Beacon Stations For Sale

We'd already heard that at least one of the Beacon Broadcasting Youngstown market stations - Christian/eclectic rock/talk WEXC/107.1 "Indie 107.1" Greenville PA - had interested buyers... even before owner Harold Glunt passed away in late January.

Now, all five Beacon stations along the Ohio/Pennsylvania border are up for sale.

In addition to some helpful tips from OMW readers, we received this release directly from Pittsburgh-based station broker Ray Rosenblum....who clearly knows that the Beacon stations have been covered in OMW frequently...

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Ray H. Rosenblum, Media Broker/Consultant/Appraiser P. O. Box 38296, Pittsburgh, PA 15238 PH: 412-362-6311; FAX 412-362-6317 E-mail: rayhrosenblum (at) hotmail.com

NEWS RELEASE Fri., Feb. 26, 2010

5 Beacon Broadcasting Radio Stations For Sale Following Owner’s Death

The Executor for the estate of the late Harold Glunt has announced that the 5 Beacon Broadcasting, Inc. radio stations in Ohio and Pennsylvania are being put up for sale.

The Media Broker for the sale is Ray H. Rosenblum of Pittsburgh, PA.

According to Mr. Rosenblum, the stations are WANR(AM-1570) in Warren, OH; WRTK(AM-1540) in Niles, OH; WGRP(AM-940) and WEXC(FM-107.1) both in Greenville, PA; and WLOA(AM-1470) in Farrell, PA.

Harold Glunt, the principal owner of Beacon Broadcasting, died on January 25th. The Executor of his estate is his son, Dennis Glunt.

In a statement to Beacon employees, Dennis Glunt said that “this move will help to stabilize the employment at the stations. . .and best preserve value for the estate.”

---END---

Monday's Follow

This one is mostly updates or comments, on earlier items...we were quite busy over the weekend, as you can see. Though there is at least one "new" item or two...

ANOTHER POLITICIAN: Our blogging colleague over at Gannett Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC/3, senior director and "DIrector's Cut" blogger Frank Macek, tells us that former WKYC anchor Tim White isn't the only former station anchor to head for the ballot box.

As we noted here, White filed in the Democratic primary for the 17th Ohio House seat being vacated by Josh Mandel, a Republican running for state treasurer.

"Scott Newell also ran last year and won," Macek wrote on a comment to our earlier item.

As it turns out, the former WKYC reporter/anchor, best remembered for his turn as host of the "AM Cleveland" midday talk show in the 1980's, is serving his first term on Pepper Pike City Council.

Newell was just sworn in last month, and is serving alongside a star of new media on the Pepper Pike council - popular political blogger Jill Miller Zimon ("Writes Like She Talks").

But the former WKYC anchor and host is not exactly a newcomer to civic service, even in his hometown of Pepper Pike. He's been on that city's Planning and Zoning board since 2002.

There must be something in the political water in Pepper Pike, as that's also White's Ohio home city...

THAT'S ROBIN: Speaking of midday TV talk shows, one of 2010's got a name change recently.

The Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8" 10 AM show formerly known as "That's Life" has been renamed for its one and only host as "The Robin Swoboda Show".

It makes sense to us....the "That's Life" name already seemed a bit unnecessary, anyway. The show's always been a vehicle for Robin, a long-time local TV personality who came to prominence as an anchor on the old "NewsCenter 8", back in WJW's CBS affiliate days.

Of course, she also spent some time in radio, as a morning drive co-host at Salem CCM WFHM/95.5 "The Fish".

If the "That's Life" name seemed silly, Swoboda's teases before the change were even sillier..."new set, new host...WHATTT???", she said in mock horror in promos before the name change...that alone telegraphed the new name to us...

AND MORE ON J.R.: Both broadcast and non-broadcast friends, and family, gathered Saturday in Oak Harbor to remember former Cleveland radio personality J.R. Nelson.

Nelson, born James Marik, and originally from in that same area, went on to greater fame after he left Cleveland, of course.

