Some other stuff that's popped up, and we're getting around to adding on this Thursday:
REPOSITORY MANAGING EDITOR TO WKSU: We actually saw the headline on one of the local news websites, about Canton Repository managing editor M.L. Schultze leaving the paper - recently purchased by GateHouse.
What we didn't know is her destination.
The Repository itself reports that Schultze is leaving the newspaper later this month to become news director of Kent-based NPR outlet WKSU/89.7.
The article on her departure reveals that she has three years of radio experience in her past, in Canton, before she was hired as education reporter for the Rep back in 1982. We don't know what station, though...we'd presume WHBC/1480, but we'll assume there were actually other newsrooms in the Canton market back then.
Former editor David C. Kaminski, who just left the paper, will return temporarily while GateHouse looks for a replacement for Schultze.
Schultze will be working with new WKSU program director Mark Urycki, a former news reporter who recently rejoined the station to run the programming department. He got a nice profile in a recent edition of the campus newspaper The Daily Kent Stater.
Oh, and yes, we'll be watching the comments section. Keep your comments professional, please...
FIREWORKS: Like most folks in Northeast Ohio's populated areas, we got our fill of local fireworks Wednesday...many coming from those "doing their own".
But we did also check in with WEWS/5's two-hour long "Rockin' The River" two-hour long prime-time fireworks special, hosted on-site by the station's now-main anchor team, Ted Henry and Danita Harris.
Like many of these "special events", it's as much a chance for the station to showcase its talent as it is a televised fireworks show.
To that end, "NewsChannel 5" prominently noted Ted and Danita's presence in promotions for the show. It got to the point that even Ms. Harris herself laughed when someone jokingly called it "The Ted and Danita Show" earlier in the day.
It was also a cross-promotion for CBS Radio AC WDOK/102.1, which provided the "radio soundtrack" for the music.
But since we didn't catch it on our HDTV set, we'll assume it was mostly not in HD. Ted and Danita were down in the Flats doing the show, and WEWS doesn't have remote HD broadcast capability. Only one station in the market can do HD out of the studio - WJW/8's "SkyFOX HD"...
WHILE WE'RE IN HD LAND: Viewers of Kent-based public TV outlets WNEO/45-WEAO/49 "PBS 45 & 49" have been enjoying the 24/7 PBS HD feed if they're tuning in via WNEO-DT or WEAO-DT for the past few days.
But for the moment, they aren't able to get the regular, upconverted 45/49 analog feed via the station's digital transmitters.
OMW hears that the station is working to fix a malfunctioning piece of equipment. Since the PBS HD feed is live, off the satellite, it can be put on the air without much intervention from the station...and thus, for the moment, it's the only thing on WNEO-DT or WEAO-DT.
We hear that the station hopes to fix it soon...
Thursday, July 05, 2007
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Since there was no comment section regarding Maggie Fuller's departure, here is a question: Just how bad does WNIR pay? I'm sure the stars, Stan, Howie and maybe Bob, pull down some decent money, but is the rest of the staff making next to nothing?
Still can't understand the 6 day work week, even for the stars.
I realize that WNIR is run on the cheap, considering their jingles go back to 1985 and their refusal to stream the audio, but it's the Number 1 station in Akron. It's got to be making money to pay some decent salaries and offer a 401(k) plan.
Consider the garbage that larger market stations, like Atlanta, call a talk station, WNIR is unique in that it still has nearly 18 hours of local progam daily.
First David Greenfield, then David Kaminski, now Schultze. And let's not forget that Mike Hanke and Rick Senften (Schultze's husband) took the buyout offered by Copley. I really wonder what is happening at The Repository these days. It's sounding worse than the bloodbath at The Beacon Journal last year.
>>Still can't understand the 6 day work week, even for the stars.<<
The 6-day work week in radio was fairly standard until very recently. The big Top 40 stations always had their "stars" on 6 days a week, and even WMJI did the same thing (Mon-Sat) until a few years back.
WTAM and other talk stations must have taken after Limbaugh's schedule and decided that Mon-Fri was the appropriate "talk week".
Note, though, that WNIR's Saturday shifts are reduced in time by at least and hour or two (e.g., Howie on Sat 9-12, not 10-3).
