But we did indeed hear an on-air announcement - hinted earlier in one of our comments here - that WABQ is moving its gospel format to WBKC/1460 Painesville.While it wouldn't seem that would be a "smart move" - WBKC's signal, even in the daytime, does not reach a large part of even the east side of Cleveland covered by WABQ's signal - the Painesville outlet is owned by D&E Communications...which sold WABQ to Good Karma Broadcasting a while back.
OMW also hears that the WABQ format move will apparently displace the WBKC simulcast of classical WCLV/104.9 Lorain.
When all this happens is another question.
The announcements we heard this afternoon on WABQ say the change is happening "in the coming weeks", but we don't know when those spots started airing.
ESPN Radio is going away on WKNR/850 as of late Saturday night, and we don't know right now if Good Karma is ready to even flip on a satellite feed at their new acquisition in Cleveland.
We'll be checking...if we can get the signal...
19 comments:
Say, does anyone here know if'in WVTX is gonna carry Cinema Insomnia's Halloween Special this year?
Thanks.
So I wonder is WCLV's programming will just happen to pop up on WKHR? Hmmm.
I can't see that happening. WKHR is a high school station that is non commercial.
In radio anything is possible all CLV would have to do is go on as a non-commercial station or somekind of brain figure out a way to have KHR to be with WCLV without having the commercials aired on 91.5 and it could happen sooner than anyone thinks. The Kenston School Board owns the license all WCLV IS OFFER THEM SWEET DEAL TO BUY THEM OR TO AS THEY DID WITH WBKC JUST "RENT THEM"
When WCLV moved to 104.9, it was really meant to be simucast on 1420-AM. That was the plan all along - WCLV was to be owned by Radio Seaway, and the smaller FM signal was placed in a trusteeship.
That plan changed when WRMR was killed off. It was obvious for WCLV to buy the intellictual programming of WRMR for the standards format on 1420, but it forced them into a last-minute deal with WBKC.
So, here are the real losers in the whole "gospel and sports format moves/ESPN Cleveland" affair: local ownership (WABQ was the last locally owned commercial station licensed to the city) and classical music (WCLV's East Side simulcast is now gone)...
Way to go.
- Nathan Obral
Unless Nathan they simulcaston 91.5 the east sideers are happy the folks in Lake and Geauga are happy,the only one's who lose are the big band lovers and they sadly to say are dying off as well as the format. Before next summer sooner I expect 91.5 and WCLV TOGETHER AND THAT YOU CAN TAKE TO THE BANK.
It doesn't seem that many OMW readers are Lake County residents, but this swap also marks the demise of what was once the pre-eminent local radio station there, WPVL 1460. Locally owned and locally programmed, in "the day" the station claimed a huge chunk of the Lake County audience, and billed almost as much as Cleveland stations, with a full air and news staff, local programs and high school sports games, remote broadcasts and toward the end even its own Lake County cable TV channel.
But that was many years ago, and a series of unfortunate ownership changes flipped it with the old 1560 WBKC in Chardon, and the station eroded away as so many local stations have. At least it still had a morning program with local news with the WCLV simulcast. Now, even that will be gone, replaced by ethnic programing originated 25 miles west, aimed at an audience that can't even hear it. If it wasn't so sad, it would be funny.
I'm sure there is an entire generation of Lake Countians who aren't even aware that they once had their own radio station and their own newspaper, the Painesville Telegraph.
The old Painesville is immortalized rather accurately in one of Harlan Ellison's early stories, as he lived there growing up.
Times have not been good for Painesville, the town that predates Cleveland as a city. The loss of their "local" station is just another in a long chain of unfortunate events.
Two comments (and no, tor, we have no idea what WVTX is doing...it's hard to track that LPTV ex-UPN affiliate up here, and we have no idea what that special is):
1) WCLV's programming on WKHR could be done, and simulcasting commercial programming has been done on a non-comm before.
All they'd have to do is cover commercial breaks, and ensure live commercial reads were not aired on the non-comm signal. They could then do underwriting on WKHR to function in that manner.
It isn't easy, but it can be done, at least technically. This isn't addressing the financial issues.
OMW has no indication that such a move is in the works, on WKHR or any other non-comm in the Cleveland market. We're just speaking of the feasibility of a commercial/non-comm simulcast.
2) We have no indication what form the WABQ gospel programming will take whenever it migrates to WBKC, and for all we know, they'll continue the local morning show that has aired on the station even under the WCLV simulcast arrangement. (And the Indians, for that matter.)
But time marches on.
Now, the role of "local Lake County broadcaster" is more readily filled by stations like WKKY/104.7 Geneva, which has marched into the county and become basically Lake County's in-house FM signal. (The WKKY tower is even just west of the Lake/Ashtabula County line.)
-OMW
Thanks for the reply, OMW.
CI is a Horror Hosted show
[I say this with 100% respect and admiration for Ghoulardi (Ernie Anderson)]
and its host, Mr. Lobo, is EVEN funnier than Ghoulardi was.