We touched on a bit of that in our earlier item on his death, but here's a well-written summary from our friend and colleague Scott Fybush's NorthEast Radio Watch this week, who notes Cleveland's role in his career:

But like many of the radio people who were working for Cleveland-based Malrite in the early 80s, he made the migration to the New York market - or at least to the swamps of Secaucus - to be part of the 1983 launch of Z100 (WHTZ 100.3 Newark). Nelson was an integral part of Z100's groundbreaking "Morning Zoo," serving as the station's production director and imaging voice, as well as sidekick to ringmaster Scott Shannon.

Nelson eventually returned to Cleveland, then moved on to Detroit, where he had been doing production and imaging for the CBS Radio cluster there until two years ago. Nelson's imaging work was heard worldwide, including on many British commercial stations.

He died on Tuesday (Feb. 16) at his home in the Detroit suburbs after a long battle with bladder cancer. Nelson was 60.

They've Got A Name, Or A Letter

Cleveland's newest radio format launched with a "Boom" around the end of 2009...literally.

But an apparent claim on the trademark by a distant CBS Radio HD2 subchannel snuffed out the name of Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting's shiny new AAA format on WNWV/107.3 Elyria, which shifted from its 20-plus year run as smooth jazz "The Wave" to "Boom 107.3".

The apparent trademark claim forced WNWV to quickly reposition as simply "107.3 Cleveland" for the past few weeks, but the station has landed on a new identity.

Timed apparently with a Saturday piece on the station by the Plain Dealer's Michael Heaton, WNWV grabbed the last letter of its held-over call sign, and is now known as "V107.3".

The station's Facebook presence has moved to a page under the new name, and we heard program director/afternoon drive host Ric "Rocco" Bennett using the "V" name on-air on Saturday afternoon.

About that article...it's no mistaking if you sense the "WMMS back in the day" influence on the new AAA station. Quoting Heaton:

Three former WMMS employees are behind this new aural attack on corporate radio. Lonnie Gronek, Ric "Rocco" Bennett and consultant John Gorman are the independent Davids battling the Goliaths of Clear Channel and CBS Radio, which operate a total of 10 stations in Cleveland.

Gronek is Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting's VP/GM, Bennett is known for his "Rocco the Rock Dog" days at WMMS and WENZ/107.9 "The End" (most recently, he was doing weekends/swing at Rubber City Radio rock WONE/97.5 Akron), and any long-time OMW reader doesn't need reminding that Gorman was the program director of WMMS, long before Clear Channel eventually took over the station.

Would "V107.3" be, basically, what a non-corporate-owned WMMS-of-the-past would sound like if it aired in the year 2010? Quoting Heaton again:

At V107.3, Bennett is the only one of the three whose name might still be known to listeners from his WMMS days. The mission at the new station, however, is not to replicate those old playlists but to honor the spirit of that eclectic programming.

It's certainly a more eclectic version of the AAA format, which airs elsewhere in Northeast Ohio on Akron Public Schools-owned WAPS/91.3 "The Summit".

While we're talking about the newly-christened "V107.3", we neglected earlier to note its airstaff.

"Wave" hold-over Mike Gallagher continues in the "V" morning drive slot, and Bennett takes 2-6 PM. But we hadn't yet mentioned the addition of Cleveland radio veteran Ravenna Miceli from 9 AM-2 PM.

And yes, as the Heaton article points out, the new "V" middayer - the former long-time midday voice at WMJI/105.7 - is indeed the wife of "V" consultant Gorman.

But given her long-time on-air presence in the market and her run at WMJI, it seems silly to open up the mention of her in the article by calling her "Gorman's wife".

Miceli points out in the PD article that she has experience in the format long pre-dating both her days at WMJI and her marriage to Gorman:

"My first job was a AAA station on Martha's Vineyard. People are always blown away by it."

He's Running, and He's Probably Running

It seems like the entire media and political world kept a close eye on filings for Northern Ohio congressional primary races due Friday. But while one high profile local media personality isn't running - yet - the local media personality who is running may surprise you.

