Our title this Thursday is appropriate, at least, for the first two items:
A NEW KLEON: WRQK/106.9 nighttime personality Joe Kleon exited the Canton rock station shortly after Clear Channel took over the station's operations from Cumulus.
AllAccess reports that Kleon has landed at crosstown D.A. Peterson top 40 WZKL/92.5 "Q92" and sister soft AC WDPN/1310 Alliance as that station's new promotions manager.
Yes, that's the same job once given to a Louisville KY radio guy now better known in his home market for getting into huge trouble for operating a charity of questionable worth.
Thankfully for the "Q92" folks, the man who actually took the job, Josh Miely, could actually show up for work.
But Miely is now leaving "Q92", headed back for his mid-Atlantic home region for a "new opportunity" in Washington DC. Best of luck to both Mr. Miely and Mr. Kleon...
WEEKEND WITH THE CLIPPERS: In an earlier item, we outlined the odd radio situation for the AAA Columbus Clippers baseball team - with no full-power in-market outlet carrying the team's games.
Now, the Washington Nationals' top minor-league affiliate won't have to point to an in-stadium sub-low-power station as its only Columbus "radio" outlet.
The team has announced that it's hooked up again this year with North American standards WMNI/920 to air "Weekend With The Clippers". WMNI aired 14 such games last year, and will broadcast about 42 games in the 2007 season on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The team will continue to air selected games on its out-of-market stations, including WCLT/1430 Newark and the easternmost half of the "980 Homer" Dayton market sports simulcast, WIZE/1340 Springfield.
Oh, and the release linked above has some information we didn't know about. The Clippers games also air on the HD2 subchannel of WCLT's FM sister station, country WCLT/100.3.
A quick check of the WCLT website shows that the AM station is simulcast on 100's HD3 subchannel, so we're not sure what else airs on the HD2 subchannel besides the Clippers, or if that's a typo by the WCLT webmaster.
Or, perhaps, if the Clippers only end up on the 100.3 digital signal if the AM side is carrying their games.
And of course, sub-micro-not-quite-LPFM 101.9 - no relation to nearby Delaware OH's WINF-LP - continues to pump out all the Clippers' games within a few feet of the concession stands...
ANOTHER RADIO ARTICLE: We told you earlier about the mention of Good Karma sports WKNR/850 midday host Tony Rizzo in the Monday "TipOff" column in the Plain Dealer.
But since we eschewed the Sunday PD, we missed the lengthy examination by PD writer John Petkovic on "The State of Radio".
Petkovic talks to everyone from WTAM/1100 afternoon driver Mike Trivisonno and former WMMS/100.7 programmer and consultant John Gorman (complete with a plug for his upcoming book on 'MMS, "Buzzard"), to local consultant Mike McVay.
It hits the highlights, or rather, low-lights, of the consolidation of radio, the rise of major corporations, and the looming satellite and non-radio competition (iPods, etc.).
But the article is wrapped around a visit to WKNR's new afternoon drive host Mark "Munch" Bishop's show on Thursday of last week.
Petkovic uses Bishop and his hiring by Good Karma Top Man Craig Karmazin as a sign that at least one radio operator is looking to hire more local talent to reach to a local audience. Both Bishop and Rizzo are long-time Cleveland sports guys who live and die by their local teams. And in our opinion, it's very hard to be a Cleveland sports talk show host without having your own personal, painful memories of "The Drive", "The Fumble", et al.
(And we're convinced, like a commenter to one of our earlier items said, that "Munch on Sports" producer Bernard Bokenyi and "Rizzo on the Radio"'s Aaron Goldhammer may actually be living at WKNR's Broadview Heights studios. At least it seems like it...as both 'KNR staffers cross back and forth among various roles at all hours of the day and night...)
Over at the Clear Channel World Domination HQ on Oak Tree, Triv checks in about the failing fortunes of music on FM radio, agreeing with Gorman that the pie is shrinking when music can be delivered by so many other means, more customized to the user.
Enter OMW's "FM Talk Watch", where we note another new entrant - long-time AM news/talk outlet WILK in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA, which has been broadcasting on three Northeast Pennsylvania AM outlets, has added a four station - an FM.
And WILK's website has a new logo, which clearly promotes the new 103.1 frequency "on top".
The march continues.
And we'll repeat our earlier prediction that least one local radio operator in Cleveland will end up doing talk of SOME sort full-time on the FM band by the end of 2007. Following, of course, Akron market FM talk staple WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron" by roughly 26 years...
23 comments:
The banner on the front page of the Sunday PD read "Can Radio Be Saved?" Saved from what? In a time when IPODs get all the press, satellite radio has 3% of radio listening time and the Cleveland Metro population decreased by 1%, total listenership to terrestial radio actually has INCREASED during the last two ratings' periods.
More people are listening to terrestial radio in the Cleveland market now than at any time in the past 3 years!!! Terrestial Radio -- both AM and FM -- is alive and well. Maybe Mr. Petkovic should be doing an article asking if the newspaper or cable industries can be saved as both have CONSISTENTLY lost subscribers in Cleveland over the past several years.
Congratulations, Joe Kleon!
