Friday, April 27, 2007

And...It's Friday

OK, so we will sneak in a final update for the work week...

IT'S BAAAAAAACK!: After what would appear to have been a one-day test earlier this month, Cleveland market CW affiliate WBNX/55 Akron has returned to the digital airwaves.

WBNX-DT is back up as of this writing. (If you haven't set your digital tuner up for it yet, have it scan new channels, or specifically, RF channel 30.)

And things are a little different for the station's return to digital broadcasting.

This time, WBNX-DT is putting out three subchannels. 55-1 is labeled WBNX-HD, 55-2 is labeled WBNX-DT, and there a 55-3 that's being called "WBNX-3". But right now, 55-1 is the only one putting out any signal - and we're told CW programming was indeed shown in HD on 55-1 Thursday night.

Aside from the logical thought that the station will use 55-2 to feed its SD signal to cable systems, 55-3 may have other purposes.

OMW readers have told us that WBNX owner Rev. Ernest Angley has actually outlined plans for a new WBNX subchannel on the air on his "Ninety and Nine Club".

We seem to remember that the subchannel was described, among other things, as a place the station could run that very program more than once...in particular, in prime time, since the station moved "Ninety and Nine Club" out of its 10 PM time slot to run repeats of the popular sitcom "Friends".

But we don't seem to recall that "WBNX-3" - or whatever they'll call it - would be a running repeat of the show, or even that it would be specifically devoted to religious programming. But, we guess we'll find out with everyone whenever they start programming it.

And we have no guarantee that WBNX-DT will stay on the air from now on, as we would assume they are still in "testing" phase. For one, the other subchannels aren't "lit up" yet...

WHILE WE'RE TALKING TUBE: You probably already know how important the morning news has become for local TV stations here and across the country.

More and more, stations are putting resources into their morning shows. Many have expanded them even into the early morning hours, as viewership goes up rapidly (while it's been declining for the flagship evening newscasts).

So, it's no surprise to us that we get a lot - and we mean a lot - of questions about on-air personnel changes in local TV in the Cleveland market...and the vast majority of them concern the morning shows.

First, an update.

We've asked around, and indeed, WKYC/3 morning anchor Kim Wheeler moved off the station's wakeup show (weekdays) to take a job as the station's education reporter.

But Wheeler has also been paired with station (and market) veteran Jeff Maynor on Saturday and Sunday mornings, doing her education reporting the other three days of her work week.

We don't know how permanent that is, and note that WKYC will now be bringing in a new news director with the departure of Mike McCormick back to Florida.

As for who's anchoring ABC affiliate WEWS/5's "Good Morning Cleveland", it's anyone's guess.

Former station regular Lorna Barrett had been filling in for Tracy Carloss, who was on maternity leave. Lorna's been seen on GMC, while Carloss has returned from leave to co-anchor weekend evenings with Curtis Jackson.

Who...has also been seen on GMC.

Which...has also seen reporter Paul Kiska co-anchoring with Barrett.

Wait, there's more!

Don't forget the move of Susanne Horgan from the weather desk on GMC to the co-anchor spot with Danita Harris. Then, back to weather.

Local news mainstay Jack Marschall went from the station's morning helicopter reporting slot to the news anchor desk, and back up to the helicopter.

Alicia Booth is in there, somewhere, though we have no idea how permanent her "GMC" role is.

And don't forget anchor Adam Shapiro, who left GMC and WEWS for New York City, and who seems to have been the last regular, steady, non-moving-to-other-shows-or-roles presence on the "NewsChannel 5" morning show. His time on the show seems like it was 5 years ago, after all this.

We're not sure we've detailed all the changes - all of them within the past year, by the way. We probably got one or two wrong.

But if you think it's confusing to us - we keep track of this stuff! - think of how confusing it is to viewers.

In fact, we should run a contest: Which number is higher, the number of anchor changes on "Good Morning Cleveland" in the past year, or the number of format/owner/frequency changes in the Cincinnati radio market in the past year? It'd be a close call...

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

You failed to mention one more change in the mornings.

Andre Bernier will soon leave the Fox-8 mornings for a spot later in the day.

Anonymous said...

Then who's taking over weather reports in the morning on Fox 8?

Luke H said...

Where is Sally Bernier now?

Anonymous said...

Last I saw, Sally was on Fox 8's Sunday morning newscast at 8am.

Andre moving later in the day?...

Could this be the start of a gradual grooming of Bernier to replace Mr. Goddard at 6 and 10pm?

Anonymous said...

should be easy for Carole Chandler to slide right back into the TV game somewhere...

Anonymous said...

Sally still does the Sunday mornings on Fox-8.

Andre is almost certainly being positioned to take over if Dick Goddard ever retires.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of retiring, anyone know if the WKDD GSM retired or was fired last week? What is the story?

Anonymous said...

I thought Andre Bernier liked working mornings why would they move him to evenings now?

Anonymous said...

Ughhhh....they move Andre to evenings to take over Dick Goddard, I'll be finding me another evening news program to watch. Andre is annoying as heck, at least to me. And as far as the GSM at WKDD, remember it's a Clear Channel station, he was probably fired to save a few pennies.

Anonymous said...

Andre Bernier has been at TV 8 for nearly 20 years, it's only natural and logical that he becomes the heir apparent for the King of all weathermen.

TV 8 has always prided himself on promoting from within, and not bringing in outsiders to fill the main jobs.

Anonymous said...

Bring Back Mark Koontz to TV-8

Anonymous said...

I think Eddie Mularz should get chief meteorlogist position at Fox 8. Dick Goddard feels he is ready to take over for him when he retires. Eddie deserves a break!

Anonymous said...

WKDD's GSM is a woman. Her name is becky Clark and shes still on their website.

Anonymous said...

Kim Wheeler has her old spot back at 3 she's been the education reporter for the last 3-4 years as for her stint with Jeff on weekends it's the same as it was for 9 years they paired up on weekends. Andre moving must be a put on who would fill his spot simple Melissa despite her NOT HOLDING A DEGREE. Sally does sundays and the occasional saturday fill-ins.

Anonymous said...

Mark Koontz is now the Chief @ WFMJ. SKYFOX HD looks cool.. WEWS needs to fix their 16x9 live shots. Its grainy. WKYC is ok but FOX 8 has the best 16x9 live shots. I had the WYTV-HD the other night and of course the Watch box was on they had SD feed on. WKBN and WFMJ only ran the box during local spots..

Anonymous said...

Scott Sabol should be cultivated for mornings if Andre moves into Dick's job. But remember that Scott has already served as Dick's apprentice for quite some time.

What's with Missy Mack not having her degree? I like her...she has a great personality and reminds me Nermill from the Garfield cartoons.

Don't forget to check out www.morningshowcentral.com!

Anonymous said...

Andre's move is his choice. He simply can't keep working the hours and stay involved with the family as he wants.