No Wonder Kaiser Bill Is Worried

An OMW reader tells us that Media-Com talk WNIR/100.1, the Kent-licensed Akron market talk station known as "The Talk of Akron", has been running announcements "asking listeners who work or live in the Elyria and North Ridgeville areas to write station management."

We're told the announcements refer to "an unnamed out of state company who wants to install a translator station that could disrupt your ability to receive WNIR in those areas."

At your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), we previously reported the (still pending) sale of off-air translator W262BN/100.3, licensed to Lorain, from Edgewater Broadcasting to Radio One, which owns a number of full-power stations in the Cleveland market.

So, we took another look at W262BN in the FCC records, and found this.

The FCC has approved a move we speculated about in the earlier item - Edgewater, which is still the legal owner of W262BN, has received a construction permit to move the translator's authorization to a Cleveland community of license. The CP was approved by the FCC just two days ago, on November 18th.

This FCC map of the 50 watt translator station's proposed primary service area indeed places it right in the middle of WNIR's area of concern, between Elyria and North Ridgeville at a site along the Ohio Turnpike.

Yes, FM translator facilities can indeed be that far afield of the community of license, and there's no legal requirement that W262BN's signal even reach the Cleveland city limits.

Edgewater is clearly acting on behalf of Radio One. The translator sale was approved by the FCC on September 16th, and the new paperwork lists Radio One's WZAK/93.1 as W262BN's new primary station. Of course, as we reported earlier, W262BN has not been operating at any point from the currently licensed site in Sheffield Township, with a COL of Lorain.

Since there's absolutely no need to rebroadcast the powerful signal of WZAK on a translator in eastern Lorain County, we'll still make the bet that wherever W262BN ends up, it'll become an FM rebroadcaster for AM gospel outlet WJMO/1300, probably located in an area of Cleveland where 1300's signal is not all that great at night.

Though they could well mount that effort from the proposed site between Elyria and North Ridgeville, the Cleveland COL tells us that Radio One is thinking of moving it further east.

How does all this affect WNIR?

The Akron market talker doesn't make much effort to serve Lorain County, which is on the far western fringe of its service area. Even if the translator makes it, say, to Cleveland's east side, that's also not really an area WNIR cares about serving.

But the Kent-based station presumably can't sit idly by while even a first-adjacent 50 watt translator camps out in Northeast Ohio.

If all the signal calculations work out, there may not be much Media-Com can do about this translator...which would presumably have other problems due to second-adjacent in-market WMMS/100.7.

A lot of that is addressed in the application here (PDF file from FCC website), but for the new/current location in eastern Lorain County...

Two More Upgrades

Mid-October is apparently the season for local TV and radio signal upgrades, and there are two more we haven't yet told you about.

Briefly before that: everyone short of the Cuyahoga County dog catcher has E-mailed us to let us know that producer/sidekick/update anchor Josh Sabo is apparently out at Good Karma sports WKNR/850 Cleveland "ESPN 850", at least according to an announcement made on the station's "Really Big Show with Tony Rizzo" earlier today.

We didn't hear the announcement, and as of yet, don't know any details about Sabo's apparent departure from the sports talk station. If we find out anything, we'll let you know.

For now, back to the technical facilities upgrades...one on the TV side, one on radio:

49 PLUS 70: A Cuyahoga County viewer E-mailed us late last week, wondering if Western Reserve PBS' WEAO/49 Akron had upgraded its digital over-air facilities on RF channel 50. He tells us he's seeing a stronger signal from the station.

No, you aren't imagining that, and it's not just temporary atmospheric conditions (or shedding leaves).

Our good friends over at Campus Center Drive in Kent tell us that indeed, WEAO lit up its post-transition "maximized" construction permit on October 15th. The upgrade pushes the Akron half of the Western Reserve PBS simulcast from 180 kW to 250 kW.

It's not the only facility upgrade for the public TV outlet.

OMW also hears that Youngstown viewers will get the digital replacement for the former analog translator on Channel 58, soon...with arrival and installation of the new digital Channel 44 translator (W44CR) expected within the next couple of weeks.

