Friday, December 22, 2006

Those Columbus AM Changes

OMW readers in Central Ohio tell us that rumored changes at Clear Channel's two Columbus AM outlets have been announced, officially.

This afternoon on talk WTVN/610, station management announced another reshuffling of the station's talk show lineup.

Losing yet another large market Clear Channel talk station clearance is Premiere's Glenn Beck, who will be bounced off of WTVN's mid-morning slot in favor of...local host Joel Riley, who's currently on the schedule from 6-9 PM.

The Riley move to the 9 AM-noon slot allows the station to expand popular afternoon drive host John Corby another hour (3-7 PM), and ABC Radio host Sean Hannity's show moves up to 7-10 PM. Hannity's show took hold in late evenings after the station dumped long-time late night host Steve "Boom Boom" Cannon.

We also are hearing what will happen to sister liberal talk outlet WTPG/1230 "Progressive Talk 1230".

According to those who heard the above mentioned WTVN appearance, 1230 will become a sister talk station (without the current liberal lineup) to 610.

The lineup presented to us - starting January 8th - would include:

* WPGB/104.7 Pittsburgh-based Jim Quinn and Rose Somma-Tennant's "War Room" in morning drive.

* TRN's Laura Ingraham in mid-mornings.

* Premiere sports talk star Jim Rome making his return to both Columbus and an old frequency in the noon-3 slot.

* Self-syndicated money advice guru Dave Ramsey in afternoon drive.

* And...TRN's Michael Savage in evenings.

We hear Westwood One's Bill O'Reilly may also be in the mix, along with what we'd assume is a new affiliation for sister WLW/700-based syndicated overnight trucking show "America's Truckin' Network with Steve Sommers".

We know of one other change for 1230, thanks to long-time Friend of OMW Scott Fybush, keeper of world-famous radio/TV data site 100000watts.com.

He tells us that WTPG has picked up new call letters...WYTS. ("Your Talk Station", perhaps?)

And when we say "world-famous", we mean it.

We'd probably fall over backwards and have a heart attack if we saw OMW as the subject of an answer on "Jeopardy!", like good ol' 100K was recently.

(By the way...the contestant buzzed in that the question was "What are electric...power plants?" Ah, well...)

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joel Riley is kind of bland. I am surprised they did not bring in some new, fresh talent like WTAM did for the Glenn Beck replacement. There is no local political talk in Columbus aka the State Capital, so it would be nice to have some local political talk. Riley is a good fill in person. Still miss the old "No Name Show" with Sterling in the evenings. Riley is a nice guy but Sterling really got the core of Columbus. alas we are stuck in the doldrums. Cant wait to hear what is going to happen over at 1230AM...hopefully some local political talk.

Anonymous said...

Weekday line up effective Jan 8 on 1230 is as follows:

Quinn & Rose mornings
Laura Ingram late morning
Jim Rome 12-3
Dave Ramsey 3-6
Savage 6-10
Wasn't sure, but think maybe O'Reilly after that. They mentioned O'Reilly as an afterthought.
Odd for such a small signal, but a truckers show overnight.

Anonymous said...

Bruce Collins, PD of WTVN and WTPG, said they were unable to come to terms to move Beck. Funny, since Beck is syndicated by who a wholly owned sub of CC?

Ohio Media Watch said...

Maybe...not a surprise?

We don't know how Beck works, but a lot of times, hosts negotiate with affiliates for money for the host. Even if the affiliate and the syndicator are owned by the same company.

Our guess, and it's only a guess - CC Columbus wasn't willing to pay Beck for a 1230 clearance what he's getting for a 610 clearance.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if 640/WHLO Akron makes it all the way down into Columbus... I know last year when I drove down to Columbus - 640 was booming in loud and clear... Glenn Beck fans may still be able to tune in... with some static.... at least it is an option.. Glenn Beck - 640/WHLO

Anonymous said...

OMW: I knew that Limbaugh and possibly Hannity could command fees, but figured Beck fell short of the ability to do that. Also, I've never listened to Ingram's show, but she seems to be getting more and more clearances while Beck's seem to diminish indicating she's a hotter show than Beck? (My perception as an outsider). But your knowledge certainly outstrips my perception.

Anon: WHLO is usually pretty difficult to pick up in Columbus. I used to listen in the 70's when Steve Cannon and Jeff Detrow were on. But even then, it wasn't a loud and clear signal. Between additional interference and poorly built radio sets, I seldom can pick them up.

Anonymous said...

I thought he said Midnight Trucking Radio Network for nights on 1230, not America's Trucking Network.

Anonymous said...

cc owned 970/WFUN in Ashtabula still clearc Beck live

Anonymous said...

1490 WBEX in Chillicothe clears Beck live. From what I know of Bruce he REALLY wanted to keep Beck and was planning to build the new 1230 around him. Something fell through at the last minute though.

Anonymous said...

Chuck Galetti did one hell of a job filling in for Trivisonno this week. I think he shouls permanently replace the fat man (and no, not Santa).

Happy Holidays!

Anonymous said...

Completely agree on Joel Riley! I think he used to work on a station in Mt. Vernon or something like that. He is not ready for primetime. I also understand that Sterling is in Minnesota working at a local talker.

Anonymous said...

As previously stated...Beck was going to be the cornerstone to the 1230 change, along with taking some listeners from WBNS-AM with Jim Rome, but Glenn Beck did not want to move to 1230. This was his decision, and not the station. Beck is shooting himself in the foot for not clearing at all in Columbus where he did have a big following. I think Laura Ingraham is a great replacement for Beck.