When the 4 PM deadline hit, former Mahoning Valley congressman-turned-con-turned-radio host Jim Traficant did not file in the Democratic primary for two congressional seats he's been eyeing - his former slot in the 17th District, now reconstituted to take in part of the Akron area, with former Traficant aide Tim Ryan in office now, or the 6th District, which includes southern parts of the Youngstown area, a seat held by Charlie Wilson if we remember right.

When your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) heard that Traficant declined to enter either Democratic primary, it was obvious to us...he's going independent.

And according to this Associated Press article, that's exactly what he's going to do.

According to the AP blurb, Traficant "is leaving the Democratic Party and considering a run for office as an independent." He has yet to determine if he's going to run, and in which district.

The article quotes Traficant's statement on, you guessed it, his Saturday afternoon talk show on Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 in Cleveland.

The move shouldn't be a surprise to diehard Traficant watchers.

Though he's been a member and officeholder in the Democratic Party for decades, that's almost required to win office in the Democratic stronghold that is the Mahoning Valley. Throughout his political career, Traficant has basically been almost a one-man party of his very own.

Since exiting the custody of the federal prison system, Traficant has spent time around independent political types, and has mixed it up with those people.

So, no surprise here, and it gives Traficant more time to do his WTAM weekend show...with the filing deadline for non-party candidates some months down the road.

But what is a surprise is a candidate who filed for office on Friday.

He's former Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 Cleveland anchor Tim White, who we thought was happy living in Wyoming after leaving 13th and Lakeside.

Apparently he wants to return to the Cleveland area, according to a story on his former home station's website, as a political figure:

Former Channel 3 anchorman Tim White has filed to run for the 17th House District seat.

That's the seat now held by Josh Mandel who is running as the Republican candidate for State Treasurer.

White left Channel 3 in December, 2008. He has homes in Pepper Pike and Wyoming.

He is running as a Democrat. Some people found that surprising.

White said, "Think blue dog."

Actually, we're surprised by the whole thing. We didn't know White had political aspirations even after he left "Channel 3 News" late last year.

At least it makes one thing easy for WKYC - the newsroom there didn't have to go searching far for a picture of the candidate...

D.C. Bound

As posted on our Twitter account earlier, CBS Radio hot AC WQAL/104.1 Cleveland "Q104" night personality Rob Kruz is headed for Washington DC.

Actually, according to tweets and pictures on his own Twitter account, that should be "has headed", as Kruz has already taken the drive to DC. He is expected to hit the airwaves in Our Nation's Capital on Wednesday...to take over the night time slot at Clear Channel top 40 WIHT/99.5 "Hot 99.5".

We have no word yet who replaces Kruz back at Q104...

J.R. Passes On

UPDATE: Visitation will be at 11 AM Saturday, and services 2 PM Saturday, at the Crosser Funeral Home in Oak Harbor, OH.

Details, and the obituary, are on the funeral home's website...

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Word is quickly spreading through the Cleveland radio community about the death of J.R. Nelson, who was battling cancer, but reportedly died of a heart attack Tuesday.

Former WMMS/100.7 programmer and current broadcast consultant (WNWV/107.3) John Gorman tells OMW:

(J.R.) worked at WHK, WMMS in the Malrite days, and I hired him as production director at WMJI under Omni America. He also did many of the parody songs for the Buzzard Morning Zoo on WMMS in '85, '86. I believe his last station - and the one he retired from was CBS Radio's WYCD/Detroit.

Other OMW readers remind us that J.R. was also known for his on-air work at the old WGAR/1220, including in his stint as WGAR's overnight air personality. The 50,000 watt signal of 1220 carried J.R.'s booming voice on the nighttime airwaves as far afield from Cleveland as North Carolina.

But nationally in the business, J.R. Nelson is known as an original member of one of radio's most iconic gatherings...the "Z100 Morning Zoo" at top 40 powerhouse WHTZ/100.3 in New York City. At the time of Z100's launch, it was a Malrite sister station to WHK/WMMS...

Two Quick Hits

As earlier passed along on our Twitter feed...

EXITING CHARLOTTE: Details are scarce right now, but trade site AllAccess reports that not that terribly long after he arrived, Mike Kenney is no longer market manager of Clear Channel's Charlotte cluster.

