Monday, November 06, 2006

Back Home in Northeast Ohio

As promised, back home again, electronically at least...

SUSSMAN SIGHTING?: We haven't seen it ourselves, but a reader tips us that former WEWS/5 meteorologist Brad Sussman has been seen on the airwaves of WJW "FOX 8" recently. As in, last night, and this evening, as a fill-in weather forecaster.

Sussman hasn't been with the Cleveland ABC affiliate for some time now, and has been spending his time in the local media doing occasional talk fill-in at Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100.

He's also had an occasional fill-in for Pittsburgh-based regionally syndicated morning show "The WarRoom with Quinn and Rose" (WPGB/104.7, heard locally on WHLO/640 Akron and WWVA/1170 Wheeling WV).

PROGRESSIVE STAR: Mike Lampers, who moved on from Akron as the local winner of Clear Channel's "Progressive Star" contest, is quickly moving up the ranks.

Lampers, along with four other would-be hosts, ended up doing an hour on the air during one recent Sunday afternoon time slot on WARF/1350 "Radio Free Ohio". As the winner out of Akron, he earned $1000 and a chance to win the nationwide contest.

OMW hears that Lampers made the cut of 8 finalists this past weekend, and could well advance beyond that.

You can hear his participation in the "Progressive Star" national quarterfinals here.

And yes, Lampers was one of the "contestants" in the competition to replace Joe Finan at his original Akron talk radio home, during WNIR/100.1's "Akron Idol". He lost that one because he never played professional football, it would appear...

MOO TO REGHI: This one from Marc, the head cow at Moohead Radio.

He tells us the sports-themed Internet site hopes to feature a live interview with former Cavaliers television voice and FSN Ohio personality Michael Reghi on tomorrow's daily webcast (5 PM Eastern).

There's no word on if Reghi will have any comments on his replacement on the Cavaliers TV broadcasts, former Detroit Pistons announcer Fred McLeod.

We'll only assume that Reghi will take the high road, and not do a high-pitched impersonation of McLeod's voice... like, perhaps, WKNR/850 afternoon drive host Kenny Roda does when talking about the new Cavaliers TV play-by-play man...

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMW, what can you find out about Cincinnati dumping the Rover morning show?

Ohio Media Watch said...

Re: Rover's gone in Cincy -See our previous items. (And thanks for reminding us that he had an affiliate down there!)

97.3 is about to dump alt-rock for country as "97.3 The Wolf", under new ownership with Entercom, and with former WYGY/96.5-to-94.9 morning hosts Ken and Kitty moving over there.

No CBS, no alt-rock, no Rover.

-OMW

Anonymous said...

Wow Brad hasn't missed to many meals time for Jenny Craig as for Heather Webber one can assume her contract expired.

Anonymous said...

I used to respect Fox 8 for only hiring meteorologists with actual meteorology degrees. First they dump Colby (degree) for Webber (no degree) and now they bring Sussman in. If there's anything I hate, it's people like Nolan and Mark Johnson who call themselves meteorologists, pass themselves off as experts, but have nothing but telecommunication or journalism degrees, with a mail order certificate from Mississippi St at best. Now Fox 8 is no better.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Rover note, OMW.

Fox 8 has removed all mention of Heather Weber from the Website. I think Sussman was fun on Sunday night. I watched, and Dray and Suzanne said that he'd be with them for the next couple of weeks.

Anonymous said...

What do you expect from Fox8 Sussman is on a try out basis only but Brad being away from the tv scene for 3 years was rusty stick to radio. Webber is no big lost,hell 19 action news kicked her to the curb a few years ago hopefully we've seen the last of her. And finally showing how dumb fox8 is Robin returns to Ch.8 in January OH GOD WHY???

Anonymous said...

Why all the haters on Heather and Brad?

Brad is a professional.

Any word on why Heather Weber left?

Anonymous said...

No hate here, but expensive, fancy equipment does not make a television personality a meteorologist. My only problem is when they pass themselves off as experts or the real deal, when they're just news anchors with a Doppler radar. There's nothing wrong with a non-degreed person reporting the weather forecast. If they want hire non-degreed people, than call them "weather anchors" and not "meteorologists." Just don't do the 30-second spot where you play the role of "trusted expert."

Patient: "What's your medical training?"

Doctor: "I actually don't have a medical degree, but I've been to the doctor before and I have a really fancy MRI machine."

This isn't life or death (though they play with fire when pretending to know what they're doing during severe weather spots), but the point is the same.

Anonymous said...

Could Heather be going back to Youngstown to work there again? She was at WYTV before going to cleveland. Youngstown has or had a few weather jobs open. 1) Cheif meteorologist at WFMJ. 2) Morning Meteoroligist at WFMJ and Now 3) Morning Meteoroligst at WYTV. Why are all the weather anchors or Meteoroliststs leaving youngstown? also on the AVS forum there have been reports of WYTV starting up a local weather channel like weather plus, have you hear anything OMW?

