Established in 1962, WCLV has gained an international reputation as a leading classical music broadcaster and producer and distributor of culturally oriented programming. The continuance of WCLV's classical music programming has been assured by a multi-step process that moved the station's transmission from 95.5 FM to 104.9 FM on July 3, 2001. On November 1, 2001, WCLV was gifted to the non-profit WCLV Foundation, which will guarantee the station's classical music format far into the future. In November of 2003, WCLV began annual distribution of a portion of the station's profits to five major Cleveland arts organizations: The Cleveland Orchestra, The Cleveland Institute of Music, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Foundation and The Cleveland Playhouse. In 2006, ideastream, northeast Ohio's public broadcasting organization, was added to the list.
In 1965, WCLV began the Cleveland Orchestra radio broadcasts, now heard twice weekly at 104.9 and distributed world-wide. WCLV was the first FM-only commercial station to carry the Metropolitan Opera live from New York. In 1970, the station became the anchor station for the weekly City Club Forum broadcasts, and in 1980, it began national distribution of this significant series. Other programs of note produced by WCLV for local broadcast and national distribution include the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Weekend Radio and selected
concerts by Apollo's Fire..
Local live broadcasts by WCLV include a monthly series of CIM Live programs from the Cleveland Institute of Music, wall-to-wall coverage of the bi-annual Cleveland International Piano Competition, broadcasts from Baldwin-Wallace College, Cleveland State University and Oberlin College. Regular delayed-live broadcasts by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Apollo's Fire - the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, and City Music Cleveland are also presented.
In addition to its highly regarded musical programs, WCLV keeps its audience informed with hourly Wall Street Journal Reports, four daily broadcasts of the BBC World Service News and local news reports at 7:00 and 7:30 AM, 12:06 PM and 5:00 and 5:30 PM.
WCLV has been in the forefront in nourishing Greater Cleveland's cultural life. Over the years, WCLV has raised over $5 million for area arts and charitable organizations. This is more money than has been raised by all other Cleveland radio stations for all causes combined during the same period. WCLV also created the Red Cross Celebrate Life blood drives, which grew to become the largest one-day blood drives in the state of Ohio. As of 2008, WCLV continues its annual sponsorship of Thanks-4-Giving, an annual drive in Lorain County for LifeShare.
Over the years, WCLV has won many honors - four Gabriels - three for Best Radio Station Nationwide; one for Best Religious Program; a NAB Marconi for Best Classical Radio Station; New York Radio Festival Silver and Gold medals for Best Classical Station Worldwide, two Governor's Award for Support of the Arts, a Gracie for best interview program dealing with women's issues, and numerous local awards.
In August of 2003, WCLV became the second station in northeast Ohio and the third classical station in the nation to broadcast an HD (digital) signal.
From 2001 to 2004,WCLV owned WRMR 1420 AM, which broadcast adult standards. However, in July of 2004, WRMR was sold to another company, which changed the format.
WCLV: BUBBLING UNDER FIFTY YEARS OF QUALITY RADIO