AllAccess reports that OM Bruce Logan steps in as interim GM of the company's Queen City (North Carolina, that is) cluster.

We're following the news here, of course, because it's been just a few months since Kenney arrived in Charlotte from Northeast Ohio. He left his post as market manager of Clear Channel's Cleveland cluster in late August 2009.

We got the impression at the time that Kenney was hurried to Charlotte to "fix things up" there.

His departure from the Charlotte cluster, AllAccess says, was announced much like his predecessor's exit - in a quick E-mail this morning.

By the way, we've double-checked our own archives, which include clips from official releases out of Oak Tree, and Mike Kenney's last name is indeed spelled with two "e"'s...

STRIKE ON NOTICE: Newsroom employees of the Akron Beacon Journal authorized their union - the Akron Newspaper Guild - to strike last night, though that doesn't mean a strike is imminent...and negotiations are apparently still ongoing.

The union continues to point out that the Black Press-owned daily is "not pleading poverty" - it just wants to pay union members lower wages...saying that newsroom managers and non-union employees aren't being asked to take cuts.

A release from the union, which was helpfully sent to our mailbox by the union last night, is reprinted below:

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Feb. 10, 2010

AKRON NEWSPAPER GUILD TAKES STRIKE AUTHORIZATION VOTE

Contact: Stephanie Warsmith, secretary of the Akron unit, at 330-328-8566

The Akron unit of the Newspaper Guild overwhelmingly approved a strike authorization vote Wednesday evening. There was just one dissenting vote cast.

The vote gives the Guild’s bargaining committee the authority to strike if and when the committee thinks it’s necessary. The Guild recognizes the challenges facing the newspaper industry and has been open to discussing possible solutions.

``The last thing we want is a strike but we are willing to do whatever is necessary to secure a fair contract that reflects the valuable contributions of our members,’’ said Bob DeMay, the Guild’s president and an assistant photo editor at the Akron Beacon Journal.

The Guild and company have been negotiating for more than a year, with the union’s members operating under the terms of a contract that expired in July 2008.

The Beacon Journal is asking the Guild to accept concessions that would equate to a 25 to 30 percent decrease in wages and benefits, including a 16.75 percent pay cut, a pension freeze, a larger share of health care costs and a change to sick pay that would be worse than what WalMart offers.

The company’s lead negotiator told the Guild negotiating team that the newspaper isn’t pleading poverty but simply doesn’t want to continue paying at the current levels. Newsroom managers - among the highest paid employees in the newsroom -- and non-union employees elsewhere in the building, are not being asked to accept similar cuts. The newspaper also is hiring for positions outside the newsroom. The company has refused the Guild’s repeated requests to open its books.

The Guild represents about 85 reporters, copy editors, photographers, assistant editors, page designers, artists, sports statisticians, librarians and secretaries - a number slashed more than 50 percent over the past 10 years through layoffs, buyouts and attrition.

Guild members annually win state and national awards, earning the newspaper respect and recognition.

-30-

Monday's Pile

We have a lot going on this start of the week, so we might as well go on.

Please note: our publishing schedule will still be quite sporadic, and there are days we may not be able to be here. We'll try to keep our Twitter feed going whenever possible...

THE 3001 EUCLID SHUFFLE: If this is February 8th, it must be time for the 3001 Euclid Anchor Shuffle.

More than any station in the Cleveland TV market, Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 keeps rotating its anchors in and out, trying new combinations, or generally "seeing what works".

The station has its first permanent anchor schedule since long-time anchor Ted Henry left the building nearly 9 months ago, and here it is:

Noon: Leon Bibb (solo)
5 PM/Live on Five: Danita Harris and Lee Jordan
6 PM: Leon Bibb and Lee Jordan
11 PM: Danita Harris (solo)

"Good Morning Cleveland" - with anchors Pete Kenworthy and Kimberly Gill - is unaffected.

At most stations, there's at least a "main anchor team" doing either 5 and 11 PM, or 6 and 11 PM, or all three newscasts. WEWS appears to want to mix it up.

