Waiting For Shoes To Drop

This is an item filled with mostly some random items, much of the content from outside the immediate Cleveland/Akron/Canton area.

But as they say, "stay tuned".

The rumblings surrounding pending major moves at one local TV news operation are very loud...so loud you could probably hear them while standing on, oh, just to pick a street totally out of random, Lakeside Avenue in downtown Cleveland.

What we're hearing will probably surprise you, and not just because of any names involved, or for that matter, not involved.

We're thisclose to nailing down all the details, which are bouncing around the rumor mill at all the other local TV newsrooms as well. We expect to have details later today.

Meanwhile...elsewhere...

FIRED OUT: We don't know how we missed this, but a local non-commercial radio station has been knocked off the air. And this time, no digitized pictures are involved.

An OMW reader passes word that Case Western Reserve University's station, WRUW/91.1 Cleveland, has been silenced over the air - offering its programming only via Internet stream - since a high-profile fire at its transmitter site.

From WRUW.org:

The station's transmitter is located on top of an apartment building in East Cleveland. Around 12:00 noon on Saturday, November 22, an electrical fire broke out on the sixth floor of the building, forcing evacuation of over 400 residents of the 27-story building. There appears to be smoke and water damage to the building.

The staff of WRUW hopes to resume normal over-the-air broadcasts when power is restored to the building. At the present time, it is unknown how long until we can turn our transmitter back on.

And yes, as far as we know, that's the same apartment building fire that has been featured on local TV newscasts the past few days - unless there's another 27 story apartment high-rise in East Cleveland that also caught on fire recently.

We don't know if WRUW's signal has returned yet (we aren't currently within its signal range), even though some residents may be back in their apartments.

But, we got the idea from a brief TV news report that the power situation may not be permanently resolved, and we'll assume WRUW won't be able to return to the air until things are no longer temporary.

In the meantime, the CWRU station continues uninterrupted online, via its 56Kbps and 128Kbps Internet streaming audio feed...

A "FREQY" CHRISTMAS: Here's a surprise entrant for your Ohio Christmas Music Stations list.

It's Beacon Broadcasting WRTK/1540 Niles, the long-time gospel daytimer now under the control of the Glunt World Broadcasting Empire. (For those who haven't kept track, "Glunt" is Harold Glunt, the steel supply company magnate who took over Beacon Broadcasting's five Mahoning/Shenango Valley stations some time back.)

OMW hears that WRTK recently dumped the "Rejoice - Musical Soul Food" satellite gospel format (formerly an ABC Radio Networks product, now on its own), and is now playing a curious mix of pop Christmas tunes and occasional Christmas music from the R&B music world.

An OMW reader also tells us that the WRTK Christmas music is being promoted over on WRTK's sister classic hits station, Warren's WANR/1570.

The header for this sub-item is no joke, as the Christmas music format is being promoted as "Freq 1540". "Freq" is an abbreviation for "Frequency" (not "Freak"), we assume, as Beacon uses it as the station name for sister Christian rocker WEXC/107.1 Greenville PA ("Freq 107").

At this point, we have no word what'll happen on the Mahoning Valley's 1540 after, well, the last hall is decked and after Santa's sleigh pulls away from Niles for good.

If we had to bet, we'd put $10 on a return of "Rejoice - Musical Soul Food" after the 25th...

SALE DONE: A radio station sale in western Ohio is on the books.

Blanchard River Broadcasting reports the closing of its purchase of former Clear Channel station WBUK/106.3 Ottawa, which has most recently been carrying Clear Channel's "Fox" classic rock format.

WBUK's call letters come from its previous incarnation as oldies "106.3 The Big Buck" in Clear Channel's Lima market cluster. When the company decided to keep the "Fox" format after selling WPFX/107.7 North Baltimore to BAS Broadcasting, it moved the rock to 106.3. (BAS, of course, later flipped WPFX to Dan Dudley's "Toledo Radio", and 107.7 is still silent as the new owners seek a new facility to house it.)

But Clear Channel knew the Fox-to-106.3 move would be temporary, as WBUK was one of the very first small market stations it tabbed to be sold. WBUK was actually transferred into the Aloha Station Trust holding company, where Blanchard River picked it up for a reported $500,000.

