No, there's not really anything new going on in that Youngstown/Warren market cluster owned by Beacon Broadcasting, which is in the process of being bought by (say it with us, folks!) Warren steel supply magnate Harold Glunt.
But we neglected to mention this in our last update - you, too, can listen to the Internet feed that is apparently being used to send WANR/1570 Warren's self-described "family friendly" oldies programming to WLOA/1470 Farrell PA, and eventually on to puny WGRP/940 Greenville PA.
This brief webpage contains links to live audio from 1570 AM in most popular formats, including Windows Media Player, RealPlayer and MP3 streaming. It sounds, to OMW, similar in quality to the feed heard on WLOA a few days ago...so we access it carefully, lest we contribute to maxing out the number of audio streams available, and inadvertently take WLOA and WGRP off the air! ("Station Silenced By Internet Surfer", anyone?)
The web address is public, and we've heard it given out on the air by the station's midday jock, market veteran Ron Leader.
The audio quality is actually pretty good...we heard WANR/WLOA/WGRP/Whatever Station Is Aboard This Week afternoon driver Johnny Rogers today once again mentally adding 1470 and 940 to his on-air patter, which mostly referenced WANR. And the station still hasn't figured out that little FCC rule that requires them to do a legal ID for ALL the stations airing the programming, and is doing legal IDs for WANR alone. (The occasional frequency references and call letter mentions of WLOA and WGRP do not count, and as far as we know, the station is not automatically doing legal IDs for 1470 and 940...at least, we never heard them when we were out there.)
As far as we know, the only time the 1470 and 940 frequencies get legal IDs is during Pittsburgh Pirates broadcasts, which are run separate from 1570, and have an in-house staffer doing a recorded legal ID for those stations alone. Sorry, we know we're ranting...we'll leave the legal ID business to our good friend Brian at Toppy. But, will SOMEONE in the Mahoning Valley print this out and deliver it to the Courthouse Square studios in downtown Warren? Please? It's, all together now, "WANR Warren, WLOA Farrell, WGRP Greenville". Put that on the air once an hour, and you'll save Mr. Glunt a lot of FCC fines...
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Monday, September 12, 2005
OK, So NOW Bill Press' Show Has A Syndicator
As OMW does feel responsible for some of this, we continue to watch the radio career of Bill Press, the MSNBC commentator and former CNN "Crossfire" co-host who launched his liberal talk radio show in late May on Akron's WARF/1350 "Radio Free Ohio".
Radio and Records Online reports (along with AllAccess and other trade web sites) that Press' show is now officially being offered for syndication by Jones Radio, which has a hand in selling a number of talk shows, both liberal (P1's Ed Schultz and WYD Media Management's Stephanie Miller, both already on WARF) and otherwise (WSB/Cox's Neal Boortz and Clark Howard, the latter a fixture at news/talk WEOL/930 Elyria).
Press told OMW back in May that the show would air on Sirius Satellite Radio, which eventually did put it on its Sirius Left channel in late June, and would be offered to other over-air stations. But until the Sirius debut, Akron's WARF was the only outlet for his program...so much so that Press' on-air presentation only referred to the local liberal talk outlet in that first month.
After Sirius picked up the show, Press managed to sell his own program to two other outlets, KRXA in the Monterey/Salinas/Santa Cruz, CA market, and KKNS-FM in Missoula, MT. His radio show website now also mentions a station in Chattanooga, TN, recent liberal talk convert WDOD. One presumes Jones - noted for its aggressive sales representatives - will be able to get him in larger markets than Akron at some point.
Oddly enough, despite that history, R&R's story makes it sound like they haven't started it yet. Sounds like a press release rewrite to us...
Radio and Records Online reports (along with AllAccess and other trade web sites) that Press' show is now officially being offered for syndication by Jones Radio, which has a hand in selling a number of talk shows, both liberal (P1's Ed Schultz and WYD Media Management's Stephanie Miller, both already on WARF) and otherwise (WSB/Cox's Neal Boortz and Clark Howard, the latter a fixture at news/talk WEOL/930 Elyria).
Press told OMW back in May that the show would air on Sirius Satellite Radio, which eventually did put it on its Sirius Left channel in late June, and would be offered to other over-air stations. But until the Sirius debut, Akron's WARF was the only outlet for his program...so much so that Press' on-air presentation only referred to the local liberal talk outlet in that first month.
After Sirius picked up the show, Press managed to sell his own program to two other outlets, KRXA in the Monterey/Salinas/Santa Cruz, CA market, and KKNS-FM in Missoula, MT. His radio show website now also mentions a station in Chattanooga, TN, recent liberal talk convert WDOD. One presumes Jones - noted for its aggressive sales representatives - will be able to get him in larger markets than Akron at some point.
Oddly enough, despite that history, R&R's story makes it sound like they haven't started it yet. Sounds like a press release rewrite to us...
Starting The Week With Odds and Ends
OMW was still in the area, but mostly away from the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) due to an influx of our out of town friends for a big gathering in Cleveland. But, there are some small bits of news and rumblings on our plate as we return this Monday:
* Early in his show last Wednesday afternoon, we heard WNIR/100.1 afternoon talk host Bob Golic doing the show via a regular telephone line on "The Talk of Akron". That's not new for Golic, who has occasionally done this while he's away from the WNIR studios along Route 59 between Kent and Ravenna. His Saturday afternoon show is often done via phone from Southern California, or recently, from wherever the Cleveland Browns are playing. One of these days, Kaiser Bill and company will discover the magic of modern broadcast technology that makes regular phone lines sound nearly broadcast quality, but we digress...
When he mentioned it Wednesday, Golic said he was a little "under the weather", and it sounded for all the world like he was doing the show from his home.
This is only brought up because OMW is hearing Golic may not have been on the air Thursday and Friday, and we're wondering A) if this was indeed the case, and B) if it was, why...if it was due to his self-mentioned illness, or if it was for other reasons we've heard from the local rumor mill, involving something that happened on the air last week.
Golic is back behind the WNIR microphone today as we update this blog, and was seen late last night as a regular member of WOIO/19's 11:15 PM Cleveland Browns show. Golic also took part in a WOIO event Sunday morning, during the station's early morning newscast. Whatever happened on Golic's WNIR show last week, it appears to be water under the proverbial bridge at this point. And he seems to be in a pretty good mood this afternoon, so if a ton of virtual bricks fell upon him, it doesn't appear to have taken a long-term toll.
* In our "At THIS hour?" category: After spending a late evening with our out-of-town friends Saturday, we flipped on the radio in the OMWMobile at 12:50 AM, to hear the dulcet tones of the one and only Mike Trivisonno doing the station's Indians post-game show on WTAM/1100.
Triv? On Saturday night/Sunday morning at nearly 1 AM? Listeners have heard the WTAM afternoon drive motormouth hype the Tribe's key Sunday night ESPN2 contest with the Minnesota Twins, to the point of prompting the team to offer $5 discount tickets for the game. (By the way, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that 20,000 of the low-priced "Triv" tickets were sold, driving the Sunday night crowd to some 38,000 people. And by the way again, the Indians won 12 to 4, with the entire OMW staff in attendance at Jacobs Field. Go Tribe!)
It's not the first time Triv has commanded the "Big One's" 50,000 watts late on a weekend night. OMW readers likely remember that he actually said he was going to be doing a regular Saturday night sports talk show, because he missed doing straight-ahead sports talk on the station's blowtorch late night signal. Of course, that lasted roughly two to three weeks.
We note that perhaps even a staffing issue prompted WTAM program director Ray Davis to bring Triv to Saturday night's post-game show...as weekend warrior and Indians beat reporter Mark Schwab was in Columbus, watching the Buckeyes choke, er, lose to the Texas Longhorns on Saturday. Weekender Mark Tromba was already busy doing both morning sports updates and "Weekend Sportsline" until 5 PM that day, and we're pretty sure Chad Krispinski (sp?) was in the mix earlier in the day as well...someone had to do the Indians post-game, which we believe is normally Schwabbie's on Kevin Keane's off days, so why not Triv, who'd been pumping the Sunday night game all week on the air, and enjoys doing straight sports talk?
It was fun to hear, at any rate, and we're not really big Triv fans here at your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm)...
* Early in his show last Wednesday afternoon, we heard WNIR/100.1 afternoon talk host Bob Golic doing the show via a regular telephone line on "The Talk of Akron". That's not new for Golic, who has occasionally done this while he's away from the WNIR studios along Route 59 between Kent and Ravenna. His Saturday afternoon show is often done via phone from Southern California, or recently, from wherever the Cleveland Browns are playing. One of these days, Kaiser Bill and company will discover the magic of modern broadcast technology that makes regular phone lines sound nearly broadcast quality, but we digress...
When he mentioned it Wednesday, Golic said he was a little "under the weather", and it sounded for all the world like he was doing the show from his home.
This is only brought up because OMW is hearing Golic may not have been on the air Thursday and Friday, and we're wondering A) if this was indeed the case, and B) if it was, why...if it was due to his self-mentioned illness, or if it was for other reasons we've heard from the local rumor mill, involving something that happened on the air last week.
Golic is back behind the WNIR microphone today as we update this blog, and was seen late last night as a regular member of WOIO/19's 11:15 PM Cleveland Browns show. Golic also took part in a WOIO event Sunday morning, during the station's early morning newscast. Whatever happened on Golic's WNIR show last week, it appears to be water under the proverbial bridge at this point. And he seems to be in a pretty good mood this afternoon, so if a ton of virtual bricks fell upon him, it doesn't appear to have taken a long-term toll.
* In our "At THIS hour?" category: After spending a late evening with our out-of-town friends Saturday, we flipped on the radio in the OMWMobile at 12:50 AM, to hear the dulcet tones of the one and only Mike Trivisonno doing the station's Indians post-game show on WTAM/1100.
Triv? On Saturday night/Sunday morning at nearly 1 AM? Listeners have heard the WTAM afternoon drive motormouth hype the Tribe's key Sunday night ESPN2 contest with the Minnesota Twins, to the point of prompting the team to offer $5 discount tickets for the game. (By the way, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that 20,000 of the low-priced "Triv" tickets were sold, driving the Sunday night crowd to some 38,000 people. And by the way again, the Indians won 12 to 4, with the entire OMW staff in attendance at Jacobs Field. Go Tribe!)
It's not the first time Triv has commanded the "Big One's" 50,000 watts late on a weekend night. OMW readers likely remember that he actually said he was going to be doing a regular Saturday night sports talk show, because he missed doing straight-ahead sports talk on the station's blowtorch late night signal. Of course, that lasted roughly two to three weeks.
We note that perhaps even a staffing issue prompted WTAM program director Ray Davis to bring Triv to Saturday night's post-game show...as weekend warrior and Indians beat reporter Mark Schwab was in Columbus, watching the Buckeyes choke, er, lose to the Texas Longhorns on Saturday. Weekender Mark Tromba was already busy doing both morning sports updates and "Weekend Sportsline" until 5 PM that day, and we're pretty sure Chad Krispinski (sp?) was in the mix earlier in the day as well...someone had to do the Indians post-game, which we believe is normally Schwabbie's on Kevin Keane's off days, so why not Triv, who'd been pumping the Sunday night game all week on the air, and enjoys doing straight sports talk?
It was fun to hear, at any rate, and we're not really big Triv fans here at your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm)...
Friday, September 09, 2005
"19 Action News" News Director Exits - Warning, Rant Ahead!
This has been around the rumor mill for a day or two, but the Plain Dealer's Julie Washington confirms it in this morning's PD. WOIO/WUAB "19 Action News" news director Steven Doerr is leaving the station at the end of the month, bound for a job with a research company in Dallas. (Doerr will be staying in the Cleveland area, though.)
Washington's article touches on what you'd expect - 19's swashbuckling style under Doerr, including the now-infamous "Body of Art" series featuring unclad anchor Sharon Reed... and also notes 19 hiring former WKBN/27 Youngstown anchor Catherine Bosley as a reporter. Like Reed, viewers saw a bit too much of Bosley after nude pictures of her at a Key West bar flew out over the Internet.
However, OMW would like to make a few comments here:
* Don't expect "19 Action News" to pull back from the edge, with Doerr's departure. The in-your-face tabloid style is clearly the creation of WOIO/WUAB VP/GM Bill Applegate, who's certainly not leaving. Anyone who watches Applegate's televised commentaries would know that. When WOIO was battling Cleveland mayor Jane Campbell's office, Applegate was right there, delivering a strong, impassioned defense of the station's right not to get "shut out of City Hall" by Her Honor. (And while we chuckled at the "We Were Thrown Out of City Hall!" promos, and while the Mayor generally has a right to run her press operations the way she wants, OMW generally thought Ms. Campbell was being petty in that situation.)
