...and for no particular reason than it's time for an update:
WJER ANNOUNCEMENT?: We haven't verified it, so we won't run all of it, but an anonymous comment to one of our earlier items says WJER/Dover-New Philadelphia operator Gary Petricola has announced - on air, officially, on his own station - the impending departure of the FM 101.7 signal later this month, and his impending (re-)purchase of WJER(AM) 1450 with other investors, which will remain in Dover.
None of the above is any surprise to anyone who reads this blog, of course, or for that matter, anyone who's been reading the recent channeling of OMW through the Times-Reporter newspaper. But it is news that it's apparently been told to listeners on the air.
The anonymous contributor says the announcement happened during the station's 5 PM news report this evening...
ZANESVILLE MOVE?: While we're talking about radio stations moving, OMW readers already know that WHIZ-FM/102.5 Zanesville is heading for a new license city of Baltimore, a small spot on the map just southeast of Columbus. It'll be a Columbus move-in for someone, and probably not the WHIZ Media Group.
Instead, it looks like they could have their eyes on one of the rumored possibilities for a WHIZ-FM replacement.
OMW reader Kyle McPeck, on his "King of Zanesville" blog, says he's heard employees of CCM WCVZ/92.7 "92.7 The River" South Zanesville, the sister of Columbus-based WCVO/104.9, have been given their walking papers.
While he isn't saying for sure, Kyle speculates that the WHIZ Media Group will take over 92.7 as the replacement for the departing 102.5, and that WCVZ is rumored to be looking at putting up a new non-commercial outlet in Licking County.
It makes sense to us, too. The WHIZ folks aren't the kind of operation to either A) run a Columbus-based FM or B) vacate the FM dial in their home city, and taking over 92.7 would be a good solution for them.
WHIZ/1240 and WHIZ-TV/18 (NBC affiliate) remain no matter how this pans out...
BORDER FORMAT CHANGE: Back in the day, we'd have done a whole item on this.
Long-time readers know our particular obsession with Beacon Broadcasting, the Warren-based chain of five outlets stradding the Ohio/Pennsylvania border owned by steel supply magnate Harold Glunt.
Beacon has split up the three-station simulcast of oldies music based at Warren's WANR/1570.
AllAccess reports that simulcasters WLOA/1470 Farrell PA and WGRP/940 Greenville PA have flipped to sports, using Sporting News Radio, and continuing as the area affiliates of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball. Even in the WANR simulcast, WLOA and WGRP split away for baseball.
"Family Friendly Oldies" continue at WANR, presumably without the wordy three-station liners...
Beacon also owns Christian rocker WEXC/107.1 Greenville PA, a Youngstown-market rimshot known as "Freq 107", and gospel daytimer WRTK/1540 Niles, which runs the satellite format "Rejoice - Musical Soul Food"...
SPEAKING OF 1540: As if we haven't enough these days, another (original) item on Good Karma's original sports outlet in Cleveland, WWGK/1540 "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540". You know, that Good Karma sports station that is NOT WKNR/850...
When he dropped us a note after reading our last item, Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin let us know that the station was airing a James Brown interview with Jim Brown...the former, the FOX Sports TV star, the latter, the iconic Hall of Fame running back who set the standard in a Cleveland Browns uniform.
It airs at 11:30 on Sunday, right before WWGK carries Westwood One's NFL coverage - the Indianapolis Colts play the Jacksonville Jaguars. That's right, it's another network sports package the station adds to its WW1 college football coverage.
Mr. Karmazin tells OMW that the Browns/Steelers clash on Thursday Night Football tomorrow allows the 1 PM game to air on his station. NFL rules normally prohibit such contests from airing in that slot.
And a tip of the OMW hat to Cleveland Plain Dealer media writer Julie Washington, who has an excellent article on the whole Good Karma/WKNR situation in Wednesday's PD. It may be the only media-related newspaper article we've ever seen with not a single error...
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
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16 comments:
The lead story on the WJER newscast at 4p and 5p was the announcement that 101.7 would depart Tuscarawas County on December 26. Clear Channel would then take over the frequency with new call letters and new staffing. A sound bite with Petricola followed. He said he is heading a group that is purchasing the AM. The AM will remain local and will continue to provide local community service. He commented that what you have been listening to on 101.7 will be heard on AM 1450.
Dear Mr. Karmazin:
PLEASE, nix this speculation about Kendall Lewis, Geoff "The Windbag" Sindelar, Ken "Slow Talker, Never-Complete-A-Sentence" Silverstein, and any other has-been who no longer occupies the airwaves. Good riddance to them.
