We've got a bunch of items just waiting to see air. Or, umm, pixels...
NEWS DIRECTOR SHUFFLE: Cleveland has been one of the larger TV markets to have two news director openings at the same time.
OMW hears noise that one of the two positions is all but filled, and the other has some strong candidates.
We'll get to that one first.
We're told by sources walking by South Marginal Road that two in-house candidates are among the top contenders for the job to replace Greg Easterly at FOX O&O WJW/8 - a couple of station news producers. Easterly, of course, moved up to the station's general manager post recently.
Over at Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3, just about anyone who has even been near 13th and Lakeside tells us that acting news director Rita Andolsen is well-liked, well-respected by staffers and a good candidate.
But another name has surfaced connected to the opening at Channel 3 News - someone who's already in the building and has ND experience.
Hmm. Why do we feel the need to rent the DVD of the 90's TV sitcom "Night Court"?...
WHILE WE'RE WATCHING (SO TO SPEAK) CLEVELAND TV: At another station, in another job competition, OMW hears that a popular former Cleveland Browns player will do some anchor fill-in this weekend on Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 "NewsChannel 5's" sportscasts.
Yes, it's Reggie Rucker, who was most recently seen working on Channel 5 as a part of the station's Cleveland Browns draft coverage.
We don't get any indication that it's more than a fill-in for Rucker, as the station sorts through what to do with All Sports On-Air Positions Aside From Sue Ann Robak's Job. Former WKYC/3 sports anchor Andy Baskin continues his regular fill-in on WEWS.
Speaking of former Cleveland Browns players doing TV - we wonder if Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19 will tap WNIR/100.1 afternoon drive talk host Bob Golic again to do fill-in... with the departure of David Pingalore to Orlando.
We believe we heard, or perhaps read somewhere, that "19 Action News" will put reporter Tony Zarella at the sports anchor desk as a fill-in. We would credit the proper source on that, but we can't remember where we saw it...
THE VOICE OF STEELE - ER, TYLER: Maverick Media Lima programmer and OMW reader Dan Baisden passes along that he's tabbed Shannon Steele as the new female station imaging voice for his cluster's top 40 WWSR/92.1 "Star 92.1".
Steele is not only the midday star at Entercom Buffalo's WKSE/98.5 "Kiss FM" (one of the few not owned by Clear Channel), but, well, she's also Sue Tyler of Northeast Ohio radio fame.
Most recently on D.A. Peterson top 40 WZKL/92.5 "Q92" in the Canton market, Sue's resume includes stations from WMMS/100.7 and then-WZJM/92.3 in the Cleveland market, to WKDD/then-96.5 and WRQK/106.9 in the Akron and Canton markets.
We've had people wondering how to contact her, but she doesn't appear to have put up a website for her imaging work. originalsteele - at - hotmail - dot - com should get you to her directly, if you're not a spambot and can reconstruct that address...
HOMERUN?: We haven't independently confirmed this, but our source is usually pretty reliable about this topic.
"Moohead Radio", the sports-oriented website run by the head bovine otherwise known as Marc Steenbarger in real life, says that the satellite service DirecTV may finally relent on its now second-year prohibition limiting the distribution of SportsTime Ohio.
Last year, and again this year, the Cleveland Indians' TV network is only available to DirecTV customers in certain areas - most notably Northeast Ohio. The areas are known internally as Zone 1 and Zone 2.
Moohead, er, Marc, tells us that DirecTV has agreed to open up STO and the Tribe to the other two zones in the rights area for the Indians - Zone 3 and Zone 4.
But...not until next year.
Moohead notes that those wishing to get the Tribe on satellite TV this year - and are in those areas outside of Northeast Ohio, etc. - will still have to use Dish Network, which has carried STO in all of the Cleveland market zones since the network launched...
12 comments:
Golic would be OK as the weekend guy on 19. He's done it before and he's workmanlike.
Rucker would be a disaster as an anchor. Remember his talk show on WKNR in the 1220 days? Ugh!
Reggie needs to stick to being the resident football expert, it's what he's best at.
Baskin-weekdays, Robak-weekends, Gib-commentary, Rucker-Browns/OSU analyst would work just fine
shouldn't it be Robak weekdays and Baskin weekends since she is the workhorse of the two. She deserves that spot besides I am certain Baskin might be too busy to work during the weeknights with his production company.
Shannon Steele can also be reached via the Buffalo station's website as well -- kiss985 dot com
I don't think Cleveland is ready for a woman to be main sportscaster, just like I don't think you'll see a woman talking Browns draft on WKNR anytime soon.
Cleveland is a rust belt, blue collar, blood and guts, X's and O's sports town, and Joe Sixpack coming home from his union job doesn't want a woman telling him about sports.
It's just how it is.
Now in Frisco, Portland, or anywhere on the Left Coast, it wouldn't be an issue, but in a hardcore Midwest town like Cleveland, it is.
That last comment central premise, while probably accurate, is exactly the type of mindset that has held this city back for so long. Geez, if we're not "ready" for a woman to do 3 minutes of sports a night, what are we ready for?
This town is an absolute joke. Good thing we never brought gambling to the lake front, that wouldn't have helped at all or made our downtown vibrant. (Have you guys been down to Cinci's riverfront lately? - Blows Cleveland away).
Shannon has a tremendous voice. I would love to have her on my station too. I remember hearing her on WAPE in Jacksonville, she was a kick ass personality and you couldnt change the channel. She sounds great!
Blame the Democrats they have run Cleveland for about 40 years now.
Sue Ann has done a really good job and like I said she is a workhorse and deserves it. I like Andy though too, but Sue Ann deserves that spot. I hope they give it to her.
If she'll work cheap enough, and hard enough, Scripps will be glad to give Sue Ann the spot.
I doubt Baskin wants it, anyway. He' probably into his company's projects.
Is Jenn Wylde coming back to MMS? As in LIVE? Hmmm...
Sue Tyler was another WMMS next generationer. Most of that staff has done really well post-buzzard. I remember seeing Sue on Much Music as part of a documentary they did on WMMS and their Buzzardfests. She was really good and I am surprised she hasn't done more TV.
I like her, she seems to know her sports very well.
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