Here's When the NPR Radio Station Changes in Cleveland Go Into Effect

Ideastream Public Media this week announced that the upcoming FM dial shuffle from the WCPN/WKSU merger will happen on March 28.

On that day, 89.7 FM WKSU will be the sole NPR station in Northeast Ohio with 104.9 FM acting as a repeater channel for programming.

And 90.3 FM, currently the home of WCPN, then will officially become the new home of WCLV, Ideastream's classical music station.

The public radio merger, which took effect in October 2021, has been pretty universally celebrated. On the news side, a unified, expanded newsroom brings reporting and analysis to 22 counties and, Ideastream announced this week, will allow it to "expand the number of weekday and weekend newscasts on WKSU and add a mid-day news host on weekdays, providing local news service from 5 a.m. – 6 p.m. on weekdays."

For classical fans, WCLV's move to 90.3 means and its 50,000-watt signal means the entire east side, most of which wasn't in 104.9's signal area, will for the first time since WCLV moved from 95.5 to 104.9 in 2001 have classical music and programming to enjoy on terrestrial radio.

As Zachary Lewis noted in Cleveland.com last fall, connecting with the east side listeners, many of whom are also longtime supporters of and donors to the Cleveland Orchestra, should mean not just a bigger audience but a bigger giving audience for the classical station.