Whew!
OMW may have been on hiatus, but things just don't stop happening in the world of radio and TV while we leave the keyboard. We'll catch up with a few short items first, then have some more later:
CASEY'S RETURN: We did get a chance to catch WTAM/1100 sportscaster Casey Coleman doing some play-by-play on a recent SportsTime Ohio afternoon Indians game, and we were thrilled.
We also note that Casey's told Browns Radio Network play-by-play voice and WKYC/3 sports director Jim Donovan that he hopes to return to the sidelines for Browns radio broadcasts this fall. We hope that's medically possible for him...and wouldn't it be interesting if the Browns started winning football games with Casey working on the sidelines? OK, so we're asking too much...but we can dream.
By the way, don't forget the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's "5th Annual Cleveland Walk For Hope", Saturday, June 24th at 8:30 AM. Details are on WTAM's Wills and Coleman page...
LEAVING 'JER: Long-time WJER/101.7 Dover-New Philadelphia personality Steve Kelly has left the in-limbo station, and takes the afternoon slot at AC WSNY/94.7 "Sunny 95" in Columbus.
OMW has received a couple of inquiries about this - wondering if Kelly's departure from WJER means that the FM station's move up to North Canton is going to happen sooner rather than later. We see no evidence of that at this time...for one, A) WJER-FM's construction permit application for the move has not yet hit the FCC database, and B) Clear Channel will likely not make any moves until the 101.7 signal is no longer based in Tuscarawas County (or is very soon to move). But we could be wrong...
IT'S A GAS STATION, MAN: As OMW expected, the noise out of Clear Channel talk WTVN/610 Columbus was not about the takeover of another radio station, but about a promotion at a gas station. So much for the rampant speculation of the final move of a Marion Clear Channel station to a 106.7 allocation in the Columbus market...
CW'ING IT: Cincinnati CBS-TV affiliate WKRC/12 has launched a web page for its upcoming CW Network digital TV affiliate. It's asking WB and UPN fans to contact local cable systems and satellite operators to urge them to carry the station on an "analog channel on the basic tier". Meanwhile, on the My Network TV side, we haven't yet heard an official announcement from Youngstown ABC affiliate WYTV/33 on its expected addition of a digital subchannel for that new network...
NEW TRIBE OUTLET: We don't know how we missed it, but a Buffalo market station has picked up the Cleveland Indians' over-air TV games originated from Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC/3. It's WNGS/67 Springville NY, a suburban Buffalo independent station running Equity TV's "RetroTV" feed of classic TV shows. WNGS is now operated by Granite's ABC affiliate in the market, WKBW/7. It's the former UPN affiliate in the Buffalo market...
WHK TRIBUTE SITE: Thanks to long-time OMW reader Johnny Morgan for the tip on this one - a true treasure for anyone interested in Cleveland top 40 radio history. WHKColorChannel14.com is chock full of memories of WHK/1420's days as a popular music stations, including so many sound clips we lost track. OMW highly recommends a visit.
It's the second such tribute site to a Cleveland AM music giant of the past - WIXY1260.com is also out there, and is also excellent for those who remember the days when big music hits were heard on the AM dial. WHK, of course, is today's Salem-run news/talk station, and WIXY eventually ended up as local Radio Disney outlet WWMK...
MUSIC CITY PROMOTION: And a tip of the hat to a long-time (and we mean long-time) Friend of OMW on his new job. Cumulus Youngstown staff engineer Gary Zocolo has scooted off to Nashville, where he's been promoted to a new position as chief engineer for the Cumulus stations in the Music City. Congratulations!
"Gary Z" goes way back with your Primary Editorial Voice...he's one of two human beings on the planet who have voiced an "hour opener" for us. The other is veteran WWSW/94.5 Pittsburgh morning host and imaging voice legend Jim Merkel...
More later. Thanks for hanging in there in our absence!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
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7 comments:
welcome back OA you were missed and I hope everything is alright. If you go to www.wytv.com you will notice that they have begun to build their new studio (look in the scroll above the news crew pictures). Maybe at 5 0'clock we will find out the big news.
welcome back
it's offical!! my network tv is coming to youngstown with a ten o'clock news. Was announced at 5:02 pm om WYTV news at 5pm.
It will start this fall and uses the same my network tv graphic (the same color as wytv's graphic)my YTV, they will be building a satelite studio downtown, all to be finished by this fall. They will have a mixture of local and national programming and a news at 10 pm.
Welcome home!
We were in a panic for nothing. I do without a week of blogging.
First of all, hope your time off was worthwhile.
Point 1: Welcome Back.
Point 2: That WKBW sibling also runs the Yankees and Mets, does a nightly sports talk show and will carry replays of WKBW telecasts of Bills exhibitions.
Point 3: I remember 1260 as a Catholic radio station, too, between the WIXY days and the current Mickey Mouse era. Several links to WIXZ memory sites give one a flavor about both 1260 and 1360 in its first "McKeesport-Pittsburgh" mode.
OA--Welcome back and best wishes.
Pat--1260 was adult hits WMGC (the first "Magic")immediately after WIXY died in 1976. Then, it became Supertalk WBBG in 1977, with Bill Randle, Bill Gordon, and Bruce Drennan. Then, jeweler/philanthropist Larry Robinson bought it in 1981 and chnaged the format to Big Band Grandstand WBBG. That lasted until 1987.
In '87, 1260 simulcast sister AC gold WMJI for a few months, and then was sold to a Christian group who operated it as WRDZ ("Wordz") until 1995. That's when it was sold to a Catholic group as the first (and only?) commercial Catholic station in the US as WMIH.
The Mouse bought 1260 in 1998, and there we have it.
In about 1995 or so, the 1260 transmitter and towers moved from well-populated Seven Hills (at one time, the "cow pasture" from which Jack Armstrong broadcast the WIXY Sixty before the showcase studios at 3940 Euclid were built) to the current site in Brecksville, just off the Turnpike, west of OH Rt. 21. It's 10kw days, 5kw nights. And it's a pretty good signal having moved south oh so slightly (about 8 miles). Still a dumbbell pattern to protect 1260 in Erie, but not as anemic as the famous WIXY pattern (normally killed by flourescent lights and/or TVs in the suburbs).
Off topic, but funny: the verification logo prompt is, ahem, "oawag". haha I don't think OA is a "wag," but whatever.
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