RADIO UPGRADE: Canton-based religious broadcaster WILB/1060 has lit up its upgraded facility.

The upgrade takes WILB "Living Bread Radio" from 5 kW to 15 kW, and gets it at least a chunk of Cuyahoga County.

Not like you'd know they realize that, from an announcement on the Living Bread Radio website:

WE’RE ON THE AIR!
Catholic Radio in Cleveland - AM 1060

AM 1060 WILB has expanded its coverage area from 1 million listeners to more than 2 million in Northeast Ohio. With the completion of a two year 15,000 watt signal upgrade project and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval of the upgrade AM 106(0) began transmitting at 15,000 watts on October 20, 2009.

(snip)

We say hello to Cuyahoga County and surrounding areas after more than 5 years of transmitting the Word of God to Stark, Summit and Carroll Counties. Join us as we welcome Cleveland and the surrounding areas to our AM 1060 Radio Family.

They were in such a hurry to announce the upgrade, the Living Bread Radio folks grabbed another web page about another event, and blew past the spacebar a few times.

Of course, even with 15 kW of power, there are other problems for WILB.

First and foremost, it is and will always be a daytime station, at least as long as CBS Radio powerhouse KYW/1060 is around.

Second, even within the daytime parameters, WILB had to squeeze in next to other stations - like second adjacent WJTB/1040 North Ridgeville, and had to consider first adjacent CHOK/1070 Sarnia ONT, second adjacent WWNL/1080 Pittsburgh and the like.

(Our favorite part of the WILB construction permit application - the station showing that 1090 kHz wasn't a problem, since no station in the entire region will ever be authorized for 1090 with Clear Channel talk giant WTAM on 1100.)

We haven't been on the northern edge of the new WILB signal yet, and weren't really listeners before, anyway...but a quick radio check today easily shows a more powerful WILB than we remember hearing. A lot of times, these upgrades on the AM side aren't just about reaching new areas...they're about punching through the increased noise on the AM band...

AND TV RELATED RADIO: OMW hears that as scheduled, New Vision CBS affiliate WKBN-TV/27 Youngstown has turned off its transmitter today - to allow the move of its digital antenna to the top of the 1432 foot tower today.

The move from "side mount" to "top mount" could improve fringe area or nearby market reception of WKBN's digital signal, which also carries sister Fox affiliate "Fox Youngstown" on digital subchannel 27.2 (in high-definition, along with WKBN).

Those looking for the missing over-air CBS and Fox programming in Youngstown can find it on Time Warner Cable and Armstrong Cable, which are fed via fiber from the stations' Sunset Boulevard studios. We aren't in the market to check, but we'll assume the station is also continuing to feed the original low-power analog TV homes of Fox Youngstown programming - WYFX-LP 62 Youngstown and WFXI-CA 17 Mercer.

One thing we didn't mention earlier: the WKBN-TV antenna move today also affects a former sister station.

Yes, that's the former WKBN-FM on the WKBN-TV tower. Clear Channel Youngstown director of engineering John Clarke checks in with OMW about the status of WMXY/98.9:

WMXY's (original calls WKBN-FM) main antenna is located at the 1370 foot level on the South tower at Sunset Blvd, just below the top mount TV stick.

When the tower crew is within 100 feet of our main panel antenna, we move WMXY over to our Auxiliary antenna site on the 550 foot North tower.

We have been operating on the auxiliary antenna during the daytime hours most good weather days the last week...while they rig the tower for the move.

While we are operating at 25 KW ERP from the Auxiliary antenna, we lose some fringe coverage and no HD operation from the Auxiliary site.

So, if you're a bit far afield from Youngstown today and having trouble receiving the station now known as hot AC WMXY/98.9 "Mix 98.9", you'll know why.

One of our readers in Cleveland's Slavic Village area is asking if the WKBN-TV upgrade will get its signal into downtown Cleveland.

Well, probably not, we'd guess. We know people as far west as Parma who've been able to get the WKBN signal, but we'd be shocked if it was a regular visitor into downtown Cleveland.

