Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting Co.

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Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting Co.

Type	Private
Founded	1948
Headquarters	headquartered in Elyria
Key people	A. Cooper Hudnutt, Chairman Lonnie Gronek, President/General Manager Tim Parkinson, Operations Director
Industry	Mass media
Products	Radio stations
Website	www.elbc.net

The Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting Co. (also known as Elyria-Lorain or ELB) is a privately held holding company of various assets in the broadcast media, based in Elyria, Ohio. It's parent company is the Lorain County Printing and Publishing Company, which owns the The Chronicle-Telegram of Elyria and Medina County Gazette.

The company was founded in 1948 with the establishment of WEOL AM-FM in Elyria, Ohio, both of which continue to serve as the company's flagships. On May 15, 1958, Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting Co. was purchased by the Lorain County Printing and Publishing Company, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. As LCP&P owned the Chronicle-Telegram (and bought the Gazette in 1962) in effect formed a radio/newspaper duopoly. This arrangement has lasted to this day, grandfathered by FCC legislation that now prohibit such arrangements.

To this day, Elyria-Lorain is one of a few remaining locally-owned station groups, and one of the more successful. Smooth jazz WNWV (decendent of WEOL-FM) is the highest-rated locally-owned radio station in the Cleveland market proper. Other stations within the chain include WLKR-FM and WLKR (AM) in Norwalk, and WKFM in Huron.

Throughout the 1990s, Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting also owned a station in the Mansfield market, WYXZ-FM in Crestline. In 2003, WYXZ was sold off to EMF Broadcasting, which now operates the station as WYKL with their "K-Love" religious format.

The company also owned a Melbourne, Florida station, WMEL 920-AM, from 1956 to 1993. WMEL is (as of this writing) the only non-Ohio based property that the company held.