On September 13, 1999, WZLE briefly changed its call letters to WMTX. Four days later, on September 17, 1999, the station adopted the call letters WAKS. On July 3, 2001, WAKS was one of seven Northeast Ohio radio stations involved in a complex exchange between three radio companies. Although generally reported as a "frequency swap", in reality these seven radio stations mostly traded intellectual properties – callsigns along with their respective formats and staffs – all to facilitate the transfers of ownership of four of the seven stations. As part of this complex exchange, Clear Channel Communications sold WAKS to Radio Seaway; both companies retained their respective on- and off-air staff. Radio Seaway then changed the WAKS callsign to WCLV-FM; changed the station's format to classical; and rebranded the station "WCLV 104.9". In effect, this new WCLV-FM (104.9 FM) licensed to Lorain became the successor to the former WCLV (95.5 FM) licensed to Cleveland. At the same time, Radio Seaway acquired WHK (1420 AM), the oldest radio station in Cleveland and Ohio, changed its calls to WCLV (AM) and changed its format to adult standards as a complement to 104.9 FM. On November 1, 2001, eight months after moving WCLV's format to 104.9 FM, Radio Seaway donated the station to the non-profit WCLV Foundation. As part of the deal, Radio Seaway retained the license, while the WCLV Foundation handled day-to-day operations. Radio Seaway partners Robert Conrad and Rich Marschner, who had run the station since launching it on 95.5 FM in 1961, arranged the transaction in response to what they and others felt was a disturbing trend in larger radio markets–corporate buyouts of traditionally classical commercial stations, with the new owners invariably discontinuing the format. In addition to assuring the continuation of the classical music format, the transfer allowed WCLV to use its "excess profits" in order to fund local arts organizations: the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Play House, and the Cleveland Foundation. WCLV's signal on 104.9 FM did not cover the eastern portion of the Greater Cleveland area nearly as well as it had on 95.5. This was because its transmitter was located further west than most of the major Cleveland stations in order to remain within 15 miles of its city of license, Lorain.