More so than from Cleveland/Akron/Canton viewers, the WKBN upgrade today will likely be welcomed by in-market viewers in places like Mercer County PA...any reception we get over on this side of Youngstown, outside of its home market, is a sheer bonus...

Of Jimbo, Frogs and Love

That's "Love" as in "K-Love", and "Frogs" as in amphibian radio and TV symbols...

MORE JIMBO: Former Youngstown-area congressman Jim Traficant could probably scratch his nose at this point, and he'd dominate media coverage...covering which direction he scratched, and at what time, and where.

In our last item, OMW visited the possibility that Traficant could wind up doing something on the air at Clear Channel talk WKBN/570 in his home market.

Though we'd earlier downplayed the prospect, Clear Channel Youngstown market manager and OMW reader Bill Kelly called the ex-lawmaker, just out of prison on a bribery and racketeering rap, a "folk hero" in the area... and he also compared Traficant to another ex-felon-former politician now doing talk radio in Providence RI, former mayor Buddy Cianci.

Over here, in the Cleveland TV market, Traficant is getting attention as well.

With his prison release this week, Cleveland TV stations sent their reporters over to the Youngstown/Warren area, examining the curious love (and hate) affair between the Valley and its former congressman.

Among those was Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8"'s Lou Maglio, and you can see the video from his story on the station's website here.

What you won't see in that video is Maglio's in-studio followup, where he said Traficant is "reportedly considering a gig as a radio talk show host".

We don't know if that's just Lou riffing off our own report, but just to clarify - we haven't heard any word out of the Traficant camp about his own feelings on this, or any actual job offers or potential offers he's received...or if he's interested in doing talk radio, for that matter. (As a blog that covers media, our sources within a former politician's inner circle are quite limited.)

We're reminded by several that Traficant does have some limited talk radio experience. He filled in at least twice on WKBN's sister station in Cleveland, WTAM/1100, before his trip to the federal prison system.

And we enjoyed watching some old C-SPAN video available on YouTube, posted on the Youngstown Vindicator's special Traficant section on vindy.com, where he makes his case to House colleagues not to throw him out while the legal case against him was still pending.

(They did throw him out of Congress, which was only the second time that's happened since the Civil War.)

Watching the video, we couldn't help but think that Traficant would be a natural talk show host... and such a move would bring worldwide attention to a certain Youngstown-based talk radio outlet.

And his "rage against the machine" populism likely does have a pretty good sized ready audience in the Mahoning Valley, where voters turned out in Soviet-like record numbers for Traficant for decades.

As for it actually happening? As Clear Channel Youngstown boss Bill Kelly himself told OMW yesterday, "stay tuned"...

K-LOVE: It's not in Ohio, but has some minor effects on our eastern fringes...and who knows, maybe down the road in Northeast Ohio?

As rumored, California-based Educational Media Foundation has taken over operations of what was the primary signal of Keymarket's Pittsburgh-based "Froggy" country simulcast, WOGI/98.3 Duquesne PA. The signal is now running EMF's ubitquous "K-Love" Christian Contemporary music format via satellite from suburban Sacramento.

Our colleagues over at PBRTV have more here. They say the takeover is believed to be an "LMA-to-buy" deal. It also looks like Keymarket is picking up a couple of the "K-Love" translators in return.

"K-Love" and its sister younger-skewing Christian rock format "Air1" appear on a host of translators all over Northeast Ohio, and on a full-power "Air1" signal on WCVJ/90.9 Jefferson, near Ashtabula.

"Froggy" continues to be heard on its other simulcasters in Western PA, including WOGF/104.3 Moon Township PA - which will take 98.3's WOGI calls and become the primary station in the grouping.

We mention this item here on OMW for two reasons.

First, 104.3 used to be licensed to East Liverpool OH, and was the FM companion of WOHI/1490 there...which is still co-owned by Keymarket, and now runs...uhhh...we'll have to check back on that.

