HISTORY ARCHIVES

• WORLD WAR 2
• OUR FOUNDERS
• EARLY PROGRAMMING
• WJER FM

WORLD WAR 2

     The United States involvement in World War 2 started well before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, at least politically. But it was the bombing of our base in Hawaii that actually led the United States to declare war on Japan and enter the campaign.

     The bombing of Pearl Harbor led many to believe that the United States, at least it's citizens, were not adequately prepared for such a disaster. What could have been done to increase citizenry preparedness? One thought was to be able to better communicate impending disasters such as the Pearl Harbor bombing. The only real mass communication device of this country was it's radio stations.

     Major markets were blessed with many commercial stations and network information feeds. However, rural America was often "out of touch" due to lack of reception. Following World War 2, the American Government saw the need to increase radio reach to citizens in rural as well as urban population centers. Thus, many new available AM frequencies were created. These new lower power radio facilities would also bring local and regional news and information to these "out-lying" areas. This also began the system which would eventually be called the Emergency Broadcast System.

     One such "new market" was Tuscarawas County, Ohio. Isolated from the major market areas (there were no freeways at the time), Tuscarawas County needed a broadcast facility to "bring the world it's people". The FCC granted a radio frequency of 1450 kHz to Tuscarawas County (Dover-New Philadelphia) for it's new broadcast facility.

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OUR FOUNDERS

     The Reeves family had been the most influential family in Tuscarawas County since the beginning of the century. Jeremiah E. Reeves (pictured at right with wife Jane) had started major industries, banks and hotels in the Dover-New Philadelphia area. (CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE REEVES MUSEUM). After his death in 1920, the Reeves family continued the leadership traditions begun by Mr. Reeves. His daughter, Agnes (Reeves) Greer, filed for ownership of the new radio station and was granted the license in 1949. As a tribute to her father, Ms. Greer requested the call letters for the station that were her father's initials, Jeremiah E. Reeves, or "JER". The W was the letter assigned to stations east of the Mississippi River. On Tuesday, February 21, 1950 at 6 a.m., WJER Radio began broadcasting operations in the present studio facility at 646 Boulevard, a parcel of land that was part of the Reeves family estate. The 175 foot "original" tower was erected on land with 5 miles of copper wire buried beneath it's surface.

ORIGINAL "LOOK" OF WJER BUILDING

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EARLY PROGRAMMING

     Radio of the fifties was much different than radio of today. Television was not yet readily available, and radio was doing a lot of what TV does today. Local radio also meant "something for everyone". There was quite a bit of "block" programming on the air. Stations did not have an official format. When WJER AM took to the airwaves in February of 1950, some of the programs that were broadcast included news and sportscasts, religious programming (2 1/2 hours per week), symphonic music and popular music of the day from such artists as Dick Haynes, The Three Suns, David Rose, Les Brown and Ernest Tubb. In fact, on the inaugural day, WJER boasted of having 4,000 musical selections on 16 inch recordings called "transcriptions. In these days, records were sold on 78 RPM platters. These "transcriptions" were the fore runners of today's "album" concept.

     The new station was lead by the first WJER General Manager Frank E. Shaffer. The Chief Engineer was William A. McLellan and the first Program Director Tom McClowry.

WJER'S FIRST GENERAL MANAGER, FRANK E. SHAFFER

     Eventually, the WJER programming base expanded. Many "live" entertainment shows were broadcast from the WJER studios. The station became more "sports" oriented with the addition of the Cleveland Indians and the Cleveland Browns. The Indians were dropped in the mid 70s and later brought back in 1994. The Browns were deleted from the program schedule after the team's move to Baltimore. To this day, WJER remains a part of the Cleveland Brown's Radio Network. High School Sports broadcasts were very popular. The voice of the late Rex Ridenour told many local residents of the happenings on local gridirons and basketball courts.

     The "block" programming concept remained popular into the 50s and 60s. A daily polka show was aired as well as Alpine Aires which featured Swiss music and yodeling sponsored by merchants from Sugarcreek, Ohio. These 2 programs remained a part of WJER's daily fare until the late 70s.

     WJER even had it's own mascot. This little "electric" figure was know and REJE. The name was derive from the station's call letters. REJE is shown below.

"REJE"

     From the beginning, WJER has excelled in one area that remains the mainstay of our programming. That is the area of News. Local News was, is and always will be WJER's most important product.

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WJER FM

WJER FM was granted a license and began broadcasting in 1969 at 101.7. Originally, the FM station programmed "beautiful music" and was popular in doctor's offices and in elevators. As time went by WJER put more emphasis on the FM station, going "live" in 1992. The in 2004, the station was sold to Clear Channel Broadcasting and in January, 2007, the station was moved from Dover to North Canton. There it broadcasts today as station WHOF FM. WJER AM 14.50 was sold back to Gary Petricola in early 2007, and the AM station contunues to serve the residents of Tuscarawas County with local news, weather, sports and community information.

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