Howie makes his money from not only his extreme seniority at WNIR, but also from his voiceover work (Klaben). Stan has his MC gigs. Bob does his TV analyst work. They all makes some good coin at WNIR, but Howie doesn't donate "over $250,000 to charity (and still get treated like crap)" simply on what the Kaiser pays.
Quick WNIR comment: When Howie Chizek retires or leaves that station it's going to disappear off the face of the earth.
Part of WNIR's charm is it's refusal to modernize, giving it that "kitschy" feel.
If NIR were to start sounding like WTAM or even WHLO, most Akronites would flip out.
I agree about the 'kitschy' feel. I like that they produce a lot of local commercials - many times i have dined at the Waterloo restaurant because I have heard so many commercials from Howie Chizek.
I do wish they'd stream the audio, because i get fringe reception in Cuyahoga county.
Look at the media in Canton. Pam Cook at WHBC is the only management person left at WHBC from a year ago. GM Rich Bossler, gone. GSM Sue Motts, gone. PD Terry Simmons, gone. Sports Director Jim Johnson, gone. The CE retired a few months back and so on. Now look at the Repository. All top level management with the exception of the Sales manager Kim Bergman have left the building.
I understand that Gate House wants to put their own people in place but where are they? Who is running the ship over there? The big story they (Gate House) ran over three days when they officially took control of the paper was female "big time" wrestling out of a high school in Rootstown or some other out of market 'berg. What a complete waste of paper.
Between WHBC and the Repository, I'm glad CNN is covering the Bobby Cutts case. At least we'll be able to get some "local" perspective on what is taking place. How depressing....
Where was Margrett (is that her first name?) on the radio 25 years ago? What were her qualifications to, first, be an editor at a mid-market newspaper and what qualifies her to be a News Director at one of the largest PBS stations in the country? Very ponderous.
The best fireworks ever done in Cleveland were those put on by WMJI for 10-15 years. I believe it was the "Festival of Freedom". 300k-400k would pack Edgewater Park. Often televised as well. CC put the clamp down on the event. I think 1999 or 2000 was the last one. What a shame. Great promotion for the station.
Channel 3 and WMJI did Edgewater fireworks for years. WOIO and the CBS radio stations did the festivities at Voinovich Park for a years if I'm not mistaken.
Pittsburgh does a big show with 'DVE and WPXI Channel 11 and Columbus as well with WNCI and one of the TV stations down there.
Actually, The Repository's new publisher started work within the last ten days or so, and the Finance and Circulation Directors remain. Given the fact that the Repository grew in circulation every year between 1998 and 2005, I would have thought the Circulation Director would have had the inside track on the publisher's job, but obviously not if they're bringing in their own people. But what are these people qualified to do, other than reduce expenses?
I've heard through the grapevine that GateHouse also has a very nice pension plan for their new employees--it's called "none."
Actually, it was Channel 43 that partnered with WMJI for many, many years. John Lanigan (himself a longtime WUAB fixture with the "Prize Movie") would co-host the festivities with other 43 staffers.
CC dropped the radio rights after the 1999 year, of which some of the AMFM stations (WDOK, WQAL, WRMR and WKNR) picked it up for the 2000 year - and the only year they could, as that cluster was piecemealed weeks later. Obviously, WDOK has carried it ever since.
WUAB owner Raycom also lapsed with the TV rights, but I can't remember what year they did (2001?). I'm guessing that 5 picked it up right thereafter...
- Nathan Obral
From the post below this one(about WKYC getting a fine), WEWS should get a fine too. Last night they interupted news episodes of Traveler and American Inventor and did not re show them later that night. I remembe rit being said in the comments about WOIO, that stations can only pre empt no ore that 12 hours a year. It seems like every other week WEWS is pre empting something.
and WJW had the right idea, they had the fireworks streaming live on myfoxcleveland on Tuesday and Wendsday.
m.l. shcultze gone from the repository? she is the consumate journalist, and she and a few others at the repository are responsible for that paper finally becoming journalistically sound. her, rick sentfen, mike hanke and to a lesser degree dave kaminski tolerated poor publishing standards from john siam and others, who only wanted to further their candidates' interests. in fact, they were fox news before fox news became "fair and balanced": painting the story to fit their needs, not the truth. the canton area and the repository will miss a great journalist, and we all wish her the best. she certainly deserves it.