We believe at last check, 1490 was one of Keymarket's "Pickle" classic hits stations, basically simulcasting two "Pickle" FMs in Western PA with Citadel's "Classic Hits Radio" format (nee' "Pure Gold") and a local morning show with a fish eating a pickle, or something like that.

OMW reader Jim Martin used to work at WOHI...he's now doing morning drive on Tuscarawas Broadcasting Canton-market CCM outlet WNPQ/95.9 "The Light", using his real name of Jim Berni.

The 104.3 transmitter, despite a city of license move from East Liverpool to suburban Pittsburgh (Moon Township is where Pittsburgh International Airport is based), is still JUST over the Ohio/PA border, within sight of East Liverpool.

The second reason we mention this?

The EMF folks are still buying, in a world where most other media companies have trouble getting together the cash/credit/backing to do so.

Talking amongst some of our readers, we figured out that almost every major radio outlet in the Cleveland market is either for sale, or could be based on financial difficulties for the stations' parent companies.

About the only "big name" operator we'd leave off that list is Craig Karmazin's Good Karma Broadcasting, owner of sports outlets WKNR/850 "ESPN 850" and WWGK/1540 "KNR2" in Cleveland.

And though the rumors aren't even "solid", many think Karmazin will make a play for one of the for-sale CBS Radio FMs in the Cleveland market - alt-rock WKRK/92.3 "Radio 92.3" is the station most mentioned as a potential acquisition by Karmazin.

Again, this is crunchy rumor stuff, and we don't have anything even remotely solid to confirm any of this. It's just people moving around chess pieces based on faint rumor at this point. We have no idea if Karmazin is kicking any tires, or even seeing how much air is left in them.

Here's the problem for both Karmazin, and for EMF if they decide they want a full-market signal for a Cleveland "K-Love" outlet...in a market they'd clearly love to serve using more than translators.

As near as we can figure, CBS Radio isn't interested in piecing out its four radio stations, which in addition to WKRK, include AC WDOK/102.1, hot AC WQAL/104.1 and classic rock WNCX/98.5.

And though CBS Radio has more than once reaffirmed its desire to exit smaller (non-top 10) markets like Cleveland, they aren't jumping at every offer.

We also note that Wilks Broadcasting, which bought CBS' Columbus market stations, was also the winning bidder for CBS' entire Denver cluster not that long ago...at below-fire-sale prices. We'd have to believe CBS isn't thrilled about dumping all of its large market FMs for a song.

We find it hard to envision some sort of multi-station deal that would split FMs between Karmazin, EMF and perhaps one other operator. It'd be a lot more tidy for CBS to find a single operator to "take over Cleveland"...but that is difficult in this environment.

But, that's just a guess at this point...and as always, We Could Be Wrong..

AND SPEAKING OF FROGS: The "spokesphibian" named Michigan J. Frog was long the symbol of the old WB television network, which was seen in Northeast Ohio on Winston Broadcasting's WBNX/55 Akron for much of its run. (WBNX wrestled the full-time WB affiliation in the Cleveland market from WUAB/43 early on, as it was a secondary affiliation to UPN on 43.)

Labor Day weekend is coming up, which means that Jerry Lewis will once again be a big part of the WBNX lineup.

The station, now the Cleveland market's CW network affiliate, will once again carry the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. This WBNX web page says it'll run from 10 PM Sunday, September 6th, through 7 PM on Labor Day itself.

Aboard as local hosts for the live broadcast from Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Center are WBNX's Ronnie Duncan, Matt Miller, and Miss Ohio 2006 Melanie Murphy.

It's the 44th annual Jerry Lewis MDA telethon, and by our count, we believe this is WBNX's 10th local broadcast of the event.

Oh, and about the frog.

Drivers near the now-under-demolition State Road Shopping Center in Cuyahoga Falls may notice that ol' Michigan J., the former symbol of WBNX's former network, is still on the side of the station's studio building in neon form in 2009...as if "The WB" had never left the airwaves of Channel 55.

We hear that aside from the cost of removing the Neon Michigan J., the folks at WBNX still see the frog as something of a sentimental mascot representing the rise of TV 55.

