protest over Trivisonno's aforementioned on-air use of ethnic pejoratives, which reportedly hurt Trivisonno. On August 10, 1998, Jacor traded WKNR to Capstar Broadcasting in exchange for Pittsburgh's WTAE in order to clear regulatory approval for their $620 million purchase of Nationwide Communications. Clear Channel then purchased Jacor in a $6.5 billion deal announced on October 8, 1998; by then, Jacor had already acquired Premiere Networks—the syndicators for Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Dean Edell, Dr. Laura and Coast to Coast AM—all of which WTAM now aired via vertical integration. Veteran radio executive Kevin Metheny was named WTAM's operations director in June 1998, eventually overseeing the entire Jacor-Clear Channel Cleveland cluster. Bill Wills was transferred from co-owned WLW in July 1998 to host the all-news morning drive block, and was paired with newscaster John Webster and sports anchor Casey Coleman for Wills, Webster and Coleman in the Morning. Bruce Drennan, who had made another return to the station in 1995 for weekend/fill-in work, was once again named Sportsline host. WTAM enjoyed substantial ratings success thanks to the Indians' 1998 playoff run and the impeachment trial of President Clinton, reaching fifth place overall and Trivisonno at first place overall in the Fall 1998 Arbitron book. Jacor won a bidding war for the expansion Cleveland Browns' broadcast rights, with WMJI as the flagship and WTAM simulcasting games; Coleman was also named as sideline reporter for the Browns broadcasts. Drennan left the station again on July 26, 2000, after failing to agree on a new contract; by then, WTAM had become the top-ranked overall station in the Spring 2000 Arbitron book. Consolidation and changes Dr. Laura was replaced on the weekday schedule with Glenn Beck following the September 11 attacks; Kevin Metheny said of Glenn after the switch, "he has a greater inclination to entertain and relate, rather than evangelize," and felt Dr. Laura's ratings were "disappointing". John Webster's presence on Wills, Webster and Coleman ended on November 2, 2001, after a downsizing effort that also saw seven other staffers in the cluster fired. WTAM's studios, along with the studios for all other Clear Channel Cleveland stations, were consolidated into a new facility in Independence in 2002, with one newspaper story calling the arrangement "a food court of radio, with McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell". Beck was replaced in March 2005 with Jerry Springer's mid-morning show, which WTAM dropped the following March in favor of