That is a good hire for WZKL but I can't wait to see how JK gets along with Stewart. And you know Donny boy isn't paying more than minimum wage. How sad for fans of radio....
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I am making a lot more than I made at Rock 107. You know nothing.
With my experience, I would never work for anyone for min wage. Give me a break.
I have known John for quite awhile. He is a great guy.
How do we know you are Joe Kleon and not say Keith Hamilton?
What a joke. Just when I thought Q92 could do nothing else wrong...
Trivisonno and Gorman agreeing about something?
My bet is on WMMS for first to FM talk. Bob & Tom, Maxwell, Tribe overflow games, Browns games.
The music has no focus right now, the ratings are down.
They'll go even lower with FM talk.
WMMS obviously should have given it up for real when they mounted that hoax some years back. The station has become pathetic, all the more so for what it had been in the ’70s and even into the mid-’90s.
The Buzzard needs to commit itself to either classic rock or new rock.
This "little bit of everything" format is what's hurting it.
Does anyone know anything about the book John Gorman wrote about WMMS? Who is publishing it? Will you be able to buy it on line? I sent an e - mail to the Plain Dealer writer but he never responded.
Q-92 needs to get WDJQ call letters back!!!
WZKL- is not "Kool" anymore!!!
I miss John Gorman's Free Times columns.
That paper used to be wonderful, but now it's just a weekly rag like Scene.
The story about Gorman's Free Times column is that Clear Channel complained so much that they threatened to pull all the concert (live nation) ads from the Free Times if he continued to write negative stories about Clear Channel. They claim it is two separate companies although the threat was made. Gorman chose not to stay with the Free Times and now has an on line blog that is much better than his column.
"but I am making a lot more than I made at Rock 107" Please, what a juvenile jab at a former employer.
I could go on for hours about guys who lost jobs only to brag about the larger $$ they were making when landing down the dial. It’s all a bunch of bunk and a nothing more than a way to feel better after being let go. Sorta like penis envy. Which yes, does suck, but life goes on.
Anybody who feels the need to come on a message board and defend their salary isn’t making diddy squat.
Hey Joe-
I don’t know ya, never heard ya, I’m glad to hear you landed and get to keep working in the biz we all love.
BTW: Your contact with Cumulus is posted within the SEC filings of the Cumulus/Clear Channel swap. It's a matter of record; we can quickly find what you were making. Took me about 4 minutes online to find it.
It is not a juvenile jab at a former employer. Someone said I was making min wage and I said I was happy to be making more than my last job. Funny how that happens with a private owner. That's it. Who wouldn't be happy?
If I wasn't happy with the contract of my old employer, I would never have signed it. I left a job I loved at WNCX (and was #1 in the ratings) because of contract issues. I was crushed, but made the right choice. Look up my contract all day long. It doesn't make what I said untrue.
You should look into a hobby if you have time to look up a contract of someone you do not know.
Anonymous at 9:49am said:
"More people are listening to terrestial radio in the Cleveland market now than at any time in the past 3 years!!!"
And everyone should take that with a grain of salt. Nice spin, though. The Cavs' post-season and the great start the Indians are off to play into that play a significant factor into that.
If the Cavs were done and the Tribe was tanking, the issue would be moot.
I have two questions. One - Show me something to back up your statement that more people are listening to terrestrial radio. Every article I read about the radio industry says just the opposite. Two - I thought Clear Channel denied any relationship between their concert business and radio stations? It would appear they got caught by trying to censure Gorman's column in the Free Times.
Dear Joe,
Don't know you but good luck buddy! You're gonna need it. You are dealing with a snake (DP111). Watch your back and keep your resume handy.
to jjk: the last 2 ratings periods covered Jan-Mar, 2007 and Sep-Dec, 2006 -- the Cavs playoff run was not a factor and the Indians played less than a dozen meaningless games during these times. Your comment bodes well for CONTINUED growth of the terrestial radio audience in the Cleveland market!!!
to anonymous at 7:12am: you have to subscribe to Arbitron to see the actual numbers and no one is authorized to post them here. Hopefully you have a friend at a radio station, ad agency or major local advertiser who might be able to show you those numbers, because they are real. Keep in mind that I'm looking at the numbers for the Cleveland market and the articles you're reading may be written either on a national scope or are reported like Mr. Petkovic's article that uses just random soundbites from people instead of actual research and facts.
Gorman book is being published in September by Gray Media - same folks that published the recent book that Carlo Wolff did.
Should be available at the usual outlets locally both in stores and online.
>>or are reported like Mr. Petkovic's article that uses just random soundbites from people instead of actual research and facts.<<
I'm sure Mike McVay would be shocked to learn that his comments are random and not from actual research and facts.
It's almost as if he's NOT the premier consultant in the country.
I might suggest refining your comment.
the less said about mike mcvay the better. he may be a premiere consultant but he is one of the few responsible for destroying and mcdonaldizing radio with safe bland playlists and encouraging the use of payola (interview in radio world where he said "i see nothing wrong in taking payola...") and voice tracking. i worked at a mcvay station and know first hand. our adds had to be reported to him first.
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