It was during the WB days that the former independent outlet built a very, very strong operation...which continues to this day under the WB's quasi-replacement, the CW.

WBNX, as a WB affiliate, went from a quirky local station running old shows and programming left over from other stations, to a solid (mini-)network affiliate...and is considered, even in today's CW days, one of that network's strongest affiliates.

And as such, we can understand why they don't want to pull down Michigan J. Frog...

ODTV: WJW Power Mystery Solved?

(This is a full reprint of an item posted on our Ohio Digital TV blog.)

The biggest post-DTV transition story in Northeast Ohio is the surprisingly anemic performance of WJW/8 "Fox 8"'s new signal on VHF channel 8, its old analog channel.

As it turns out, the signal may be less powerful than pretty much everyone thought, including us, and WJW's digital channel 8 appears to be operating not at the approved post-transition power level of 30 kW, but at 11 kW instead.

Yes, you read that right.

It took us about a half-hour going through WJW's FCC application records, but we're pretty confident we've figured that out. Follow along with us, to see if we've reached the proper conclusion. As always, especially in engineering matters - with only FCC records to work from - we could be wrong.

The key that unlocked this mystery for us was the station's "License to Cover", which tells the FCC that WJW is indeed operating "pursuant to automatic program test authority" on its construction permit for digital channel 8. That was filed Monday, so it's information we didn't have before now.

It appears that the "license to cover" filed Monday, however, was to cover the original 11 kW construction permit granted in March, 2008 (file number 20080311AAN)...not the construction permit modification to increase to 30 kW, which was granted in June, 2008 (20080620AHI).

We've previously referenced this line from the station's April transition update (caution: FCC filing form all upper case ahead):

WJW PLANS TO USE ITS CURRENT CHANNEL 8 ANALOG ANTENNA FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION AFTER IT CEASES ANALOG TRANSMISSION AS OF JUNE 12, 2009. THE STATION HAS PURCHASED AND TESTED A NEW INTERIM DIGITAL CHANNEL 8 TRANSMITTER AND PLANS TO USE THAT TRANSMITTER AT FULLY-AUTHORIZED POWER AS OF JUNE 12, 2009, WHILE ITS ANALOG TRANSMITTER IS BEING CONVERTED TO DIGITAL, AFTER WHICH WJW-DT WILL SWITCH TO THE CONVERTED ANALOG TRANSMITTER FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION.

From our digging into this, it now appears to us that "fully-authorized power" refers to the 11 kW CP granted in March of last year, not the 30 kW CP modification granted a few months later.

The problem?

We're not hearing ANYTHING from either inside South Marginal, or from the station in public, that the 30 kW facility is coming any time soon...despite its approval one year ago.

You'd figure that if this was the case, WJW would trumpet it loudly. But word that a facility improvement is in the works isn't found anywhere we can see on the Fox 8 website.

The latest word on DTV on Fox8.com is in this article promising "New DTV info" for viewers, which basically amounts to a procedure meant to "unstick" the previous WJW-DT facility on digital 31 from converters boxes and tuners. That does indeed happen, depending on the tuner, and it looks to be a solid procedure to clear out the converter box's memory.

But...the web article contains nothing about a power increase.

If WJW has talked about it on "Fox 8 News" or anywhere, we haven't seen it. There are just 24 hours in a day, and we can't watch every single local newscast.

The problems receiving WJW have made both major local newspapers, and have been talked about extensively right here on the OMW Blog Network. (Hey, that's a pretty good name for the OMW and ODTV combo...too bad we didn't think about it back in April!)

Again, if WJW was in the process of upgrading, and putting its modified construction permit on the air, one would think they'd say something about it...if only to give viewers who've lost the station over the air, some even in Cuyahoga and Summit counties, some hope for the near future.

As such, we can't even speculate that the situation will change soon...though on FCC paper, it looks like the path is still there.

The 30 kW CP MOD, as it's called, specifies a June 12, 2009 expiration date...but we don't think that means anything for such facilities. It clearly shows up a "post-transition" permit, which is why we think the date is automatic and doesn't mean anything. We could be wrong.