With the 11 PM anchor slot solo, Danita Harris becomes the second African-American female solo anchor in the market...with Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3's Romona Robinson the first, of course...

INCOMING?: OMW hears that Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8" is looking to fill the opening left behind when popular Melissa Mack headed for Boston, and a gig at CBS O&O WBZ/4.

A Northeast Ohio native, who currently toils in the Grand Rapids MI market, was spotted at South Marginal auditioning for the role over the weekend. (We'll assume she, or whichever weathercaster WJW hires, will take her place as a part of "Fox 8 News in the Morning", and cover similar duties.)

Stay tuned...

FIRST UP: ...to occupy the vacated Clear Channel talk WKBN/570 Youngstown morning drive chair this week is Mike Romigh.

Yes, that's the long-time former host at CBS Radio news/talk KDKA/1020 Pittsburgh, where now-former WKBN morning drive host Robert Mangino has landed in the evening slot.

Since leaving "KD", a quick Google search tells us that Romigh has been working for a Beaver County PA congressman, and for an economic development group based in the suburban Pittsburgh county.

OMW hears that Romigh is among those who are "up for the job", and no final decision has been made...and we don't know who will be heard in the WKBN morning slot after him...

PIONEER PASSES: There's actually a long history of Spanish-language radio in the Cleveland market, though only two non-commercial rimshot stations (Painesville's WHWN/88.3 and out-past-Lorain's WNZN/89.1) broadcast in the language full time. A number of local educational and non-commercial stations, and even commercial stations, have had such programs on weekends.

A pioneer in Latino-focused broadcasting in Cleveland has passed away.

The Plain Dealer's Cleveland.com carries the obituary for Daniel "Junior" Vargas, who died last month at the age of 71:

Junior was Cleveland's finest voice of Latino Radio on WZAK & WCSB for over 40 years. Your music will play forever!

An OMW reader tells us that Mario Ivan Benavides succeded "Junior", and that he now broadcasts "Latino International" on WCSB...

NYLA FOUND: OMW hears out of South Marginal that an apparently well-liked former presence on WJW's "Fox 8 News in the Morning" has a broadcast home.

After some time out of the media light, "Nyla" is now heard on Radio One talk/brokered WERE/1490 Cleveland Heights "NewsTalk 1490" Sunday evenings from 6-10 PM, on a program the station's schedule calls "Healing The Hurt Gospel With Miss Nyla And Daniel".

(The schedule actually has the show running until 2 AM Monday mornings, which we presume is a repeat of the live 6-10 PM airing.)

We hear that Nyla still gets E-mails at South Marginal, wondering what happened to her, so there you go...

Talking Mostly About The Valley

More random, unconnected (mostly), but important items...mostly concerning the Mahoning Valley this time around...

WKBN OPENING: Clear Channel talk WKBN/570 Youngstown is officially advertising its morning drive opening.

The time slot became open when long-time morning drive host Robert Mangino accepted the evening host job at CBS Radio news/talk KDKA/1020 Pittsburgh.

As a public service to our readers, we're reprinting the ad here:

A rare opportunity now exists and brings with it a chance to join Clear Channel's NEWSRADIO 570 WKBN in Youngstown Ohio.

We are looking for an experienced Talk Show host who is listener, as well as advertiser friendly.

Ideally, our candidate will have knowledge, not only of current events, but the special things that make up the landscape of Northeastern Ohio and Western Pa.

Ytown is a great place to live, work, and a great place to raise a family.

Resumes and work samples ( please no gigantic files) should be sent to;

youngstownjobs (at) clearchannel (dot) com

or

HR Director
Clear Channel Radio and Digital
7461 South Avenue
Youngstown , Ohio 44512

Clear Channel is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All who feel they are qualified are encouraged to apply.

Deadline for application is close of business February 15th, 2010.

The Mahoning Valley is indeed unique, and your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) has had some time in the market, so we know it pretty well. It ought to be interesting what kind of replacement WKBN finds for Mr. Mangino...

JIMBO: While we're talking about the Valley, former congressman-turned-now-ex-con Jim Traficant continues to make noises about running for Congress again.