As far as a new ND goes - look for a hire along the lines of the former Cleveland Free Press editor who spent a turn in the "19 Action News" newsroom a while back. We're not saying "HIM", as OMW doesn't know why he's no longer there, but someone of that nature...fitting in with WOIO's style.
* We saw Catherine Bosley on "Action News" again yesterday, doing more field reporting. Though we did shed light on her past (even in this missive!), we'd like to "go positive" for a moment or two. Ms. Bosley does a fine job on the air, and despite that past, her hire was a Good Thing for "Action News". The situation which happened was an unfortunate series of events, and poor judgment on her part down in Florida, but it's long over with, and we don't believe Ms. Bosley should have to wear that like the proverbial albatross around her neck the rest of her TV news career.
However, her WOIO counterpart, Ms. Reed, made a conscious decision to do the "Body of Art" series, which her bosses likely instantly drooled over...and not for the nudity, but for the historic sweeps ratings which the series predictably delivered.
Yes, we know Sharon Reed continues to defend the series, and takes the journalistic moral high ground about her "first person" story. And it's not like we don't believe she feels she did the right thing.
But again, we remind her...if it had been WOIO reporter Paul Orlousky pitching a story about going naked at a world-famous photo shoot, he'd have been laughed out of the newsroom. (Or heck, they may have done it, but as a curiosity "look at our guy reporter going naked, ha ha!" funny piece...with a large amount of blurring.)
The series only got done because Sharon is an attractive young woman who shed her clothing on camera, and that combination fueled WOIO's ratings. And anyone who doubts that, need only be pointed to the promos the station ran incessantly - with the station's promo voice imploring viewers to "Watch Sharon Reed's Body...(pause, truck drives through, sun sets and rises again)...of Art!"...
Note, again, this is the station which had a male "regular Cleveland guy" voice on one of its promos talking about how anchor Denise Dufala was "easy on the eyes, if you know what I mean"...
OK, 19 Action News Rant Mode - off!
Washington's article touches on what you'd expect - 19's swashbuckling style under Doerr, including the now-infamous "Body of Art" series featuring unclad anchor Sharon Reed... and also notes 19 hiring former WKBN/27 Youngstown anchor Catherine Bosley as a reporter. Like Reed, viewers saw a bit too much of Bosley after nude pictures of her at a Key West bar flew out over the Internet.
However, OMW would like to make a few comments here:
* Don't expect "19 Action News" to pull back from the edge, with Doerr's departure. The in-your-face tabloid style is clearly the creation of WOIO/WUAB VP/GM Bill Applegate, who's certainly not leaving. Anyone who watches Applegate's televised commentaries would know that. When WOIO was battling Cleveland mayor Jane Campbell's office, Applegate was right there, delivering a strong, impassioned defense of the station's right not to get "shut out of City Hall" by Her Honor. (And while we chuckled at the "We Were Thrown Out of City Hall!" promos, and while the Mayor generally has a right to run her press operations the way she wants, OMW generally thought Ms. Campbell was being petty in that situation.)
As far as a new ND goes - look for a hire along the lines of the former Cleveland Free Press editor who spent a turn in the "19 Action News" newsroom a while back. We're not saying "HIM", as OMW doesn't know why he's no longer there, but someone of that nature...fitting in with WOIO's style.
* We saw Catherine Bosley on "Action News" again yesterday, doing more field reporting. Though we did shed light on her past (even in this missive!), we'd like to "go positive" for a moment or two. Ms. Bosley does a fine job on the air, and despite that past, her hire was a Good Thing for "Action News". The situation which happened was an unfortunate series of events, and poor judgment on her part down in Florida, but it's long over with, and we don't believe Ms. Bosley should have to wear that like the proverbial albatross around her neck the rest of her TV news career.
However, her WOIO counterpart, Ms. Reed, made a conscious decision to do the "Body of Art" series, which her bosses likely instantly drooled over...and not for the nudity, but for the historic sweeps ratings which the series predictably delivered.
Yes, we know Sharon Reed continues to defend the series, and takes the journalistic moral high ground about her "first person" story. And it's not like we don't believe she feels she did the right thing.
But again, we remind her...if it had been WOIO reporter Paul Orlousky pitching a story about going naked at a world-famous photo shoot, he'd have been laughed out of the newsroom. (Or heck, they may have done it, but as a curiosity "look at our guy reporter going naked, ha ha!" funny piece...with a large amount of blurring.)
The series only got done because Sharon is an attractive young woman who shed her clothing on camera, and that combination fueled WOIO's ratings. And anyone who doubts that, need only be pointed to the promos the station ran incessantly - with the station's promo voice imploring viewers to "Watch Sharon Reed's Body...(pause, truck drives through, sun sets and rises again)...of Art!"...
Note, again, this is the station which had a male "regular Cleveland guy" voice on one of its promos talking about how anchor Denise Dufala was "easy on the eyes, if you know what I mean"...
OK, 19 Action News Rant Mode - off!
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Two New Cleveland Radio Job Openings
Picked off the Net News section, and the Jobs section, of AllAccess.com...
* Do you like WAKS/96.5 "KISS FM"'s "Valentine in the Morning" show so much you'd love to get paid to run it locally? OK, so maybe that's not the approach WAKS PD Dan Mason is using:
"CLEAR CHANNEL Top 40 WAKS/CLEVELAND local 'VALENTINE IN THE MORNING' show producer KATIE HUTCH exits for her hometown, BOSTON, to join CLEAR CHANNEL TOTAL TRAFFIC. If you have the goods to write and execute hourly news and weather reports, experience with NextGen is helpful, and are open to weekend airshifts for qualified candidates, send a sample news demo and aircheck to WAKS PD DAN MASON, 6200 Oak Tree Blvd., 4th Floor, INDEPENDENCE, OH 44131. No MP3s, please."
* Across the hall at CC World Domination HQ, new WMVX/106.5 "Mix 106.5" PD Don Hallett is looking for some on-air company for long-time morning team "Brian and Joe"...
"WMVX, Cleveland's MIX 106.5 would like to add a member to our morning show. Prior experience in mornings is preferred, but not required. This team has been together for 18 years. Would you like to join them for their next eighteen? Show us what you can bring to the table. Please, no email nor telephone calls. All applications will be reviewed. Send your materials to Don Hallett, Clear Channel, 6200 Oak Tree Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44131. Clear Channel is an equal opportunity employer."
Of course, earlier, Infinity hot AC WQAL/104.1 Cleveland needs not only a new PM driver (and possible APD), but has also been looking for part-timers. And Rubber City Radio standards WAKR/1590 Akron posted a new midday/music director position here a while back, though that post may or may not be filled by a former WMJI'er...
With the rest of our professional life on permanent hold, too bad OMW doesn't have any music radio tapes in our collection...
* Do you like WAKS/96.5 "KISS FM"'s "Valentine in the Morning" show so much you'd love to get paid to run it locally? OK, so maybe that's not the approach WAKS PD Dan Mason is using:
"CLEAR CHANNEL Top 40 WAKS/CLEVELAND local 'VALENTINE IN THE MORNING' show producer KATIE HUTCH exits for her hometown, BOSTON, to join CLEAR CHANNEL TOTAL TRAFFIC. If you have the goods to write and execute hourly news and weather reports, experience with NextGen is helpful, and are open to weekend airshifts for qualified candidates, send a sample news demo and aircheck to WAKS PD DAN MASON, 6200 Oak Tree Blvd., 4th Floor, INDEPENDENCE, OH 44131. No MP3s, please."
* Across the hall at CC World Domination HQ, new WMVX/106.5 "Mix 106.5" PD Don Hallett is looking for some on-air company for long-time morning team "Brian and Joe"...
"WMVX, Cleveland's MIX 106.5 would like to add a member to our morning show. Prior experience in mornings is preferred, but not required. This team has been together for 18 years. Would you like to join them for their next eighteen? Show us what you can bring to the table. Please, no email nor telephone calls. All applications will be reviewed. Send your materials to Don Hallett, Clear Channel, 6200 Oak Tree Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44131. Clear Channel is an equal opportunity employer."
Of course, earlier, Infinity hot AC WQAL/104.1 Cleveland needs not only a new PM driver (and possible APD), but has also been looking for part-timers. And Rubber City Radio standards WAKR/1590 Akron posted a new midday/music director position here a while back, though that post may or may not be filled by a former WMJI'er...
With the rest of our professional life on permanent hold, too bad OMW doesn't have any music radio tapes in our collection...
Katrina Relief: Northeast Ohio TV Fundraiser
The Cleveland Plain Dealer confirms the earlier reports of a local TV "roadblock", designed to raise money for Hurricane Katrina.
"Hurricane Katrina: Northern Ohio Responds" will indeed air on "most" local TV stations Friday from 7 to 8 PM. "Most" definitely includes all four major network affiliates (3/5/8/19), 19's UPN sister 43 and WBNX/55 "Cleveland's WB"...along with PBS affiliate WNEO/WEAO 45/49 out of the Akron area. Cleveland PBS affiliate WVIZ/25 will produce (and also air) the special, and local TV news anchors and personalities from all stations will once again - as they did for the similar tsunami relief special - host the show.
The simulcast of those local stations actually spreads into the 8-9 PM hour, as all broadcast networks will carry the national "Shelter from the Storm" Katrina fundraiser in that time slot.
There's still no word whether "i"/PAX TV O&O WVPX/23 will be along for the local special. It was last time, but was represented by local news anchor Eric Mansfield, whose WKYC/3-produced news program recently moved from that station to Time Warner's cable channel 23. Mansfield, at last check, was actually in the region as a National Guardsman, helping out in the Katrina aftermath. Without him or sub Joy Benedict on WVPX anymore, the station has no local air talent.
OMW also wonders why Kent-based MediaCom LPTV combo WAOH-LP 29 Akron/W35AX Cleveland ("The CAT") hasn't been involved in any of these specials. They've had relationships with local full-power network affiliates in the past, as they've run repeats of news programming from WOIO/19's "19 Action News". And if having talent on the air to help host is the question, surely they could spare someone from sister talk WNIR/100.1 (TV vet Bob Golic comes to mind). But OMW guesses that the full-power stations aren't exactly eager to give the LPTV combo even the slightest exposure in that hour slot, even during the cause of disaster relief. It's also possible the MediaCom folks just didn't ask.
Don't Say Mike Trivisonno Never Gave You Anything
NEWS FLASH! NEWS FLASH! OMW now takes this opportunity to say something nice about WTAM afternoon motormouth Mike Trivisonno. (By the way, don't blame us for that title... we are pretty sure it's an Ohio law that we have to call him that.)
Who knows how much of it is staged, but Triv badgered Cleveland Indians public relations chief Bob DiBiasio to get the team to sell $5 discount tickets to Sunday night's big nationally televised tilt (ESPN2) with the Minnesota Twins. The plan came to fruition Wednesday afternoon, when Triv and the gang broadcasted live from the plaza next to Jacobs Field to offer the discounted tickets. They said it'd end after Triv's show Wednesday, but during the evening's game broadcast, Indians broadcaster Tom Hamilton said Internet buyers could still get in on it.
If you're interested, it couldn't hurt to go to indians.com, and start the process to buy a ticket for Sunday night, entering the promotional code "TRIV" to get the $5 tickets. Again, we don't know how much of this happened behind the scenes as "radio theatre", but it's a good deal if you're a baseball fan.
And since we're in Triv-land, he's once again in the sights of the Plain Dealer's Roger Brown, for a crude, insensitive comment about the victims of Hurricane Katrina. In a "dog bites man" column on Monday, Mr. Brown calls attention to Triv's remarks about people who live in hurricane-prone areas. As Triv says, "If you live in 'Hurricane Alley,' should you really be surprised when there's a devastating hurricane?" Well, at least those planned 400 evacuees won't be coming to Cleveland after all, so they won't stumble over the WTAM loudmouth.
Again, as we noted the last time Triv got free ink for his insensitivity...it's like reporting that there are thunderstorms in Northeast Ohio in the summer.
Speaking of Katrina's victims, here's a reminder that the next two mornings, WTAM's morning team "Wills and Coleman" are scheduled to be at that very same location between Jacobs Field and Gund Arena. They'll be taking donations for the American Red Cross during a live 6 to 9 AM broadcast. Or, you can donate by clicking the banner just above this item...