Anonymous said...

One other thing... America's Trucking Network (from WLW) only has THREE affiliates left. They are WLW, WWVA and a station in Sherevport - almost like what happened to Mitch Albom's syndicated effort (which ended with just WJR and WEOL/930).

Most ATN affiliates of long past (WHAM/Rochester, WHO/Des Moines) switched to C2C or "The Midnight Radio Network" when The Truckin' Bozo retired.

- Nathan Obral

Anonymous said...

The PD of 610 WTVN is an idiot for taking Glenn Beck off of the air. He was number one and number two for a long time in this market. What a stupid business decision.

Anonymous said...

1230...now more of the same crap. Laura Ingraham? Yawn. Jim Rome? Come on. They already did that once before with mediocre results. With WBNS-AM who needs Rome? Savage? Doesn't matter. Their night pattern sucks anyway. They are more likely to pull 610 listeners over with this new format on 1230 then if they kept progressive talk. Same old Crap Channel. Same ol' story.

Anonymous said...

I am surprised to see Quinn and Rose expanding to Columbus. I am amazed that WHLO still carries this show. It is awful radio, IMO and I have made a personal oath vow of not listening to WHLO until send garbage like this to the dump.

Anonymous said...

I've been so depressed since hearing the news that WTVN is kicking Glenn Beck to the curb. I love this guy and Joel Riley is about as interesting as a mildewed sponge. I couldn't believe Sterling was canned for the mediocre "talent" of Riley (who has clung to the hope of working at 610 ever since he was a kid...). Riley has not had the experience of working in a smaller/medium market in order to improve his studio skills. So we get some lame excuse for a radio personality while the #3 nationally rated syndicated show gets bounced. Way to go, Collins. You guys are just too brilliant for words.

Anonymous said...

A note for Sterling fans: I caught him today as a fill-in for The Bill Cunningham Show on WLW-700 AM in Cincinnati. Sterling has a weekend show there. I'm sad because I know how tough it can be to get your own primetime show. But I believe in Sterling. The guy is smart, wickedly quick-witted, and much more interesting than Riley on his best day.

Anonymous said...

Dropping the morning weatherman was sad to hear. I have been listing to his forecast for over 20 years. If Pat mentioned any weather changes coming or long range forecast, a person could count on it. Now you have 10TV. To that station everything is major.... Does anyone know about chicken little?

Anonymous said...

For me, listening to Sterling was like getting a root canal. He was funny and witty, but his monotone, fast talking delivery was just too much to bear. Nonetheless, they shouldn't have dumped him the way they did, although I like Joel Riley better.

WTVN has made some major blunders in the past few years.

Dumping Steve Cannon for reruns of Hannity and the last hour of the previous nights Coast to Coast.

Ditching Pagano. Really, really stupid move. Riley said this morning on Open Lines that it had something to do with not being able to get a meteorologist during the evening hours when they had bad weather. Ummmmm. Okay.

Ditching Beck. Again, Riley was hammering a guy who was complaining that they dumped the #3 rated syndicated show, but were carrying #2 as a rerun. What Riley wasn't comprehending is that the guy was complaining about losing Beck LIVE and inserting RERUNS of Hannity in the evening. I agree.

I don't want to listen to reruns of Hannity, and I don't particularly care to listen to Rush.

But they had established local talent hours in the evening that they blew off.

Things were fine the way they were.

Anonymous said...

Hey whats the deal? The Glenn Beck Website is now saying that as of Monday Morning his show will be on at 10AM on 103.9 FM in Columbus! Does that mean that TED is DEAD?

Ohio Media Watch said...

We have no idea why a comment posted at 10:42 PM posted at after midnight, but..

We have just addressed the Beck/103.9 situation in our latest update.

-The Management

Anonymous said...

Did you know that 610 WTVN is one of the most corrupt media outlets in central Ohio?

Anonymous said...

I'm so upset to see the change from progressive radio to the "same old, same old" right wing crap, you can find on all the other stations. I really admired that your station dared to be different, although since the last election, I would hope you could see that you were completely in line with the publics views. Evidently, like Bush, you don't care about what the people think. You, as he, have tunnel vision. I will do my best to make sure everybody knows my views regarding this. Of course, there are many people with the same view I have. Cowardly. Caving in to money. What a joke your station really is!
Christinia Foster

Anonymous said...

I was really surprised that 1230 was changed from carrying AirAmerica and other progressive talent. It says alot about the stations and trying to control the message and not report and discuss the message on its merit. I can barely listen to rush but I always want to beleive that I listen to both points of view. Hannity like rush are such blow hards I can't lend them much credibility.. The more boaddcasters try to control the message the more I listen to satelite radio. Good Luck with that off air dinasor...

Anonymous said...

I look forward to hearing Savage at a local station instead of straining through the static of stations in Atlanta or or Richmond Va.
Sterling wouldn't shut up long enough to let a guest talk. Jock talk is for the mouth breathers and Beck was ok but I want news not vaudeville.
Boom Boom was great in the early days, but radio news junkies now want more meat from current events presentations.
I know the tea-sipping sissies will miss their little massively failing liberal attempts on the radio, let 'em eat brie.

Anonymous said...

If you ever find out what's become of Steve Cannon, I hope you'll let us know. I've never gotten over the shock of his being let go from WTVN radio. The new lineup just doesn't cut it.