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oWOW Radio, stylized and marketed as oWOW! Radio or oWOW! Cleveland, was a commercial
internet radio Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...
station based in
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
, United States, that primarily served
Greater Cleveland The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, United States. According to the 2020 census results, the six-county Cleveland, OH ...
and surrounding
Northeast Ohio Northeast Ohio is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that comprises the northeastern counties of the U.S. state of Ohio. Definitions of the region consist of 16 to 23 counties between the southern shore of Lake Erie and the foothills ...
. Independently owned by Wow Media, LLC, the station streamed an
adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...
(AAA) format promoted as "timeless
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
" and was co-founded and programmed by veteran radio executive/consultant John Gorman. Launched first as a website in 2014, oWOW Radio made its streaming debut on February 20, 2015, with studios and offices at the 78th Street Studios complex in Cleveland's
Detroit–Shoreway Detroit–Shoreway is a neighborhood on the West Side of Cleveland, in the U.S. state of Ohio. Detroit–Shoreway consists of the streets between Lake Erie and Interstate 90, from West 85th to West 45th streets.COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
both regionally and nationally, oWOW Radio announced its shutdown in September 2020, dropped all on-air staff on October 2, 2020, and ceased operations entirely on January 17, 2021.


History

Radio programmer John Gorman, known for stints at longtime Cleveland rock station
WMMS WMMS (100.7 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio, commonly identified as "The Buzzard". Widely regarded as one of the most influen ...
and
oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...
station
WMJI WMJI (105.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, featuring a classic hits format dubbed "Majic 105.7". Owned by iHeartMedia, the station serves Greater Cleveland and much of the surrounding Northeast Ohio. WMJI's st ...
, stated he first saw potential for Internet radio in the mid-1990s. Gorman recalled growing frustrated with the radio industry at that time, citing among other things a general lack of creativity, including for
online streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...
. He believed the success of
Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...
and
Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
many years later helped establish Internet radio as a more viable alternative for radio listeners. On February 20, 2015, oWOW Radio launched in a small, temporary studio while construction continued on what became its 1,600-
square foot The square foot (; abbreviated sq ft, sf, or ft2; also denoted by '2 and ⏍) is an imperial unit and U.S. customary unit (non- SI, non-metric) of area, used mainly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pa ...
facility located at the 78th Street Studios complex in the Gordon Square Arts District, part of the
Detroit–Shoreway Detroit–Shoreway is a neighborhood on the West Side of Cleveland, in the U.S. state of Ohio. Detroit–Shoreway consists of the streets between Lake Erie and Interstate 90, from West 85th to West 45th streets.small business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...
grant from the city of Cleveland. Serving as chief content officer, Gorman recruited former WMMS director of marketing Jim Marchyshyn to manage sales; the two functioned as oWOW's "principal partners" until Marchyshyn's death. John Chaffee, former president of
Malrite Communications Raycom Media, Inc. was an American television broadcasting company based in Montgomery, Alabama. Raycom owned and/or provided services for 65 television stations and two radio stations across 44 markets in 20 states. Raycom, through its Commun ...
, was announced as a
consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...
in late April 2015. Veteran local radio personalities were hired for regular on-air shifts, and illustrator David Helton, best known for designing WMMS's Buzzard mascot, designed oWOW Radio's logo. A frequent critic of traditional radio, Gorman compared terrestrial AM and FM stations to
fax machines Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephone, telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or ...
, "a dated appliance in the digital age" unable to win back former consumers now opting to use streaming platforms. He also believed services like Pandora and Spotify had a limited ability to serve local markets, and despite their successes, were used for specific wants of listeners and could not present an "
element of surprise Surprise () is a rapid, fleeting, mental and physiological state. It is related to the startle response experienced by animals and humans as the result of an unexpected event. Surprise can have any valence. That is, it can be pleasant/positive ...
". oWOW actively targeted
Northeast Ohio Northeast Ohio is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that comprises the northeastern counties of the U.S. state of Ohio. Definitions of the region consist of 16 to 23 counties between the southern shore of Lake Erie and the foothills ...
listeners, a local approach emphasized during an "uphill battle" to find
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
clients. ''RadioInsight.com'' speculated that oWOW Radio might find a "niche local audience" while ''
Radio Ink ''Radio Ink'' is a radio broadcasting industry trade magazine owned by Streamline Publishing. ''Radio Ink'' serves the management community of the radio industry in the United States and in 43 countries worldwide. The focus of the bi-weekly ma ...