Whatever Blanchard River does with WBUK, it'll be likely aimed at Findlay. The station just southeast of Ottawa is roughly an equal rimshot to both Findlay and Lima, but Blanchard River is the radio arm of Findlay Publishing.

In addition to owning the daily newspaper in Findlay (the "Findlay Courier"), the Findlay Publishing/Blanchard River folks also already own the city's two main radio stations - talk WFIN/1330 and rock WKXA/100.5...

Western Ohio CC Station Sold

Though there's absolutely no word (or even strong rumor) about the fate of a big Northeast Ohio Clear Channel station spun off into the "Aloha Station Trust", another of the company's stations in Western Ohio is indeed headed for a new owner.

That would be WBUK/106.3 Ottawa, the Findlay-Lima market rimshot that picked up the oldies "Buck" format from the Lima market's 107.5 (now rock WZRX/107.5 Fort Shawnee "X107-5").

But WBUK has most recently been classic rock "The Fox", a moniker and format it picked up from another Clear Channel spinoff in the region, WPFX/107.7 North Baltimore. (At last check, after a brief time as AC "My 107.7" and a sale to BAS Broadcasting, the latter is still silent, pending its takeover by Toledo Radio's Dan Dudley and company.)

Your winning buyer for WBUK is Blanchard River Broadcasting, which owns Findlay's talk WFIN/1330 and rock WKXA/100.5, and is an arm of Findlay Publishing, which owns the city's daily newspaper "The Findlay Courier".

That sounds like a media monopoly. But the company's radio stations do get competition from places like Fostoria, where AC WBVI/96.7 "Mix 96.7" aims at Findlay, or Tiffin, where country powerhouse WCKY/103.7 "103-7 CKY" booms into Findlay.

Whew. More than you ever wanted to know about the Findlay media scene, in just two sentences!

WBUK was an early station tabbed for sale by Clear Channel, an early entrant into the Aloha Trust list. And in fact, it was actually one of those stations that was supposed to go to former PAX TV executive Dean Goodman's "GoodRadio.TV", then was to be spun off from there into its own trust for supposed future sale.

None of that ever happened, as "GoodRadio.TV"'s planned acquisition of a boatload of small market Clear Channel stations fell apart. So, WBUK remained with Clear Channel, until it was flipped into Aloha recently.

Speaking of that Aloha Station Trust, of course, the station we mention at the top of this item is still "in there" - top 40 WAKS/96.5 Akron, otherwise known as Clear Channel's Cleveland market "Kiss FM" outlet. No word on any possible buyers, or the future disposition of 96.5, at this time...and it continues to operate as usual from Clear Channel's cluster on Oak Tree...

Clear Channel Spins Five To BAS

AllAccess reports this afternoon that Clear Channel has spun off five stations in its Sandusky and Findlay/Tiffin clusters to local operator BAS Broadcasting. The move has been long rumored, and even hinted about here among recent news from that region.

The stations listed are CC's Sandusky cluster stations - sports WLEC/1450 "Sports Radio Sandusky", AC WCPZ/102.7 "Mix 102.7", and classic rock WMJK/100.9 Clyde "The Coast", along with WTTF/1600 Tiffin and one of its clustermates, the recently changed WPFX/107.7 North Baltimore, now AC outlet "My 107.7".

The move puts the entire Clear Channel Sandusky cluster under BAS, and two of Clear Channel's Findlay/Tiffin cluster stations in the company's hands as well.

But...note what's NOT on the list, and it's a big one: country WCKY-FM/103.7 Tiffin, which recently reimaged as "103-7 CKY" after years as "Buckeye Country".

We mentioned it very recently...when former WSPD/1370 Toledo talk host Denny Schaffer started his new Sunday morning music-and-commentary show, crafted with computerized, pre-recorded care from Denny's current home in the Atlanta area. (By the way, the music in the show? The songs weren't from WCKY's country playlist, but Christian contemporary hits provided by Denny himself.)

Since the BAS rumor has been kicking around a while, let us pull another from the unverified rumor mill. Some are wondering if Clear Channel - or another potential buyer - will nudge 103.7's signal just far enough north to make it a viable Toledo rimshot station.

We're not all that familiar with the region, but the signal right now is apparently better than we thought. But as pointed out by a local radio wag there, there would have to be a major effort - if not signal move - to make the station a serious Toledo player.

