Type | Radio network |
---|---|
Branding | The University Hospitals Cleveland Browns Radio Network |
Country | |
Headquarters | Cleveland, Ohio |
Broadcast area |
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Owner | Cleveland Browns |
Established |
|
Affiliation(s) | |
Affiliates | 24 (including 3 flagships) |
Webcast | Listen live (via TuneIn) |
Official website | Browns Radio Network |
The University Hospitals Cleveland Browns Radio Network is an American radio network composed of 24 radio stations which carry English-language coverage of the Cleveland Browns, a professional football team in the National Football League (NFL). Jim Donovan is the lead announcer[3] along with Nathan Zegura and sideline analyst/reporter Je'Rod Cherry.[4]
Since 2013, Cleveland market stations WKNR (850 AM), WKRK-FM (92.3 FM), and WNCX (98.5 FM) have served as the network's three flagships, an arrangement noted for competing ownership among the stations: WKNR is owned by Good Karma Brands, while WKRK-FM and WNCX are owned by Audacy, Inc. (formerly CBS Radio).[5] The network also includes 21 affiliates in the U.S. states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York: ten AM stations, eight of which supplement their signals with a low-power FM translator; and eleven full-power FM stations, one of which supplements its signal with a low-power FM translator.[6]
In addition to traditional over-the-air AM and FM broadcasts, network programming airs on satellite radio via Sirius XM and is available online via Sirius XM, TuneIn and NFL+.[7] The University Hospitals Health System of Cleveland, Ohio, has owned the naming rights to the network since the 2017 season.[8]
Radio broadcasts for the Cleveland Browns date back to the team's inaugural 1946 season in the All-America Football Conference, with WGAR (1220 AM) as the initial flagship station; WGAR sportscaster Bob Neal and Stan Gee were the team's first announcers.[1] Bill Mayer took over as Neal's color commentator in 1947 in addition to his duties as WGAR's morning drive host.[9] WGAR also carried a weekly 15-minute show during the football season by head coach Paul Brown, the Browns' co-founder and namesake.[10][11] A five-station network was assembled for the 1948 season consisting of WGAR, WATG in Ashland, WBNS in Columbus, WHIO in Dayton, WFRO-FM in Fremont, WJEL in Springfield and WTRF in Bellaire;[2] stations in Lima, Toledo, Zanesville, Marion and Cincinnati were added the following year.[12] By 1952, the network spanned 16 stations in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.[13]
WGAR served as the flagship until the 1950 season, the team's first with the National Football League, when WERE (1300 AM) took over; Neal also moved to WERE[14] but was replaced due to his announcing for Cleveland Indians telecasts being sponsored by Pfeiffer Brewing Co., rival to the Brewing Corp. of America which sponsored the Browns network.[13][15] WTAM carried the games in 1952 and 1953 with Ken Coleman as announcer,[16] WGAR reclaimed the flagship rights the following year.[17] Through all but one year of WGAR's second stint as flagship, Bill McColgan handled play-by-play;[1] while Bill Kelly returned in 1954,[17] Jim Graner replaced him as color commentator the following year.[18] Gib Shanley took over as the team's sole announcer 1961 in addition to becoming WGAR's sports director and announcer for Ohio State football.[19]
The games moved back to WERE in 1962, with the network consisting of over 50 radio stations.[20] WHK took over as flagship in 1968 when WERE signed up with the Cincinnati Bengals Radio Network (the Bengals were also founded by Paul Brown).[21] By the 1974 season, the network consisted of WHK and 34 affiliates, including three stations in Pennsylvania; all but five stations broadcast on the AM band.[22] Shanley was paired with Graner beginning in 1963[1] and continued in their roles until the start of the 1975 season, when Graner retired after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.[23] Jim Mueller took over for Graner as color commentator.[24]
WHK's role as flagship ended when team owner Art Modell tried unsuccessfully to move the broadcast rights onto WJW (850 AM), a station he had owned since 1977 but consistently lost money on.[25] Robert Gries, a minority owner, sued Modell on charges of anti-competitive practices on December 15, 1983,[26] while WHK exercised an option to carry the team through the 1984 season[27] which was also Gib Shanley's last as lead announcer.[28] Modell's syndicate, Lake Erie Broadcasting signed a multi-year deal with the team on February 18, 1985,[29] sold WJW and purchased WWWE[a] and WDOK, transferring the broadcast rights to the latter two stations.[30]