Who knows how much of it is staged, but Triv badgered Cleveland Indians public relations chief Bob DiBiasio to get the team to sell $5 discount tickets to Sunday night's big nationally televised tilt (ESPN2) with the Minnesota Twins. The plan came to fruition Wednesday afternoon, when Triv and the gang broadcasted live from the plaza next to Jacobs Field to offer the discounted tickets. They said it'd end after Triv's show Wednesday, but during the evening's game broadcast, Indians broadcaster Tom Hamilton said Internet buyers could still get in on it.
If you're interested, it couldn't hurt to go to indians.com, and start the process to buy a ticket for Sunday night, entering the promotional code "TRIV" to get the $5 tickets. Again, we don't know how much of this happened behind the scenes as "radio theatre", but it's a good deal if you're a baseball fan.
And since we're in Triv-land, he's once again in the sights of the Plain Dealer's Roger Brown, for a crude, insensitive comment about the victims of Hurricane Katrina. In a "dog bites man" column on Monday, Mr. Brown calls attention to Triv's remarks about people who live in hurricane-prone areas. As Triv says, "If you live in 'Hurricane Alley,' should you really be surprised when there's a devastating hurricane?" Well, at least those planned 400 evacuees won't be coming to Cleveland after all, so they won't stumble over the WTAM loudmouth.
Again, as we noted the last time Triv got free ink for his insensitivity...it's like reporting that there are thunderstorms in Northeast Ohio in the summer.
Speaking of Katrina's victims, here's a reminder that the next two mornings, WTAM's morning team "Wills and Coleman" are scheduled to be at that very same location between Jacobs Field and Gund Arena. They'll be taking donations for the American Red Cross during a live 6 to 9 AM broadcast. Or, you can donate by clicking the banner just above this item...
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
It's a Land of Glunt, Again
It's been a while since we've spent a lot of time watching the moves of Beacon Broadcasting, the Youngstown/Warren-market based mini-chain coming under the control of Warren steel supply magnate Harold Glunt...but there are some changes to talk about in Glunt Land.
As first tipped on OMW, Beacon's three current AM stations are now simulcasting a locally-originated oldies format, which comes out of the company's WANR/1570 Warren. In fact, it's the very same format, and personalities, that WANR ran solo until this week, while WLOA/1470 Farrell PA was off running jockless oldies on its own as "Wexy 107", along with the occasional presence of WGRP/940 Greenville PA. And of course, this being Beacon Broadcasting, the "Wexy 107" meant nothing other than the frequency of the former owner of the format, WEXC/107.1 Greenville PA, which is now Christian rocker "Freq 107".
You've heard that before, we trust.
Now, all of Beacon's AM Empire is together, all three stations, simulcasting with live air personalities including Johnny Rogers (afternoons) and Ron Leader (middays). In our shot at hearing the format, on Rogers' shift, he still seemed unsure about the new combination, and was getting used to adding the other two stations to 1570's mentions. And the three station combo has new, professionally voiced liners. It'd be nice, however, if they came up with A NAME for it!
Nope, no name here. Instead, it's, and we're Not Making This Up, "1570, 1470 and 940... your Family Friendly Frequencies!" Honest. Each liner started with all three frequencies, and no name for the actual "sum of the parts". Of course, it's interesting to hear the "family friendly" moniker used around songs like "Shake Your Booty" and "Kiss You All Over", but maybe those songs are nearly quaint by 2005 standards?
As for WGRP/940...it must be operating day and night on the station's puny 2 watt night authorization. Since we could not hear 940 in the OMW mobile in the Sharon/Hermitage area, we did drive north into Greenville, and the station didn't start getting listenable until just under 5 miles south of its city of license. And even in Greenville itself, the 940 signal was fighting with all sorts of electrical static, which didn't go away until...about 2 blocks from the transmitting site. (Our eagle eyed contingent did not see what temporary wire setup WGRP may be using, but we didn't have World Champion Tower Hunter Scott Fybush along for this ride. We'll submit pictures to him later.)
The WLOA/1470 version of the new simulcast sounded like it was coming from a moderate quality Internet feed, as it was somewhat muffled, and was roughly 45 seconds behind the "live" feed out of WANR/1570. 1470 and 940 are hooked up directly, so there would be no further delay in that chain. OMW has no idea where either 940 or 1470 is being operated from, as there didn't appear to be a live operator in the station's abandoned-looking building on McCracken Road just south of downtown Greenville...but someone's somewhere, because 1470 and 940 split from the simulcast to run the Pittsburgh Pirates, as 1570 continued in the oldies, automated, we presume at that point of the evening. The split wasn't without audio pain, as we heard a combination of baseball and low-volume oldies on 1470 until the board op heard it at the break...but we are talking about Beacon here, aren't we?
The soon-to-be fourth AM station in Harold Glunt's pocket is WRTK/1540 Niles. At this time, despite his filing to purchase the station from D & E Communications, WRTK is still running its urban-oriented format.
There's no word if WRTK will turn that really long liner into a "Four Family Frequencies" one ("1570, 1470, 940, AND 1540!"), or if the station will bother to add WRTK, WLOA and WGRP to the WANR legal ID. A word of advice to anyone watching from radio studios along Courthouse Square - you'd better fix that one quick, as it can be very costly, and Mr. Glunt has already dropped a chunk of change on the stations. Here, we'll help:
WANR Warren
WLOA Farrell
WGRP Greenville
Feel free to print this out and read it into a microphone. Oh, and add "WRTK Niles" if needed. OMW won't charge consultant fees for this one.
As first tipped on OMW, Beacon's three current AM stations are now simulcasting a locally-originated oldies format, which comes out of the company's WANR/1570 Warren. In fact, it's the very same format, and personalities, that WANR ran solo until this week, while WLOA/1470 Farrell PA was off running jockless oldies on its own as "Wexy 107", along with the occasional presence of WGRP/940 Greenville PA. And of course, this being Beacon Broadcasting, the "Wexy 107" meant nothing other than the frequency of the former owner of the format, WEXC/107.1 Greenville PA, which is now Christian rocker "Freq 107".
You've heard that before, we trust.
Now, all of Beacon's AM Empire is together, all three stations, simulcasting with live air personalities including Johnny Rogers (afternoons) and Ron Leader (middays). In our shot at hearing the format, on Rogers' shift, he still seemed unsure about the new combination, and was getting used to adding the other two stations to 1570's mentions. And the three station combo has new, professionally voiced liners. It'd be nice, however, if they came up with A NAME for it!
Nope, no name here. Instead, it's, and we're Not Making This Up, "1570, 1470 and 940... your Family Friendly Frequencies!" Honest. Each liner started with all three frequencies, and no name for the actual "sum of the parts". Of course, it's interesting to hear the "family friendly" moniker used around songs like "Shake Your Booty" and "Kiss You All Over", but maybe those songs are nearly quaint by 2005 standards?
As for WGRP/940...it must be operating day and night on the station's puny 2 watt night authorization. Since we could not hear 940 in the OMW mobile in the Sharon/Hermitage area, we did drive north into Greenville, and the station didn't start getting listenable until just under 5 miles south of its city of license. And even in Greenville itself, the 940 signal was fighting with all sorts of electrical static, which didn't go away until...about 2 blocks from the transmitting site. (Our eagle eyed contingent did not see what temporary wire setup WGRP may be using, but we didn't have World Champion Tower Hunter Scott Fybush along for this ride. We'll submit pictures to him later.)
The WLOA/1470 version of the new simulcast sounded like it was coming from a moderate quality Internet feed, as it was somewhat muffled, and was roughly 45 seconds behind the "live" feed out of WANR/1570. 1470 and 940 are hooked up directly, so there would be no further delay in that chain. OMW has no idea where either 940 or 1470 is being operated from, as there didn't appear to be a live operator in the station's abandoned-looking building on McCracken Road just south of downtown Greenville...but someone's somewhere, because 1470 and 940 split from the simulcast to run the Pittsburgh Pirates, as 1570 continued in the oldies, automated, we presume at that point of the evening. The split wasn't without audio pain, as we heard a combination of baseball and low-volume oldies on 1470 until the board op heard it at the break...but we are talking about Beacon here, aren't we?
The soon-to-be fourth AM station in Harold Glunt's pocket is WRTK/1540 Niles. At this time, despite his filing to purchase the station from D & E Communications, WRTK is still running its urban-oriented format.
There's no word if WRTK will turn that really long liner into a "Four Family Frequencies" one ("1570, 1470, 940, AND 1540!"), or if the station will bother to add WRTK, WLOA and WGRP to the WANR legal ID. A word of advice to anyone watching from radio studios along Courthouse Square - you'd better fix that one quick, as it can be very costly, and Mr. Glunt has already dropped a chunk of change on the stations. Here, we'll help:
WANR Warren
WLOA Farrell
WGRP Greenville
Feel free to print this out and read it into a microphone. Oh, and add "WRTK Niles" if needed. OMW won't charge consultant fees for this one.
Katrina Relief: Radio One's Efforts
(The above banner will appear above every OMW news item about Hurricane Katrina relief. It's clickable, and will take you to an online donation form at the American Red Cross.)
Radio One's Cleveland cluster - WZAK/93.1, WENZ/107.9, WJMO/1490 and WERE/1300 - has held its own Katrina relief radiothon...a 16 hour effort that started Tuesday morning at 6 AM. Radio and Records Online reports that "at the Randall Park Mall lot in North Randall, OH, station staffers (accepted) donations of items including gift cards from gas-station gift cards, discount stores like Target and Wal-mart and restaurants, along with phone cards and such basic supplies as water, clothing and food. The donations will be sent to New Orleans." R&R also calls Radio One Cleveland a "three-station" cluster. We'll forgive them, though...it's easy to forget brokered talk WERE when you're counting stations, even if its call letters are in the story...
WKYC/3 reported this morning that the effort raised $85,000, and filled 3 buses, a tractor-trailer and other vehicles.
"Studio 3" Exits at WKYC/3, "Good Company" Enters
OMW happened to be watching WKYC's midday magazine program "Studio 3", which is hosted by Cleveland TV veteran Fred Griffith and WKYC morning weather anchor Hollie Strano.
They noted on the air today that this is the last week for "Studio 3", and that starting next week, a new midday show called "Good Company" will air from 10 AM to 11 AM. From the description, it sounded like an expanded version of "Studio 3", and we'll assume that Griffith will host it as well... as he pointed to himself while talking about the new show. Undetermined - the status of WKYC's 11 AM half-hour newscast, and what program will replace "Studio 3" in the 11:30 AM slot...
UPDATE: We've been pointed to a Plain Dealer article a while back, which confirms all of the above. The popular Strano won't be aboard due to workload issues, and joining Griffith will be "Average Joe" contestant and occasional "Studio 3" contributor Michael Cardamone, along with producer Andrea Vecchio...who will continue to contribute entertainment reports for the new show. WKYC swipes back "Access Hollywood" from WBNX/55 for the 11:30-noon slot. We apologize for missing this one, as OMW doesn't subscribe to the Pain Feeler....er... Plain Dealer.
(If WKYC can pick from the Reality TV tree for talent, maybe a Pittsburgh station will pick up the likeable Matt Kennedy Gould, the original "Joe Schmo" [Spike TV] back a few years ago? While we're not big reality TV fans, aside from being obsessed with CBS' smart "The Amazing Race", the Pittsburgh-area native is a good guy and was fun to watch...but we digress. If you miss MKG like we do, try to endure Bravo's current "Battle of the Network Reality Stars" long enough to catch him... he was certainly enough to get us to endure Spike TV back then.)
They noted on the air today that this is the last week for "Studio 3", and that starting next week, a new midday show called "Good Company" will air from 10 AM to 11 AM. From the description, it sounded like an expanded version of "Studio 3", and we'll assume that Griffith will host it as well... as he pointed to himself while talking about the new show. Undetermined - the status of WKYC's 11 AM half-hour newscast, and what program will replace "Studio 3" in the 11:30 AM slot...
UPDATE: We've been pointed to a Plain Dealer article a while back, which confirms all of the above. The popular Strano won't be aboard due to workload issues, and joining Griffith will be "Average Joe" contestant and occasional "Studio 3" contributor Michael Cardamone, along with producer Andrea Vecchio...who will continue to contribute entertainment reports for the new show. WKYC swipes back "Access Hollywood" from WBNX/55 for the 11:30-noon slot. We apologize for missing this one, as OMW doesn't subscribe to the Pain Feeler....er... Plain Dealer.
