Laura Inches Onto WEOL

Continuing the ongoing saga of the Cleveland market affiliation of Talk Radio Network host Laura Ingraham:

OMW did hear Ingraham make her debut on Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting talk WEOL/930 Elyria this Monday evening, after the 6 PM news.

Yes, we said "6 PM"...and the front page of WEOL's website now welcomes Ingraham to the schedule "Weeknights at 6:00". (She's still not on the WEOL schedule page, though.)

The show's clearance on WEOL was first announced on Ingraham's website as being from 5-7 PM weeknights...and long-time OMW reader/tipster Nathan Obral confirms what a commenter here first noted: that WEOL advertised that same time slot for Laura in the co-owned Elyria Chronicle-Telegram last week.

Now, in the past week, we've both written and learned more about Laura Ingraham and her radio show than we thought we ever would. But since the move from Salem talk WHK/1420 has had more fits and starts than an ailing lawn mower, we have to keep track of it.

For the moment, we don't know if the two hour Ingraham clearance will eventually eclipse or move the third hour of ABC/Citadel/Premiere host Sean Hannity's program, which still airs on WEOL from 3-6 PM.

A thought: Mr. Obral noted that WEOL is still looking at a few more days carrying Cleveland Indians games, which would pre-empt even the small portion of Ingraham's show airing now. The Indians' pre-game show starts most nights at 6:37 PM, which would provide about a half-hour of Laura Ingraham before Jim Rosenhaus and company take over the airwaves.

And Fridays, as we noted already, WEOL covers the 6-7 PM hour with its local high school football pre-game show.

A guess, and only a guess: Will WEOL extend Ingraham to the previously announced 5-7 PM clearance after the Indians hang up their bats and gloves a week from today? Then, they presumably could park the last hour of Hannity's show, on a two hour delay, from 7-8 PM.

It's similar to what Clear Channel talk WHLO/640 Akron did when it launched Matt Patrick's local talk show in the same 5-7 PM slot, only Hannity's 3rd hour airs on WHLO after ABC/Citadel stablemate Mark Levin's 7-9 PM show.

And it's a move that would only make sense for WEOL when the nearly-daily action of Indians play-by-play winds up.

It isn't a perfect move for Hannity partisans, as the station still carries a pretty heavy sports schedule in evenings, both local and regional. But it sounds more feasible after the Indians pack it up...

Again, just a guess...educated, or otherwise...