WJER
City of license	Dover, Ohio
Broadcast area	Tuscarawas County, Ohio
Branding	1450 AM WJER
Slogan	The Voice of the Valley
Frequency	1450 (kHz)
First air date	February 22, 1950
Format	full service/soft rock/oldies
Power	1,000 watts
Class	C
Callsign meaning	Jerimiah E. Reeves, the father of the first owner
Owner	WJER Radio, LLC
Website	www.wjer.com

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WJER (1450 AM "The Voice of the Valley") is a commercial radio station. Licensed to the suburb of Dover, Ohio, it serves the Tuscarawas County area. It first began broadcasting in 1950, and had an FM sister station (WJER-FM) that operated from 1969 to 2006, which is today WHOF. The station had been owned by Clear Channel Communications in a reverse LMA by former owner Gary Petricola, who repurchased the AM station in 2007.

[edit] History

[edit] Origins of WJER

Jeremiah E. Reeves, of which WJER had been named for, was a member of one of the most influential family in Tuscarawas County, starting several major industries, banks and hotels in the Dover-New Philadelphia area. After his death in 1920, the Reeves family continued the leadership traditions begun by Jermiah.

Following World War II, the United States government saw the need to increase radio reach to citizens in rural as well as urban population centers, and many new AM stations were created. Jeremiah's daughter, Agnes (Reeves) Greer, filed for ownership of a new radio station for Dover, Ohio 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".

On Wednesday, February 22, 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 its surface.

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" full-time by 1992. Both stations were locally-owned by Gary Petricola until 2003, when he sold them to Clear Channel Communications. Petricola, however, continued to operate both 101.7-FM and 1450-AM in a reverse LMA with Clear Channel.

[edit] Relocation of the FM signal

On April 14, 2006, the Federal Communications Commission approved Clear Channel's request to move WJER-FM's community of license to North Canton, Ohio[1]. The new location allowed the station to increase its power from 3,000 watts ERP to 6,000 watts ERP after the move.

In a gradual process, the stations began simulcasting for most of the broadcast day, a process which completed in December 2006.

WJER-FM signed off on December 27, and the license was transferred to North Canton, Ohio under the new callsign WHOF the next day. WJER-AM continued to broadcast the original Dover/New Philadelphia-based programming.

Clear Channel signed on WHOF as Adult contemporary-formatted "my 101.7" serving the Canton area on January 16, 2007.

Petricola's WJER Radio LLC repurchased WJER-AM from Clear Channel for $200,000. He has announced that the AM station will remain in Dover.

[edit] On Air Line-up

Morgan in the Morning with Bill Morgan--5:00am-10:00am

Midday with Anita--10:00am-2:00pm

"The Classic Canteen"--12:30-2:00pm

Afternoons with Kelly Kyle--2:00pm-7:00pm

Evening Drive with Eric St. John--7:00pm-Midnight

Several times each day, a member of the listening audience is announced as The Name Of The Day in the following manner: "(name of the listener), THIS is YOUR! radio station!!" Various announcers have introduced The Name Of The Day over the years. As of July 4th 2009, veteran WJER announcer Dick Hanchette voices this feature.

For example, after Gary Petricola bought the radio station back from Clear Channel, one could hear the following: "Gary Petricola, THIS is YOUR! radio station (again)!!"

[edit] The "Award Winning" WJER News Team

• Jennifer Clark (News Director)
• Jamie Hambach
• Jessica Eggan

[edit] External links

• WJER
• Information on WJER
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WJER