Howie Chizek is WNIR. With Howie pushing 60, how much longer might he continue to do the radio show, especially since money is not a factor. Joe Finan stuck around until he was almost 80. Also, how old is Stan Piatt?
>Between WHBC and the Repository, I'm glad CNN is covering the Bobby Cutts case. At least we'll be able to get some "local" perspective on what is taking place. How depressing....
I assume that comment was meant to be "tongue in cheek", because it doesn't make sense otherwise. If you wanted coverage of the Cutts case or the search for Jessie Davis, The Rep and WHBC were all over the place with "local perspective". Both featured special reports or live broadcasts with everything you possibly could have wanted to know about the story, including some things that might have been considered "going overboard" in other situations. Based on what I've heard about staffing levels at both institutions, I'd say they did a good job.
Does anyone know what happened to WKSU's former News Director, Dave Pignanelli why he might have left and where he ended up?
I respectfully disagree with your assessment of how WHBC handled the story. I can’t dispute the Repository was excellent. $20 says Todd Porters Story/interview with Bobby Cutts Jr. makes it into the trial.
WHBC did an amazing job considering their staffing issues later on in the development of story, they failed to understand the significance of the news from the beginning. It wasn’t until the national media appeared on the scene that they began to take notice and by then it was too late, TV stole their thunder. It was if they watched local TV and listened to radio competitors and said “oh this might be big”.
The Facts: it remained as the 4th or 5th story, not the lead in newscasts, the local hosts discussed topics other than the Davis disappearance. Mundane trivia on the morning show. Ponder kept the topic of which street in Canton should be named after Martin Luther King Jr. Brady Russell spent time discussing a shooting in another state. Within 20 minutes of a press conference he was discussing Davis with a caller, then he asked Indians trivia for Indians tickets only to join the Press Conference late while looking for a winner. On the morning Equuasearch came to town, they reported the incorrect location for the search party.
WHBC switched to News/talk with the intent on keeping 1480 as the news leader, yet they allowed stations from across town, (WCER) Akron, (WAKR, WHLO) Cleveland, (WTAM) to own this story.
I heard Dave Pignanelli's name mentioned in the production credits of Weekend Edition this past Sunday.
wow...which whbc have you been listening to? not only did the news dept cover each press conference, but ponder and brady had extensive converage and a lot of call-ins...they visitied the search site, interviewed the equasearch folks, detectives, citizens involved in the search, prosecutors, todd porter and m.l. schultze of the rep and members of the families of the davis' and the cutts'...i thought they covered the story very well and without resorting to sensationalism...and, just because it was THE main story, they still managed to cover other stories in the area...i am not a fan of talk radio, and never have been, but whbc has given me a reason to listen to them...i hope they keep it up.
Does anyone know what job Dave P is doing at Weekend Edition Sunday? If that's where he landed, that's great news--especially after the way he was treated at WKSU.
Howie Chizek is the man. He can stay at WNIR however long he wants. I wish he would be the Public Address Announcer again for the Cavaliers though. CRAIG EHLO FOR THREEEEEE.
The fireworks on WEWS were pretty terrible. They certainly were in 480i, and the picture was kind of hazy the entire time.
I would've loved to see the fireworks from SkyFox HD. Those cameras provide some beautiful shots, though I wish Fox 8 purchased the equipment for 1080.
FOX is 720p, buth they have the best out of studio picture(WKYC is pritty good too) As for WEWS, their out of studio picture has always been bad. Some of their cameras even look like their using stretched 4:3 picture and some live shots hae fuzz and snow on them. FOX8 does have the best picture.
i agree. whbc's coverage was really good. ponder was especially on the case. his interviews were sharp and to the point, and he got the right people to interview. i wasn't a fan of talk radio either. too many self-centered loud mouth know-it-alls who just happen to be conservatives. ponder is the opposite and is neither conservative or liberal, and is really smart. we need somebody in the middle. good for whbc. and talk radio in canton
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