page_title: WAKR
section_title: The "WAKR Talent School"
hierarchical_section_title: WAKR / History / Market dominance / The "WAKR Talent School"
caption_attribution_description: English: The ad appeared in the October 21, 1946 issue of Broadcasting and can be dated from that publication; it is pre-1978. There are no copyright markings as can be seen at the full view link. The ad is not covered by any copyrights for the Broadcasting &amp; Cable. US Copyright Office page 3-periodicals are collective works (PDF) "A notice for the collective work will not serve as the notice for advertisements inserted on behalf of persons other than the copyright owner of the collective work. These advertisements should each bear a separate notice in the name of the copyright owner of the advertisement." The WAKR call letters have been previously trademarked, but the filing occurred after the ad was printed (1985) and has since been cancelled (1992).
context_page_description: WAKR – branded Soft Hits 93.5 FM – is a commercial full service/soft adult contemporary radio station licensed to serve Akron, Ohio. Locally owned by Rubber City Radio Group, Inc., the station covers the Akron metro area, and is the local affiliate for: CBS News Radio; the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Cleveland Indians radio networks; as well as the Ohio State Sports Network. The WAKR studios are located in Akron's Wallhaven neighborhood, while the station transmitter is located in the city's southeast side. Besides a standard analog transmission, WAKR simulcasts over low-power Akron FM translator W228EL, and is available online.
  While not the first radio station to have been built in Akron, nor the oldest surviving station, WAKR has had the most measured historical impact of any broadcast outlet in the city, especially during their first 50 years of operation. During its creative and ratings pinnacle in the 1940s and 1950s, WAKR employed a succession of announcers who would find greater success elsewhere, most notably Alan Freed, Scott Muni and Art Fleming. Founded by S. Bernard Berk and operated for many years by his son, Roger G.
context_section_description: While WADC had an advantage of being a CBS Radio Network affiliate, WAKR built its reputation primarily through local programming alongside NBC Blue (renamed the Blue Network in 1943, then again as ABC Radio in 1945) offerings. WAKR has been often regarded as being one of the first radio stations in the United States to have established an active news department when it signed on, augmenting coverage from United Press and the Associated Press. During WAKR's peak in the mid 1940s, C. E. Hooper ratings showed the station with as much as 55 percent of the Akron audience in mornings and 30 percent of the audience in afternoons; even local ratings for Don McNeill's Breakfast Club outperformed comparable ABC Radio affiliates by significant margins. WAKR took out multiple full-page advertisements in Broadcasting throughout 1945 and 1946 boasting of their ratings dominance, calling themselves "Tops in Akron" (also a play on the 1590 kHz frequency being at the "top" of the medium wave band).
  Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, WAKR became famous in the industry as being a "stepping stone" for up-and-coming announcers, actors, and television presenters, in what would be informally known as the "WAKR Talent School" under S. Bernard Berk's guidance. Future Peter Gunn co-star Lola Albright joined WAKR after graduating from high school as a receptionist before finding additional work at WTAM in Cleveland. Peter Hackes worked as a newsman at WAKR in the late 1940s before going to CBS News and NBC News, later making notable cameos in the films Broadcast News and True Colors.
  Shortly after signing on, the station hired a young announcer named Stephen Richards, who did announcing, acting, and engineering work, and broke the news of the Attack on Pearl Harbor on-air. After leaving WAKR for a brief stint at WJW, Richards starred in the Weathervane Playhouse stage production Yes and No before moving to Los Angeles, a chance meeting with two Hollywood press agents prompted him to go to the Warner Bros. Burbank studios. A 1944 promotional booklet issued by the studio promoting new talent signings said of Richards, "Walked into Warner Brothers studio. Asked for a job. Got it." Assuming the stage name Mark Stevens, his first theatrical appearance was a bit role in Passage to Marseille, and went to appear in over eighty feature films and forty different television programs.
  Art Fazzin was hired as Top O' the Morning host in January 1949, having worked previously at radio stations in North Carolina. In addition to mornings, Fazzin provided color commentary for Akron Zips football games, announced Soap Box Derby finals for the station, and hosted various other daytime programs. Fazzin left the station on January 11, 1952 to pursue freelance work in New York City, leading Beacon Journal writer Art Cullison to predict, "don't be surprised if you see his face on some network video programs." Using his middle name for the stage name Art Fleming, Fazzin became best known as the first host of the television game show Jeopardy!
  Alongside those personalities, popular children's program Tip Top Tales, hosted by librarian Harriet Leaf, aired on WAKR from 1940 to 1957. A local version of the Blue/ABC program America's Town Meeting of the Air also aired on WAKR that was aimed at the teenage and young adult audience, championed by S. Bernard Berk's wife, Viola Berk.
caption: One of several industry trade magazine advertisements taken out by WAKR in the mid-1940s promoting their ratings dominance, this listed WAKR's ratings for ABC Radio programs compared to other affiliates
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