981 |title=Saga Enters Fourth Year With Same Problems |page=10 |newspaper=The Daily Advocate |agency=Associated Press |location=Greenville, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105659668/saga-enters-fourth-year-with-same/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715214627/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105659668/saga-enters-fourth-year-with-same/ |url-status=live }} Earlier in the year, Waldrip's magnet school proposal for the district involved a provision to possibly reopen WBOE, which the district had the ability to do as it still held the license, albeit expired.{{Cite news |last=Ewinger |first=James |date=February 14, 1981 |title=WBOE in magnet plans |page=2B |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130A3D2228E2B079%402444650-1308F768AA077F98%4036-1308F768AA077F98?clipid=almmtibgiwciyyrljgyzuzbwqmbtyokn_wma-gateway018_1662869721716 |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040654/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130A3D2228E2B079%402444650-1308F768AA077F98%4036-1308F768AA077F98?clipid=almmtibgiwciyyrljgyzuzbwqmbtyokn_wma-gateway018_1662869721716 |url-status=live }} The FCC deferred on making a decision between the two groups, owing to both being qualified and politically well-connected, with some accusing the commission of timidity.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}}

After a power increase on July 22, 1980,{{Cite news |last=Hart |first=Raymond |date=July 20, 1980 |title=WKSU is stretching its arms |pages=7D, [https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-1306EB77A14811A1%402444441-1306E94F0B6D0D37%40108?clipid=mllbxidguxzkwawyozhsiplppagsgguj_wma-gateway016_1662869517625# 9D] |work=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-1306EB77A14811A1%402444441-1306E94CCE15D60B%40106-1306E94CCE15D60B?clipid=poqexzbfofwaxgxfccyebkgfenigypys_wma-gateway004_1662869432132 |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 12, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |archive-date=September 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913153804/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-1306EB77A14811A1%402444441-1306E94CCE15D60B%40106-1306E94CCE15D60B?clipid=poqexzbfofwaxgxfccyebkgfenigypys_wma-gateway004_1662869432132 |url-status=live }} WKSU added Cleveland to its primary coverage area with the city receiving a city-grade signal{{Cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Donald |date=July 20, 1980 |title=WKSU-FM now a super station |page=3 |work=Akron Beacon Journal TV |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46292684/wksu-fm-now-a-super-station/ |url-status=live |access-date=March 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721051505/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46292684/wksu-fm-now-a-super-station/ |archive-date=July 21, 2020}} but the CPL contested an additional power upgrade even as the library's director was not opposed to it.{{Cite news |date=March 7, 1982 |title=Stronger WKSU signal opposed |page=B7 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55791535/stronger-wksu-signal-opposed/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329180819/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55791535/stronger-wksu-signal-opposed/ |archive-date=March 29, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} Howley and Norris expressed disappointment over failing to find common ground while Norris considered it "regrettable" a station based outside of Cleveland brought back public radio to Cleveland.{{r|CPD19800720p7D}} WKSU's incursion resulted in a feud with WCLV and station president Robert Conrad, who sought to carry NPR fare unavailable in Cleveland, including a radio adaptation of the first Star Wars film trilogy.{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=7}} After NPR's board denied this request, Conrad pulled the Chicago Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony and New York Philharmonic broadcasts off WKSU and threatened to do the same for Cleveland Orchestra broadcasts WCLV originated and syndicated.{{Cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Donald |date=October 17, 1982 |title=Listeners would be losers in radio station tiff |page=F1 |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105656229/listeners-would-be-losers-in-radio/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715214627/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105656229/listeners-would-be-losers-in-radio/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Donald |date=December 4, 1982 |title=WCLV-WKSU dispute ends |page=A10 |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46292866/wclv-wksu-dispute-ends/ |access-date=July 15, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715214627/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46292866/wclv-wksu-dispute-ends/ |url-status=live }} In turn, WKSU general manager John Perry threatened to deny the winner for the {{Frequency|90.3|FM}} license carriage rights for A Prairie Home Companion (syndicated by American Public Media, which unlike NPR, allowed affiliates to claim market exclusivity) as a bargaining chip against Conrad.{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|pp=6–7}} The continued infighting between CPL and CPR prompted Edward Howard chairman John T. Bailey to call the absence of NPR from Cleveland "an embarrassment and a disgrace" in a Plain Dealer op-ed, including mailing addresses for both Norris and Carl S. Asseff (Howley's successor as CPL chairman);{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}} Bailey stated, "it is time to halt this embarrassing and costly dispute. Cleveland needs public radio. We need it now."{{Cite news |last=Bailey |first=John T. |date=June 10, 1982 |title=National Public Radio station benefits squelched by dispute |page=5B |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130CD05041C6D468%402445131-130CCF2567D0C78F%4048-130CCF2567D0C78F?clipid=pbzmiykfaoqemrcqoqdgsaykenyfyoib_wma-gateway015_1662869993811 |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040654/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130CD05041C6D468%402445131-130CCF2567D0C78F%4048-130CCF2567D0C78F?clipid=pbzmiykfaoqemrcqoqdgsaykenyfyoib_wma-gateway015_1662869993811 |url-status=live }}

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| quote = To weigh the effects, the vices, and the virtues of public radio in Cleveland would be, at best, speculative because one of the two NPR-designated stations is not on the air (as of press time). But this much can be said: WCPN intends to offer a measure of public-affairs programming and news that has been little in evidence in commercial radio here... because it is relatively well insulated from the ravages of a ratings-dominated marketplace. Thus WCPN is unlikely to degenerate into the frothy small-talk shows and quick-hit news segments that characterize so much of Cleveland's commercial news-talk stations.

| author = James Ewinger

| source = The Plain Dealer, for CSU Gamut{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=9}}

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A settlement was finally reached between CPL and CPR on June 24, 1982.{{Cite news |last=Hibbert |first=Kelly |date=June 25, 1982 |title=WBOE airing settled at last |pages=1A, [https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130D7BA265B0DEF6%402445146-130B90F4AC9383E8%4017-130B90F4AC9383E8?clipid=twxnujahczmrvgzjzlkdjkthpntjhcol_wma-gateway018_1662870209637 14A] |work=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130D7BA265B0DEF6%402445146-130B90F4985B3B9D%400-130B90F4985B3B9D?clipid=yzjovvukhfjvdpgkybhefdadjxwmwwro_wma-gateway002_1662869944434 |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040657/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130D7BA265B0DEF6%402445146-130B90F4985B3B9D%400-130B90F4985B3B9D?clipid=yzjovvukhfjvdpgkybhefdadjxwmwwro_wma-gateway002_1662869944434 |url-status=live }} Brokered over a cod dinner Norris hosted, the deal was borne out of Asseff's wishes to end the dispute, federal funding reductions in public broadcasting and local changes to tax funding for the CPL.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}} CPR offered to expand its board of directors from 24 to 31 members, adding three persons each from the CPL and Cuyahoga Community College, plus one from the Board of Education for the first 10 years of the new station's existence.{{r|debut}} In turn, the CPL agreed to have CPR take control of WBOE's assets and withdrew their license application.{{Cite news |date=July 10, 1982 |title=Cleveland library withdraws application for radio license |page=11 |work=Dayton Daily News |location=Dayton, Ohio |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55789332/cleveland-library-withdraws-application/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329180819/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55789332/cleveland-library-withdraws-application/ |archive-date=March 29, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} CPR also agreed to provide airtime for school board news and to provide vocational training for students, and would air programming provided by Cuyahoga Community College{{r|AkronB19820910p 34}} and the Cleveland school board would donate their old equipment.{{r|CPD19820625p1A}} The school board approved the proposal on September 9, 1982, also allowing CPR to assume a 1972 CPB grant awarded to WBOE for any technical upgrades.{{Cite news |last=Kolodzy |first=Janet |date=September 10, 1982 |title=CPR, CCC control WBOE, may return to air in year |page=5B |work=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130CD6575355A471%402445223-130CCEA700D3E76D%4028-130CCEA700D3E76D?clipid=tdpmyglkenubjrzwauqywyvvhewfucko_wma-gateway015_1662870230524 |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040659/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130CD6575355A471%402445223-130CCEA700D3E76D%4028-130CCEA700D3E76D?clipid=tdpmyglkenubjrzwauqywyvvhewfucko_wma-gateway015_1662870230524 |url-status=live }}{{r|AkronB19820910p 34}}

