Just a couple of quick ones:
LIBERAL TALK RADIO BACK IN COLUMBUS: It had been rumored around liberal/progressive political circles and the blogosphere for a day or two, but it's now official - liberal talk radio is making a comeback in Columbus.
Columbus Dispatch radio/TV writer Tim Feran confirms that Bernard Radio's WVKO/1580, which recently returned to the air after being silent, will pick up the format on Monday. It'll feature a similar lineup to the market's former liberal talk outlet - Clear Channel now-general market talk WYTS/1230.
WVKO general manager Gary Richards, a long-time local sales executive in the market, says the new station will not only feature all three Jones Radio liberal syndicated talk shows - Bill Press in morning drive, Stephanie Miller in middays and Ed Schultz in early afternoon - but will likely also run Air America's Randi Rhodes and Rachel Maddow.
Such a schedule would basically make WVKO's lineup nearly identical to the lineup employed by the former WTPG/1230, now a general talker dubbed "Your Talk Station".
Richards also promises "local news and talk", and says the upcoming election season should provide fuel for the station's fortunes.
The format debut/return is Monday, barring possible "technical glitches", says Richards.
WVKO has been running a Spanish-language format, since its return to the airwaves from a new Morse Road tower site...
TV TUNES: TV show theme songs are what new Columbus market move-in WMRN-FM/106.7 Dublin is offering listeners, as the station stunts into its eventual permanent format.
OMW hears that the TV Tunes will be heard on the new station until mid-December.
And we've had at least one listener tell us that he believes the translator station that occupied that frequency, relaying Ohio State University's WOSU-FM (or perhaps technically, WOSB-FM Marion), may not have signed off yet. If it hasn't, it's obviously getting clobbered by the new station.
The WMRN-FM calls, of course, will eventually migrate back to Marion, where the former 106.9 "Buckeye Country" format has moved to former AC outlet WDIF/94.3...
Friday, November 30, 2007
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You may wonder why this is so important that a guy from the beach in L.A. would congratulate Columbus. Well, I am studying the way progressive talk was yanked out of all 3 Ohio markets within days after Howard Dean gave those stations credit with helping swing Ohio in the 06 election. I can't prove it but something like a call from Karl Rove was probably involved, reminding Clear Channel of their role as career sponsor of G.W. Bush and the others that the FCC is still doling out bribes (like the ones that caused the NYT and WaPo to roll over in 04 for W's reelection that sealed our fate as #1 pariah nation to the rest of the world).
Columbus is such a vital swing market when the nation is split so evenly. Orlando would be another example - I was there as GOP operatives stormed the station about to switch to Air America in 05, changing its mind.
Make no mistake that the GOP realizes the dire threat of having ANY station on the dial which is debunking in real time right wing talk radio, a dirty disinformation operaton that would make Goebbels blush.
Cheers, Columbus!
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