* Cleveland Plain Dealer local radio/TV columnist Julie Washington checks in with the WBNX to CW Network/WUAB Not story in her Friday column. And like the PD's Mark Dawidziak and the Beacon Journal's R.D. Heldenfels before her, she finds normally chatty WUAB/43 general manager Bill Applegate very untypically quiet. Our guess: Applegate is in final talks with the "My Network TV" folks, and they're deciding if that's the route they want to go.
And though it's normally Washington's counterpart in local media coverage - sports media columnist Roger Brown - who needs to board the Clue Bus, we're buying a ticket for her as a result of part of her column. Was her keyboard temporarily occupied by former Beacon Journal radio writer Denise Grollmus when writing this item?
To wit:
"If Channel 43 became a My Network TV affiliate, Cleveland would have two Fox affiliates - Fox owned-and-operated WJW Channel 8 and Channel 43.
Would Fox care? Why should it? The arrangement would mean more money for the corporation.
But the stations involved might care. Viewers might be confused by two Cleveland stations under the Fox name."
We have news flash for Washington...the "My Network TV" operation will NOT USE THE FOX NAME ON AIR. That's why, well, they're calling it "My Network TV" and even have a logo to boot...a logo that does NOT include the word "Fox" anywhere on it! Look...we even have a sample, in case Washington hasn't seen the actual logo:
It's no more of a problem than CBS-owned UPN operating in the same market as a CBS affiliate. In many markets, the UPN affiliate isn't at all connected with the CBS affiliate.
At least Washington didn't claim that WUAB would physically move to Lorain, or WOIO would move to Shaker Heights...
2 comments:
Ohio Media blog guy: Just wanted you to know that so many of the comments posted may come from "Anonymous" folks, because when I tried to go thru the Sign-Up process here, it would not accept ANY choice of usernameg, and thus, would not allow my registration to go through. Maybe it's something you can look into.
I, too, found it strange that Applegate has refused to comment to either the Beacon or PD about Ch. 43's failure to win The CW. It's a shame the way he and others have virtually destroyed a once-proud station (a LONG time ago). He wouldn't win any popularity contest on-staff, that's for sure.
Oh well, guess they've always got that block of cheap programs like Baretta, Kojak and The Jeffersons they can trot out. When they lost the Indians, it's been a downward spiral since then. Can't you just imagine what'll happen when the Cavs contract is up, and they bolt to a group with some REAL cash?
Remember when all of the NE Ohio TV stations (and many cable outlets) banded together for that 1-hr. telethon (7-8 p.m.) for victims of Hurricane Katrina? Guess who was the only Cleveland station to thumb their nose at the effort and air their own programming instead? Right. WUAB, Channel 43. What goes around, comes around, eh?
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