Due to the way this arrangement was handled, the FCC dismissed the Cleveland Board of Education's license renewal application on October 18, 1982, officially deleting WBOE's license{{r|WBOE-renewal-filing}} and concurrently issued Cleveland Public Radio a construction permit for WBOE's replacement.{{r|WCPN-grant}} This new license was assigned the WCPN call letters on June 20, 1983, standing for "Cleveland Public Network".{{Efn|The Plain Dealer referred to the replacement license as "WBOE-FM" in their reporting{{r|CPD19830115p4C}} and regarded the WCPN call sign assignment as "changing its station call letters from WBOE-FM to WCPN-FM";{{r|CPD19830707p9D}} this was ostensibly for continuity purposes as FCC records show the replacement license held no prior call sign.}} Former WERE operations manager Leonard Will was hired as general manager, promising extensive local news coverage to augment NPR offerings.{{Cite news |last=Ewinger |first=James |date=January 15, 1983 |title=WERE official named WBOE general manager |page=4C |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130D8F6601AB5BB9%402445350-130D8A83628A8D56%4031-130D8A83628A8D56?clipid=qsdpwzzvjaqdiaqxshozmwubyiuczmdu_wma-gateway014_1662870299236 |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040701/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130D8F6601AB5BB9%402445350-130D8A83628A8D56%4031-130D8A83628A8D56?clipid=qsdpwzzvjaqdiaqxshozmwubyiuczmdu_wma-gateway014_1662870299236 |url-status=live }} CPR initially planned for WCPN to sign on by the summer of 1983, but multiple issues, including securing studio facilities, interference from the Ohio Bell Building{{Cite news |last=Stainer |first=Harry |date=July 7, 1983 |title=Public radio start-up delayed |page=9D |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130DD9F510EF160D%402445523-130D40579B7902B2%4072-130D40579B7902B2?clipid=tjafwnwrqvgrftqdtwthopibpnzhuhxf_wma-gateway007_1662870360615 |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040702/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130DD9F510EF160D%402445523-130D40579B7902B2%4072-130D40579B7902B2?clipid=tjafwnwrqvgrftqdtwthopibpnzhuhxf_wma-gateway007_1662870360615 |url-status=live }} and NPR facing a financial crisis all delayed the relaunch until the spring of 1984, with both the Gund Foundation and Cleveland Foundation providing financial support.{{sfn|Ewinger|1984|p=6}} Transmissions resumed on May 7, 1984, again with a silent carrier after the CRRS successfully secured funding to reactivate the station's SCA subchannel.{{Cite news |date=July 15, 1984 |title=All the news that's fit to hear |page=6 |newspaper=The Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130FD10087A54C57%402445897-130FC9A9608EF8CC%40188?clipid=kjiqxfannvgusdeptvqnknuaqkvasskn_wma-gateway011_1662870501777 |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040704/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130FD10087A54C57%402445897-130FC9A9608EF8CC%40188?clipid=kjiqxfannvgusdeptvqnknuaqkvasskn_wma-gateway011_1662870501777 |url-status=live }}

The Woodhill-Quincy Administration building remained under Cleveland Metropolitan School District ownership after WBOE's closure and dissolution, but gradually fell into disuse and neglect.{{Cite web |last=Stroup |first=Jeffrey R. |title=Quincy/Woodhill Facility – Cleveland, OH |url=http://greatlakesurbanex.jeffreyrstroup.com/quincy.html |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=Great Lakes Urban-Ex {{!}} Cleveland, Ohio – Urban Exploration |archive-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717235846/http://greatlakesurbanex.jeffreyrstroup.com/quincy.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Busta-Peck |first=Christopher |date=May 10, 2010 |title=Cleveland schools slated for demolition |url=http://www.clevelandareahistory.org/2010/05/cleveland-schools-slated-for-demolition.html |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=Cleveland Area History |archive-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717235914/http://www.clevelandareahistory.org/2010/05/cleveland-schools-slated-for-demolition.html |url-status=live }} The district agreed to demolish the building in 2010 as part of a larger slate of 25 demolitions throughout the city.{{Cite web |last=Ott |first=Thomas |date=May 5, 2010 |title=Cleveland school district places 25 buildings on demolition list |url=https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/cleveland_school_district_want.html |access-date=July 17, 2022 |website=cleveland.com |publisher=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122233631/https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/cleveland_school_district_want.html |url-status=live }}

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| quote = That's the only way we were able to get him here... (WKSU and WCPN) are walking arm in arm, each with a hand grenade that has the pin pulled, clasped in our teeth, and our hands on the trigger.

| author = John Perry

| source = WKSU general manager, on teaming up with WCPN to book a 1985 Garrison Keillor appearance{{r|AkronB19850915p 51}}

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WCPN decided to adopt a jazz music format after studies commissioned by the board of trustees found that no station in the market programmed contemporary jazz,{{Cite news |last=Sandstorm |first=Karen |date=September 11, 1994 |title=Dialing up distinctive decade: WCPN gives public radio life with news, views, jazz |page=1K |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F807D9192E6479A |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194742/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F807D9192E6479A&f=basic |url-status=live }} along with a need for increased local news coverage after the Cleveland Press folded in 1982.{{Cite news |last=Dawidziak |first=Mark |date=July 13, 1984 |title=Public radio in Cleveland: News and all that jazz |page=B10 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55792123/public-radio-in-cleveland-news-and-all/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817210602/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55792123/public-radio-in-cleveland-news-and-all/ |archive-date=August 17, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com}} WHKW, by then a country outlet, donated its entire jazz record collection to the station.{{Cite news |last=Strassmeyer |first=Mary |date=July 25, 1984 |title=Mary, Mary: Hot jazz coming up... |page=4E |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130FE4D1E02DE5E9%402445907-130FD88C67A51A57%4095-130FD88C67A51A57?clipid=dkwjxotlrbwzotpcxgexjlfojscjfhtl_wma-gateway014_1662870901594 |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040713/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130FE4D1E02DE5E9%402445907-130FD88C67A51A57%4095-130FD88C67A51A57?clipid=dkwjxotlrbwzotpcxgexjlfojscjfhtl_wma-gateway014_1662870901594 |url-status=live }} A kick-off party/fundraiser billed "Cleveland's Big Turn-On" with 1,200 people in attendance was held on September 8, 1984, at WCPN's new studios in the Cleveland Centre building.{{Cite news |last=Frolik |first=Joe |date=August 6, 1984 |title=Party for 1,200 to launch public radio station |page=5D |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-13111A8B658C98C1%402445919-131021F68156D02A%4057-131021F68156D02A?clipid=vlvjwxftyrwajcvyangfqfidnhwmytoz_wma-gateway020_1662870712208 |access-date=September 11, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912040728/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-13111A8B658C98C1%402445919-131021F68156D02A%4057-131021F68156D02A?clipid=vlvjwxftyrwajcvyangfqfidnhwmytoz_wma-gateway020_1662870712208 |url-status=live }} This event included a live show featuring vocalist Mel Tormé at the Cleveland Masonic Auditorium, followed by WCPN making its formal debut at 10 p.m. that evening.{{Cite news |last=Dawidziak |first=Mark |date=September 8, 1984 |title=Production group offers cause for networks' concern |page=B4 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55791382/production-group-offers-cause-for/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329180820/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55791382/production-group-offers-cause-for/ |archive-date=March 29, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{r|NewsJo19840910p14}} Among the attendees were NPR president Douglas J. Bennet, Morning Edition host Bob Edwards, Dick Feagler and WBBG/WMJI owner Larry Robinson.{{cite news |last=Kersey |first=Nancy Bigler |date=September 10, 1984 |title=History in making: Cleveland turns out for public radio turn on |pages=1D, [https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130FD213700E615A%402445954-130FD1CB8EA34F0A%4058-130FD1CB8EA34F0A?clipid=scnshylrzanuefybebmvotcfkczncizm_wma-gateway011_1662871174933 7D] |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130FD213700E615A%402445954-130FD1C777E181ED%4052-130FD1C777E181ED?clipid=dtvczzrwtnhowsvlnakcsbyciladgnfs_wma-gateway008_1662871156477 |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 13, 2022 |via=GenealogyBank |archive-date=September 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913153804/https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40GB3NEWS-130FD213700E615A%402445954-130FD1C777E181ED%4052-130FD1C777E181ED?clipid=dtvczzrwtnhowsvlnakcsbyciladgnfs_wma-gateway008_1662871156477 |url-status=live }} The original format was "45% jazz and 55% news and public affairs",{{Cite magazine |date=September 1, 1984 |title=New Public Station Ready For Debut In Cleveland |volume=96 |page=14 |magazine=Billboard |issue=35 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/80s/1984/BB-1984-09-01.pdf#page=14 |url-status=live |access-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703123451/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/80s/1984/BB-1984-09-01.pdf#page=14 |archive-date=July 3, 2020 |via=World Radio History}} and the station expanded to 24-hour service on January 1, 1985.