Google Cinema Insomnia and have a free look at some of the show's clips.
I think Mr. Lobo, still, has an entire episode for 'free' streaming.
I got "Star Crash" awhile ago and it isssssssssss funny.
I mean Mr. Lobo teamin'-up with
AstroNaughty, too much!
Stay on Groovin' Safari,
TOR
TOR - We just did, and it looks like he's on the UATV LPTV-oriented network. Oddly enough, that means the show is seen on local LPTV combo "The Cat" here in Northeast Ohio! (WAOH-LP 29 Akron/W35AX Cleveland)
We don't have many contacts down in the Wheeling/Steubenville market, so I can't answer the question for you. But if WVTX carries UATV in that time slot, it's probably likely.
-OMW
It truly is a shame that the the local programming in Lake County is going by the wayside. WBKC might continue with the local news as for WBKC it has seen it's better days and a certain owner is responsible for it's misfortune. WATJ daytime only sits silent. WELW the only thing local and truly keeping them afloat is the polka shows and brokered programming on weekends from every nationality. Tony Pakosic the host of the polka show at 3pm is a co-owner 1330 his partner well should just sell his interest to Tony or someone else who could restore WELW to there former glory of LOCAL MUSIC PROGRAMMING. Yes they tried to be MAJIC RADIO ON AM even bringing in Mrs.John Gorman(Ravanna/Scott Howitt. Didn't work and now Bill O'Reilly and other boring nothing happening programs. So yes country is grand and WKKY has it going in Lake it's just sad in this one of the few cases we can't blame the BIG RADIO COMPANIES FOR THIS MESS,only owners who were,are still making dumb moves and the listeners are suffering,Right Ray I think I know programming but YOU DON'T.
There was an FM channel assigned to Perry Township in Lake County several years ago, 93.5 MHZ.
It was in one of the lotteries the FCC held for new frequencies, and a winner was chosen, but one of the losers successfully challenged that grant, and the case has remained in the courts since then.
Originally, applicants included WKKY in Geneva and a local group who proposed a polka format. I do not know who the disputing parties in the case are.
I work in radio, and take it from me. Radio is DEAD. Read about it in the history books, but don't expect any of the glory days to return. It's over. The government and the corporations have killed it, and it ain't coming back.
It is Sunday night. WKNR is airing Fox Sports. WERE is airing a variety of stuff NOT including ESPN.
So the loser in the deal, at least initially, seems to be ESPN.
Commercial programming on non-commercial stations:
I can think of at least one precedent.
Several years ago when the New York Mets were a lousy team and their radio btoadcasts didn't draw good ratings, the New York local station that carried their games wouldn't clear the entire 162-game schedule.
So city-owned non-commercial WNYC picked up some of the games. Commercial breaks were filled with promos, PSA's, and news, but no commercials.
OMW will have to depend on people basically on the east side of Cleveland to tip us off to any changes at 1540 or (nights) on 1300.
Or...we'll have to go into the same mode we go into to try to hear the incumbent FOX Sports Radio affiliate in Northeast Ohio (!!!), WJMP/1520 Kent-Akron-Mars-Jupiter. You know, out from under power lines, up on a hill facing Kent, with our breath being held all the time.
As far as non-comms carrying sports play by play, there's a much closer example - when WAPS/91.3 was the outlet for the Akron Aeros. Only unlike the situation above, it wasn't taking a commercial broadcast feed...
-OMW
While it is sad to see worthwhile local programming go by the wayside in Lake County, can we all celebrate the good quality of local service that people in Lorain County have? WEOL AM 930 in Elyria has a live and local morning show with lots of guests from Northeastern Ohio on and constant local news updates. WDLW in Lorain (broadcasting from Oberlin?) plays an interesting mix of oldies that doesn't ignore the 1950s and plays memorable tunes that others won't play. They also have a local news presence. WOBL does "Country Gold", although I can't pick them up. Any one of these could be brokered/infomercial heavy. The point is they're not. 3 cheers for Lorain County radio and its owners.
To add to that, Akron still has 1590 WAKR, which has a good local morning show. And WNIR at 100.1 is good local radio too. Some people may not like the hosts on WNIR, but, that is one of the dynamics that makes live and local radio what it is.
1460 AM in Painsville has an interesting history. Sometime in the early to mid 1980s they changed call letters from WPVL to WQLS. Prior to that there was a plan to change call letters so as to be less Painsville-centric (WPVL)and be for all of Lake County. The then new malls in Mentor took some of the economic life out of Painsville. The other plan was to move the studios to the Mentor mall area. One occurred, one didn't. 1460 also made the music part of their format more contemporary and that didn't work out as well as envisioned, it seems. The owner of WBKC 1560 in Chardon bought 1460 and for a while was simulcasting on both frequencies as "The B-K Country Network".
Trivia: The "K" in WBKC is for former owner & I think GM Al Kipp.
Post a Comment