WONE-FM


WONE-FM - branded 97.5 WONE - is a commercial classic rock radio station licensed to Akron, Ohio. Owned by Rubber City Radio Group, Inc., the station primarily serves the Akron metro area. Besides a standard analog transmission, WONE-FM broadcasts over one HD Radio channel and is available online. Both the WONE-FM studios and transmitter are located in Akron.

History

The station signed on the air in October 1947 as WAKR-FM. It was co-owned with WAKR. In 1974, the station adopted the callsign WAEZ, playing easy listening and beautiful music. The station adopted its current rock format as WONE-FM on January 1, 1985 when then owner Group One Broadcasting obtained permission to share the WONE base callsign of its sister station WONE in Dayton.
Prior to the transition from WAEZ "Easy 97" to WONE, General Manager Fred Anthony hired the first group of on-air personalities with the assistance of national PD Art Wonderlich. This would included Deeya McKay, Mike Michelli, Tim Daugherty, Jim Chenot, and Dan Slentz. Their program director would be Ward Holmes. For weeks leading up to the transition, the new on-air staff would go through real-time shifts that were only "skimmed" on air checks and reviewed by Holmes with the staff. Slentz finished his last "fake" broadcast shift as overnight person on 1/1/85 at 5am. Engineers would cut over from the WAEZ reel-to-reel automation system at 5:30am, and GM Fred Anthony made the announcement of the format change. A few minutes after that, McKay would open the mic and play WONE's first rock song... Old Time Rock 'n' Roll by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band.

Current programming

accounts for the majority of station programming, but WONE-FM also serves as Akron's FM affiliate for the Cleveland Browns. On February 1, 2013, WONE-FM announced that local radio veteran Jeff Kinzbach, best known from his years at WMMS in Cleveland, would take over the station's morning shift.