First air date October 4, 1954 HAAT 306 meters Facility ID 28525 City of license Cleveland Owner CBS Radio Slogan Better Music | ERP 12,000 watts Class B Frequency 102.1 MHz Format Adult contemporary music Branding Star 102 | |
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Broadcast area Greater Cleveland
Northeast Ohio Area Northeast Ohio, Greater Cleveland | ||
WDOK (102.1 FM) – branded as Star 102 – is a commercial adult contemporary radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio. Owned by CBS Radio, the station serves Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. The WDOK studios are located at the Halle Building in Downtown Cleveland, while the station transmitter resides in the Cleveland suburb of Parma. Besides a standard analog transmission, WDOK broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online.
Contents
History
The station began as WDOK-FM on October 4, 1954 by simulcasting its sister station, WDOK. Eventually, WDOK-FM originated its own programming and featured a beautiful music format. On December 12, 1965, WDOK (AM) changed its callsign to WIXY and adopted a Top 40 format; WDOK-FM itself changed its callsign to WDOK. The station was branded Stereo Cleveland, with the slogan "Beautiful Music for the Land of the Western Reserve." Station personalities included Wayne Mack, the founder of WDOK (AM); Tom Armstrong, previously the morning host at WGAR (AM) in the 1940s and 50s; and David Mark, who also worked for Cleveland market "beautiful music" stations WQAL, WKSW, WJW (AM), and WDBN. During this period, the station was programmed by Peter Irmiter and Neil Hershberger.
By the 1980s, WDOK had come under common ownership with WWWE; both stations were sold on November 30, 1987 by Lake Erie Radio Company, owned by Art Modell and Al Lerner, to the Independent Group Limited partnership, owned by Tom Embrescia, Larry Pollock, and Tom Wilson.
Soft Rock 102.1
By the mid-1980s, WDOK's beautiful music format had brightened to a more contemporary flavor, with more vocals being played and the vocals being by "soft rock" artists such as James Taylor and Elton John. Ratings remained high, but the format attracted mostly older listeners in advertiser-unfriendly demographics and not the younger audiences courted by advertisers, and so WDOK made the final and complete switch to an adult contemporary format in 1987 with Sue Wilson as program director. The station promoted its new AC format with TV commercials announcing that it was "coming out of the elevator" (as in "elevator music"). WDOK initially positioned itself as a soft AC, midway between beautiful music (which continued for a few more years on WQAL) and the mainstream AC format played on WLTF and WMJI, but eventually the format evolved into the "soft rock" approach.
New 102/Star 102
On January 9, 2012, WDOK debuted a new and more up tempo playlist (going from soft AC to more mainstream AC), re-branding themselves as The New 102 complete with new logo and imaging. On November 13, 2012, WDOK moved from its longtime studio home at One Radio Lane, off East Saint Clair Avenue in Downtown Cleveland, to the Halle Building on Euclid Avenue, also Downtown. Sister station WQAL joined WDOK in the move; as a result, all four Cleveland CBS Radio stations are now located in the same building.
On December 19, 2012, longtime WDOK morning host "Trapper" Jack Elliot announced that the station had opted not to renew the contracts of both he and cohost Jim McIntyre, much to the dismay of many listeners.
In recent years, WDOK typically plays Christmas music throughout the holiday season under the brand Christmas 102.
On April 3, 2015, WDOK rebranded as Star 102.
Current programming
The weekday schedule includes WDOK personalities Jen Toohey and Tim Richards (mornings), Desiray McCray (middays), Glenn Anderson afternoons, and Michelle O'Dell (evenings).
The HD2 digital subchannel broadcasts an adult album alternative format under the brand The Coffee Shop.