WEWS HD LAUNCH: In case you haven't figured out by the "HD" letters on the logo...or the roughly 200 mentions in the past day...or the 30th play of Angie Lau's "Buying an HDTV" piece...Yes, Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS/5 has officially converted its "NewsChannel 5" newscasts to the HDTV format.
The proverbial "switch" was pulled at the start of Sunday's 11 PM newscast. That broadcast opened up with a message from WEWS general manager John Butte. (In case you missed it, it was roughly similar to the item posted on NewsNet5.com, which we linked in an earlier item.)
So far, as far as "out-of-studio" video, WEWS appears to be taking a similar route as NBC affiliate WKYC/3.
All live local video is shot in 16x9 SD, with what appears to be most taped local video in the same format. At least some video appears to have been stretched from 4x3 to 16x9.
Any video that's not 16x9, local or national, gets the "Circle 5 HD" sidebars. (And unlike either WKYC, or FOX's WJW/8, WEWS's sidebars include an automatic legal ID for the station...)
There was a glitch or two involving what appears to be the overlaid time/temperature bug, which disappeared from the HD feed of NewsChannel 5 at Noon - while remaining on the SD version. We've seen similar glitches, mostly involving the lower half of the graphics display, even through Monday's 11 PM newscast.
And unlike WKYC or WJW, WEWS is using a sharper graphics feed for its "Power of 5" weather radar. Last time we checked the station's competitors, both appeared to be using upconverted SD weather radar displays.Whether this helps viewers see more storm detail remains to be seen... but WJW's venerable "StormFOX" radar is particularly long-in-the-tooth by comparison.
Then again, Mark Johnson and Susanne Horgan (pictured) are not Dick Goddard...
FOOTBALL OVERKILL: OK, so we don't blame Good Karma Broadcasting-run sports outlet WKNR/850 Cleveland for running 24 hours of Ohio State pregame coverage.
Overkill coverage of "The Big Game" is standard issue for any good major market sports station, and it's the kind of thing WKNR never did in the Salem days. Oh, and 'KNR IS the OSU Cleveland market affiliate...and they had no idea the Buckeyes would get obliterated by the Gators.
We're just mentioning this because part of that coverage included Tony Rizzo, the WJW/8 sports anchor. The FOX 8 personality hosted 1-3 PM on Monday, a time slot normally occupied by Premiere's Jim Rome.
It's Rizzo's first appearance as a host on WKNR, and we keep hearing rumors that it definitely won't be his last.
Here's a new thought - could Good Karma's Craig Karmazin be interested in pairing up hosts?
We've heard rumblings that a Tony Rizzo-Kenny Roda pairing would be something of interest, which made hearing Roda and Rizzo together Monday all the more interesting to us.
We put this just above "minor buzz" on the rumor mill. We have no indication that such a pairing would happen...and if it was even on the Good Karma Radar, it couldn't happen in afternoon drive, because Rizzo is not leaving his primary job at FOX 8.
Could Rizzo be headed for 9-noon weekdays, with current mid-morning host Greg Brinda paired up with him? Or does Brinda move to morning drive? And how do ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike" figure into this?
We haven't heard much more lately about this, but we would be nearly shocked if Rizzo was not on the WKNR airwaves in some capacity, on a daily basis, by the end of this month...if not sooner.
ROBIN'S ON: We almost hesitate to mention this, but...
Former WJW/8 news anchor Robin Swoboda's show "That's Life" made its debut Monday on her former and current station.
We won't say much more about it, since A) we don't think it's fair, since we haven't seen it, B) the mere mention of Robin Swoboda seems to cause fits in the comments on this blog and C) we're not in the target audience for it - your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) is a male.
But we will pass along a link to Julie Washington's article on "That's Life" in Monday's Cleveland Plain Dealer, and note that the show is being broadcast in HDTV...
MORE COLUMBUS CHANGES: On the heels of North American Broadcasting's WTDA/103.9 flipping to talk and sports as "Talk FM", we hear there are other format changes in Columbus.