{{Maplink|frame=yes|frame-width=250|frame-align=right|frame-height=250|raw={{Wikipedia:Map data/WKSU and WCLV}}|text=Grade A (60 dBu) signal contours for WCPN (blue) and WKSU (red), {{circa|1996}}. Both NPR stations had substantial signal overlap in much of Cleveland and area suburbs.}}WCPN's sign-on came not only amidst a significant financial crisis for NPR over the past fiscal year, but also with WKSU having been Greater Cleveland's lone public radio outlet for nearly six years with significant signal overlap. WKSU general manager John Perry noted that during a recent pledge drive, $85,000 out of the $105,000 raised came outside of NPR's offerings, speaking to WKSU's health and strength; Perry was optimistic of both stations co-existing as WCPN focused more on ethnic programming and jazz.{{Cite news |last=Dawidziak |first=Mark |date=April 1, 1984 |title=WKSU to survive, manager pledges |pages=D1-[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98925889/wksu-to-survive-manager-pledges-p2/ D2] |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98925857/wksu-to-survive-manager-pledges/ |access-date=April 2, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403051520/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98925857/wksu-to-survive-manager-pledges/ |url-status=live }} Perry also estimated that one-third of WKSU's listener support now came from Cleveland proper.{{r|CPD19840902SMp10}} In 1987, WKSU relied on listener support for 60% of their annual budget, compared to WCPN relying on support for 40% of their budget.{{Cite news |last1=Dyer |first1=Bob |last2=Dawidziak |first2=Mark |date=May 31, 1987 |title=Public stations still find money coming their way |pages=D1–[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99039750/public-stations-still-find-money-coming/ D2] |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99039722/public-stations-still-find-money-coming/ |url-status=live |access-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404042753/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99039722/public-stations-still-find-money-coming/ |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} WKSU and WCPN notably teamed up to help co-sponsor a live appearance of Garrison Keillor as both stations carried Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion; Perry acknowledged that it was the only way Keillor's Akron broadcast could be booked.{{Cite news |last=Dyer |first=Bob |date=September 15, 1985 |title=WKSU, WCPN friendly amid public-radio war |pages=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98966414/wksu-wcpn-friendly-amid-public-radio/ E5] |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98966396/wksu-wcpn-friendly-amid-public-radio/ |access-date=April 3, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403051728/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98966396/wksu-wcpn-friendly-amid-public-radio/ |url-status=live }} WCPN additionally became a sponsor for Cuyahoga Community College's annual JazzFest starting in 1985.{{Cite news |last=Barrett |first=Bill |date=April 25, 1985 |title=Jazz extravaganza saving some of best for last |page=2C |work=News-Journal |location=Mansfield, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98966320/jazz-extravaganza-saving-some-of-best/ |access-date=April 3, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403051724/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98966320/jazz-extravaganza-saving-some-of-best/ |url-status=live }}

Local air personalities during the jazz programming included Jennifer Stephens, Harvey Zay and Dan Polletta; Polletta also did part-time work for WKSU hosting a blues program.{{Cite news |last=Freligh |first=Rebecca |date=April 22, 1989 |title=Jazz lover stands tall amid stacks of wax and on the air: Avoids excess commentary |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F173F0054C99C9DF8 |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 3, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194753/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/173F0054C99C9DF8&f=basic |url-status=live }} Dick Feagler co-hosted a bi-weekly interview program at launch.{{r|CPD19840910p1D}} WCPN added an evening news program Evening Edition, hosted by reporter Zina Vishnevsky, in November 1986{{Cite news |last=Dyer |first=Bob |date=November 2, 1986 |title=A few fast notes to munch your breakfast by |page=B2 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0EDF1495ADB42935 |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 4, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194744/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0EDF1495ADB42935&f=basic |url-status=live }} and mid-morning news program After Nine the following October.{{Cite news |last=Dyer |first=Bob |date=September 27, 1987 |title=Radio listeners want real news, not vaudeville |page=C1 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83484937/radio-listeners-want-real-news-not/ |access-date=April 2, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403051522/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83484937/radio-listeners-want-real-news-not/ |url-status=live }} As a likely reflection of WCPN's growth, WMJI began airing a Sunday evening jazz program of their own in 1986, while Akron's WONE-FM started a daily late-morning segment playing a different jazz song every day.{{Cite news |last=Dyer |first=Bob |date=June 15, 1986 |title=The 'Get-Down Man' is returning to the airwaves |page=C2 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98934600/the-get-down-man-is-returning-to-the/ |access-date=April 2, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403051525/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98934600/the-get-down-man-is-returning-to-the/ |url-status=live }}

{{Quote box

| quote = So far we've been able to meet the payroll, but it depends on what's in tomorrow's mail. Our cash flow is like that of a small business: we live month to month.

| author = Kit Jensen

| source = WCPN general manager{{r|CPD19890503a}}

| align = right

| width = 225px

| qalign = left

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}}One particular contentious point with WCPN was the inclusion of ethnic programming on the schedule, which included Hungarian, Slovenian, Ukrainian, German, Slovak, Czech, Lithuanian, British, Serbian, Spanish, Italian and Jewish programs.{{Cite news |last=Sowd |first=David |date=June 3, 1989 |title=WCPN agrees to reinstate some ethnic programming |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F173F002BB07B29D0 |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 3, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194744/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/173F002BB07B29D0&f=basic |url-status=live }} A schedule realignment to accommodate the premiere of Weekend Edition in the fall of 1987 saw the programs consolidated into a 12-hour block on Sundays, eliciting anger among the newly established "American Nationalities Movement of Ohio" which attempted a takeover of WCPN's board.{{Cite news |last=Dyer |first=Bob |date=April 12, 1987 |title=WDMT bites the dust: 'No pot of (black) gold' |page=C2 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98966226/wdmt-bites-the-dust-no-pot-of-black/ |access-date=April 3, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403051519/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98966226/wdmt-bites-the-dust-no-pot-of-black/ |url-status=live }} That attempt was unsuccessful with all existing board members retained.{{Cite news |last=Dyer |first=Bob |date=May 10, 1987 |title=Ohio listeners continue to move out of range |page=D2 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98933418/ohio-listeners-continue-to-move-out-of/ |access-date=April 2, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403051725/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98933418/ohio-listeners-continue-to-move-out-of/ |url-status=live }} WCPN would cancel all ethnic programming outright on July 15, 1988, replacing the shows with jazz music.{{r|CPD19890603a}} General manager Kathryn P. (Kit) Jensen, who joined the station in 1987,{{r|CPD19940911p1K}} stated that the shows only attracted 5,800 listeners in ratings surveys, compared to 48,000 listeners the rest of the week.{{r|Newark19880918p2}}

