Lake Erie Broadcasting (whose principals included then-Cleveland Browns majority owner Art Modell and minority owner Al Lerner) purchased both WWWE and WDOK in February 1985 for $9.5 million; as part of the deal, Lake Erie sold off their existing AM station, WJW (AM), to Booth American for $2.1 million. Upon the deal's consummation, on June 11, 1985, Lake Erie changed WWWE's format from adult contemporary to the news/talk format previously heard on WJW; changed branding to Radio 11 WWWE; and reassigned all on and off-air staff from WJW over to WWWE, while inheriting all existing sports play-by-play and Pete Franklin's "Sportsline". Franklin himself left the station in May 1987 to become the afternoon drive host at WFAN (1050 AM) in New York City, later WFAN (660 AM); Bruce Drennan later took over as "Sportsline" host.