We Didn't Have To Tune To WTAM To Hear Him Tonight

The vast Ohio Media Watch staff is compiling local media news and events far away from our suburban Akron home. It seems to be falling into our laps!

You could say that almost literally, tonight.

A tune into CBS' Late Show with David Letterman tonight yielded an audience member who sounded a bit familiar, but we had no idea how familiar. The guy playing Dave's "Stump the Band" audience game was asked what he did for a living, and he told Dave that he was a radio news anchor at Cleveland's WTAM/1100! That's when we stopped our typing, looked up and paid attention.

It turns out he's WTAM's E.J. Becker, who's heard more often these days on stations like WPGB/104.7 Pittsburgh and WISN/1130 Milwaukee, by the magic of newscasts fed down the Clear Channel computer network from the company's local World Domination Headquarters in Independence.

Since E.J.'s bio isn't on the WTAM (or WPGB or WISN) sites, we didn't know that he has experience singing in opera. He acquitted himself quite well in the "Stump the Band" game, and ended up with the usual prizes, including a dinner from a popular steakhouse. (We didn't write the name down, but I believe it was Ruth's Chris.)