Cleveland mayor George Voinovich expressed outrage over the cancellations and called on an investigation by the FCC{{Cite news |date=August 24, 1988 |title=Voinovich asks radio probe |page=C3 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98934325/voinovich-asks-radio-probe/ |access-date=April 2, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403051726/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98934325/voinovich-asks-radio-probe/ |url-status=live }} while Senator Howard Metzenbaum delayed passage of a budget bill for NPR unless WCPN restored the ethnic fare, but Jensen vowed not to reverse course and received moral support from management at other public radio stations.{{Cite news |date=September 18, 1988 |title=Metzenbaum stalls budget bill |page=2A |work=The Newark Advocate |agency=Associated Press |location=Newark, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98934501/metzenbaum-stalls-budget-bill/ |access-date=April 2, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403051730/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98934501/metzenbaum-stalls-budget-bill/ |url-status=live }} By June 1989, WCPN reached a settlement between the ethnic show producers and the Cleveland Roundtable that restored much of the ethnic fare except for the Spanish, Italian and Jewish programs; a Polish program was also added.{{r|CPD19890603a}} This settlement included a funding proposal of $185,000 in grant money for WCPN—including $90,000 from The Cleveland Foundation{{Cite news |last=Sowd |first=David |date=July 14, 1989 |title=Ethnics back on 'CPN, maybe' |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F173EA6F653140C68 |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 3, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194741/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/173EA6F653140C68&f=basic |url-status=live }}—as well as the establishment of a five-member advisory board and producer to work with the ethnic hosts.{{Cite news |last=Dyer |first=Bob |date=June 18, 1989 |title=Sunday ethnic programs return to WCPN in July |page=E2 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98934426/sunday-ethnic-programs-return-to-wcpn/ |access-date=April 2, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403051522/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98934426/sunday-ethnic-programs-return-to-wcpn/ |url-status=live }} Community leaders also pledged to help raise funds to retire WCPN's $225,000 deficit and find a university affiliation for the station.{{r|CPD19890603a}} An unidentified radio executive in remarks to The Plain Dealer considered the settlement "a bribe" and that WCPN "has now been usurped by an outside agency" that damaged the station's reputation. WCPN chairman Charles Marcoux tacitly confirmed this by saying, "we made a compromise, and no one has pretended it's anything other than a compromise".{{r|CPD19890714a}}

File:WCPN logo.png wordmark from 2001 onward) was used from the early 1990s until 2021.]]The settlement came weeks after Cleveland Public Radio saw three longstanding leaders depart during the station's annual board meeting: chairman emeritus Brad Norris, vice president H. Andrew Johnson III and trustee Ben Shouse. Financial statements disclosed during that meeting revealed that WCPN, despite increasing corporate underwriters and listener support, was experiencing deficits after declines in unrestricted foundation grants.{{Cite news |last=Sowd |first=David |date=May 3, 1989 |title=Cleveland's public radio station loses 3 founding 'fathers' |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F173EA93F35D37AE0 |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 3, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194754/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/173EA93F35D37AE0&f=basic |url-status=live }} The station's news department was affected the most, with news director Vivian Goodman leaving to join WERE{{Cite news |last=Dyer |first=Bob |date=November 20, 1988 |title=WONE jocks play like birds again |page=B2 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99025283/wone-jocks-play-like-birds-again/ |access-date=April 4, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404043315/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99025283/wone-jocks-play-like-birds-again/ |url-status=live }} and a resulting three-person staff that primarily worked on After Nine and news inserts on Morning Edition; by comparison, WKSU featured local newscasts throughout the day and oriented coverage to include Cleveland.{{Cite news |last=Sowd |first=David |date=January 14, 1990 |title=Where's local radio news? Cutbacks leave a big void |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F173EA82095FE2C38 |url-access=subscription |access-date=August 19, 2021 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194752/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/173EA82095FE2C38&f=basic |url-status=live }} The Ohio State Legislature drafted their 1989 state budget with no funding towards WCPN but to Cleveland State University, which was to direct the funds to the station via a partnership; this was arranged to prevent a "free-for-all" with other Ohio public broadcasters.{{Cite news |last=Suddes |first=Thomas |date=May 27, 1989 |title=Senate readies its version of budget |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F173EA8141E195280 |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 4, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194753/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/173EA8141E195280&f=basic |url-status=live }} This, in turn, led WCPN to rely significantly more on membership donations via pledge drives, boasting a base of 8,000 supporters by 1993.{{Cite news |last=Santiago |first=Roberto |date=February 25, 1993 |title=WCPN begs so it can make ends meet |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |page=6E |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F8070F9DA0608E9 |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 8, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194812/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F8070F9DA0608E9&f=basic |url-status=live }}

Additional underwriting support began to emerge. Progressive Insurance donated $48,000 earmarked for news coverage on urban-related issues and pledged an additional $10,000 if WCPN met a pledge drive goal of 248 additional supporters.{{Cite news |last=Sowd |first=David |date=January 26, 1990 |title=NPR turns here for assist |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F173D9D2582BD5EC8 |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 3, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194802/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/173D9D2582BD5EC8&f=basic |url-status=live }} WCLV itself became an underwriter of All Things Considered on WCPN starting in February 1990; in turn, WCPN was given commercial spots over WCLV to promote future specials and pledge drives.{{Cite news |last=Dyer |first=Bob |date=February 11, 1990 |title=Era of dominating radio personalities may be over |page=D2 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99037115/era-of-dominating-radio-personalities/ |access-date=April 4, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404042753/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99037115/era-of-dominating-radio-personalities/ |url-status=live }} A donation from the Reinberger Foundation in 1994 allowed WCPN to purchase a remote truck for live broadcasts.{{r|CPD19940911p1K}} Another substantial change came when WKSU dropped all blues-related programming in July 1990 to focus on classical and folk on the weekends, donating their blues library to WCPN.{{Cite news |last=Dyer |first=Bob |date=July 26, 1990 |title=WKSU bidding goodbye to the blues |page=C4 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99036775/wksu-bidding-goodbye-to-the-blues/ |access-date=April 4, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404043325/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99036775/wksu-bidding-goodbye-to-the-blues/ |url-status=live }} Jensen published an op-ed to The Plain Dealer in response to proposed funding cuts to the CPB by the 104th U.S. Congress, calling the CPB "...an appropriate and needed expenditure for the public good... an investment, as it were, in something that the country needs but that would not come about through market forces alone."{{Cite news |last=Jensen |first=Kathryn P. |date=January 19, 1995 |title=Public radio's place |page=11B |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F8083F556DFCB25 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194754/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F8083F556DFCB25&f=basic |url-status=live }} As WCPN marked its tenth anniversary, Jensen reflected on WBOE's demise from outside forces as proof that WCPN's future could never be fully guaranteed.{{r|CPD19940911p1K}}

File:Playhouse Square Chandelier (25889709683) (cropped).jpg.]]

In 1993, Jerrold Wareham was named as WVIZ's general manager, succeeding station co-founder Betty Cope; shortly after his appointment, Kit Jensen first proposed the idea of both entities forming a partnership.{{r|CPD20091129a}} Both stations collaborated for My Land, Your Land, a December 1997 WVIZ documentary on urban sprawl narrated by NPR's Ray Suarez that WCPN simulcast the audio of;{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Roger |date=December 1, 1997 |title=WKSU beefs up signal |page=5E |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F80CE205B411C7C |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194755/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F80CE205B411C7C&f=basic |url-status=live }} despite multiple logistical issues in production, it was positively received among both station's respective audiences.{{Cite news |last=O'Connor |first=Clint |date=April 6, 2003 |title=Public broadcasting's ideastream is more than the sum of its parts |page=J1 |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0FA4960B8D718211 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194755/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0FA4960B8D718211&f=basic |url-status=live }} WVIZ was negotiating with Cleveland State University in February 2000 for new studio space in downtown Cleveland to comply with a May 1, 2003, federal deadline for television stations to have high-definition equipment and publicly suggested long-ranging partnerships with Playhouse Square and WCPN.{{Cite news |last=Rutti |first=Ronald |date=February 2, 2000 |title=WVIZ wants to build a CSU campus studio |page=2C |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F345CF427038C78 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194804/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F345CF427038C78&f=basic |url-status=live }}

