WHK (AM)

WHK (1420 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, carrying a conservative talk format known as "AM 1420 The Answer". Owned by the Salem Media Group, the station serves both Greater Cleveland and the Northeast Ohio region as an affiliate for the Salem Radio Network. WHK's studios are currently located in the Cleveland suburb of Independence while the transmitter site resides in neighboring Seven Hills. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WHK is relayed over low-power Cleveland translator W273DG (102.9 FM) and is available online.

Formally established in 1922 but borne out of experimental broadcasts by founder Warren R. Cox, WHK was the first licensed radio station to broadcast in Ohio and is the 15th oldest station still broadcasting in the United States. Operated by Cox and then the Radio Air Service Corporation, WHK spent the 1940s and 1950s as the broadcast extension of daily newspaper The Plain Dealer. Owned by Metromedia from 1958 to 1973, WHK signed on an FM adjunct which took on the identity of WMMS in 1968 as one of the city's first progressive rock outlets, while WHK boasted a popular Top 40 format earlier in the decade led by Johnny Holliday. Purchased by Malrite Communications in 1973, WHK converted to a country music format headlined by shock jock Gary Dee, Joe Finan and, for a brief period, Don Imus. Flipping to oldies in 1984 and business news in 1988, WHK and WMMS would be sold twice between 1993 and 1994, segueing to sports radio in the latter year. Purchased by Salem in 1996, WHK adopted a Christian radio format, then a complex asset swap on July 3, 2001, saw WCLV owner Radio Seaway purchase the license, along with the intellectual property of adult standards WRMR, using the WCLV calls from 2001 to 2003. Repurchased by Salem in 2004, it has carried a conservative talk format with the restored WHK calls since.