Soon-to-Debut Radio Station 87.7 Clevelanders Rock Finds Its Morning Drive Host?

• Archie Berwick to be the new John Lanigan?

After the much ballyhooed public auditions at the Beachland Ballroom July 21, which brought out more than 100 aspiring radio stars and comedians, as well as veteran local radio personalities Lisa Dillon and Marty Sobol, Ohio Media Watch is reporting that the station has found its morning host elsewhere. OMW says they’ve tapped Archie Berwick.

Who?

OMW says:

Berwick is a former CBS Radio Cleveland promotions staffer, who we’re told has been doing similar work with the New York Mets. As far as we know, though we could be wrong, Archie has no significant on-air experience.

A little digging reveals that Berwick is an African-American Christian rapper in his late 20s whose online bio touts his eagerness to “follow his dreams” by leaving Cleveland. Since Embrescia has been promoting that the station will be all about boosting Cleveland and told Channel 3’s Good Company Today host Hollie Strano that the music format will be adult album rock (Triple A, like the late V107.3), it’s hard to figure what this particular radio rookie brings to the table.

But word is he was a promotions assistant for former CBS Cleveland radio exec Chris Maduri, who’s involved in the new station headed by former Cleveland radio moguls Tom Wilson and Tom Embrescia.

It’s unclear exactly when the station — which was supposed by be broadcasting by now according to earlier projections — will be on the air so we can judge Berwick’s latent talents for ourselves. However, OMW also reports that the station will broadcast from the Agora building at 5000 Euclid, which once housed WMMS and WHK in the ’70s, back when WMMS was developing into the radio powerhouse it became. I guess we’ll see if any of the magic rubs off.

This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2012.