On October 13, 2000, the license holders for WCPN and WVIZ agreed to a merger of equals, with Wareham becoming chief executive officer and Jensen becoming chief operating officer for the combined entity, ideastream.{{cite news |last=Washington |first=Julie E. |date=November 29, 2009 |title=Ideastream partners WVIZ Channel 25 and WCPN 90.3 enjoy benefits of merger |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.cleveland.com/tv/2009/11/ideastream_partners_wviz_chann.html |url-status=live |access-date=November 30, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704162446/https://www.cleveland.com/tv/2009/11/ideastream_partners_wviz_chann.html |archive-date=July 4, 2020}} WNET president William F. Baker called the merger "wonderful news and the right direction for public broadcasting to be moving in... everyone winds up winning, especially the people of Cleveland."{{Cite news |last=Feran |first=Tom |date=October 14, 2000 |title=WVIZ, WCPN plan to merge |page=1A |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F80DBF782DC67A6 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194829/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F80DBF782DC67A6&f=basic |url-status=live }} Most notably, both stations were almost entirely debt-free, a rarity among mergers in the industry following the Telecommunications Act of 1996.{{Cite news |last=Feran |first=Tom |date=October 17, 2000 |title=Merger readies station for the future |page=1E |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F80DBFA74C12D2B |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194825/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F80DBFA74C12D2B&f=basic |url-status=live }} WVIZ's proposed facilities were realized with the Idea Center in Playhouse Square with both stations moving there in the fall of 2005.{{Cite news |last=O'Connor |first=Clint |date=July 31, 2005 |title=Changes put strain on WCPN: Public radio station struggling to adjust to partnership with WVIZ |page=A1 |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F10BB687FE4B01AE8 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 7, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707220214/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/10BB687FE4B01AE8&f=basic |url-status=live }} WCLV's successor station WCPN, which was launched in 2001,{{efn|name=WCLV2001|See {{section link|WCPN|2001 "frequency swap"}} and 2001 in radio.}} moved to the Idea Center in 2010{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{cite news |author=Washington |first=Julie E. |date=October 9, 2010 |title=WCLV to move in, share facilities at Idea Center |page=E4 |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F132D15B186D972D0 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 7, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707220214/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/132D15B186D972D0&f=basic |url-status=live }}|{{cite web |year=2010 |title=WCLV to move facilities to the Idea Center on Playhouse Square the week of December 6 |url=http://www.wclv.com/page.php?pageID=912 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716201252/http://www.wclv.com/page.php?pageID=912 |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |access-date=December 26, 2010 |work=WCLV.com |publisher=WCLV Foundation }}}}{{cite news |last=Washington |first=Julie E. |date=February 19, 2011 |title=WCLV FM/104.9 Fits Right in at Idea Center in Cleveland |work=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2011/02/wclv_fm1049fits_right_in_at_id.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220083228/http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2011/02/wclv_fm1049fits_right_in_at_id.html |archive-date=February 20, 2011}} and was donated to ideastream in 2011.{{cite news |last=Lewis |first=Zachary |date=September 25, 2012 |title=Cleveland's WCLV FM/104.9 planning switch to non-commercial format |work=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/index.ssf/2012/09/wclv_fm-1049_planning_switch_t.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929004534/http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/index.ssf/2012/09/wclv_fm-1049_planning_switch_t.html |archive-date=September 29, 2012}}

Despite WCPN's separate history, one visible reminder of WBOE's past is in display at the Idea Center: a large Works Progress Administration (WPA) mural painted for the Cleveland Board of Education by Louis Grebenak (husband of Dorothy Grebenak), one of several WPA murals commissioned by the city in the 1930s that was restored by the Intermuseum Conservation Association, a non-profit art conservation group.{{Cite web |last=Litt |first=Steven |date=February 6, 2014 |title=CMHA, Cleveland State and ICA Art Conservation preserve WPA treasures from the Depression |url=https://www.cleveland.com/arts/2014/02/cmha_partners_with_ica_art_con.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721155625/https://www.cleveland.com/arts/2014/02/cmha_partners_with_ica_art_con.html |archive-date=July 21, 2020 |access-date=July 21, 2020 |website=cleveland.com |publisher=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en}} The WBOE mural was donated to Ideastream and publicly unveiled in the front lobby of the Idea Center in 2014 as part of WCPN's 30th anniversary.{{Cite web |last=Knowles |first=Dennis |date=October 30, 2014 |title=90.3 WCPN Turns 30; Singer Vanessa Rubin; Downtown Cleveland Documentary |url=https://www.ideastream.org/programs/applause/903-wcpn-turns-30-singer-vanessa-rubin-downtown-cleveland-documentary |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721155539/https://www.ideastream.org/programs/applause/903-wcpn-turns-30-singer-vanessa-rubin-downtown-cleveland-documentary |archive-date=July 21, 2020 |access-date=July 21, 2020 |website=ideastream |language=en}}

File:DSC08617 (8102975028).jpg host Ros Atkins (center) broadcasting from WCPN's studios, October 2012.{{Cite press release |title=A Conversation with BBC Radio Host of World Have Your Say Ros Atkins |url=https://www.ideastream.org/education/distance-learning/a-conversation-with-bbc-radio-host-of-world-have-your-say-ros-atkins |date=October 19, 2012 |publisher=Ideastream |location=Cleveland, Ohio |access-date=July 27, 2022 |last1=Ramicone |first1=John |archive-date=July 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220727201948/https://www.ideastream.org/education/distance-learning/a-conversation-with-bbc-radio-host-of-world-have-your-say-ros-atkins |url-status=live }}]]

WCPN had been substantially evolving prior to the merger. In early 1997, the station had dropped most jazz programming during the midday hours in favor of news-oriented fare including The Diane Rehm Show{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Roger |date=January 22, 1997 |title=15 things causing static this morning |page=4F |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F80C4F64FABDCE5 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194826/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F80C4F64FABDCE5&f=basic |url-status=live }} and The World.{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Roger |date=December 30, 1996 |title='The World' doing decent job with foreign news |page=7D |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F808DA9EFC78649 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194826/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F808DA9EFC78649&f=basic |url-status=live }} The changes also called for another attempt at a reduction in hours to the Sunday ethnic lineup,{{Cite news |last=Hardis |first=Sondra J. |date=December 11, 1996 |title=Keeping a place for Nationalities on WCPN |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |page=10B |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F808D9829838B73 |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 8, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194831/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F808D9829838B73&f=basic |url-status=live }} but met opposition from Ohio governor George Voinovich, Cleveland mayor Michael R. White and Plain Dealer publisher Alex Machaskee.{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=William F. |date=December 1, 1996 |title=Ethnic broadcasters oppose station's plans |page=6B |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F808D8F33678834 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194833/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F808D8F33678834&f=basic |url-status=live }} After the Ohio State Legislature inserted language into the state budget mandating the ethnic shows remain as-is in exchange for state funding{{Cite news |last1=Marrison |first1=Benjamin |last2=Suddes |first2=Thomas |date=May 29, 1997 |title=Senate budget requires ethnic format at WCPN |page=1B |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F80C6A7EF74DAA4 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194927/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F80C6A7EF74DAA4&f=basic |url-status=live }} said changes were rescinded.{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=William F. |date=June 21, 1997 |title=Ethnic radio broadcasters sign contract with WCPN |page=1B |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F80C7C018A43156 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194840/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F80C7C018A43156&f=basic |url-status=live }} InfOhio, an early-afternoon program with an emphasis on statewide news{{r|CPD19940911p1K}} was moved to late mornings as InfOhio After Nine{{r|CPD19970122p4F}}{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Roger |date=August 10, 1998 |title=WCPN finds plenty of interest in Guthrie |page=1E |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F80D05A5CC08D13 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194839/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F80D05A5CC08D13&f=basic |url-status=live }} while incumbent midday jazz host Dee Perry{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Roger |date=July 21, 1996 |title=Classy voice of jazz: WCPN's Dee Perry is not standing still |page=2J |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F808D0A56A54C34 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194839/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F808D0A56A54C34&f=basic |url-status=live }} began hosting a daily arts-oriented newsmagazine, Around Noon.{{Cite news |last=Crump |first=Sarah |date=October 23, 1998 |title=Familiar Romans at the Allen |page=7B |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F80D0B101DE5111 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194840/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0F80D0B101DE5111&f=basic |url-status=live }} Following the merger, Perry also began hosting Applause, a similarly focused weekly program over WVIZ;{{r|CPD20030406pJ1}} Around Noon was renamed The Sound of Applause in 2013, tying it closer to the TV program.{{Cite news |last=Dawidziak |first=Mark |date=June 27, 2013 |title=WCPN changing lineup, adding 'Here & Now' and turning 'Around Noon' into 'The Sound of Applause' |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F147389C1F5082FE8 |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 8, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194840/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/147389C1F5082FE8&f=basic |url-status=live }}