Anyway, if anyone at South Marginal is reading this, that's a hint.

You may or may not like us, but if we're wrong, you have to set us straight...and more importantly, notify your lost viewers that an increase in power should help bring back reliable reception for areas in your primary coverage area that can't receive Fox 8 over the air. Your obligation is to them, not us.

And as for those viewers, you have an obligation, too.

You need to call WJW, and tell them you can't receive their signal, even in a traditionally strong signal area. You need to complain, and make your voice heard. When you can't pick up a station, even in areas as close as Shaker Heights (in Cuyahoga County, at last check), the converter box does not notify the station.

Be prepared for the "you don't have the right antenna" speech, and at least have a modest indoor VHF/UHF combo antenna in place.

Tell them that you're a 10 minute drive down I-480 from Parma, and that you should reasonably expect not to have to mount a roof antenna up there on your home for a station that you could pick up with a paperclip back when it was on digital RF channel 31.

And yes, tell them you've read that they are not operating with their maximized FCC power of 30 kW, and ask them why not.

Or, do nothing, and hope that the folks at Local TV get the message when WJW starts losing ratings points compared to stronger local competitors.

OK, so that last one is a bit of hyperbole, as the Cleveland market has about 80%-ish cable/satellite penetration. Those folks (we're certainly in that 80%) have not lost WJW or any other over-air local station.

But anyone who watches the local TV ratings wars knows that WJW, WKYC, WOIO and WEWS fight like junkyard dogs over slim ratings margins. Even if the DTV over-air only audience in Northeast Ohio is only about 20 percent, every viewer counts.

We repeat, if a power increase is coming for their over-air signal, WJW needs to tell viewers, now.

Our only "ray of hope" on this is that the 30 kW increase would happen sooner rather than later, and WJW is just hoping that viewers will keep rescanning their converter boxes or tuners, find it, and be happy. But if viewers couldn't pick up the new signal to begin with, it won't magically appear when the power increases.

If we're wrong, we need to be corrected. But we have reason to believe that even outside the FCC records we've cited, we are correct about the 11 kW power level that WJW is currently using on digital channel 8...

WCPZ Moving A Bit South

This one is another that fell out of our "we meant to get to it" files...from a couple of weeks back.

BAS Broadcasting hot AC WCPZ/102.7 Sandusky, still known by its old Clear Channel moniker of "Mix 102.7", has filed an application to move a few miles south and maximize its power.

Long-time friend and colleague and World Champion Tower Hunter Scott Fybush at NorthEast Radio Watch gave us the heads up on this proposal, which would land 102.7's new facility on the tower of Christian Faith Broadcasting religious combo WGGN-FM 97.7/WGGN-TV 52 about six miles to the southwest of the current WCPZ tower, which is at the legendary "quonset hut" studios in the heart of Sandusky.

(Without checking, we believe the WGGN site holds the analog antenna for the TV 52 side of WGGN, along with the pre-transition digital antenna, and that the TV station's new post-transition digital facility is further east in an attempt to serve more of the Cleveland market. The TV facilities on the original tower will presumably be taken dark a week from Friday.)

The move would change WCPZ/102.7's facilities from 134 feet above average terrain/50 kW to 659 feet (!!)/18 kW, a move that would expand the signal somewhat to the south...providing much better coverage of places like Fremont and Norwalk and the U.S. 20 corridor, and even as far south as nearly Ashland.

And for WCPZ's current owner, BAS Broadcasting, that makes a lot of sense. BAS owns stations like WFRO/99.1 "Eagle 99.1" Fremont, and the facility change makes WCPZ more powerful in the area that BAS calls "The Quint Counties" in its marketing material. The station's expanded signal would continue to cover the area along Lake Erie pretty much as it does now, and would continue to afford protection to Mount Clemens MI's WHTD via a directional notch.

One could presume that the 102.7 move south wasn't pursued by previous owner Clear Channel for a variety of reasons - not the least of which is potential overlap with the company's Toledo cluster...