(If WKYC can pick from the Reality TV tree for talent, maybe a Pittsburgh station will pick up the likeable Matt Kennedy Gould, the original "Joe Schmo" [Spike TV] back a few years ago? While we're not big reality TV fans, aside from being obsessed with CBS' smart "The Amazing Race", the Pittsburgh-area native is a good guy and was fun to watch...but we digress. If you miss MKG like we do, try to endure Bravo's current "Battle of the Network Reality Stars" long enough to catch him... he was certainly enough to get us to endure Spike TV back then.)
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
The I-77 Shuttle Is In Full Gear
OMW's hearing a LOT of rumblings about various local air personalities moving up and down Interstate 77.
Our first tidbit - the Local Rumor Mill(tm) tells us that oldies WMJI/105.7 "Majic 105.7" Cleveland's now-former midday personality Mike Ivers could land in the same time slot down in Akron, taking the opening at WAKR/1590 - recently posted right here on OMW - for a midday personality and music director. Along those lines, the move could very well mean that WAKR moves away from standards, and becomes more of a 50's/60's oldies outlet. With the migration of standards into soft AC, especially by satellite networks like WAKR's own Westwood One feed, this would seem to make sense, and Ivers could certainly deliver the oldies goods for WAKR.
A side note: Starting today, at Ivers' old home, afternoon driver Don "Action" Jackson picks up an extra hour on his shift...he's on the air now starting at 2 PM on "Majic 105.7". Presumably, this is so that Chuck Collier's midday WMJI voicetracks don't fill up as much hard drive space on Prophet NexGen...
Our second tidbit - it's very well possible that a Cleveland program director and an Akron/Canton area program director both had a hunger for sushi for lunch this afternoon, and both at the same time and place. Imagine that! Last we checked, downtown Cleveland is a bit far to drive just for sushi...they do have sushi places down this way, you know.
It'd be pointing out the obvious to note that the Cleveland station recently lost its afternoon drive personality, who's headed for a programming job elsewhere. Can you FIGure out what we're talking about? OMW hears that the open afternoon slot in Cleveland could come with APD stripes as well...
Oh, and part of the I-77 Shuttle that does not involve actual people...as first reported exclusively here on OMW, MediaCom talk WNIR/100.1 Kent/Akron has now joined up with the ABC Information Network for its hourly newscasts. But sister sports talk rimshot daytimer WJMP/1520 Kent ("Fox Sports 1520") is hanging onto the CBS newscasts that ran on WNIR for many, many years. We don't know if this is permanent, or if they just haven't gotten around to programming WJMP's automation computer....
Our first tidbit - the Local Rumor Mill(tm) tells us that oldies WMJI/105.7 "Majic 105.7" Cleveland's now-former midday personality Mike Ivers could land in the same time slot down in Akron, taking the opening at WAKR/1590 - recently posted right here on OMW - for a midday personality and music director. Along those lines, the move could very well mean that WAKR moves away from standards, and becomes more of a 50's/60's oldies outlet. With the migration of standards into soft AC, especially by satellite networks like WAKR's own Westwood One feed, this would seem to make sense, and Ivers could certainly deliver the oldies goods for WAKR.
A side note: Starting today, at Ivers' old home, afternoon driver Don "Action" Jackson picks up an extra hour on his shift...he's on the air now starting at 2 PM on "Majic 105.7". Presumably, this is so that Chuck Collier's midday WMJI voicetracks don't fill up as much hard drive space on Prophet NexGen...
Our second tidbit - it's very well possible that a Cleveland program director and an Akron/Canton area program director both had a hunger for sushi for lunch this afternoon, and both at the same time and place. Imagine that! Last we checked, downtown Cleveland is a bit far to drive just for sushi...they do have sushi places down this way, you know.
It'd be pointing out the obvious to note that the Cleveland station recently lost its afternoon drive personality, who's headed for a programming job elsewhere. Can you FIGure out what we're talking about? OMW hears that the open afternoon slot in Cleveland could come with APD stripes as well...
Oh, and part of the I-77 Shuttle that does not involve actual people...as first reported exclusively here on OMW, MediaCom talk WNIR/100.1 Kent/Akron has now joined up with the ABC Information Network for its hourly newscasts. But sister sports talk rimshot daytimer WJMP/1520 Kent ("Fox Sports 1520") is hanging onto the CBS newscasts that ran on WNIR for many, many years. We don't know if this is permanent, or if they just haven't gotten around to programming WJMP's automation computer....
Monday, September 05, 2005
Katrina Relief: Local TV and WSTB/Streetsboro
A reminder - it's easy to donate without even listening to the radio or watching TV. Don't wait for later this week. Click this very easy link above, and you can donate to the American Red Cross' Katrina Relief fund without even leaving your computer. It's that easy.
We can't find a lot of details on it - among other places, on the TV stations' own websites - but OMW hears that the Cleveland market's TV stations will do an hour fundraising special for Hurricane Katrina relief called "Northeast Ohio Responds", this coming Friday from 7-8 PM.
It's expected to be similar to a special which aired on all major Northeast Ohio TV stations, after the tsunami which hit southeast Asia. OMW assumes that Channels 3, 5, 8, 19, 25, 43, 45/49 and 55 will air the Katrina special, but we're not sure about WVPX/23...which is no longer being operated by WKYC/3. "23 News" anchor Eric Mansfield, who counts WKYC as his primary employer, represented "PAX 23" on that earlier special.
By the way, Eric's off the air again at "Akron/Canton News", and it's directly related to Katrina. His southwest Ohio-based National Guard unit has been called up to help in the aftermath of the hurricane. "Akron/Canton News" reporter Joy Benedict fills the anchor chair for Eric at 6:30 and 9 PM on Time Warner 23, as Mr. Mansfield once again capably serves his country. While we were looking for news on this, OMW noticed the absence of Akron-based reporter John Friess from the "Akron/Canton News" and WKYC websites...it appears WKYC's Vic Gideon is now taking that reporting slot.
GM Bob Long of Streetsboro-based alt-rock/oldies WSTB/88.9 checks in with OMW, and tells us that they'll be participating in the NAB's "Broadcast Unity Day" on Friday, September 9th. More details to come...
Katrina Relief: WTAM/1100 and Indians Event
OMW hasn't heard this on the air yet on the Big One, but this one IS a Big One.
The Cleveland Indians are the driving force in this effort to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, starting this Thursday morning at Jacobs Field. WTAM's involvement includes morning team "Wills and Coleman", who broadcast their show live from Gateway Plaza there Thursday and Friday, and will be collecting money for the American Red Cross' Katrina relief fund.
The team itself will also be collecting money during home games from September 8 through September 11. That last one is a big game - as the Tribe hosts the Minnesota Twins in a nationally televised tilt (ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball").
This press release from the Tribe details it. We reprint it, in full, below. It also mentions another Indians media partner, WEWS/5, but doesn't detail what NewsChannel 5 is doing in this particular effort...presumably, at least, Channel 5 will broadcast public service announcements about the effort.
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CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians today announced their plan, with the support of media partners WTAM and WEWS-TV5, to raise a minimum of $100,000 for the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts through monetary contributions from the Indians organization and Tribe fans.
The Indians have scheduled THREE (3) MONETARY COLLECTION DRIVES next week (September 8-11) in addition to the contributions made from the Indians Players and Organization:
WTAM WILLS & COLEMAN MORNING SHOW COLLECTION LIVE AT GATEWAY PLAZA SEPTEMBER 8 & 9 FROM 5AM-9AM
WTAM Wills and Coleman Morning Show to broadcast their entire show live from Gateway Plaza at Jacobs Field on September 8 & 9. From 5AM-9AM Tribe fans can come downtown to make monetary contributions. Fans making a cash donation will receive a "special thank you gift" from the Indians while supplies last. The collection booth will be located in front of the WTAM tent on Gateway Plaza. Fans can DRIVE their cars to the collection booth by accessing Gateway Plaza via Eagle Ave. off both Ontario St. and E. 9th St. in downtown Cleveland.
GAMEDAY COLLECTION DRIVE TO BE HELD INSIDE JACOBS FIELD DURING TRIBE HOME GAMES SEPTEMBER 8-11
The Indians plan to play host to a monetary collection drive inside Jacobs Field during their home games next week September 8-11. The collection drive will be run from the time gates open for each game until the 7th inning in two locations (Sections 157 & 541). Fans making a cash donation will receive a "special thank you gift" from the Indians while supplies last.
PROCEEDS FROM SEPTEMBER 10 SILENT AUCTION TO BENEFIT RED CROSS
All of the proceeds from CIC's upcoming Silent Auction on Saturday, September 10 to benefit the ARC Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. The auction, located on the main concourse at section 157, will feature an autographed team bat, a game used autographed base and other one of kind Indians memorabilia.
The Cleveland Indians are the driving force in this effort to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, starting this Thursday morning at Jacobs Field. WTAM's involvement includes morning team "Wills and Coleman", who broadcast their show live from Gateway Plaza there Thursday and Friday, and will be collecting money for the American Red Cross' Katrina relief fund.
The team itself will also be collecting money during home games from September 8 through September 11. That last one is a big game - as the Tribe hosts the Minnesota Twins in a nationally televised tilt (ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball").
This press release from the Tribe details it. We reprint it, in full, below. It also mentions another Indians media partner, WEWS/5, but doesn't detail what NewsChannel 5 is doing in this particular effort...presumably, at least, Channel 5 will broadcast public service announcements about the effort.
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CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians today announced their plan, with the support of media partners WTAM and WEWS-TV5, to raise a minimum of $100,000 for the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts through monetary contributions from the Indians organization and Tribe fans.
The Indians have scheduled THREE (3) MONETARY COLLECTION DRIVES next week (September 8-11) in addition to the contributions made from the Indians Players and Organization:
WTAM WILLS & COLEMAN MORNING SHOW COLLECTION LIVE AT GATEWAY PLAZA SEPTEMBER 8 & 9 FROM 5AM-9AM
WTAM Wills and Coleman Morning Show to broadcast their entire show live from Gateway Plaza at Jacobs Field on September 8 & 9. From 5AM-9AM Tribe fans can come downtown to make monetary contributions. Fans making a cash donation will receive a "special thank you gift" from the Indians while supplies last. The collection booth will be located in front of the WTAM tent on Gateway Plaza. Fans can DRIVE their cars to the collection booth by accessing Gateway Plaza via Eagle Ave. off both Ontario St. and E. 9th St. in downtown Cleveland.
GAMEDAY COLLECTION DRIVE TO BE HELD INSIDE JACOBS FIELD DURING TRIBE HOME GAMES SEPTEMBER 8-11
The Indians plan to play host to a monetary collection drive inside Jacobs Field during their home games next week September 8-11. The collection drive will be run from the time gates open for each game until the 7th inning in two locations (Sections 157 & 541). Fans making a cash donation will receive a "special thank you gift" from the Indians while supplies last.
PROCEEDS FROM SEPTEMBER 10 SILENT AUCTION TO BENEFIT RED CROSS
All of the proceeds from CIC's upcoming Silent Auction on Saturday, September 10 to benefit the ARC Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. The auction, located on the main concourse at section 157, will feature an autographed team bat, a game used autographed base and other one of kind Indians memorabilia.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Odds and Ends
Clearing out the files on this early Saturday morning:
* North American Broadcasting rocker WBZX/99.7 "Blitz" Columbus has dropped the syndicated Howard Stern show, citing an FCC investigation of the station due to things aired on Stern's show. Click here for an MP3 of the station's audio explanation of the situation. A locally-produced morning show will replace Stern. As far as how it affects Northeast Ohio, it means we won't have the fall ratings book to see how Cleveland's "Rover" (based at WXTM/92.3) does up against the last few months of Howard Stern, in a market outside Cleveland. The top morning, uh, dog at WXTM airs in Columbus on Infinity rocker WAZU/107.1, which is known as...and no, Northeast Ohio folks, we're not making this up..."The Big Wazoo".
* Back on the Beacon Broadcasting beat again...we hear that returned-silent-returned-silent WGRP/940 Greenville PA could be back up again in a couple of days. And when it does return, it'll likely once again simulcast the oldies format originating at Youngstown market rimshot WLOA/1470 Farrell PA. Only this time, we hear that WANR/1570 Warren may finally come along for the ride, and that the simulcast - presumably with some of the live air personalities that air on 1570 - will not carry the "Wexy 107" name. We'll see.
* OMW asked for input from stations which are doing benefits for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We've had precious few responses, though it is going into a holiday weekend. We do hear from AllAccess that Radio One gospel WJMO/1490 Cleveland is holding a blood - and financial - drive with help from the American Red Cross next Saturday, the 10th...it's called "The Praise 1490 Unity in the Community Day". And Clear Channel country WNCO/101.3 Ashland will hold a song auction next Tuesday, soliciting $5 donations for song requests all day...$10 for dedications.