By 2005, WCPN experienced some staff turnover attributed to the merger, with news director Dave Pignanelli leaving for WKSU in the same capacity and the news department shrinking from 18 staffers to nine; WCPN only employed four news staffers when Pignanelli joined in 1996.{{r|CPD20050731pA1}} 90.3 at 9 (the former InfOhio After Nine) host Cindi Deutschman-Ruiz also left the station, with the show renamed The Sound of Ideas under succeeding hosts Dan Moulthrop and Plain Dealer columnist Regina Brett.{{Cite news |last=Washington |first=Julie E. |date=September 15, 2006 |title=Arts & Entertainment Weblog: New host on WCPN midmorning show |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F11452CE324622DB0 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194841/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/11452CE324622DB0&f=basic |url-status=live }} An additional schedule realignment in 2006 saw a further de-emphasizing from jazz with the moving of Jazz from the Lincoln Center to Friday overnights, the cancellation of Jazz After Hours and locally produced Jazz Tracks with Bobby Jackson and the addition of BBC World Service programming overnights.{{Cite news |last=Washington |first=Julie E. |date=July 1, 2006 |title=WCPN is adding 9 shows to schedule |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |page=E6 |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F1129D2AA56BA9A80 |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 8, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194844/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/1129D2AA56BA9A80&f=basic |url-status=live }} Sentiment among former personnel was critical toward ideastream placing an emphasis on television over radio; Kit Jensen disputed this, saying that the station's audience and listener support base had both grown substantially, and that issues to secure funding were preventing staff vacancies from being filled.{{r|CPD20050731pA1}} In a 2006 interview, Jensen explained the changes were "...to disrupt ourselves... to break down our own walls in order to partner effectively and... accept that we could not do this on our own... we had to subsume our own organizational ego..."{{Cite web |last=Paterson |first=Rob |date=August 26, 2006 |title=Kit Jensen on Public Radio – Trusted Space |url=https://smartpei.typepad.com/robs_thoughts/2006/08/kit_jensen_on_p.html |access-date=July 6, 2022 |website=Rob's Thoughts |archive-date=June 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612114951/https://smartpei.typepad.com/robs_thoughts/2006/08/kit_jensen_on_p.html |url-status=live }} WKSU's format adjustment in July 2013 placing a greater emphasis on news programming resulted in both it and WCPN now largely mirroring each other, carrying much of the same nationally produced shows.{{Cite news |last=Heldenfels |first=Rich |date=July 22, 2013 |title=WKSU shakes up on-air lineup |pages=B1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99710286/wksu-shakes-up-on-air-lineup-p2/ B3] |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99710236/wksu-shakes-up-on-air-lineup/ |url-status=live |access-date=April 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414044355/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99710236/wksu-shakes-up-on-air-lineup/ |archive-date=April 14, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} WCPN added NPR's Here and Now for early middays in the same time slot as WKSU, within weeks of WKSU's lineup changes.{{r|CPD20130627blog}}

{{Quote box

| quote = [Living in Ada, Ohio and working for the Lima News] was fine until the job opportunity came at then-WCPN and I was invited to submit my resume for this Morning Edition post. I applied, and I went in for my interview, and when I walked into the studios it was like this feeling of, 'I'm home. My people.'

| author = Amy Eddings

| source = former WNYC-FM personality, on joining WCPN in 2017{{r|MG20220510a}}

| align = right

| width = 275px

| qalign = left

| salign = left

}}

Dee Perry retired from the station on August 26, 2016, ending a 40-year career in broadcasting, with all local inserts during weekday NPR programming subsequently rebranded The Sound of Applause.{{Cite news |last=Petkovic |first=John |date=August 21, 2016 |title=Radio's Perry to trade listening for doing |page=D1 |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F15EF3E75A4DCC098 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 7, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707220216/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/15EF3E75A4DCC098&f=basic |url-status=live }} Former WNYC-FM personality Amy Eddings, who had been that station's local host for All Things Considered until 2015, joined WCPN as local host for Morning Edition in March 2017.{{Cite web |last=Zaleski |first=Annie |date=August 14, 2017 |title=Morning Star: Amy Eddings Returns To The Airwaves |url=https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/people/articles/morning-star-amy-eddings-returns-to-the-airwaves |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414044357/https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/people/articles/morning-star-amy-eddings-returns-to-the-airwaves |archive-date=April 14, 2022 |access-date=April 13, 2022 |website=Cleveland Magazine |language=en}} A native of Brunswick,{{Cite web |last=William |first=Logan |date=May 10, 2022 |title=WKSU's Amy Eddings, a Brunswick High School alum, is a lifetime learner |url=https://medina-gazette.com/news/301911/wksus-amy-eddings-a-brunswick-high-school-alum-is-a-lifetime-learner/ |access-date=July 3, 2022 |website=medina-gazette.com |publisher=Medina Gazette |location=Medina, Ohio |language=en |archive-date=July 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703181538/https://medina-gazette.com/news/301911/wksus-amy-eddings-a-brunswick-high-school-alum-is-a-lifetime-learner/ |url-status=live }} Eddings also began involvement with The Downtowner, a weekly WCPN-produced podcast devoted to downtown Cleveland's revival.{{Cite web |last=Segall |first=Grant |date=October 4, 2018 |title=Amy Eddings hosts WCPN's Morning Edition and co-produces Ideastream's Downtowner: My Cleveland |url=https://www.cleveland.com/life-and-culture/erry-2018/10/aae60ba8fe3254/amy-eddings-hosts-wcpns-mornin.html |access-date=July 7, 2022 |website=cleveland.com |publisher=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707220213/https://www.cleveland.com/life-and-culture/erry-2018/10/aae60ba8fe3254/amy-eddings-hosts-wcpns-mornin.html |url-status=live }} Plain Dealer reporter Michael McIntrye joined WCPN as host of The Sound of Ideas,{{Cite news |last=Bamforth |first=Emily |date=March 11, 2018 |title='Barukhzy' spells success for Westlake 8th-grader Danilova |page=B2 |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F16A974BE404CEB68 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 7, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707220216/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/16A974BE404CEB68&f=basic |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=July 24, 2019 |title=The Plain Dealer Investigations Team |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F174E3DF2D0261FF0 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=July 7, 2022 |website=cleveland.com |publisher=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707220215/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/174E3DF2D0261FF0&f=basic }} sharing the duties with staffer Rick Jackson.{{Cite news |last=Morona |first=Joey |date=April 27, 2018 |title=Ideastream's Rick Jackson is the new host of 'Academic Challenge' on WEWS Ch. 5 |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F16B8EEC3F1DF6520 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 7, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707220216/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/16B8EEC3F1DF6520&f=basic |url-status=live }} Originally with WCPN as morning anchor, Jackson was moved to WVIZ{{r|CPD20050731pA1}} to host the weekly panel discussion program Ideas and the children's-oriented newsmagazine NewsDepth.{{Cite news |last=Dawidziak |first=Mark |date=September 15, 2013 |title='Ideas' replacing 'Feagler' on WVIZ |page=D6 |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F148D5A7AC1C7D368 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 7, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707220216/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/148D5A7AC1C7D368&f=basic |url-status=live }} Meanwhile, WCPN was successful in reducing the allotted airtime for the weekend ethnic fare in January 2015 after the hosts of the Lithuanian and Serbian programs retired; the resulting schedule changes allowed WCPN to finally add the Sunday edition of All Things Considered.{{Cite news |date=January 10, 2015 |title=WCPN ethnic shows are changing it up |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |page=A4 |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F152C5D7A75592A60 |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 8, 2022 |via=NewsBank |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194840/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/152C5D7A75592A60&f=basic |url-status=live }} By the end of 2021, only three ethnic programs remained on the lineup.

On June 15, 2021, WCPN rebranded as "WCPN Ideastream Public Media" as part of a group-wide effort to celebrate the entity's 20th anniversary.{{Cite press release |title=ideastream Celebrates 20th Anniversary with Rebrand and Renewed Vision to Strengthen the Community; Becomes Ideastream Public Media |date=June 15, 2021 |publisher=Ideastream |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://wcpn.ideastream.org/about/press-releases/ideastream-celebrates-20th-anniversary-with-rebrand-and-renewed-vision-to-strengthen-the-community-becomes-ideastream-public |last1=Andrus |first1=Calle |last2=Vaselaney |first2=Stacey |access-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627003641/https://wcpn.ideastream.org/about/press-releases/ideastream-celebrates-20th-anniversary-with-rebrand-and-renewed-vision-to-strengthen-the-community-becomes-ideastream-public |url-status=live}}

