Midweek Update

And at nearly the exact middle of the workweek, at that...how did we manage that?

DAVE AND JIMMY KISS YOUNGSTOWN: As rumored, OMW hears it's going to happen Monday at Clear Channel Youngstown top 40 WAKZ/95.9 "Kiss FM".

Regionally syndicated morning team "Dave and Jimmy", based at Clear Channel top 40 powerhouse WNCI/97.9 Columbus, will take the open morning drive slot at the Youngstown station on Monday.

WAKZ has parted ways with Los Angeles-based Sean Valentine, whose voicetracked morning drive show is still heard on Cleveland's "Kiss FM" (WAKS/96.5) - and who was replaced recently at Cincinnati's "Kiss" with a local show...

NEWSIE LEAVING: OMW hears a local radio news veteran is leaving Northeast Ohio for a new gig in another state.

We haven't yet confirmed the news, so we'll have more details as they become available. Bulletins at once, on OMW Radio...er...on the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm)...

FM TALK WATCH TIMES TWO: It's a regular feature here at OMW - our look at the mounting numbers of talk and sports stations on the FM band.

And just down the Turnpike, Pittsburgh now has two FM talk outlets with the debut of WTZN "The Zone, The Talk Station for Men", which debuted Monday on the 93.7 frequency once occupied by legendary top 40 outlet "B94".

OMW hears the debut day was marred with anything from technical glitches to a host who wasn't legally able to go on the air for competitive reasons - former WDVE/102.5 talent Scott Paulsen. He apparently did manage to debut his show Tuesday.

The new station gives Da Burgh its second talk outlet on FM, with Clear Channel's traditional conservative talk WPGB/104.7 being the first.

We only bring this up because we'll add another prediction. Sometime before the end of 2007, at least one local operator will bring talk to the FM dial in the Cleveland market. We don't know who, we don't know when...but at this rate, we're sure it'll happen somewhere.

Akron, of course, has talk mainstay WNIR/100.1, which has been camped out doing talk on the FM band for decades...

I LOVE YA, PUBLIC ACCESS!: We will, as stated before, not review the new SportsTime Ohio show hosted by former Morgantown WV resident Bruce Drennan.

We've checked in with the show from time to time since "All Bets Are Off" debuted Sunday, and there's really not much to say - Bruce Drennan is Bruce Drennan, and he's doing the same kind of show he's done on radio for years...only with a camera pointing at him this time.

But a comment from one of our readers prompted us to watch the show for the first time the other day...and that comment is about as spot on as you can get.

Whatever money SportsTime Ohio spent on "All Bets Are Off" went directly into Bruce's pocket, because the set sure doesn't show it.

The set has a definite "public access" feel to it. It's Bruce at a small, quasi-round, strangely painted (think "fake gloss") desk, with an HD monitor behind his left shoulder constantly showing the show's logo.

But it was the "wide shot" that literally made us laugh.

The desk is small, and the wide shot shows a much larger studio with lots of blank space and the "STO" logo projected to the wall. The desk, and Bruce sitting at it, looked like it had been swallowed.

The show - like all other STO studio productions - uses the WKYC/3 studios at 13th and Lakeside. WKYC is, of course, the TV production partner which makes the network even technically possible.

But we're pretty sure the local NBC affiliate doesn't actually design the sets.

Now, we realize that a "talking head" "radio on TV" show doesn't need a LOT of glitz in the studio. But at this point, even the set for Time Warner Cable's "More Sports and Les Levine" seems better equipped...

HAVE LOTS OF HEART: With year after year of impressive fundraising numbers for Clear Channel WKDD/98.1's local "Have a Heart, Do Your Part" radiothons to benefit Akron Children's Hospital, it's no surprise the Akron/Canton hot AC station is being honored.

The award for "Station of the Year" was presented by the Children's Miracle Network folks at their annual celebration in Orlando. (CMN is the national umbrella organization for such media fundraising efforts for local children's hospital facilities.)

WKDD morning veteran Matt Patrick accepted the award Tuesday wearing an Ohio State Buckeyes jersey, apparently unaware of the sports results of the previous evening.

The folks at Freedom Avenue say the radiothons have raised over $6 million in the 8 years WKDD has been doing them. Long ago, before it was even co-owned with WKDD, now-Clear Channel talk WHLO/640 initiated the Children's Hospital Radiothon concept in Akron in the mid-1970's, in its days as a Susquehanna-owned news/talk station.

This past February, the WKDD effort raised over $858,000, a new record for the radiothon...