Remebering John Webster:

The Cleveland Association of Broadcasters is saddened to hear of the passing of Cleveland broadcast icon John Webster. Webster started his broadcast career in Pekin Illinois and also worked in Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit and New York before coming to Cleveland to develop an all-news format for WERE. He was later news director at WMJI and in 1984, began a partnership with John Lanigan that lasted 13 years.  In 1998, John became the co-host of “Wills, Webster and Coleman” morning show on WTAM. Webster was known as a consummate journalist who always tried to present a fair story that incorporated background with breaking developments.Godspeed John and condolences to family and friends. 

 

 

 

 

 

Featured CAB Legacy Honoree: Dancin' Danny Wright

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Dancin Danny spent 17 years of his broadcast career in the Cleveland/Akron market. During his career, he was nominated by Billboard as the CHR Major Market Personality of the year and after 3 nominations, won the award. And while at WGAR, Danny was named by the Country Music Association as the Major Market Personality of the Year. Danny is the only on-air personality to win these coveted awards for both CHR and Country formats.^[1

The majority of Danny’s career and success in the Cleveland/Akron market was during his stay at WGCL, where he was a Top 40 Disc Jockey known as "Dancin' Danny Wright." He departed WGCL when the station was sold by GCC Communications to Detroit. Michigan’s Metropolis Broadcasting. New management was brought in and the station itself became WNCX, with a rock/CHR hybrid format. While all of WGCL's personalities were let go, Wright's contract kept him from being bought out, so—due to his incompatibility with the new format—he was relegated to simply engineering the overnight shift for his remaining few weeks, with then-owner Harvey Deutsch referring to him as the "World's Highest Paid Board-Op."

During this period, Wright quietly had studied for a real estate license, and attained it after he left WNCX. He was soon hired by WRQC, but abruptly announced his "retirement" several months later to pursue a career in real estate. His "retirement" was short-lived, however, as he took the afternoon-drive slot on news/talk station WWWE from 1988-1989.

In the early 1990s, Wright moved to Akron-based Top 40 outlet, WKDD, for the evening timeslot. He later flipped to WQMX, which was at that time another Akron Top 40 station ("Mix 94.9"). When WQMX changed format to country music in the mid-1990s, Wright successfully modified his on-air approach for the format. He soon moved to Cleveland country powerhouse WGAR, where he enjoyed the highest ratings of his career. Wright stayed at WGAR-FM until being downsized in a mass budget layoff in November 2001.

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CAB Mission Statement

As a nonprofit  501c6 we work collaboratively as an industry to continue to advance excellence in broadcasting in Cleveland through education, social interaction, recognition and philanthropy.

1. Promote the quality of broadcasting in the Cleveland area
2. Provide a forum for issues concerning all segments of the Cleveland broadcasting community
3. Foster greater understanding between those in the broadcasting sales, advertising and business communities
4. Increase the level of professionalism among those in the Cleveland broadcast community

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