We quite frankly hope the lack of response to our call is due to the Labor Day holiday weekend, and not due to the fact that Northeast Ohio stations aren't doing much in the drive to help Katrina's victims. We know that area program directors, on-air and off-air staffers and others read our words. And we're particularly proud that our former primary employer, in a market smaller than Akron or Canton, raised over a half-million dollars in just over a day between the cluster's 5 radio stations...we know that the people of Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown are generous folks, and we only expect the best here.
* North American Broadcasting rocker WBZX/99.7 "Blitz" Columbus has dropped the syndicated Howard Stern show, citing an FCC investigation of the station due to things aired on Stern's show. Click here for an MP3 of the station's audio explanation of the situation. A locally-produced morning show will replace Stern. As far as how it affects Northeast Ohio, it means we won't have the fall ratings book to see how Cleveland's "Rover" (based at WXTM/92.3) does up against the last few months of Howard Stern, in a market outside Cleveland. The top morning, uh, dog at WXTM airs in Columbus on Infinity rocker WAZU/107.1, which is known as...and no, Northeast Ohio folks, we're not making this up..."The Big Wazoo".
* Back on the Beacon Broadcasting beat again...we hear that returned-silent-returned-silent WGRP/940 Greenville PA could be back up again in a couple of days. And when it does return, it'll likely once again simulcast the oldies format originating at Youngstown market rimshot WLOA/1470 Farrell PA. Only this time, we hear that WANR/1570 Warren may finally come along for the ride, and that the simulcast - presumably with some of the live air personalities that air on 1570 - will not carry the "Wexy 107" name. We'll see.
* OMW asked for input from stations which are doing benefits for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We've had precious few responses, though it is going into a holiday weekend. We do hear from AllAccess that Radio One gospel WJMO/1490 Cleveland is holding a blood - and financial - drive with help from the American Red Cross next Saturday, the 10th...it's called "The Praise 1490 Unity in the Community Day". And Clear Channel country WNCO/101.3 Ashland will hold a song auction next Tuesday, soliciting $5 donations for song requests all day...$10 for dedications.
We quite frankly hope the lack of response to our call is due to the Labor Day holiday weekend, and not due to the fact that Northeast Ohio stations aren't doing much in the drive to help Katrina's victims. We know that area program directors, on-air and off-air staffers and others read our words. And we're particularly proud that our former primary employer, in a market smaller than Akron or Canton, raised over a half-million dollars in just over a day between the cluster's 5 radio stations...we know that the people of Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown are generous folks, and we only expect the best here.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Mike Ivers Out, Chuck Collier In - WMJI Middays
Thanks to Radio-Info Cleveland board regular Johnny Morgan for the tip...
It appears that WMJI/105.7 "Majic 105.7" vet Mike Ivers is out in middays at the CC Cleveland oldies powerhouse. He's been removed from the WMJI website, and has been replaced by Chuck Collier, better known as country WGAR/99.5's afternoon driver. Unless Chuck's slaving over a hot console from 10 AM to 7 PM, we'd have to assume that some of that time is voicetracked, likely on WMJI.
Collier isn't the only voice associated with both stations. Daune Robinson has been on both WMJI and WGAR (not to mention some work reporting and anchoring on WTAM/1100!). Oddly enough, the new CC-standard-issue WGAR website links her under the "On Air" pull-down menu as "Duane Robinson", despite this in her WGAR bio:
"Fun Fact: Her name is not 'Duane!' Her father swore that D-A-U-N-E was the only way he'd ever seen 'Dawn' spelled, and Daune has since learned it's the old Celtic way of spelling the name."
Heh. We hope the WGAR webmaster won't see any of that karate action from Daune...
This isn't the first time Collier's new assignment displaces a Cleveland radio vet. He moved to WGAR's PM drive shift from middays there a few years ago, after the station declined to renew the contract of long-time Cleveland air personality Danny Wright. Danny eventually landed as Jones Radio's syndicated overnight host, and is heard in Northern Ohio on WQXK/105.1 ("K105") Salem and WKFM/96.1 Huron on the "Wright All Night" show.
It appears that WMJI/105.7 "Majic 105.7" vet Mike Ivers is out in middays at the CC Cleveland oldies powerhouse. He's been removed from the WMJI website, and has been replaced by Chuck Collier, better known as country WGAR/99.5's afternoon driver. Unless Chuck's slaving over a hot console from 10 AM to 7 PM, we'd have to assume that some of that time is voicetracked, likely on WMJI.
Collier isn't the only voice associated with both stations. Daune Robinson has been on both WMJI and WGAR (not to mention some work reporting and anchoring on WTAM/1100!). Oddly enough, the new CC-standard-issue WGAR website links her under the "On Air" pull-down menu as "Duane Robinson", despite this in her WGAR bio:
"Fun Fact: Her name is not 'Duane!' Her father swore that D-A-U-N-E was the only way he'd ever seen 'Dawn' spelled, and Daune has since learned it's the old Celtic way of spelling the name."
Heh. We hope the WGAR webmaster won't see any of that karate action from Daune...
This isn't the first time Collier's new assignment displaces a Cleveland radio vet. He moved to WGAR's PM drive shift from middays there a few years ago, after the station declined to renew the contract of long-time Cleveland air personality Danny Wright. Danny eventually landed as Jones Radio's syndicated overnight host, and is heard in Northern Ohio on WQXK/105.1 ("K105") Salem and WKFM/96.1 Huron on the "Wright All Night" show.
Rumblings: Q104 PM Driver Leaving For Programming Gig
Message board chatter would indicate that WQAL/104.1 Cleveland ("Q104") afternoon driver Brian "Fig" Figula is heading out of the Infinity hot AC station, destined for an unspecified programming job elsewhere. Assuming that there's a fire under all that smoke, we wish "Fig" well!
One other note: We'd appreciate if people from stations all over Northeast Ohio would give us an update on what they're doing regarding Hurricane Katrina relief. Drop OMW a note - the E-Mail link is under the "View my complete profile" link on the left of each and every page.
And if you'd like to provide some individual help to the Katrina relief effort, visit The American Red Cross' page, and click on the giant red "Donate Now" button...
One other note: We'd appreciate if people from stations all over Northeast Ohio would give us an update on what they're doing regarding Hurricane Katrina relief. Drop OMW a note - the E-Mail link is under the "View my complete profile" link on the left of each and every page.
And if you'd like to provide some individual help to the Katrina relief effort, visit The American Red Cross' page, and click on the giant red "Donate Now" button...
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
We Thought They Only Did That At Beacon Broadcasting
From AllAccess.com today:
THREE TREES COMMUNICATIONS Christian Top 40 (THE HOOK) WWWD/MACON, GA and simulcast sister WJYF/VALDOSTA, GA has rolled out a brand new fall on air lineup and, for the first time ever, the station is live in every daypart. The changes all began last weekend when THE HOOK stunted with an ALL APOLOGIES, ALL APOLOGETIX WEEKEND as they played songs by the Christian parody band APOLOGETIX.
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Tell us, Mahoning Valley OMW readers...has Michael "Angel" Arch been spotted slipping out the back of WANR/1570 Warren's Courthouse Square studios, heading south towards Georgia? Or, maybe he's offering format change consulting services to CCM stations in other markets. Hmm...
THREE TREES COMMUNICATIONS Christian Top 40 (THE HOOK) WWWD/MACON, GA and simulcast sister WJYF/VALDOSTA, GA has rolled out a brand new fall on air lineup and, for the first time ever, the station is live in every daypart. The changes all began last weekend when THE HOOK stunted with an ALL APOLOGIES, ALL APOLOGETIX WEEKEND as they played songs by the Christian parody band APOLOGETIX.
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Tell us, Mahoning Valley OMW readers...has Michael "Angel" Arch been spotted slipping out the back of WANR/1570 Warren's Courthouse Square studios, heading south towards Georgia? Or, maybe he's offering format change consulting services to CCM stations in other markets. Hmm...
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Toledo and Mansfield - The Sequel
Touching on the western edge of the OMW coverage area:
* AllAccess reports that long-time Toledo radio personality Denny Schaffer is heading south. The WSPD/1370 afternoon host, who's also been heard on "KISS FM" in that market, moves to Clear Channel Atlanta talker WGST/640, where he'll take the open midday slot starting in early October. Among other folks who've been heard in that slot - "The Regular Guys", a former Los Angeles team who returned to an FM morning gig in the Atlanta market recently, creating the opening. OMW notes that Denny's got a big job on his hands...the WGST midday slot is up against WSB/Cox/Jones superstar Neal Boortz, who basically owns Atlanta talk radio. When WGST ran Premiere's Glenn Beck up against Boortz, well, let's just say it wasn't pretty for Beck.
* The first confirmation that Mansfield "KISS FM" combo 98.3 and 107.7 are going to simulcast classic rock "The Fox" (WGLN/102.3 Galion) is on this new website for "The Fox Rock Network"...where 98.3 and 107.7 are now clearly visible on the new "Fox" logo...
* AllAccess reports that long-time Toledo radio personality Denny Schaffer is heading south. The WSPD/1370 afternoon host, who's also been heard on "KISS FM" in that market, moves to Clear Channel Atlanta talker WGST/640, where he'll take the open midday slot starting in early October. Among other folks who've been heard in that slot - "The Regular Guys", a former Los Angeles team who returned to an FM morning gig in the Atlanta market recently, creating the opening. OMW notes that Denny's got a big job on his hands...the WGST midday slot is up against WSB/Cox/Jones superstar Neal Boortz, who basically owns Atlanta talk radio. When WGST ran Premiere's Glenn Beck up against Boortz, well, let's just say it wasn't pretty for Beck.
* The first confirmation that Mansfield "KISS FM" combo 98.3 and 107.7 are going to simulcast classic rock "The Fox" (WGLN/102.3 Galion) is on this new website for "The Fox Rock Network"...where 98.3 and 107.7 are now clearly visible on the new "Fox" logo...
Monday, August 29, 2005
WEWS "NewsChannel 5", It's Your Turn
News flash: OMW doesn't just have WOIO/19 in its sights.
A lack of sleep this morning, and curiosity about Hurricane Katrina, has us up at this early hour, and our TiVo landed on WEWS/5. (One of our regular rotating recordings is of ABC's "World News Now".)
Like almost all stations these days, "NewsChannel 5" has that ever, um, helpful news headline crawl...the TV invention borne out of the need to feed us extra information after the 9/11 attacks. Unlike WOIO, which uses the crawl on all of its newscasts, WEWS seems to limit it to "Good Morning Cleveland", which we never see because we're not usually awake at this hour.
It's not the news headlines which bother us. It's not the helpful 5 day forecast. No, it's the self-promotion.
On this morning's crawl, verbatim (thank you, TiVo!):
"YOU'RE WATCHING NEWSCHANNEL 5, HOME OF THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW. ON TODAY'S SHOW...GET YOUNGER AND HEALTHIER! TURN BACK THE CLOCK ON AGING WITH THE LATEST, MOST CRITICAL INFORMATION. AND, WHAT ARE THE THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO DO IN THE BATHROOM? WE'RE GOING THERE. THAT'S TODAY AT FOUR ON OPRAH, FOLLOWED BY LIVE ON FIVE."
No, as Dave Barry might say if he were still doing his syndicated humor column, "we're not making this up". We get the feeling that if Hurricane Katrina were to somehow make it up here as a full-fledged 150 MPH-plus storm, the "NewsChannel 5" crawl would contain both crucial information and a plug for today's Oprah, complete with a lengthy list of topics. Frankly, we don't really need to know what "three things you need to do in the bathroom"...
A lack of sleep this morning, and curiosity about Hurricane Katrina, has us up at this early hour, and our TiVo landed on WEWS/5. (One of our regular rotating recordings is of ABC's "World News Now".)
Like almost all stations these days, "NewsChannel 5" has that ever, um, helpful news headline crawl...the TV invention borne out of the need to feed us extra information after the 9/11 attacks. Unlike WOIO, which uses the crawl on all of its newscasts, WEWS seems to limit it to "Good Morning Cleveland", which we never see because we're not usually awake at this hour.
It's not the news headlines which bother us. It's not the helpful 5 day forecast. No, it's the self-promotion.
On this morning's crawl, verbatim (thank you, TiVo!):
"YOU'RE WATCHING NEWSCHANNEL 5, HOME OF THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW. ON TODAY'S SHOW...GET YOUNGER AND HEALTHIER! TURN BACK THE CLOCK ON AGING WITH THE LATEST, MOST CRITICAL INFORMATION. AND, WHAT ARE THE THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO DO IN THE BATHROOM? WE'RE GOING THERE. THAT'S TODAY AT FOUR ON OPRAH, FOLLOWED BY LIVE ON FIVE."
