Our History

The 1570 frequency was the original home of WHOT, then a daytime-only station in the 1950s, that was one of the first rock and roll stations. After WHOT moved to 1330 as a full time operation, the 1570 frequency was reestablished in Warren as WTCL, which became WOKG on November 2, 1981.

In WOKG's later years, it aired a controversial locally-based talk radio format. On March 23, 1990, the WOKG studios in Warren Township, Ohio were destroyed by a fire. The station returned to the air on March 30, 1990 from studios in a pizza concession trailer, located in the parking lot next to the destroyed converted farm house which had previously housed the station.

After a later sale to new owners, WANR turned to simulcasting an urban-contemporary format with AM 1540, which is now once again co-owned with 1570 AM. The operation was known on-air as "Network 15 - The City".

The station took the current WANR calls on December 15, 1990. It then aired a variety of locally-based religious and secular programming in the ensuing years, usually combined with local sports coverage.