Doug Dieken, who recently retired after 14 seasons as left tackle for the team,[31] expressed a desire to become one of the announcers[32] and joined Mueller and Nev Chandler as color commentator beginning in 1985;[1][33] Mueller left after the 1986 season.[34] Lake Erie sold both stations in 1987[35] but WWWE carried the games until 1991, while WLTF took over as FM flagship in 1990.[36][b] WHK and WMMS signed a three-year contract in 1991,[40] prevailing in a bidding war over WKNR (1220 AM)[c] and WWWE/WLTF.[41] WKNR subsequently teamed up with WDOK for a two-year contract in 1994 with game coverage produced by a third party on behalf of the team.[42]
Prior to the 1994 season, Nev Chandler died from colon cancer on August 7,[43] with Casey Coleman (son of Ken Coleman and a water boy for the team during Ken's tenure as announcer) taking over as lead announcer alongside Dieken.[44] Coleman's tenure as announcer was complicated by his public support of then-head coach Bill Belichick, whom the fan base disapproved of, along with Chandler's substantial popularity and acclaim.[45] The 1995 season became overshadowed by the team's announced relocation to Baltimore by Modell mid-season.[46] WKNR and WDOK continued to carry the games for the remainder of the season, but with public service announcements airing after the majority of advertisers cancelled their sponsorships.[47] For the team's last two seasons, the Browns radio network had 40 affiliates in 1994[48] and 49 in 1995.[49]
During the 1997 and 1998 NFL seasons, WKNR originated Countdown to '99, a weekly hour-long program co-hosted by Dieken and Marc Kestecher over many former Browns radio network affiliates.[50] WKNR produced the show on behalf of an intellectual property trust established by the NFL during the franchise's interregnum.[51]
Following reactivation of the Cleveland Browns franchise in 1999, flagship rights were awarded to Jacor (with a pending merger into Clear Channel)[52] with WMJI as the flagship and WTAM simulcasting the majority of games which did not conflict with the station's Indians and Cavaliers commitments.[53] Jim Donovan was named as the team's lead announcer, joining Dieken and Coleman, who was now the team's sideline reporter. Secondary programming, including a weekly show featuring the Browns head coach, aired exclusively on WTAM.[54] The flagship rights were transferred to WMMS for the 2002 season in a bid to boost that station's low ratings.[55]
Coleman, who was also a co-host on WTAM's morning-drive program, remained as sideline reporter until his death on November 28, 2006, after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer.[56] The team honored Coleman the previous month by renaming the field house at their Berea, Ohio, indoor practice facility after him.[57] WTAM sportscaster/team beat reporter Andre Knott[58] filled in for Coleman during the 2006 season and took over the role on a full-time basis the following season.[59] The Browns replaced Knott with team employee Jamir Howerton at the start of the 2010 season[58] and again with Nathan Zegura in 2014.[60] During the 2011 season, Donovan missed two regular season games following his treatment for leukemia earlier in the year; WTAM sports director Mike Snyder filled in both times.[61]
On March 28, 2013, the Cleveland Browns announced a new long-term deal with Good Karma Broadcasting and CBS Radio, awarding the flagship rights to Good Karma's WKNR (850 AM)[d] and CBS Radio's WKRK-FM and WNCX.[62] WKNR had already been airing Cleveland Browns Daily, an hour-long program produced year-round by the team, since July 2011 via a cooperative agreement;[63] under this contract, the show expanded to two hours as a centerpiece of over 1,000 annual hours of ancillary team-produced programming.[62] Craig Karmazin, founder of Good Karma, proposed the deal with CBS, likening it to the existing CBS–Turner Sports co-op for NCAA men's basketball tournament coverage and saw the Browns being such a strong community asset that it could be workable.[64] This arrangement between Good Karma and Entercom (succeeding owners of WKRK-FM and WNCX; now named Audacy, Inc.) was renewed effective with the 2020 season.[65][66]
During Baker Mayfield's rookie season as Cleveland Browns quarterback, KREF in Norman, Oklahoma, joined the network on October 5, 2018, for the remainder of the 2018 season.[67] KREF owner Randy Laffoon made the arrangement to provide Oklahoma Sooners fans a chance to follow Mayfield, having previously carried St. Louis Rams games after that team drafted former Sooner quarterback Sam Bradford.[68] KAKC in Tulsa, Oklahoma, signed a three-year affiliation deal prior to the 2019 season after discovering the Mayfield-led Browns drew higher television ratings that the Dallas Cowboys in Oklahoma City.[69] Both stations dropped their affiliations after Mayfield's 2022 departure from the team.