No, as Dave Barry might say if he were still doing his syndicated humor column, "we're not making this up". We get the feeling that if Hurricane Katrina were to somehow make it up here as a full-fledged 150 MPH-plus storm, the "NewsChannel 5" crawl would contain both crucial information and a plug for today's Oprah, complete with a lengthy list of topics. Frankly, we don't really need to know what "three things you need to do in the bathroom"...
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Mansfield CC Cluster Moves
On the far-southwest end of OMW's Sphere of Influence:
OMW hears that two "KISS FM Mid-Ohio" air talents are moving to Mansfield Clear Channel sister WYHT/105.3 ("Y105"), which is currently a Hot AC station. Making the move will be Nathan Tyler and Marty Scott, both voicetracking in from CC's Columbus cluster. Tyler does overnights and weekends for there for WNCI/97.9, and Scott is also based there, doing weekend shifts.
The move is revitalizing the Mansfield/Ashland Radio Rumor Mill. Speculation has focused on a shift from Hot AC to CHR for Y105, and a subsequent format change (or changes?) to the KISS FM combo, a dual-signal station at 98.3/Fredericktown and 107.7/Loudonville. We're not able to get a good bead on what might replace CHR on the 98.3/107.7 combo, or if the stations will even continue to simulcast. If OMW were at the Radio Betting Window, we'd put a $20 down on 98.3 and 107.7 becoming classic rock "The Fox", perhaps becoming stations two and three simulcast with WGLN/102.3 Galion...already in the format.
With the move of the "KISS" air talent to Y105, a format change towards CHR, or at least some music tweaking, seems possible for that station.
At one time, long ago, WBZW/107.7 in Loudonville was a locally-owned smooth jazz station, and actually targetted nearby Wooster...as a competitor to Dix's country WQKT/104.5, which now only competes locally with WKLM/95.3 Millersburg (not counting large Cleveland, Akron and Canton signals heard well in Wooster).
OMW hears that two "KISS FM Mid-Ohio" air talents are moving to Mansfield Clear Channel sister WYHT/105.3 ("Y105"), which is currently a Hot AC station. Making the move will be Nathan Tyler and Marty Scott, both voicetracking in from CC's Columbus cluster. Tyler does overnights and weekends for there for WNCI/97.9, and Scott is also based there, doing weekend shifts.
The move is revitalizing the Mansfield/Ashland Radio Rumor Mill. Speculation has focused on a shift from Hot AC to CHR for Y105, and a subsequent format change (or changes?) to the KISS FM combo, a dual-signal station at 98.3/Fredericktown and 107.7/Loudonville. We're not able to get a good bead on what might replace CHR on the 98.3/107.7 combo, or if the stations will even continue to simulcast. If OMW were at the Radio Betting Window, we'd put a $20 down on 98.3 and 107.7 becoming classic rock "The Fox", perhaps becoming stations two and three simulcast with WGLN/102.3 Galion...already in the format.
With the move of the "KISS" air talent to Y105, a format change towards CHR, or at least some music tweaking, seems possible for that station.
At one time, long ago, WBZW/107.7 in Loudonville was a locally-owned smooth jazz station, and actually targetted nearby Wooster...as a competitor to Dix's country WQKT/104.5, which now only competes locally with WKLM/95.3 Millersburg (not counting large Cleveland, Akron and Canton signals heard well in Wooster).
Two Youngstown Cumulus Changes - WHOT and Rock 104
A pretty reliable source clues OMW into some changes at two Cumulus/Youngstown stations.
Our Mahoning Valley source tells us that WWIZ/103.9 "Rock 104" program director Jim Loboy is out of that post, and has moved over to the morning producer position at sister CHR WHOT/101.1 "Hot 101"...for long-time morning team "AC and Kelly".
Rock 104's Matt Spatz reportedly takes over as program director of the Cumulus rocker. (And OMW knows that Matt has been spotted on the various local radio message boards in the past, so if he'd like to drop us a line, we'd love to hear from him about what he has planned for Rock 104...)
Our Mahoning Valley source tells us that WWIZ/103.9 "Rock 104" program director Jim Loboy is out of that post, and has moved over to the morning producer position at sister CHR WHOT/101.1 "Hot 101"...for long-time morning team "AC and Kelly".
Rock 104's Matt Spatz reportedly takes over as program director of the Cumulus rocker. (And OMW knows that Matt has been spotted on the various local radio message boards in the past, so if he'd like to drop us a line, we'd love to hear from him about what he has planned for Rock 104...)
Saturday, August 27, 2005
More On That Toledo TV Thing
There's a good reason OMW doesn't touch on media news out of Toledo often - we don't really know the market.
A correction to our earlier report regarding Raycom Media (owner of WOIO/19 and WUAB/43 in Cleveland) and its merger with Liberty... it turns out that Raycom already owns Toledo NBC affiliate WNWO/24. Local media watchers there say it's likely that the newly merged Raycom will have to sell one of the two stations it'll end up with - the other being Liberty's WTOL/11. It's expected by most that WNWO will be on the Raycom chopping block because of the merger.
Though Raycom says it'll apply for a waiver, it isn't considered likely to be granted, according to an article in the Toledo Blade newspaper. TV duopoly ownership rules apparently don't permit one company owning both stations in a market the size of Toledo, but Raycom is allowed the duopoly in Cleveland with 19 and 43.
A correction to our earlier report regarding Raycom Media (owner of WOIO/19 and WUAB/43 in Cleveland) and its merger with Liberty... it turns out that Raycom already owns Toledo NBC affiliate WNWO/24. Local media watchers there say it's likely that the newly merged Raycom will have to sell one of the two stations it'll end up with - the other being Liberty's WTOL/11. It's expected by most that WNWO will be on the Raycom chopping block because of the merger.
Though Raycom says it'll apply for a waiver, it isn't considered likely to be granted, according to an article in the Toledo Blade newspaper. TV duopoly ownership rules apparently don't permit one company owning both stations in a market the size of Toledo, but Raycom is allowed the duopoly in Cleveland with 19 and 43.
Browns Preseason: Week 3
OMW realizes that WOIO/19 is basically an easy target. We're trying, as we continue to grow this blog, not to take too many pot shots at the local CBS affiliate...even if they deserve pretty much all of them.
So, we'll open our look at the third Browns preseason TV telecast on a positive note.
* The team of Sam Rosen, Bob Golic and Brian Brennan is meshing well. And in his second week as a "co-analyst", after the disaster that was week one's play-by-play role, former Browns defensive lineman and WNIR afternoon host Golic was insightful, not just funny. For the first time this preseason, we got "off camera" information that really helped to understand what was going on, on the field between the Browns and the Carolina Panthers. (But, don't lose the humor, Bob! Especially if a game turns into a blowout, which we worry will happen a lot this season with the Browns, the humor is darn near necessary to keep people watching.) Golic wasn't perfect this week - for one, he didn't realize until being corrected by Brennan that having too few men on the field wouldn't result in a penalty - but it was, in general, a solid effort.
* 19 Action News anchor Sharon Reed turned in a pretty solid sideline performance, with much less of the fluff we saw from her in week one. 19 sports director Chuck Galeti also did well. Someone must have gotten out the word that actual, well, information was key, not just self-promoting and clowning. Good work.
All in all, it was a decent performance for WOIO in its third game as the Browns preseason home.
But - and you knew there'd be a but, didn't you? - there was one thing that bothered us, and it had nothing to do with the on-air performance of the massive WOIO Browns Coverage Team.
At OMW World Domination Headquarters in northwest Akron, we have digital cable and high-definition service from Adelphia. Though we actually haven't managed to buy a full-fledged HDTV set, we always watch shows on the digital/HD channel wherever possible, since the picture quality is outstanding even on our 32" Toshiba analog set...being fed from the cable box (Scientific Atlanta 8000HD) in down-converted 480i via a component video link. (If you don't understand any of that, trust us, it looks good.)
But of all the local over-air digital TV stations, WOIO-DT always looks the worst, when it comes to airing upconverted SD (standard definition) programming. We suspect some of this is because WOIO apparently has no digital equipment in its Reserve Square studios (SD, HD or whatever), and that it takes the final analog output from its switcher and feeds it directly into the upconverter. The result, and 19's general picture settings, means a washed out picture even in digital mode...which looks like someone there turned up the contrast way too high.
In the Browns game broadcast last night, the WOIO-DT version showed some problems with the upconverting from analog to digital. It was intermittent, but at times, live action looked like it was off in terms of the frame rate, and the video almost took on a film quality...or at least, it appeared even the live action was run through the same filter stations use to produce promos of stutter-stepping football players.
It didn't last the entire game, but it was enough at one point to drive OMW to Adelphia's analog cable channel 4.
We're told by others that this is an ongoing problem with WOIO-DT, and has been seen in other programming, including "19 Action News". (Note: When WOIO's digital signal reproduces CBS's prime time HDTV programming, it looks fine. And more good news for HDTV fans - OMW has learned that CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" will broadcast in high-definition starting on Monday!)
And our final Browns preseason TV note: this word on the ratings for week one and two, courtesy of the Browns media staff:
"Despite a 90-minute inclement weather delay in the preseason opener against the New York Giants on August 13th, the game, which began at 8 p.m. and did not end until after midnight, had a 15.4 rating and a 29 share.
The second game in Detroit against the Lions on August 20th kicked-off at 1 p.m. and produced a 15.9 rating and 39 share, which was the highest rated show that day by 50%.
Both games were the highest rated television program in the city of Cleveland each week."
So, we'll open our look at the third Browns preseason TV telecast on a positive note.
* The team of Sam Rosen, Bob Golic and Brian Brennan is meshing well. And in his second week as a "co-analyst", after the disaster that was week one's play-by-play role, former Browns defensive lineman and WNIR afternoon host Golic was insightful, not just funny. For the first time this preseason, we got "off camera" information that really helped to understand what was going on, on the field between the Browns and the Carolina Panthers. (But, don't lose the humor, Bob! Especially if a game turns into a blowout, which we worry will happen a lot this season with the Browns, the humor is darn near necessary to keep people watching.) Golic wasn't perfect this week - for one, he didn't realize until being corrected by Brennan that having too few men on the field wouldn't result in a penalty - but it was, in general, a solid effort.
* 19 Action News anchor Sharon Reed turned in a pretty solid sideline performance, with much less of the fluff we saw from her in week one. 19 sports director Chuck Galeti also did well. Someone must have gotten out the word that actual, well, information was key, not just self-promoting and clowning. Good work.
All in all, it was a decent performance for WOIO in its third game as the Browns preseason home.
But - and you knew there'd be a but, didn't you? - there was one thing that bothered us, and it had nothing to do with the on-air performance of the massive WOIO Browns Coverage Team.
At OMW World Domination Headquarters in northwest Akron, we have digital cable and high-definition service from Adelphia. Though we actually haven't managed to buy a full-fledged HDTV set, we always watch shows on the digital/HD channel wherever possible, since the picture quality is outstanding even on our 32" Toshiba analog set...being fed from the cable box (Scientific Atlanta 8000HD) in down-converted 480i via a component video link. (If you don't understand any of that, trust us, it looks good.)
But of all the local over-air digital TV stations, WOIO-DT always looks the worst, when it comes to airing upconverted SD (standard definition) programming. We suspect some of this is because WOIO apparently has no digital equipment in its Reserve Square studios (SD, HD or whatever), and that it takes the final analog output from its switcher and feeds it directly into the upconverter. The result, and 19's general picture settings, means a washed out picture even in digital mode...which looks like someone there turned up the contrast way too high.
In the Browns game broadcast last night, the WOIO-DT version showed some problems with the upconverting from analog to digital. It was intermittent, but at times, live action looked like it was off in terms of the frame rate, and the video almost took on a film quality...or at least, it appeared even the live action was run through the same filter stations use to produce promos of stutter-stepping football players.
It didn't last the entire game, but it was enough at one point to drive OMW to Adelphia's analog cable channel 4.
We're told by others that this is an ongoing problem with WOIO-DT, and has been seen in other programming, including "19 Action News". (Note: When WOIO's digital signal reproduces CBS's prime time HDTV programming, it looks fine. And more good news for HDTV fans - OMW has learned that CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" will broadcast in high-definition starting on Monday!)