Long-time CBS Radio country outlet WHOK/95.5 is not only no longer being run by CBS - it's got a new name.
New owner Wilks Broadcasting has dumped the long-time "K95.5" name for a new name - "95.5 The Hawk", saying it plays "everything country".Meanwhile, OMW ears in the Columbus market tell us Wilks has pulled the plug on the alt-rock format on WAZU/107.1, flipping it to a new-leaning country format as "Wink 107.1".
(We can't remember if syndicated Cleveland voice and WXRK/92.3-based Shane "Rover" French's show was still running on the station now formerly known as "The Big Wazoo", but it's surely gone with a new format.)
We can't confirm either change, but the new logo for "The Hawk" is up on the WHOK website, and WAZU's "Big Wazoo" site is now entirely blank...
14 comments:
There was a thread on JJHuddle.com today regarding the flip of WAZU. For listeners in that area, it is apparent that it came out of nowhere.
(quote) > "Could Rizzo be headed for 9-noon weekdays, with current mid-morning host Greg Brinda paired up with him? Or does Brinda move to morning drive? And how do ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike" figure into this?"
(end quote)
How about they leave Brinda in 9-noon, leave the M & M boys where they are, and install Rizzo in AMD on 850.
Going from Czabe back to M & M on 850 would be a downward step, IMNSHO. Either go local or leave Czabe in there.
Rizzo was very good (I thought), but of course, Roda tried to take the show over. Rizzo needs his own show with his own format. He doesn't need Kenny Roda botching jokes and not getting the sarcasm.
Keep Czabe! Even though, it's apparent that it's not happening.
Where's Les Levine?
I was beginning to wonder if the News Channel 5 staffers were like NASCAR drivers, who get bonus bucks every time they mention a sponsor. The mentions of either "HD" or "Power of 5" were overkill of the highest order.
Steve Czaben is outstanding, as a national host. I'd listen to him anytime--other than my morning drive, when I need local info.
From what I heard of Rizzo & Roda, Rizzo just can't shut up. He just drones on and on, and no one--caller or co-host--can get a word in edgewise. Stick him in the 7-11pm slot and forget him.
Oh, and as for Ch. 5 & their incessant self-plugs...none of their upgrades will make me watch their news, anyway. So just keep wasting your money, guys.
wasn't Mike & Mike dumped from WKNR when they switched over to Fox Sports?
WKNR's callers are terrible, why wouldn't Rizzo take a more prominent role?
All and all, Rizzo did pretty well considering he had none of his own production or cast of characters, something his show is known for.
I say leave Steve Czaban in the morning. He is better than ESPN Radio in the Morning. In fact all of Fox Sports Radio is better than ESPN Radio. All ESPN does is recycle interviews every hour and repeat scores every two mins. zzzzzzzz. At least Fox Sports Radio sounds like a sports talk show!
I saw Robin's first 2 shows,let's say Tuesdays outting was 100% better than Monday as it was called by RADIOMAN ON FOX8'S BLOG A TRAIN WRECK WITH 3 RESPONSES IN TOTAL AGREEMENT,TIME AS ALWAYS WILL TELL.
I lived in Detroit when sports radio WDFN started up and matured. They took the route of pairing up a sports writer or columnist from the local papers with a broadcast guy. Any word if WKNR is looking at a Terry Pluto, Steve King or one of the other local sports journalists who write for one of the papers?
Terry Pluto, while a fantastic writer, isn't very good on TV or Radio. He's just a tad boring.
Budy Shaw isn't very good on Les Levine, and Bill Livingston is a train wreck.
So i'm not sure that idea as legs in this market.
It's all about the pairing...teamed with the right broadcast guy, I think it could work here. Otherwise, you get the same list of retreads...Sindelar, Les Levine, etc. We need new blood/new perspective on the radio.
Mike please buy a style book or at LEAST REAd yourr posts befour theyareposted
commas periods aand other punctuashun marks are OK TO Use once in a while
Does anyone know if a petition has been started against the radio station reformat, specificly for WAZU.
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