{{Further|WKSU#Ideastream merger}}

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Kent State University's board of trustees and Ideastream Public Media entered into a public service operating agreement with the university's WKSU on September 15, 2021.{{Cite web |last=Lieszkovszky |first=Ida |date=September 15, 2021 |title=WKSU And Ideastream Public Media Enter Into Merger Agreement |url=https://www.ideastream.org/news/wksu-and-ideastream-public-media-enter-into-merger-agreement |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916120717/https://www.ideastream.org/news/wksu-and-ideastream-public-media-enter-into-merger-agreement |archive-date=September 16, 2021 |access-date=September 19, 2021 |website=Ideastream Public Media |publisher=ideastream |language=en |quote=Neither Ideastream Public Media or WKSU management were involved in the reporting or editing of this story, nor did they review it before publication. Ida Lieszkovszky is a freelance reporter working in Northeast Ohio. This story was reviewed by an editor outside both organizations.}} As part of the agreement, Ideastream took over the day-to-day operations of WKSU and all its respective translators and repeaters on October 1, 2021, retaining all of WKSU's employees.{{Cite web |last=Venta |first=Lance |date=September 15, 2021 |title=Ideastream To Begin Operating WKSU; Swap Frequencies Of WCPN & WCLV Cleveland |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/212656/kent-state-university-to-vote-on-wksu-operating-agreement-with-ideastream/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916200229/https://radioinsight.com/headlines/212656/kent-state-university-to-vote-on-wksu-operating-agreement-with-ideastream/ |archive-date=September 16, 2021 |access-date=September 19, 2021 |website=RadioInsight |language=en-US |via=RadioBB}} This agreement had its genesis in a $100,000 CPB grant{{Cite web |last=Marotta |first=Eric |date=September 14, 2021 |title=WKSU-Ideastream WCPN merger: Kent State board of trustees to vote on management agreement |url=https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2021/09/14/wksu-ideastream-wcpn-merger-kent-state-university-trustees-considering-management-agreement/8326363002/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204135526/https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2021/09/14/wksu-ideastream-wcpn-merger-kent-state-university-trustees-considering-management-agreement/8326363002/ |archive-date=December 4, 2021 |access-date=September 19, 2021 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |language=en-US}} jointly awarded to WKSU and Ideastream on September 1, 2020, to help expand public media service in Northeast Ohio and encourage collaboration between both entities.{{Cite web |last=Marotta |first=Eric |date=September 9, 2021 |title=Are public radio stations WKSU and WCPN planning to merge? |url=https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2021/09/09/public-radio-stations-wksu-and-wcpn-considering-merger-sources-say/5756322001/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204142936/https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2021/09/09/public-radio-stations-wksu-and-wcpn-considering-merger-sources-say/5756322001/ |archive-date=December 4, 2021 |access-date=September 19, 2021 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |language=en-US}}

With this arrangement, a realignment of formats, stations and call signs took place on March 28, 2022.{{Cite web |last=Venta |first=Lance |date=February 25, 2022 |title=Ideastream Sets Cleveland Public Radio Frequency Change Date |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/220460/ideastream-sets-cleveland-public-radio-frequency-change-date/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225133046/https://radioinsight.com/headlines/220460/ideastream-sets-cleveland-public-radio-frequency-change-date/ |archive-date=February 25, 2022 |access-date=February 25, 2022 |website=RadioInsight |language=en-US}} On that date, WCPN changed their call letters to WCLV and format to classical music, which was reported as WCLV "moving" to the {{Frequency|90.3|FM}} facility in WCPN's place.{{r|CPD20211211a}} The former WCPN's format was "merged" into WKSU, which became Northeast Ohio's lead NPR station employing the off- and on-air staffs from both stations.{{Cite web |last=Gaetjens |first=Bob |date=September 15, 2021 |title=WKSU expected to merge with Cleveland's Ideastream by Oct. 1 following Kent State trustees approval |url=https://www.record-courier.com/story/news/education/campus/2021/09/15/wksu-89-7-fm-merge-operation-ideastream-kent-state-university-90-3-fm-104-9-fm/8345698002/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917144806/https://www.record-courier.com/story/news/education/campus/2021/09/15/wksu-89-7-fm-merge-operation-ideastream-kent-state-university-90-3-fm-104-9-fm/8345698002/ |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |access-date=September 19, 2021 |website=Record-Courier |location=Kent, Ohio |language=en-US}} Amy Eddings was reassigned to WKSU as that station's morning host{{r|MG20220510a}} and The Sound of Ideas and the City Club of Cleveland's Friday Forum were also moved to WKSU.{{Cite web |last=Allard |first=Sam |date=March 17, 2022 |title=Here Are Your Daily Hosts for the Newly Merged WCPN and WKSU on 89.7 |url=https://www.clevescene.com/news/here-are-your-daily-hosts-for-the-newly-merged-wcpn-and-wksu-on-897-38565722 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414044356/https://www.clevescene.com/news/here-are-your-daily-hosts-for-the-newly-merged-wcpn-and-wksu-on-897-38565722 |archive-date=April 14, 2022 |access-date=April 13, 2022 |website=Cleveland Scene |language=en}} Two of WCPN's three remaining ethnic programs—The Hungarian Program and The Polish Program—were retained and moved to WKSU's HD4 subchannel.{{r|IdeastreamNewSched}} Concurrently, WCLV's former {{Frequency|104.9|FM}} facility changed their calls to WCPN and became a WKSU repeater for Lorain County and the western portion of Greater Cleveland.{{Cite web |last=Morona |first=Joey |date=September 15, 2021 |title=WKSU, WCPN deal approved by Kent State, combined NPR station to operate at 89.7 FM starting in 2022 |url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/09/wksu-wcpn-deal-approved-by-kent-state-combined-npr-station-to-operate-at-897-fm-starting-in-2022.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917172321/https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/09/wksu-wcpn-deal-approved-by-kent-state-combined-npr-station-to-operate-at-897-fm-starting-in-2022.html |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |access-date=September 19, 2021 |website=cleveland.com |publisher=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en}} The "new" WCLV at {{Frequency|90.3|FM}} also inherited WCPN's jazz programming for overnights, while WKSU dropped all remaining classical programming from their lineup.{{r|RI-ChangeDate}}

Ideastream general manager Jenny Northern, WCLV air host Bill O'Connell and station president/co-founder Robert Conrad each expressed hope the frequency change would bring back longtime listeners adversely affected following WCLV's 2001 move to the {{Frequency|104.9|FM}} facility.{{r|CPD20211211a}}{{efn|name=WCLV2001}} At {{Frequency|90.3|FM}}, WCLV's potential audience was estimated to have increased by as many as one million people, particularly in Akron and Cleveland's eastern suburbs.{{Cite web|date=September 14, 2021|title=Ideastream Public Media & WKSU: Frequently Asked Questions|url=https://www.ideastream.org/ideastream-public-media-wksu-frequently-asked-questions|url-status=live|access-date=September 19, 2021|website=Ideastream Public Media|publisher=ideastream|language=en|archive-date=December 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211217224830/https://www.ideastream.org/ideastream-public-media-wksu-frequently-asked-questions}} Conrad's involvement with WCLV since the original WCLV's 1962 establishment is recognized as one of the longest such tenures in the format{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Zachary |date=December 11, 2021 |title=Classical music, WCLV take up key roles in public radio merger |url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/12/classical-music-wclv-take-up-key-roles-in-public-radio-merger.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229025701/https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/12/classical-music-wclv-take-up-key-roles-in-public-radio-merger.html |archive-date=December 29, 2021 |access-date=March 28, 2022 |website=cleveland.com |publisher=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en}} and his announcing duties for the Cleveland Orchestra broadcasts, uninterrupted since 1965, is also regarded as a record in American radio.{{cite news |last=Hardy |first=Pam |date=October 31, 2012 |title=WCLV classical radio's Robert Conrad honored for 'great idea' by ideastream at station's 50th anniversary |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |location=Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F1424B436D42C0060 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=December 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209215257/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/1424B436D42C0060&f=basic |archive-date=December 9, 2022 |via=NewsBank}} Ideastream celebrated WCLV's "60th anniversary", recognizing the date WDGO ({{Frequency|95.5|FM}}) changed their call letters to WCLV,{{r|WFHMhc}} on November 1, 2022.{{Cite web |last=Gerber |first=Jacqueline |date=November 1, 2022 |title=WCLV Observes 60 Years on the Air Nov. 1 |url=https://ideastream.org/wclv/wclv-observes-60-years-on-the-air-nov-1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130033016/https://wclv.ideastream.org/wclv/wclv-observes-60-years-on-the-air-nov-1 |archive-date=November 30, 2022 |access-date=November 29, 2022 |website=WCLV |location=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en}}

