CURSEDCLEVELAND.COM

Whatever your thoughts are on the current state of the Cleveland sports talk scene, we’d wager whatever is left of Bernie Kosar’s holdings that you missed out on the city’s most entertaining era in the format’s history, and no, we’re not talking about the days of Pete Franklin or Ruby Cheeks.

Launching in May of 1994 and coming to an abrupt end in August of 1997,  WHK 1420 brought a unique style to the tired sports talk format. While AM 1220 WKNR was the dominant sports voice of Northeast Ohio during that time, WHK was the irreverent alternative that was as much thought-provoking as it was funny. Take for instance one of their slogans “hitting 38 streets and half of Canton,” a self deprecating play on WTAM’s endless barrage of marketing.

What separated the station apart from ‘KNR (“Down the Dial”) and ‘TAM (“Down Down the Dial’)was that it was interactive and creative. While Geoff Sindelar and Bill Needle were endlessly obsessing over whether or not the Indians were bringing up Bartolo Colon too soon, the personalities at ‘HK were  busy making fun of Bobby Sura’s haircut.  They actually made listening to sports talk fun — and they were good at.

Les Levine was the main attraction. He hosted on weekdays during the coveted 4-7 timeslot. He could mix serious sports “jawboning” with a healthy dose of childish buffoonery. He’d end the show often with his signature bit, “How Come Quickies,” where callers would get through unscreened, mostly to deliver witty one-liners or inside jokes.

ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Rizzo got his sports talk start at “The Big One, The Large One, The Giant” (another shot at WTAM).  Very similar to his current show at WKNR, Rizzo developed a number of his bits, like “Survey Wednesday,” “Who Said That,” and “Stud or Stiff” among others. On Friday’s he’d play good cop, bad cop with the mysterious curmudgeon “Red” (Can I disclose his true identity, or would that ruin the bit 12 years later? Let’s just say he’s still on in Cleveland radio)

The station was full of young talent just getting their feet wet in the industry.  Dan Mcdowell, who hosted all sorts of shows, is now the mid-day host at the Ticket in Dallas.  Syracuse Stiff Matt Dery, was the longtime sports director at WDFN in Detroit, and has done fill-in play-by-play work for the Pistons on FSN Detroit.  Update anchor Stacy Jantz is now at WTAM with similar duties. Morning host Pat McCabe is now teaching theater at a high school with uniforms.

The station was also fortunate to preside over one of the most controversial, yet exciting times in Cleveland sports. Local sports icon Bernie Kosar was experiencing his “diminishing skills,” and eventually lost his job to Vinnie Testaverde. Bill Belichick was stonewalling the media and the fans at every turn, just before Art Modell decided to move the team. The Indians were just hitting their stride as one of the elite teams in all of baseball. The Cleveland Crunch were kicking some soccer ass.  Gloria James had just started driving under the influence.

Too bad nobody listened.  Well a few did. WHK truly cultivated a cult following. And for the 100 or so that actually tuned in day in and day out, they were devastated when the station was sold in 1996 to a Christian media company Salem Communications.  WHK’s owners made a killing on the deal. But Cleveland sports talk quickly reverted back to the tried and true style of debating whether or not player A is a hall of famer or whether team Z should draft player X.

And Cleveland sports talk was never the same.