Up For Air For A Bit

We've still got the "Gone Fishin'" sign up - and that's a stretch, since your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) hasn't ever actually picked up a fishing pole.

A lot has happened, and we're just here to mention some stuff we haven't put up due to our continued absence.

For one, we mourn the passing of more broadcasters with Ohio ties who have recently passed away, like Wes Hopkins (WAKR/1590 Akron, then-KYW/1100 Cleveland) and former WHK/1420 Cleveland personality Scott Burton.

Other brief items, in no particular order:

WOOF: As reported here way back in February, one Shane "Rover" French and his crew have officially started doing morning drive on Clear Channel rock WMMS/100.7.

We only mention this to close out the item, particularly since at least some online types were not even sure our reports were accurate.

They were, very much so....right down to our (as far as we know) exclusive item that Rover was producing "Rover's Morning Glory" from a studio at the Clear Channel World Domination HQ at Oak Tree the past few weeks to be heard on his Rochester and Memphis affiliates...and, of course, later, on WMMS' HD2 signal and the station's website.

Oh, and starting now, we'll add "talk" to the 100.7 format designation, since WMMS is now a full-fledged FM talker from the start of morning drive through the end of afternoon drive...

BYE, ALISON: While we're visiting Oak Tree, a short drive from the I-77/Rockside Road interchange...OMW has independently confirmed that sister talk WTAM/1100's "Alison" has resigned from her job on the station's afternoon drive talk fest helmed by Mike Trivisonno.

In our first more-than-30-seconds visit listening to the Triv show in some time on Tuesday, we heard him mention this as well...but it being an "April Fool's" show, who knows?

Alison is a former show intern who took over the "female on-air role" on the program after long-time Triv co-host Kim Mihalik was let go for budget reasons. Kim, of course, is now a morning co-host on WNCX/98.5...

STAN'S CO-ANCHOR: It's Niki Weirich who landed as co-anchor for Parkin Youngstown ABC affiliate WYTV/33's newscasts with long-time weather anchor-turned-news anchor Stan Boney. She takes the role vacated by Angee Shaker, who was named solo anchor after WYTV moved in with New Vision Television's WKBN/27-WYFX/17-62 and has since left the station.

And that move is no surprise, as Weirich was last seen as anchor on "First News at 10" on "FOX 17/62". So a "crosstown move", as the media rags often say, was not really a physical move at all for her...

TRIBE TV MOVES IN Y-TOWN: And while we're talking about Youngstown, a reader asked us why the aforementioned WYFX didn't run Monday's Cleveland Indians opening game, which was aired on and produced by Tribe over-air TV flagship WKYC/3.

The reason is that WYTV's "MyYTV" digital MyNetworkTV affiliated subchannel is carrying those games this year...presumably a "scoot over" from WYFX due to the new cozy relationship between the two stations.

That's horrible news for Tribe fans in the Mahoning Valley. "MyYTV" A) is relegated to a high digital channel on the area's Time Warner Cable systems and B) is a digital subchannel of WYTV-DT, which has the worst digital signal in the Youngstown TV market...by far. At least "FOX 17/62" is fed on the powerful digital signal of WKBN-DT...

WE'LL TRY NOT TO SING THE JINGLE: And while we're Talking Baseball...(indiansbaseball!!)...Talking Tribe!... the new 24/7 SportsTime Ohio HD has launched.

The new Time Warner Cable digital lineups already had a place for STO HD, and it's also being fed down the former Adelphia systems' lineup at the former "HD Bonus" position of 798. By everything we've heard, the new digital migration has only been completed in the "legacy" Time Warner areas (Akron/Canton, etc.).

Now, here's hoping the changeover - whenever that happens in what TWC calls the "North/Cleveland" systems - happens soon...or there'll be an FSN Ohio HD Cavaliers game to figure out next week...

AND ANOTHER TWC ODDITY: We're told that the process of feeding the WKYC/3-produced "Akron/Canton News" at 10 PM has developed a glitch, but apparently only in the former Adelphia TWC areas in western Summit County who get the "Northeast Ohio Network" (NEON) on cable channel 15.

A reader informs us that after anchor Eric Mansfield signs off the 10 PM show, and after a couple of commercials, channel 15 goes blank for the remaining 30 minutes until 11 PM. And we mean "blank", as in a black screen with no video (or audio). We're told it's been going on for a few weeks.

We're pretty sure this is somehow related to the method used to feed "Akron/Canton News" to the Summit County-based nodes of the former Adelphia system, serving areas like Copley and Bath. For those people, the newscast preempts whatever TWC is sending out of Cleveland to the rest of the former Adelphia customers on channel 15...