And our final Browns preseason TV note: this word on the ratings for week one and two, courtesy of the Browns media staff:
"Despite a 90-minute inclement weather delay in the preseason opener against the New York Giants on August 13th, the game, which began at 8 p.m. and did not end until after midnight, had a 15.4 rating and a 29 share.
The second game in Detroit against the Lions on August 20th kicked-off at 1 p.m. and produced a 15.9 rating and 39 share, which was the highest rated show that day by 50%.
Both games were the highest rated television program in the city of Cleveland each week."
Friday, August 26, 2005
WOIO/WUAB Pick Up Some Sister Stations
It probably doesn't mean much for Cleveland CBS affiliate WOIO/19 and UPN affiliate WUAB/43, but their parent company (Raycom Media) is taking over the Liberty group of 15 TV stations.
With nearly all of its operations in the Southeast, Liberty's only Ohio station is Toledo CBS affliate WTOL/11 - better known as "Toledo 11". It's possible the merger will mean more cooperation between WTOL and the Raycom operations in Cleveland, at least in the area of news.
And no, Toledo TV watchers, don't expect naked anchorwomen after the deal becomes final. WOIO's ratings stunt, when anchor/reporter Sharon Reed doffed all her clothes to join the "naked art" photographing session with Spencer Tunick, did not sit well with the conservative ownership of Raycom, based in Montgomery, Alabama. (By the way, while we're in the Land of Naked Newswomen, OMW notes that former WKBN/27 Youngstown anchor Catherine Bosley was seen - fully clothed - doing fill-in reporting on "19 Action News" recently. Our only question: What took 'em so long? And when are the breathless "the ONLY station with TWO anchors who dared to bare it all" promos going to hit the WOIO airwaves?)
With nearly all of its operations in the Southeast, Liberty's only Ohio station is Toledo CBS affliate WTOL/11 - better known as "Toledo 11". It's possible the merger will mean more cooperation between WTOL and the Raycom operations in Cleveland, at least in the area of news.
And no, Toledo TV watchers, don't expect naked anchorwomen after the deal becomes final. WOIO's ratings stunt, when anchor/reporter Sharon Reed doffed all her clothes to join the "naked art" photographing session with Spencer Tunick, did not sit well with the conservative ownership of Raycom, based in Montgomery, Alabama. (By the way, while we're in the Land of Naked Newswomen, OMW notes that former WKBN/27 Youngstown anchor Catherine Bosley was seen - fully clothed - doing fill-in reporting on "19 Action News" recently. Our only question: What took 'em so long? And when are the breathless "the ONLY station with TWO anchors who dared to bare it all" promos going to hit the WOIO airwaves?)
Thursday, August 25, 2005
More Loose Ends
Yes, we're still here at OMW. As seems to be normal, more happens when we're away from Northeast Ohio than when we're actually here. (If our base of operations ever moves out of the area, watch out! The entire radio spectrum in the area may combust spontaneously!)
But there are still some loose ends to tie up. Most of this has been elsewhere, but OMW feels the need to add it to our own record.
* OMW noticed the absence of long-time Akron Aeros play-by-play voice Jim Clark on WARF/1350 this week, with fill-in Joe Jazstremski doing the honors on a road trip to Erie. When his absence stretched to three days, we became concerned. But we hear there's no reason for worry, as Clark has been off to spend before-school-year vacation time with his family.
* The "brain drain" at Cleveland pubcaster WCPN/90.3 continues, as the Plain Dealer reports the departure of reporter/anchor Janet Babin...for a new gig with public radio's syndicated "Marketplace". The departure apparently doesn't concern "ideastream"'s management...but at least she didn't bolt for competitor WKSU/89.7, as another WCPN news staffer did recently. The mix between WCPN and co-owned WVIZ/25 has always been a bit uneasy, to outside observers, and may get even more so with the TV station moving downtown.
* The Plain Dealer discovers the Internet and radio, and notes WKSU's new classical and news audio streams. The possible use of these streams on WKSU's upcoming HD Radio feeds is touched upon, but sees no elaboration in Clint O'Connor's article. Also not mentioned: the long-standing rumor that WKSU will split its classical and news/talk feeds with the purchase of one of Akron's two non-commercial stations.
* It was a promising debut for veteran sports play-by-play man Sam Rosen over the weekend, who basically single-handedly rescued WOIO/19's pre-season Browns coverage. And a nice recovery for Bob Golic, the ex-Brown and WNIR/100.1 afternoon host who was, as expected, much more comfortable doing color commentary. But...that leaves the WOIO booth very crowded, as Golic now shares analyst duties with another ex-Browns player, Brian Brennan. And, the station's continuing to bring in a third "guest analyst", another former Browns player slot which rotates each week. Add to that mix WOIO's Chuck Galeti, Sharon Reed and Brian Duffy, and the size of the station's Browns crew is approaching the number of players on the field! OMW suspects that the station likes the "larger than life" numbers, and that they won't cut back anyway, since there are only two WOIO-produced games left.
* Radio trade site AllAccess.com reports that WMMS/100.7 afternoon guy "Maxwell" has inked a new 3 year deal. It's a long-term deal in a slot that once featured another station vet, "Slats".
* AllAccess also reports the departure of "Johnny D" from Toledo CHR WVKS/92.5 "Kiss". As with the item about Cincinnati, we don't spend a lot of time in the Toledo market, but note that "Johnny" apparently did time at Cleveland's 92.3, back when it was "Jammin'" WZJM.
But there are still some loose ends to tie up. Most of this has been elsewhere, but OMW feels the need to add it to our own record.
* OMW noticed the absence of long-time Akron Aeros play-by-play voice Jim Clark on WARF/1350 this week, with fill-in Joe Jazstremski doing the honors on a road trip to Erie. When his absence stretched to three days, we became concerned. But we hear there's no reason for worry, as Clark has been off to spend before-school-year vacation time with his family.
* The "brain drain" at Cleveland pubcaster WCPN/90.3 continues, as the Plain Dealer reports the departure of reporter/anchor Janet Babin...for a new gig with public radio's syndicated "Marketplace". The departure apparently doesn't concern "ideastream"'s management...but at least she didn't bolt for competitor WKSU/89.7, as another WCPN news staffer did recently. The mix between WCPN and co-owned WVIZ/25 has always been a bit uneasy, to outside observers, and may get even more so with the TV station moving downtown.
* The Plain Dealer discovers the Internet and radio, and notes WKSU's new classical and news audio streams. The possible use of these streams on WKSU's upcoming HD Radio feeds is touched upon, but sees no elaboration in Clint O'Connor's article. Also not mentioned: the long-standing rumor that WKSU will split its classical and news/talk feeds with the purchase of one of Akron's two non-commercial stations.
* It was a promising debut for veteran sports play-by-play man Sam Rosen over the weekend, who basically single-handedly rescued WOIO/19's pre-season Browns coverage. And a nice recovery for Bob Golic, the ex-Brown and WNIR/100.1 afternoon host who was, as expected, much more comfortable doing color commentary. But...that leaves the WOIO booth very crowded, as Golic now shares analyst duties with another ex-Browns player, Brian Brennan. And, the station's continuing to bring in a third "guest analyst", another former Browns player slot which rotates each week. Add to that mix WOIO's Chuck Galeti, Sharon Reed and Brian Duffy, and the size of the station's Browns crew is approaching the number of players on the field! OMW suspects that the station likes the "larger than life" numbers, and that they won't cut back anyway, since there are only two WOIO-produced games left.
* Radio trade site AllAccess.com reports that WMMS/100.7 afternoon guy "Maxwell" has inked a new 3 year deal. It's a long-term deal in a slot that once featured another station vet, "Slats".
* AllAccess also reports the departure of "Johnny D" from Toledo CHR WVKS/92.5 "Kiss". As with the item about Cincinnati, we don't spend a lot of time in the Toledo market, but note that "Johnny" apparently did time at Cleveland's 92.3, back when it was "Jammin'" WZJM.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
"X-Star" Goes Dark in Cincy
OMW is mostly a Northeast Ohio production, focusing on markets like Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown. It's where we live, and the area of the state we know best. We mostly don't intend on covering Columbus and Cincinnati, but this is a unique one.
The "X-Star Radio Network", a far-flung regional network of public radio FM stations based at Xavier University's WVXU/91.7 in Cincinnati, is going off the air tonight. In its place will be a new NPR-based news/talk service operated by incumbent Cincinnati public radio station WGUC/90.9, which will move many NPR talk programs to the new outlet...and focus more on its classical music output. (Does this sound familiar, OMW regulars? It's happening in other markets around the country, and may well be duplicated here in Northeast Ohio if WKSU/89.7 gets its hands on one of Akron's two non-commercial outlets.)
Though it appears WVXU did air some NPR programming, like "Morning Edition" and "Fresh Air", it also carried some very unique locally-produced talk and music programming. "X-Star" was by far not your typical local NPR station, and starting Monday, it'll be chock full (mostly) of NPR's news/talk programming. In one nod to "X-Star", the new WVXU will carry old-time radio shows...though not the locally-hosted productions once heard on the station. It'll run the syndicated "When Radio Was" weeknights.
The closest "X-Star" outlet to Northern Ohio is down in Chillicothe - OMW has heard it while on the road. In addition to that station, the Cincinnati base and a station in West Union, WVXU also has repeaters in northern Michigan...stations we've also heard. In fact, OMW's first encounter with "X-Star" was while driving through that state.
It seems somewhat likely that the Michigan stations will be spun off to another operator, as it appears UNLIKELY that WGUC has any interest in serving that far-off area.
The "X-Star Radio Network", a far-flung regional network of public radio FM stations based at Xavier University's WVXU/91.7 in Cincinnati, is going off the air tonight. In its place will be a new NPR-based news/talk service operated by incumbent Cincinnati public radio station WGUC/90.9, which will move many NPR talk programs to the new outlet...and focus more on its classical music output. (Does this sound familiar, OMW regulars? It's happening in other markets around the country, and may well be duplicated here in Northeast Ohio if WKSU/89.7 gets its hands on one of Akron's two non-commercial outlets.)
Though it appears WVXU did air some NPR programming, like "Morning Edition" and "Fresh Air", it also carried some very unique locally-produced talk and music programming. "X-Star" was by far not your typical local NPR station, and starting Monday, it'll be chock full (mostly) of NPR's news/talk programming. In one nod to "X-Star", the new WVXU will carry old-time radio shows...though not the locally-hosted productions once heard on the station. It'll run the syndicated "When Radio Was" weeknights.
The closest "X-Star" outlet to Northern Ohio is down in Chillicothe - OMW has heard it while on the road. In addition to that station, the Cincinnati base and a station in West Union, WVXU also has repeaters in northern Michigan...stations we've also heard. In fact, OMW's first encounter with "X-Star" was while driving through that state.
It seems somewhat likely that the Michigan stations will be spun off to another operator, as it appears UNLIKELY that WGUC has any interest in serving that far-off area.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
It's a Bob Golic Triple Play!
STILL LIVE FROM THE UPPER MIDWEST -- We're not sure if the title on this one is a baseball joke about a former football player, or a radio joke, but regardless... we have one more item about WNIR afternoon host and Browns TV voice Bob Golic.
As reported below, Golic moves to the analyst's chair for the WOIO/19 broadcast of today's Browns/Detroit Lions game, which is at 1 PM this afternoon. Even WNIR boss Kaiser Bill hasn't figured out how to have Bob do his regular Saturday noon-4 PM show at the same time as he does color commentary on a televised football game, so someone's gotta fill in for Bob on 100.1 today.
WNIR morning host Stan Piatt says that there will indeed be a Golic on the air on WNIR this Saturday afternoon...and no, it's not Bob's brother, ESPN Radio morning co-host Mike Golic ("Mike and Mike"). It'll be Mrs. Bob Golic on the air in her husband's slot from noon until 4 PM. We're not really familiar with Mrs. Golic's on-air history, though there's a decent chance she has some experience in Los Angeles...where her husband did sports radio and TV for many years.
It'll be interesting, at any rate...
As reported below, Golic moves to the analyst's chair for the WOIO/19 broadcast of today's Browns/Detroit Lions game, which is at 1 PM this afternoon. Even WNIR boss Kaiser Bill hasn't figured out how to have Bob do his regular Saturday noon-4 PM show at the same time as he does color commentary on a televised football game, so someone's gotta fill in for Bob on 100.1 today.
WNIR morning host Stan Piatt says that there will indeed be a Golic on the air on WNIR this Saturday afternoon...and no, it's not Bob's brother, ESPN Radio morning co-host Mike Golic ("Mike and Mike"). It'll be Mrs. Bob Golic on the air in her husband's slot from noon until 4 PM. We're not really familiar with Mrs. Golic's on-air history, though there's a decent chance she has some experience in Los Angeles...where her husband did sports radio and TV for many years.