If there's another possible buyer for WCKY-FM that wishes to turn it into a Toledo-focused station, that'd be interesting. Of course, Clear Channel would have to be OK with the move, as it would bring another competitive outlet against its existing stations.

Perhaps a format operator that doesn't compete with Clear Channel, like a religious broadcaster, would be the player there. Since there's some question just how far 103.7 can move closer to Toledo, if at all, a religious operator would be much more willing to deal with a far rimshot signal.

Or, the company itself could hang onto it and have it serve some sort of "flanker" purpose alongside the existing CC Toledo stations.

This is enough speculation to make one queasy, so we remind you that we're just pointing out what we see as possibilities. None of this is backed by fact. We're just moving the chess pieces around in our collective heads.

BAS Broadcasting already has two stations in the region where it's buying the above stations - one being AC WFRO/99.1 "Eagle 99" out of Fremont. "Eagle 99" is pumping out ABC/Citadel's full-time satellite format "Hits and Favorites", with some fairly active coverage of local sports squeezed in there.

WFRO used to be WFRO-FM, before the station split from its former and historic AM sister station. That outlet was spun to ABC Radio, which ran it for a short time as an ESPN Radio outlet before shuttering the AM for good...to make way for the company's new Radio Disney move-in for the Detroit market.

BAS also owns oldies outlet WOHF/92.1 Bellevue "92.1 The Wolf", which runs ABC/Citadel's "Pure Gold"/"Oldies Radio" format, rimshotting Sandusky and Fremont.

Slightly closer to the OMW World Headquarters, BAS owns the former Clear Channel stations in Mount Vernon, standards WMVO/1300 and AC WQIO/93.7 "Eagle 93.7" - which, as you'd expect from the name, runs the very same ABC/Citadel 24/7 format as WFRO...

Findlay And Lima Changes Monday?

OMW is hearing that some changes on the radio dial are about to take place on Clear Channel radio stations in the Findlay and Lima areas.

It starts with a brief official announcement on the website of Findlay-based classic rocker WFPX/107.7 North Baltimore OH "107.7 The Fox":

"Catch us on the dial at 106.3 on Monday!"

That's all it says.

106.3 in the region is currently oldies WBUK/106.3 Ottawa OH "The Big Buck", which pumps out mostly satellite-fed oldies...and is headquartered at Clear Channel in Lima.

"The Fox" targets Findlay from its location just east of that western Ohio city, and "The Big Buck" is a class A rimshot that touches both Findlay and Lima on the fringes of its signal coming out of a tower between those cities.

Clear Channel Findlay/Tiffin recently advertised to hire a program director for a new adult contemporary outlet in their cluster.

Add that with this new website an OMW reader in the region pointed out for "My 107.7" - a virtual clone of the "look and feel" of sister Canton market AC outlet WHOF/101.7 North Canton "My 101.7" - and the pieces seem to fit together for changes as soon as Monday.

We'd expect the new "My 107.7" AC format to displace "The Fox" classic rock format on that frequency. A brief click of the site's "Listen Live" link would seem to confirm that...it brings up an error message tagged with the WPFX call letters.

In turn, the above announcement would place "The Fox" on 106.3 Ottawa, and unless Clear Channel Lima is making more changes to keep the oldies format going down there, "The Big Buck" would appear to be heading out.

None of this is confirmed by sources in the Findlay or Lima regions, by the way, aside from the above announcement of "The Fox's" format being heard on 106.3 on Monday.

That announcement is brief, and for all we know, "The Fox" will simulcast until the presumed AC format on 107.7 is ready. The wording on the WPFX website doesn't make it clear.

All of these stations are still in the Clear Channel fold, with the various changes to the company seemingly on hold.

The plan to take CC private in the hands of two private equity funds hasn't closed yet, and the once-proposed mass sale of small market stations ran into problems as well.

CC has managed to sell off some groups (Ashtabula, etc.), but with "GoodRadio" out of the picture as a large buyer of many of CC's small market clusters, the effort to sell the remaining groups targeted in Ohio and other states is going slowly. Some of these stations (including WBUK) were tabbed to go into the "Aloha Station Trust", but that hasn't happened yet, either.

So, for now, all of this is still in Clear Channel's court.

But, a question...if, for example, sales split the Lima and Findlay/Tiffin clusters to different companies...what happens, then? We'll just have to wait and see...