However, Ohio Media Watch is not connected to either the show, or to the former radio home of the show. We are an independent online media publication that owns no broadcast facilities.
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Thank you!
--The Management
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We've got some flotsam and jetsam. Just what IS "flotsam and jetsam" anyway?
KEN AND KITTY AND OUT: AllAccess reports that after taking all the trouble to move them to a new radio home in Cincinnati, "Ken and Kitty" have departed now-Bonneville-ex-Entercom country WYGY/97.3 "The Wolf".
This item will be much longer than it should be. For one:* Entercom got 97.3 in the first place by buying it from CBS Radio.
* Bonneville bought many Entercom stations, including 97.3.
* 97.3 used to be alt-rock WAQZ, back in the CBS Radio days.
* Susquehanna owned the original country outlet in Cincinnati with the WYGY calls.
* Cumulus bought Susquehanna
* Cumulus moved WYGY's country format and name from 96.5 to 94.9, eventually launching FM talk "SuperTalk FM 96.5".
* Entercom, the departing CBS Radio, Cumulus, the dog catcher, Citgo, Marathon, and the guy who runs the hot dog stand on Fountain Square swapped stations.
* Entercom picked up the WYGY calls and intellectual property to move it to 97.3 as young-skewing country "The Wolf" (a standard Entercom country brand).
* Throughout ALL of this, "Ken and Kitty" did the morning show on WYGY, wherever it was broadcasting, and whichever company owned it. And all of this happened within the year or so, most of it in the past few months. In fact, the picture/logo we used above was swiped off of the "96.5 The Star" website, which still exists to this day.
Where's the aspirin when you need it?
We're probably wrong about the order here, and maybe even some of the facts, but it's something close to that.
We don't hear any rumblings from Bonneville/Cincinnati, but we wonder if the young-skewing country format is long for 97.3? Blowing out your morning show, which would seem to be a successful one from here, is a sign of that sort of thing.
AllAccess quotes WYGY PD Marty Thompson as saying a "major announcement" about mornings on 97.3 is due "soon".
As for the show's part, they've posted a farewell message on KenandKitty.com:
Ken & Kitty fans, it is with a heavy heart that I have to let you know that the new company (Bonneville) that just purchased the Wolf Radio Station has decided not to make us a contract offer. :( I know that it is frustrating when radio stations make changes and don't announce it on the air, so I thought I'd post this message. We are trying to talk to other radio stations in town and I will let you know on this website as things progress!
Kitty and I want to thank all of you who have tolerated us and participated in our show the last 2 & 1/2 years here. You have made our jobs easy & so much fun stirring it up with us each morning. So again, THANK YOU!
Check back here next week for an update.
Respectfully Yours,
Ken
The AllAccess folks helpfully add that the pair is not wedded to country as a format, and will consider gigs in hot AC, top 40, rock and talk formats...
FIRST FULLTIME JOB: This item out of Toledo actually has a Northeast Ohio connection.
He's David Holmes, the Kent State University graduate who won ESPN's "Dream Job" competition, giving him a one-year job as a sports anchor on the cable network.We didn't run into him much in our forays watching The Worldwide Leader of Sports, so we figure he spent most of his time on ESPNews.
(Or is that ESPNNews? Taking out the extra N makes it sound like a network for psychics.)
The Uniontown native has been hired by Toledo ABC O&O WTVG/13, where Toledo Blade media columnist Ron Musselman says Holmes will be a sports photographer/reporter and fill-in anchor. He replaces Hakem Dermish, who is headed for Washington DC NBC O&O WRC/4 in a similar role.
Holmes starts at WTVG on April 2nd.
Now, here's a question no one has answered for us yet. Quoting Mr. Musselman:
Holmes currently hosts an afternoon radio sports program near Canton.
Umm, IS there an "afternoon radio sports program near Canton"? What station is the Blade media writer talking about? We can't find it on a quick Google search, but maybe we're missing something...
Anyway, best of luck to Mr. Holmes.
We saw this article earlier in a Google News search, but a note on the "Director's Cut" blog by WKYC/3's Frank Macek reminded us to finally put it up. Macek says Holmes worked on the station's Cleveland Browns-related programming while an intern out of KSU...
AND WHILE WE'RE IN A TV MOOD: And speaking of another WKYC-originated blog, one of our regular complaints may be close to being answered - soon.
We don't check in with WKYC/3 Akron/Canton bureau chief and "Akron/Canton News" anchor Eric Mansfield's blog nearly as often as we should. It is truly one of the better "behind the news" reports you're ever going to get.
And Eric brought up the topic we've posted on the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) a dozen or so times - the lack of "Akron/Canton News" being offered to subscribers of the Time Warner Cable systems in Summit County formerly owned by Adelphia.
