Thursday, September 07, 2006

More Random Items

Talk about random...there's really not much holding these together:

TWO FROM TOLEDO: ...where we hear from the Glass City that Cumulus classic rock WXKR/94.5 has flipped on the IBOC/HD switch. (Thanks to those who pointed out that the station is actually the last Cumulus FM station in Toledo to do so.)

And we hear another switch has been made, due to the fact that minor league baseball's Toledo Mud Hens have made the International League playoffs.

That means Mud Hens flagship Cumulus sports WLQR/1470 "The Ticket" is staying with them, and it bumps the big Ohio State/Texas college football clash this weekend on the Toledo radio dial to the aforementioned WXKR.

How long is WLQR for the Mud Hens? OMW hears that it's possible Clear Channel sports WCWA/1230 "Fox Sports 1230" could pick up Klinger's Favorite Franchise next year. In addition to "The Ticket" this year, the Mud Hens are also heard on Fostoria's WFOB...

ANOTHER KARMAZIN MOVE: OK, maybe we'll use sports as our tie here.

With the likely debut of "ESPN Cleveland" just over a month and change away on Good Karma Broadcasting's WABQ/1540 Cleveland (and expected night hours on Radio One talk WERE/1300), Good Karma owner Craig Karmazin's moves elsewhere are under scrutiny.

This time, AllAccess reports the FCC approval of a license city move for his Madison market FM sports outlet - WTLX/100.5 Columbus WI "FOX Sports 100.5". WTLX gets the nod to move its COL to Monona WI... in other words, somewhat closer to Madison, making it basically an in-city signal instead of a rimshot for Wisconsin's second-largest city.

We can't help but continue to look at the anemic signal of 1000 watt daytimer WABQ - if you want to listen static-free in places like Bay Village and Westlake, forget about it - and wonder what magic Mr. Karmazin has up his sleeve for his new Cleveland signal.

We've already run through the scenarios here many times, with the help of outgoing WABQ chief engineer and OMW reader Chris Quinn...there just isn't much room for significant improvement on 1540 in Cleveland.

Maybe we'll be surprised, but it doesn't seem likely...

HERE COMES THE JUDGE: The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Entertainment blog notes the presence of a pair of feuding Akron neighbors on the premiere of the latest TV courtroom show, "Judge Maria Lopez".

PD television writer Mark Dawidziak says the sparring Akron litigants open up the run of the show Monday at 2 PM on Raycom Media MyNetworkTV affiliate WUAB/43...in what's being promoted as "could be a case of 'Tractor Trailer Trickery'". Uh huh...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Actually, WXKR is the last FM of the Cumulus cluster in Toledo to go HD. All other Cumulus stations (except WWWM) are operating in HD. WWWM had been running HD but is analog-only at present for unknown reasons.