'' described their playlist as "macro-local". Daryl Rowland of ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
'' suggested broadcasters and entrepreneurs could take notice if oWOW Radio were to be successful, saying "something could be in the air -- or in the
fiber-optic cable A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable but containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with p ...
s and cell signals". Industry analyst Sean Ross retrospectively noted that oWOW Radio "... was trying to be a local Cleveland station that just happened not to have an FM antenna". Emphasizing this localism, the station participated in a monthly "third Friday" at the 78th Street Studios, allowing visitors to tour the station and meet the air talent. On-air talent included former Ravenna Miceli (formerly of WMJI and
WNWV WNWV (107.3 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Elyria, Ohio, carrying an alternative rock format known as "107.3 Alternative Cleveland". Owned by Rubber City Radio Group, Inc., the station serves Greater Cleveland and much of surr ...
), Steve Pappas (a former
WQAL WQAL (104.1 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, United States, featuring a hot adult contemporary format known as "Q104". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves Greater Cleveland and surrounding Northeast Ohi ...
morning show producer), Chuck Matthews (formerly of WMJI and WMMS, and other stations around the country). Matthews, a national voiceover talent, also served as Production/Imaging Director, creating the audio branding for oWOW. Several weekly programs were introduced: ''Friday Night Live'' featured recordings of live
rock concert A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several American musical groups experimented with new musical forms that fused country music, blues, and swing genre to produce the earliest examples of "rock and roll." The coi ...
s, Alan Greene hosted a weekly
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
-themed program titled ''Blues Time'', and
WKYC WKYC (channel 3) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. Its studios are located on Tom Beres Way (a section of Lakeside Avenue in Downtown Cleveland named after the station's lo ...
reporter Monica Robins hosted a weekly
acoustic music Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the a ...
program titled ''Naked Brunch''. oWOW Radio was also an early promoter for local rock band Welshly Arms, with Gorman calling an oWOW rebroadcast of the band's November 2015 concert at The Beachland Ballroom "... that next step in their career (successful artists encounter) by experiencing that singular magical moment. One that will forever be referenced. For Welshly Arms it was this show." The station was awarded "Best Single Streaming Webcaster" by an independent
panel Panel may refer to: Arts and media Visual arts *Panel painting, in art, a painting on a wood panel (as opposed to canvas, a wall etc) *Panel (comics), a single image in a comic book, comic strip or cartoon; also, a comic strip containing one ...
at the 2015 RAIN Internet Radio Awards in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, Georgia. Due expenses exceeding revenue for years, and then the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States On December 31, 2019, China announced the discovery of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. The first American case was reported on January 20, and United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health and Human Services Secreta ...
in March 2020, the majority of advertising on oWOW Radio—locally-based restaurants, retailers and concert venues—cancelled their accounts with the station, while oWOW was forced to cancel all upcoming events; due to this, the station announced its pending shutdown in mid-September 2021, effective October 2, 2020. In making the announcement, Gorman stressed that while oWOW Radio enjoyed a significant increase in listenership when the pandemic hit, the loss of advertising made it "a moot point". In a "final listen" to the station for his ''RadioInsight.com'' column, Sean Ross mused, "On one hand, the airstaff was part of what made oWow unique. On the other hand, oWow's music is pretty good—I wrote two years ago that Gorman usually made me buy a song if I listened to one of his stations long enough—and... there are certainly FM stations that aren't much more than playlists themselves." Prior to the announced shutdown date, Gorman announced oWOW Radio's stream would remain operational "... during the month of October or as long as the station can financially and contractually endure" but all local programming would still be dropped. The extension came following feedback from listeners on
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
, along with a modest increase in advertising and revenue from an oWOW
compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
that featured locally-sourced bands and musical talent. oWOW Radio ended all operations on January 17, 2021, after these funds were exhausted; Gorman noted to ''The Plain Dealer'' that he was already in the process of planning out future broadcasting projects with Pappas.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OWOW Radio 2015 establishments in Ohio Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States Internet properties established in 2015 Internet radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 2015 oWOW Radio stations disestablished in 2021 Internet properties disestablished in 2021 2021 disestablishments in Ohio Defunct mass media in Ohio Defunct radio stations in the United States