Local personalities heard on WCLV include Jacqueline Gerber, Mark Satola, Rob Greer, Bill O'Connell, John Mills and John Simna. Simna also hosts Symphony at Seven, broadcast continuously over WCLV since 1964 with KeyBank and its predecessors as the sole underwriter{{efn|The contract was signed by The Cleveland Trust Company, which merged into Society National Bank in 1991; Society merged into KeyBank in 1993.}} throughout the program's entire history.{{Cite news |last=Carnegie |first=Jim |date=October 22, 2004 |title=40 years, same sponsor |volume=21 |work=RBR's Daily Morning Epaper |publisher=Radio Business Report |issue=207 |url=https://www.rbr.com/epaper/issue207-04-hill.html |url-status=live |access-date=December 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041207174009/https://www.rbr.com/epaper/issue207-04-hill.html |archive-date=December 7, 2004}}{{Cite web |last=Segall |first=Grant |date=January 15, 2020 |title=Robert Conrad has led WCLV since 1962: My Cleveland |url=https://www.cleveland.com/life-and-culture/j66j-2020/01/5e36d04ec95683/robert-conrad-has-led-wclv-since-1962-my-cleveland.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721025506/https://www.cleveland.com/life-and-culture/j66j-2020/01/5e36d04ec95683/robert-conrad-has-led-wclv-since-1962-my-cleveland.html |archive-date=July 21, 2022 |access-date=December 25, 2022 |website=The Plain Dealer |place=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en}} Weekend and seasonal programming includes Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, Performance Today, From the Top and Pipedreams with J. Michael Barone; the City Club of Cleveland's Friday Forum, which originates over WKSU on Friday afternoons, is rebroadcast over WCLV on Sunday nights.{{Cite web |title=WCLV Schedule |url=https://www.ideastream.org/schedule/wclv |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130034140/https://www.ideastream.org/schedule/wclv |archive-date=November 30, 2022 |access-date=November 29, 2022 |website=Ideastream Public Media |place=Cleveland, Ohio}}{{Cite web |date=March 14, 2022 |title=New Program Schedules Coming March 28 |url=https://www.ideastream.org/new-program-schedules-coming-march-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627005100/https://www.ideastream.org/new-program-schedules-coming-march-28 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |access-date=March 28, 2022 |website=Ideastream Public Media |place=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en}} WCLV syndicates the Cleveland Orchestra's radio broadcasts, comedy show Weekend Radio{{Cite web |date=September 26, 2012 |title=Classical WCLV Going Noncommercial |url=https://www.ohio.com/article/20120926/NEWS/309269121 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306113039/https://www.ohio.com/article/20120926/NEWS/309269121 |archive-date=March 6, 2019 |access-date=March 4, 2019 |work=Akron Beacon Journal |publication-place=Akron, Ohio}} and musical theatre show Footlight Parade, the latter produced by The Musical Theater Project.{{Cite web |last=Eakin |first=Cynthia Schuster |date=December 26, 2019 |title=Musical Theater Project's 'Kids Love Musicals' reaches 9,000 area students |url=https://www.currentsneo.com/musical-theater-projects-kids-love-musicals-reaches-9000-area-students/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114172818/https://www.currentsneo.com/musical-theater-projects-kids-love-musicals-reaches-9000-area-students/ |archive-date=January 14, 2020 |access-date=December 9, 2022 |website=Currents |language=en |publication-place=Chagrin Falls, Ohio}}

WCLV's HD2 digital subchannel carries a full-time jazz format as "JazzNEO" locally hosted with Dan Polletta, Dee Perry and Simna.{{cite web |last=Maziasz |first=Drew |date=February 23, 2024 |title=Ideastream Public Media's music streaming service JazzNEO readies for launch |url=https://www.ideastream.org/show/sound-of-ideas/2024-02-23/ideastream-public-medias-music-streaming-service-jazzneo-readies-for-launch |access-date=February 25, 2024 |website=Ideastream Public Media}} WCLV-HD3 rebroadcasts the analog signal of WKSU, while WCLV is simulcast on the HD3 signals of WKSU and its full-power repeater network;{{Cite web |title=How to Access Ideastream Public Media Broadcasts |url=https://www.ideastream.org/how-to-access-ideastream-public-media-broadcasts |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221213172908/https://www.ideastream.org/how-to-access-ideastream-public-media-broadcasts |archive-date=December 13, 2022 |access-date=December 18, 2022 |website=Ideastream Public Media |place=Cleveland, Ohio |language=en}}{{r|IdeastreamNewSched}} WVIZ's 25.8 subchannel rebroadcasts WCLV in an audio-only format.{{Cite web |title=RabbitEars TV Query for WVIZ |url=https://rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WVIZ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314213325/http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WVIZ |archive-date=March 14, 2016 |access-date=March 25, 2022 |website=RabbitEars.Info}}

• WNYE (FM), former radio station of the New York City Department of Education
• WUKY, radio station of the University of Kentucky
• KALW, radio station of the San Francisco Unified School District
• KSIV-FM, formerly KSLH, radio station of the St. Louis Public Schools
• WRCJ-FM, formerly WDTR, radio station of the Detroit Public Schools
• WFBE, former radio station of the Flint School District

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{Refbegin||indent=yes}}

• {{Cite book |last=Atkinson |first=Carroll |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b308796&view=1up&seq=30&skin=2021 |title=Public School Broadcasting to the Classroom |publisher=Meador Publishing Company |year=1942 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |pages=26–36 |chapter=Cleveland, Ohio: 1925 to date |access-date=July 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813183401/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b308796&view=1up&seq=30 |archive-date=August 13, 2020 |url-status=live |via=HathiTrust}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Ewinger |first=James |date=Winter 1984 |title=Cultural Fisticuffs: FM stations fight for programming, but Cleveland area audiences may come out the winners |url=https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/gamut_archives/9 |journal=The Gamut: A Journal of Ideas and Information |publisher=Cleveland State University |publication-place=Cleveland, Ohio |publication-date=1984 |issue=11 |pages=3–9 |access-date=July 15, 2022 |via=Publications at EngagedScholarship@CSU |archive-date=September 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200902124752/https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/gamut_archives/9/ |url-status=live}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Helman |first=Edwin F. |date=January 1949 |title=Education Stations of the Nation—WBOE |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_naeb-journal_1949-01_8_5/page/53/mode/2up |journal=The Journal of the AER |location=Chicago, Illinois |publisher=The Association for Education by Radio |volume=8 |issue=5 |pages=53–56 |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Levenson |first=William B. |date=April 1946 |title=Educational Broadcasting: The Cleveland Plan|journal=Hollywood Quarterly |location=Berkeley, California |publisher=University of California Press |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=303–311 |doi=10.2307/1209287 |jstor=1209287}}
• {{Cite book |last=Levenson |first=William B. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/naeb-b105-f02-05/page/51/mode/2up |title=Lincoln Lodge Seminar on Educational Television: June, 1953 |chapter=Television for Children in the Classroom |publisher=National Association of Educational Broadcasters |year=1953 |editor-last=Paulu |editor-first=Burton |location=Urbana, Illinois |pages=51–61}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Reed |first=Paul C. |date=January 1941 |title=Radio as an Aid to Learning|journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |publisher=SAGE Publications for the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=213, New Horizons in Radio |pages=31–36 |doi=10.1177/000271624121300106 |jstor=1024052 |s2cid=145374383}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Rice |first=Jeannette E. |date=February 1941 |title=Presenting English Lessons By Radio|journal=The Elementary English Review |location=Chicago, Illinois |publisher=National Council of Teachers of English |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=35–41, 51 |jstor=41382503}}

{{Refend}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Tyler |first=Tracy F. |date=May 1946 |title=Radio Equipment for Every School!|journal=The Phi Delta Kappan|location=Arlington, Virginia |publisher=Phi Delta Kappa International |volume=27 |issue=9 |pages=247–248, 275–276 |jstor=20331356|ref=none}}

{{Commons category|WCLV}}

• {{Official website|https://wclv.ideastream.org/}}

{{FM station data|12025|WCLV}}

• {{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=70058 |title= History Cards for WBOE (1938–1980)|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards)

{{Cleveland Radio}}

{{NPR Ohio|state=autocollapse}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1984 establishments in Ohio

Category:Classical music radio stations in the United States

Category:Ideastream

Category:Radio stations established in 1984

CLV

Category:NPR member stations