Anonymous said...

Uh, Sussman is a certified meteorologist... Your bashing of him is uncalled for.

Anonymous said...

NOLAN/JOHNSON ARE CERTIFIED GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT. SUSSMAN CERTIFIED,WEBER CERTIFIED THE ONLY ONES WHO WERE NEVER CERTIFIED WERE DAN DEELY WHO WAS PART-TIME ON CH.3 AND 19/43. EILEEN McSHEA WHO WAS A WEEKENDER AT 3 SHE WAS TO GET CERTIFIED BUT NEVER DID.

Don Olson said...

I don't think they'll hire you anymore if you don't have an AMS seal.

Anonymous said...

You guys have it all wrong with Sussman. This guy is a certified meteorologist and has done weather in Amarillo - which, if you know anything about weather, has the most EXTREME weather conditions of just about anywhere in the country. He's also done work in Florida (hurricane country) and of course a long time at WEWS, and we all know cleveland weather blows. Oh, and he's a really super awesome cool guy. Way to go Brad!

Anonymous said...

My facts are straight. I understand this more than you'll ever know.

Mark Johnson: Bachelors degree, Telecommunications, Kent State University. He also has a Meteorology "Certification" from Mississippi State University.

Mark Nolan: Also a graduate of Kent State University. WKYC's web site doesn't say what his degree is, but given that Kent State does NOT have a meteorology program, it's certainly not meteorology.

Brad Sussman: Bachelor of Arts degree, University of Illinois. There was a rumor long ago that he was working on a post-graduate degree in meteorology. If he has one now, great for him.

The AMS seal means little. In fact, the AMS program recently changed, because they recognized the need to "raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology." There is a new program called the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and the #1 requirement is a degree in meteorology (or equivalent) from an accredited college/university. The AMS seal only says that a person can present weather information in a sound manner.

This is further proof of the misconceptions that are out there. It'd be one thing if you didn't care about the education of a weather personality, but to claim that they are the real deal is ridiculous. I am a degreed meteorologist and to give that distinction to people like Nolan is offensive to all the work I put in to earn it. Why do you think they push "Power of 5" or "Triple Doppler" instead of the credentials of their people? Because that's what the public responds to, unfortunately.

For the record, weather personalities in Cleveland who have a meteorology degree (or the equivalent): A.J. Colby (WKYC), Andrew Bernier (WJW), Scott Sabol (WJW), Jon Loufman (WOIO), and Jeff Tanchak (WOIO). Dick Goddard is an exception because it was a different world when he started and his military training is equivalent.

Neither Nolan or Johnson meet the requirements to work for the National Weather Service. That sentence alone speaks volumes.

I'm not alone in my complaints. There is much criticism from the meteorology community on this and the legitimacy of the Miss. St. "certification." The on-air guys know it and brush it aside. Why should they care? They've got everyone thinking they're experts without having to put in the work.

Sorry for the long rant. :) I just know how complicated this stuff is. When I was in school, the joke was that this IS rocket science (atmospheric dynamics is similar in many respects) and it's a big pet peeve to see these guys do what they do, and then to see the public not give it the respect it deserves. If I helped educate one anonymous person here, it was worth all this typing! :)

Don Olson said...

Last time I worked in TV news, which was ten years ago, I remember our news director saying she would never hire anyone wihout their AMS seal.

Obviously, things have changed.

Personally, I think it's all marketing anyway.

All you have to do is read the NWS forecast. If you're wrong, you're wrong with everyone else.

Don't know how many times I've heard Goddard say we woke up to five inches of partly cloudy.

Anonymous said...

Forget all these other weatherpeople and bring back Bob Zappe!

Anonymous said...

Didn't Dick Goddard INVENT meteorology?

Don Olson said...

Bob Zappe...wow...when was that, mid to late 70's??

Anonymous said...

The NWS is the way to go. They've got the forecast I trust if it really matters (and most days it does not). But I do like Andre on FOX 8 because he's got the knowledge and can present meaningful weather information - and the story behind the forecast - in a way that everyday people can understand.

Anonymous said...

Bob Zappe was eventually given a talk show called Zap. Only thing I remember about that was a couch shaped like a set of lips.

Anonymous said...

"five inches of partly cloudy"

What a great line. Goddard is the man. He knows his stuff, but is humble enough to know when he was fooled by Mother Nature.

Don Olson said...

That Nancy Glass who was on MTV was also on the Zap show. I remember that one.

I'm pretty sure I was in high school when that aired...late 70's.

WIXY, I know you were already on Social Security by then!
;-)

Anonymous said...

I've always been anti-social and insecure.

Anonymous said...

i think heather weber was hot! miss seeing her face, melissa mack on the other hand, WOW