Assorted Stuff

Just a few non-related items, mostly as usual...

FALLEN OFFICER BENEFIT: The folks at Oak Tree tell us that Clear Channel country WGAR/99.5 morning man Jim Mantel is involved in a fundraiser for the family of Twinsburg police officer Josh Miktarian, who was killed during a traffic stop in that city early Sunday morning.

The benefit is a memorial motorcycle ride from South East Harley-Davidson in Bedford Heights to Twinsburg High School on Saturday, July 26th. Riders' minimum donations of $10 will be routed through the Cleveland Police Scholarship Fund to Miktarian's family.

For more information, check out the notice posted in the "Ride Guide '08" section of Mantel's WGAR web presence...

MARCONI AWARDS 2008: The NAB's 2008 Marconi Awards nominee list includes some Ohio radio stations, but none north of Interstate 70.

Bonneville's Cincinnati alt-rocker WSWD/94.9 "The Sound" shows up on the list of nominated stations twice: once for Large Market Station of the Year, and once for Rock Station of the Year.

It competes in the Large Market Station category with long-established Clear Channel rocker WEBN/102.7, which doesn't show up in the Rock category.

Rounding out the Queen City's nominations: Clear Channel's WKFS/107.1 "Kiss FM", up for CHR Station of the Year...which is up against four other stations, including one just up I-71 - sister powerhouse WNCI/97.9 in Columbus.

Clear Channel rock WTUE/104.7 Dayton is nominated in the Medium Market Station of the Year category.

And that's it. No Cleveland, no Akron, no Canton, no Toledo and no Youngstown stations.

Something we believe should be made clear: A column by Radio-Info.com's Tom Taylor reminds us that CBS Radio outlets are nowhere to be found in the nomination list, since that company is no longer a member of the NAB family.

The entire Marconi Awards nominees list is here...

HE'S OUT: The latest radio personality to exit a job in Ohio is in the Toledo market.

Cumulus top 40 outlet WTWR/98.3 "Tower 98-3" programmer Steve Marshall is no longer...programming "Tower", that is.

His already-named replacement is Chris Reynolds, who comes off a 7 year stint programming and doing afternoon drive on Citadel AC outlet WFMK in Lansing MI.

And speaking of Michigan, that seems to be where Cumulus wants to focus "Tower"'s efforts, to the point of calling the cluster "Cumulus Toledo/Monroe" in the announcement marking the changes at WTWR.

WTWR was once licensed to that north suburban Michigan community of Monroe, but gained a COL change to the small outpost of Luna Pier MI...just far enough south to nudge its tower closer to Toledo, if we recall right.

From what we've heard, "Tower" would seem to be going the other way these days...moving its marketing focus to Michigan, perhaps in an attempt to gain traction in an area away from Clear Channel competitor WVKS/92.5's main Toledo base?

Who knows? We're just speculating...

AND SPEAKING OF TOLEDO: We hadn't noted it here yet, but Matrix talk WDMN/1520 in Toledo officially changed calls to WNWT a while back, to match its new format.

The talk outlet carries a variety of syndicated shows. It's owned by the broadcast arm of Toledo's Cornerstone Church, which also owns MyNetworkTV LPTVer WMNT-CA/48 "My 48/58" (the 58 for its Buckeye Cablevision channel position). Both WMNT and WNWT carry Cleveland Browns football broadcasts for the Toledo market.

And technically, Cornerstone Church also still owns western rimshot WKNL/96.9 Wauseon, which it leases to the Educational Media Foundation folks for the 24/7 "K-Love" Christian contemporary satellite format...

EX-MMS'ER OUT: The Oak Tree folks certainly hope the Revolving Door of WMMS Morning Shows has stopped spinning, with the presence of Shane "Rover" French's "Morning Glory" on the Clear Channel rocker.

One of the roughly 351 people heard on WMMS morning drive between "Jeff and Flash" and "Rover" is on the beach.

This time, it's Dick Dale - who has been doing morning drive at Entercom's Kansas City alternative outlet, KRBZ-FM. Dale helpfully notes his experience in Cleveland and other markets, like Las Vegas, in his pitch via AllAccess to get a new gig.

We also didn't note earlier that now-former WHBC-FM/94.1 "Mix 94.1" programmer Hunter Scott was also in that long list of ex-WMMS morning talent, part of the most recent local morning drive show before the station picked up - and later dropped - Premiere's "Bob and Tom"...