As we noted earlier, Traficant, who now hosts the early Saturday afternoon shift on Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland, has an "early out" clause in his WTAM deal in case he does attempt a return to Washington.

Jimbo's most recent noise came in his first post-prison appearance in Akron. The Akron area is (partly) in the restructured version of the old 17th Congressional District Traficant served for so long.

The Akron Beacon Journal's Stephanie Warsmith reports that Traficant told the crowd at a Libertarian Party candidate's fundraiser at Akron's Tangier restaurant that he "will run" for Congress:

Traficant is focusing on the 6th and the 17th districts and must chose one by the Feb. 18 filing deadline for the May primary, unless he chooses to run as an independent. Charlie Wilson represents the 6th District, while Tim Ryan has the 17th, Traficant's former district, which has been reconfigured and includes parts of Summit and Portage counties. Wilson and Ryan both are Democrats.

Enjoy Traficant as a talk radio host (assuming you do enjoy him) while you can. This man sounds like he's headed for a Congressional race, one way or the other, and he'll have to exit WTAM as soon as he officially announces his candidacy.

If he isn't running, well, his home market Clear Channel talk station has an opening we posted above...

SPEAKING OF WKBN: A listener notes that Talk Radio Network's Phil Hendrie is out at the Youngstown talker, replaced by the syndicated John Batchelor program.

(We don't know who syndicates Batchelor these days...at one point, he was an ABC Radio/Citadel offering, but we believe flagship Citadel talk WABC/770 New York City is handling things directly now. The show's site contains no clue as to its syndicator.)

Our reader wants to know why...and speculated that either Hendrie cost too much, or said something he shouldn't have.

We don't have any answers from South Avenue on this.

But we told our reader that syndicated program changes on local radio stations are usually more mundane than intriguing, and usually don't involve money issues - most syndicated talk radio programs are free, offered on a "barter" basis (i.e. the station gets the show in exchange for airing the show's national commercials). There are exceptions: for example, Premiere midday talk titan Rush Limbaugh.

We don't know the status of either Mr. Hendrie or Mr. Batchelor's programs, but we suspect they are both typical "barter" shows...and we are pretty sure nothing Hendrie said got him bounced off WKBN...

ONE NON-VALLEY ITEM: A couple of OMW readers noticed that the full-time "Worship Channel" feed has disappeared off of Cleveland market ION Network O&O WVPX/23 Akron's over-air feed, where it aired on subchannel 23.4.

The story behind the exit is told by the Worship Network folks themselves, on their website, in the January 2010 newsletter section:

Due to changes in our contractual relationship with ION, The Worship Network will no longer be available on the ION digital multi-cast platform effective midnight January 31, 2010. In the short-term, this will also affect our channel on Verizon FiOS.

The network is supposedly seen at least part-time in parts of the Cleveland market on low-power WCDN/53, which is now putting out a digital signal on RF channel 7...

Tuesday Night Clear Out

UPDATE 2/3/10 9:15 AM: Duji is back on "Rover's Morning Glory", as the show talks about working through a "very difficult" personal dispute between Duji and Rover, who used to date. That's all for us on this topic.

For those looking for the "gory details", "19 Action News" has more...

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Clearing out not only our Twitter feed, but some other stuff...some interesting, some frustrating...

WHERE'S DUJI?: No, we haven't seen the face of Clear Channel rock/talk WMMS/100.7 "Rover's Morning Glory" cast member Duji on any milk cartons in Northeast Ohio, but some are looking for her there.

The sudden absence of Duji's name, picture or staff listing on the show's in-house "Rover Radio" site led a virtual flood of E-mails into our inbox this weekend into early this week.

We've been trying to find out why - and if it means anything or not. So far, we haven't heard any word from inside Oak Tree...even among our usual sources in the building.

There seems to be considerable sentiment among Rover fans, who have been following our Twitter account in large numbers over the past day or so, that this could be some sort of "publicity stunt".

That, we don't know.

What we do know is that Shane "Rover" French complained of illness on his Friday show, and that "RMG" has been in repeats this week so far. Duji's voice has been heard on the repeats, but as a show-listening relative pointed out, it's hard to air repeat programming that is "Duji-free", due to her role on the show.