Doug Dieken announced his retirement as color commentator at the conclusion of the 2021 season, concluding a 37-year run in broadcasting and 51 years of involvement with the team; the radio broadcast booth at FirstEnergy Stadium was renamed in his honor.[31][70] Nathan Zegura was subsequently named as Dieken's replacement in the booth, while former NFL player and WKNR afternoon host Je'Rod Cherry was named the team's new sideline reporter.[4]
Network programming includes a four-hour pregame show and a two-hour postgame show, in addition to all games being called live on-site; WKNR originates the pregame show while WKRK-FM originates the postgame show.[62] WKNR and WKRK-FM simulcast some ancillary team-produced programming for the network including a Wednesday night preview show and a Thursday night program with the team's head coach (Kevin Stefanski), while weekday afternoon program Cleveland Browns Daily originates over WKNR on a year-round basis.[66]
Play-by-play | Commentary | Sideline |
---|---|---|
Jim Donovan | Nathan Zegura | Je'Rod Cherry |
Callsign | Frequency | Band | City | State | Network status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
WKNR | 850 | AM | Cleveland | Ohio | Flagship |
WKRK-FM | 92.3 | FM | Cleveland | Ohio | Flagship |
WNCX | 98.5 | FM | Cleveland | Ohio | Flagship |
WAKR | 1590 | AM | Akron | Ohio | Affiliate |
W228EL | 93.5 | FM | Akron | Ohio | WAKR relay |
WONE-FM | 97.5 | FM | Akron | Ohio | Affiliate |
WHBC | 1480 | AM | Canton | Ohio | Affiliate |
WHBC-FM | 94.1 | FM | Canton | Ohio | Affiliate |
WKKI | 94.3 | FM | Celina | Ohio | Affiliate |
WMJK | 100.9 | FM | Clyde | Ohio | Affiliate |
WBNS | 1460 | AM | Columbus | Ohio | Affiliate |
WBNS-FM | 97.1 | FM | Columbus | Ohio | Affiliate |
WZLR | 95.3 | FM | Dayton | Ohio | Affiliate |
W266BG | 101.1 | FM | Dayton | Ohio | WZLR relay |
WJER | 1450 | AM | Dover–New Phila. | Ohio | Affiliate |
W265DL | 100.9 | FM | Dover–New Phila. | Ohio | WJER relay |
WPSE | 1450 | AM | Erie | Pennsylvania | Affiliate |
W296BW | 107.1 | FM | Erie | Pennsylvania | WPSE relay |
WFOB | 1430 | AM | Fostoria | Ohio | Affiliate |
W289CP | 105.7 | FM | Fostoria | Ohio | WFOB relay |
WKKY | 104.7 | FM | Geneva | Ohio | Affiliate |
WQFX-FM | 103.1 | FM | Jamestown | New York | Affiliate |
WWSR | 93.1 | FM | Lima | Ohio | Affiliate |
WRGM | 1440 | AM | Mansfield | Ohio | Affiliate |
W294CK | 106.7 | FM | Mansfield | Ohio | WRGM relay |
WJAW-FM | 100.9 | FM | McConnelsville | Ohio | Affiliate |
WKST | 1200 | AM | New Castle | Pennsylvania | Affiliate |
W250CW | 97.9 | FM | New Castle | Pennsylvania | WKST relay |
WBTC | 1540 | AM | Uhrichsville | Ohio | Affiliate |
W270CI | 101.9 | FM | Uhrichsville | Ohio | WBTC relay |
WKKX | 1600 | AM | Wheeling | West Virginia | Affiliate |
W251CY | 98.1 | FM | Wheeling | West Virginia | WKKX relay |
WQKT | 104.5 | FM | Wooster | Ohio | Affiliate |
Blue background indicates low-power FM translator.