We're one of those subscribers here at OMW World Headquarters, of course, but we do get a fair amount of E-Mail asking about it.
Eric weighs in on the topic in a March 9th entry:
We're getting a good response from viewers about our return to cable channel 23 on Time Warner. The TWC folks tell me the Adelphia conversion is going very well and the folks in Northern Summit County who haven't been able to see the Akron-Canton News will have it very soon.
While "very soon" apparently isn't "March 27th", it's still good news for us.
Eric also retells the story of a technical glitch which put the "Akron/Canton News" on both Time Warner Cable 17 and its new (old) home of channel 23. Both channels displayed Mr. Mansfield's video fine, but the old channel had him overlayed upon audio of movie previews...
11 comments:
According to Wikipedia:
"Traditionally, flotsam and jetsam are words that describe goods of potential value that have been thrown into the ocean. There is a technical difference between the two: jetsam has been voluntarily cast into the sea (jettisoned) by the crew of a ship, usually in order to lighten it in an emergency; while flotsam describes goods that are floating on the water without having been thrown in deliberately, often after a shipwreck. ... Flotsam collected on beaches on Tern Island in French Frigate Shoals, over one month. Items collected were 288 miscellaneous plastic pieces, thirteen fishing floats, thirty three plastic bottles, two toys, a lightstick, thirty four bottle caps, a lighter, two balls, five shoes, three fluorescent bulbs, three regular lightbulbs, nineteen glass bottles, one metal flask, two baskets, twenty one pieces of rope, a large three foot? net ball and a large piece of styrofoam.
"In modern usage, flotsam also includes driftwood, logs and other natural debris in oceans and waterways, much of which enters waterways through the action of shore surf, rain or wind. Flotsam on beaches may increase after storms due to the debris brought there from riverbanks and drainage channels being flushed out, or marine equipment (including broken docks and piers) torn loose."
And:
"Flotsam and Jetsam is a thrash metal band formed in Phoenix, Arizona in 1983. They are famous for being the band in which Jason Newsted played before joining Metallica."
Clearly, Ken, Kitty et al belong to the first category.
As far as Dave Holmes is concerned, he has been filling in on WHBC for about the past month, doing some of the afternoon sports reports. On some days he is on with Sam and other days when Sam was off doing basketball games, or when he was in Florida covering the Indians spring training, Dave was on by himself. He actually sounded pretty good on the radio. AS far as a regular sports show, I would say that wasn't the case.
Weren't Flotsam and Jetsam loyal to Ursula the sea witch and a real pain in the fin for Ariel, the little mermaid?
I am truly sadden that I have lost the comedy of Ken and Kitty. I was just working up the nerve to call and ask Ken out.........ha ha
I can not tell you how much I miss you guys. I had lost a previous morning show Dj and I was very upset about it and vowed not to ever listen to that channel again and then I listened to the channel that you guys came to and prior to your coming on the station I was not happy with the prior DJ's and just having problems finding a station I could tolerate when one day I heard Ken and Kitty and I loved you so much that I never changed the channel from that day on. I am now in another dilema as there is not a channel I care to listen too. What in the world were the idiots thinking.
Good Luck in the future and I really hope someone brings you back to a local channel. Kitty you just bought your house a week before you have to be very stressed. I am so sorry this happened to the best Dj's in Cincinnati. Thanks for all of the fun mornings.
Debi
We had no idea this item was still open, so per our new policy, we're closing it.
But just a note: OMW is not associated with "Ken and Kitty", or indeed, with any local TV or radio station.
If you'd like to send a message to "Ken and Kitty", feel free to use their website. We're not sure they even read this blog.
--The Management
To Ken & Kitty we miss you all very much. We stoped listing to 97.3 the woolf because you all are not on any more. You 2 maid the show. I looked fored to listing to you 2 every morning on my way to work now it is not the same cents you 2 are gong. We hope the you 2 get back on the are soon. And if you do please let us know soon. So we can flow you. thank you. Your fans. P>S When you both get back on the air please let us know by email. jewell25@insightbb.com Once again thank you
I no longer listen to 97.3 The bore. oops. wolf. I would never buy stock in the company that bought it because they don't even know what people In Cincinnati like. Most likly any where. Ken & Kitty were the life of Cincinnati morning Radio!!!!!!!!!!
97.3 the wolf sucks sence ken and kitty is gone but not forgotten
ken and kitty belong in my morning every day!!! I have followed them from station to station since they got here and now look! whomever made the move to move them out does not know radio!!!! or good business sense!v.house
Radio in the morning is just not the same without Ken and Kitty. I want them back, I hardly listen to the station anymore because it sucks now. I like to laugh in the mornings, and now that has been taken away..Bring them back!!!!!!!!!!
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