Oh, and WMMS has posted an ad for an "off-air producer" for the show, though we have no idea how long that ad has run, or if it has anything to do with Duji's (off-air) work on the show.

Duji's absence from the "RMG" site has merited a mention on the radio trade site AllAccess, but they don't seem to know any more than we do.

If there's anything to report on this, stay tuned...but we'll stop tracking the "could it be?" moves until then...

JOY'S EXIT: OMW hears that Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 is not renewing the contract of "NewsChannel 5" reporter Joy Benedict, who has been heavily promoted as a consumer reporter for the station.

We hear Joy's last day at WEWS will be in March...and we don't know who will take the consumer reporting beat from her...

GOING JUST A BIT FAR: We really, really try to be fair with the folks at Reserve Square, home of Raycom Media's WOIO/19 and WUAB/43, and "19 Action News".

When they do something we like - one of the most recent examples is the hiring of former Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 voice Mark Schwab to handle weekend sports anchoring - we mention it here.

But then, they do something like this.

OMW hears that "Action News"' on-air needling of competitor WEWS/5's "Power of Five" radar is likely to reach a new level, and it's due to one of those incidents the folks at Reserve Square do so well.

We hear from our sources at WEWS that an "Action News" reporter paid a visit to 3001 Euclid the other day, ostensibly for a friendly visit with "NewsChannel 5" chief meteorologist Mark Johnson.

We're told (by the WEWS sources) that Johnson instead got a full-court press...an on-camera interrogation on the "Power of 5" radar, including questions about its location(s).

For the record, the 5 radars are not owned by WEWS, but the data comes from National Weather Service locations. Really, like anyone thought "NewsChannel 5" owns radars in places like Wilmington OH and Fort Wayne IN...

WOIO has made quite a point in promos about the superiority of its live radar, which comes from a station-owned facility along I-71 in Brunswick. Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 has the other in-house TV radar in Cleveland, which can be seen behind its studios at 13th and Lakeside.

This kind of incident when it comes to competitors is in the DNA of WOIO. "19 Action News" has a long history of being the Cleveland market's Stalker Station.

Just to cite two examples from memory:

* "Action News" treated an incident involving staff of Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 as if it were vital to national security, leading with the story with partially-hidden-behind-the-truck live shots near the South Marginal Road studios of its competitor.

* And who can forget when WOIO camped out on the Medina doorstep of WJW weather icon Dick Goddard, upon learning of allegations against someone else in his house? (The personable weatherman was actually the victim in the case.)

This may be the first such thing involving WEWS..."Action News" generally seems to have it in for "Fox 8"...but watch out, "Channel 3 News", as you may be next...

PAT'S MOVING ON: We don't cover the print media all that much here in your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), but we've covered the moves of Akron Beacon Journal sportswriter Pat McManamon before.

And...as hinted in his Sunday column, he's leaving the Beacon again for new horizons.

According to the Cleveland Scene sports blog, McManamon is heading for the Internet, as a writer for AOL's Fanhouse site. Quoting McManamon from the Scene blog:

"It wasn't easy to leave a place that has been so good to me, and a job that was so much fun. But AOL Fanhouse is growing, aggressive and has a national audience. And I can write about the same teams and sports. It just seemed like the right move at the right time."

Yes, that means the now-former ABJ sportswriter will cover the Browns, Indians and Cavaliers for the site, which is apparently chock full of former newspaper sportswriters. Maybe there is life after newsprint after all, at least for those covering sports.

Pat heads off into the ABJ sunset in a blog post here, which also has his E-mail contact address for those who want to wish him well:

The decision was not an easy one because the Akron Beacon Journal has been a good place to work these past 11 years. The daily newspaper means a lot to me, as does being part of a local community. The Beacon Journal was gracious in providing both. I am fortunate and blessed, and grateful to the Beacon for the many opportunities.

Though McManamon says he's been at the Beacon for 11 years, we seem to remember a brief break when he took a job writing for the Browns' in-house website...