There is plenty of talent on WKNR to draw from and expand upon into more local shows. And Tony Rizzo? Really?? Not the worst choice, but definitely not as good as Chuck Galeti. AND OH MY GOSH, if you bring Peter Brown back into this market, you can KISS YOUR CREDIBILITY & RATINGS GOODBYE. Cleveland could not STAND that guy.
Kudos to Mr.Petricola for breaking the news and official departure date on the very day he himself was given the word. Speculation on earlier blogs that he was some kind of word-spinner with his responses were unfairly untrue. He honestly had not been given any date from CC before this and was not just trying to string along the listeners or advertisers.
Not conspiracy but truth - do not forget that radio and newspaper ARE competitors for followers and for advertising dollars. And sometimes there's personal crap involved too.
Though to "try to contact" someone in the evening and only hours before a story is put to print sure does allow the elusive "nobody would respond", not everyone is so gullible.
The real news did come out, released from the source, hours after he found out. He was never leading us on as others would have you believe in order to make "news".
I agree that WHIZ would not be a "player" in Columbus, if only as a real estate agent.
92.7 (with its studios and tower not very far from WHIZ on the city's east side -- 92.7 is not in South Zanesville) was always believed to be the main target.
I would guess that the WHIZ owners will make a nice, tidy profit when all is said and done -- sell the FM, buy 92.7 -- and their operational costs will also likely drop, creating even greater savings.
Oddly, one of the current WHIZ jocks was formerly at 92.7.
Next thing you know, someone's going to accuse OMW of "muckraking."
From the WJER website Thursday, Dec 11
http://www.wjer.com/radiogram.cfm
LOCAL:
WJER Radio, Inc. will no longer provide programming for the FM 101.7 frequency as of December 26th. All local programming will remain on WJER AM 1450 as former station owner Gary Petricola and a group of investors is buying the station back. Clear Channel Communications, which has owned both WJER FM and AM since 2003, is moving the FM operations to North Canton in the coming weeks. New call letters and staffing for the 101.7 station have yet to be announced. Petricola says he’s pleased to retain the AM 1450 operations that have been part of the community since 1950.
I myself am responsible for numerous comments on this site in defense of Mr.Petricola. Anything I have said negatively in reference to coverage of these stories have never intentionally been aimed at OMW, so I hope they accept my apologies if slight was taken. For the most part I was upset with the TR and at other bloggers' comments - people who don't really know what was truly going on. Again, my apologies to OMW.
Ever read the small print on the bottom of the R-I site? Perhaps the media who use any blogs as "sources" need to:
"Postings on Radio-Info.com are the opinions of the people who post them. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of Radio-Info.com or its parent iN3 Media, Inc. In fact many of the views expressed here are just plain wrong. But they are opinions and this site allows us all to discuss those opinions. Any reliance on information posted is done so at the users own risk."
Also in the news was the afternnon drivetime news on AM 930 WEOL that GM Gary Kneisely is retiring and moving to Arizona. Lorain County politicians and others gave him a "standing O" sendoff of which he was very appreciative, based on a comment from him played during the newscast.
Gary Kneisely's retirement was annouced back in July. As a part of the annoucement, he was to stay until right about now.
Lonnie Gronek (former WMMS/WHK GM and Malrie exec) has taken over as President/GM and Tim (Kelly) Parkinson was promoted to operations director. Tim was previously the OM at WKFM and WLKR A/F.
Elyria-Lorain is one of the most stable, solid operations in the entire area. Kneisely had been in that position since 1986. In some ways, that standing O may not be enough...
- Nathan Obral
Just a slight correction from Anonymous at 10:16 on the location of the WCVZ tower.
WCVZ's tower, as indicated by the FCC Database, is actually located south of Crooksville and east of New Lexington. Their coverage area does not quite include all of Muskingum County, however it is still a solid signal in the area.
The service area map is here: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=FM979962.html
~collegedj86
Well...I spoke to Mr Karmazin personally, and was told that AM radio is the biggest thing going..that AM's are the biggest revenue generators in the country. All this because I used the word "niche" as an adjective describing his 1540 format. I was 31 once, too. I like to think I've learned something since then. But then again..I didn't have a trust fund to dip into.
To anonymous at 2 p.m., regarding anonymous at 10:19, or whatever time that was.
WYBZ (107.3 FM) tower in not far from that position, either, with a similar footprint, but is clearly in CROOKSVILLE, and closer to Zanesville than this one. Neither would be considered South Zanesville, which is a small village contiguous to Zanesville itself.
I also believe that WCVZ has a repeater or whatever it's called at 94.5.
Soooooooo, a random lill' YouTube video, by moi, for my ole buddies in Mentor & Mentor On The Lake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7iQRFP_e90
Stay on Groovin' Safari,
TOR
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-The Management
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