It'll be interesting, at any rate...
A MUCH Better Move For Bob Golic
LIVE FROM THE UPPER MIDWEST -- Just hours after OMW turned in our take on Bob Golic's performance on the Browns pre-season opener last weekend on WOIO/19, the Plain Dealer's Roger Brown reports in his Friday column that veteran play-by-play voice Sam Rosen has been hired to do the rest of the games, with Golic moving into a "co-analyst" role with fellow ex-Brown Brian Brennan.
And like Mr. Brown in his Monday column - where he held back a little less than we did in the item immediately below this one - we don't blame Bob Golic here. He never should have been asked to do the play-by-play in the first place, and will likely perform a thousand percent better not having to take that role. Golic clearly knows NFL football, and his insights will be welcome, but he isn't a play-by-play guy, despite his years of sports radio and TV experience after the end of his playing career (and after his last encounter with "Screech").
Kudos to both the Browns organization and WOIO/19 for addressing the problem sooner, rather than later, and for keeping the affable Golic in the booth in a more familiar role for him.
And OMW apologizes for our delayed coverage of this item. We're on the road, and have been dodging severe weather, travel fatigue and spotty Internet access...
And like Mr. Brown in his Monday column - where he held back a little less than we did in the item immediately below this one - we don't blame Bob Golic here. He never should have been asked to do the play-by-play in the first place, and will likely perform a thousand percent better not having to take that role. Golic clearly knows NFL football, and his insights will be welcome, but he isn't a play-by-play guy, despite his years of sports radio and TV experience after the end of his playing career (and after his last encounter with "Screech").
Kudos to both the Browns organization and WOIO/19 for addressing the problem sooner, rather than later, and for keeping the affable Golic in the booth in a more familiar role for him.
And OMW apologizes for our delayed coverage of this item. We're on the road, and have been dodging severe weather, travel fatigue and spotty Internet access...
Friday, August 19, 2005
Dear Bob
ON THE ROAD IN THE UPPER MIDWEST -- At OMW, we've been thinking about this for a while, and have been trying to word this as gently as possible.
It's almost a sport for This Space to take shots at Raycom Cleveland CBS affiliate WOIO/19 and its "19 Action News". It's what it would look like if the folks at "The Star" tabloid in Florida decided to do local TV news in Northeast Ohio. And we've already taken WOIO to task for, among other things, its "domination" of the Browns training camp and its inability to update the news ticker to reflect breaking news.
But, we like Bob Golic, the former Browns star who eventually landed in Los Angeles with the Raiders, who then did local sports radio and TV (and "Saved by the Bell: The College Years"), then came back to town to do an impossible task, replacing radio legend and 20-year WNIR/100.1 veteran afternoon drive talk show host Joe Finan in the Akron market.
Golic is no Joe. Not only is he not a liberal, he's not as "deep" as Joe when it comes to weighty topics. He has broadcast training, but his voice sometimes throws a slight "jock" feeling into issues discussion...though he IS a graduate of Notre Dame, and presumably learned much more than where to find Touchdown Jesus.
But on the whole, WNIR did much better than it could have expected in replacing a station fixture. And the personable Golic has an easy, comfortable feel that fits the homespun Portage County-based station, and the Akron market in general.
That's why it pains OMW to write this. Dear Bob: That was the worst major market local TV sports broadcast we ever saw on Saturday, and it pained us to watch you struggle through it.
The Cleveland Browns opened up their home exhibition season by trying to play the New York Giants, and the WNIR afternoon host and ex-Brown did play-by-play for WOIO/19, with ex-Brown and sometimes WTAM weekend sports talk voice Brian Brennan in the booth, with another Brown as guest analyst - Reggie Rucker. Even before the game was interrupted by fierce thunderstorms, it wasn't going well for Golic, especially. He sounded like he was rushed into the booth. (For that matter, maybe he was, since we heard him do his regular Saturday afternoon show on WNIR until 4 PM, presumably live via phone from Cleveland Browns Stadium!)
Vamping without a game for over an hour is not easy, and that's not even the biggest part of our complaint about Golic, Brennan and Rucker. The rest of the actual game was very uneven, and many times, it sounded like Golic didn't realize that he was the main play-by-play voice. He'd wait, watch a play go off, and start commentary.
It was all the more noticeable for those who had the NFL Network - as we do at OMW World HQ in suburban Akron - and saw much more polished efforts by pretty much every other team they carried, both in games and in highlights.
We're not ready to write off Golic as a play-by-play man, yet. Later in the game, as he got more of his footing, he was more confident. But the effort clearly needs some work, and we expect (and hope for) a better showing by the last pre-season game. And since we like Bob, we're pulling for it to happen.
We have a feeling Golic knows what happened Saturday, and he's the last person who wants to see a repeat of it...even without the lightning.
It's almost a sport for This Space to take shots at Raycom Cleveland CBS affiliate WOIO/19 and its "19 Action News". It's what it would look like if the folks at "The Star" tabloid in Florida decided to do local TV news in Northeast Ohio. And we've already taken WOIO to task for, among other things, its "domination" of the Browns training camp and its inability to update the news ticker to reflect breaking news.
But, we like Bob Golic, the former Browns star who eventually landed in Los Angeles with the Raiders, who then did local sports radio and TV (and "Saved by the Bell: The College Years"), then came back to town to do an impossible task, replacing radio legend and 20-year WNIR/100.1 veteran afternoon drive talk show host Joe Finan in the Akron market.
Golic is no Joe. Not only is he not a liberal, he's not as "deep" as Joe when it comes to weighty topics. He has broadcast training, but his voice sometimes throws a slight "jock" feeling into issues discussion...though he IS a graduate of Notre Dame, and presumably learned much more than where to find Touchdown Jesus.
But on the whole, WNIR did much better than it could have expected in replacing a station fixture. And the personable Golic has an easy, comfortable feel that fits the homespun Portage County-based station, and the Akron market in general.
That's why it pains OMW to write this. Dear Bob: That was the worst major market local TV sports broadcast we ever saw on Saturday, and it pained us to watch you struggle through it.
The Cleveland Browns opened up their home exhibition season by trying to play the New York Giants, and the WNIR afternoon host and ex-Brown did play-by-play for WOIO/19, with ex-Brown and sometimes WTAM weekend sports talk voice Brian Brennan in the booth, with another Brown as guest analyst - Reggie Rucker. Even before the game was interrupted by fierce thunderstorms, it wasn't going well for Golic, especially. He sounded like he was rushed into the booth. (For that matter, maybe he was, since we heard him do his regular Saturday afternoon show on WNIR until 4 PM, presumably live via phone from Cleveland Browns Stadium!)
Vamping without a game for over an hour is not easy, and that's not even the biggest part of our complaint about Golic, Brennan and Rucker. The rest of the actual game was very uneven, and many times, it sounded like Golic didn't realize that he was the main play-by-play voice. He'd wait, watch a play go off, and start commentary.
It was all the more noticeable for those who had the NFL Network - as we do at OMW World HQ in suburban Akron - and saw much more polished efforts by pretty much every other team they carried, both in games and in highlights.
We're not ready to write off Golic as a play-by-play man, yet. Later in the game, as he got more of his footing, he was more confident. But the effort clearly needs some work, and we expect (and hope for) a better showing by the last pre-season game. And since we like Bob, we're pulling for it to happen.
We have a feeling Golic knows what happened Saturday, and he's the last person who wants to see a repeat of it...even without the lightning.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Checking In From The Road
Greetings, OMW readers!
We're on the road, as mentioned, traversing much of the Upper Midwest with some friends until early next week. We've had some form of high-speed Internet access along the way each night, though "high-speed Internet" in hotels is becoming much like the advertised "continental breakfast"...your mileage, and speed, may vary.
One brief note which we'll expand upon later:
We're hearing that there may be a dispute behind the recent shuttering of Beacon Broadcasting's WGRP/940 Greenville PA, which returned to the air a while back simulcasting Youngstown market rimshot WLOA/1470 Farrell PA and its "Wexy 107" oldies format. The format, as any regular OMW reader could easily answer as a game show question, is the former oldies format from Beacon's WEXC/107.1 Greenville PA, now rimshotting the Youngstown market as Christian rocker "Freq 107".
The details are still not confirmed, so we won't go into much detail on what we've heard. But it appears that Beacon and new owner Harold Glunt, and WMVL/101.7 Linesville PA's Vilkie Communications, may not seeing eye to eye on some issues related to WGRP's return. WMVL operated WGRP in an LMA, and had filed to purchase it from Beacon late last year. The sale was approved by the FCC, but never consummated...but even after that, WMVL programmed the Greenville PA AM station until just a few weeks ago, at one point with an ABC satellite-delivered 24/7 AC format, and then with a simulcast of WMVL (oldies "Cool 101.7") itself. 940 then went off the air, until returning recently with the WLOA-based "Wexy 107" simulcast.
We'll have more news that's NOT from the World of Glunt later this week...
We're on the road, as mentioned, traversing much of the Upper Midwest with some friends until early next week. We've had some form of high-speed Internet access along the way each night, though "high-speed Internet" in hotels is becoming much like the advertised "continental breakfast"...your mileage, and speed, may vary.
One brief note which we'll expand upon later:
We're hearing that there may be a dispute behind the recent shuttering of Beacon Broadcasting's WGRP/940 Greenville PA, which returned to the air a while back simulcasting Youngstown market rimshot WLOA/1470 Farrell PA and its "Wexy 107" oldies format. The format, as any regular OMW reader could easily answer as a game show question, is the former oldies format from Beacon's WEXC/107.1 Greenville PA, now rimshotting the Youngstown market as Christian rocker "Freq 107".
The details are still not confirmed, so we won't go into much detail on what we've heard. But it appears that Beacon and new owner Harold Glunt, and WMVL/101.7 Linesville PA's Vilkie Communications, may not seeing eye to eye on some issues related to WGRP's return. WMVL operated WGRP in an LMA, and had filed to purchase it from Beacon late last year. The sale was approved by the FCC, but never consummated...but even after that, WMVL programmed the Greenville PA AM station until just a few weeks ago, at one point with an ABC satellite-delivered 24/7 AC format, and then with a simulcast of WMVL (oldies "Cool 101.7") itself. 940 then went off the air, until returning recently with the WLOA-based "Wexy 107" simulcast.
We'll have more news that's NOT from the World of Glunt later this week...
Friday, August 12, 2005
Odds and Ends: Friday Leftovers
Some stuff that's still sitting up there on our plate, either stuff we haven't touched yet, or stuff that's left over:
* Congratulations to WEWS/5 general manager Ric Harris, who's leaving the local ABC affiliate to head up the "digital media" section of NBC Universal. He'll help NBC forge ahead in Internet initiatives and other "new media" projects. Harris has been with "NewsChannel 5" for five years.
* The Cleveland Browns start their pre-season schedule against the New York Giants on Saturday night (WOIO/19, 8 PM). Two voices which should be very familiar to Browns fans and radio listeners handle the call - Akron market talker WNIR/100.1 afternoon host Bob Golic, a popular former Brown, does play-by-play. Will Kaiser Bill give him Saturday afternoon off of his radio show? Hmmm. Former Brown Brian Brennan, who's done on-air work for Browns AM flagship WTAM/1100, does color. The game will also be seen in Youngstown (WYTV/33), along with affiliates in Columbus and Toledo. And in case you missed it and have the NFL Network on cable or satellite, it'll rerun the game Sunday night at 11 PM ET, along with a high-definition feed (presumably from the Giants' home station, WNBC) at the same time. Adelphia cable carries NFL Network on digital channel 178, and NFL Network HD on channel 778.
* Speaking of Golic's radio home, it still hasn't happened yet - as the long-time CBS Radio News affiliate hasn't switched to ABC Information Network. OMW's sources have told us that WNIR was slated to pick up the affiliation after WTAM/1100 Cleveland dumped ABC. As we mentioned earlier, though WTAM and other Clear Channel talkers in Ohio have gone to FOX News Radio, there's no way to tell when WTAM's contract with ABC Information Network expires. We're pretty sure WTAM's continued carriage of ABC's Paul Harvey is not tied into this.
* Speaking of things that haven't happened yet - we're still in a holding pattern re: "JACK FM" in the Cleveland market, as Infinity's WQAL/104.1 and WDOK/102.1 (along with other Infinity Cleveland market stations) haven't budged from their current formats, despite rumors to the contrary. A suggestion: look to the start of the Fall book for ANY changes in the local Infinity cluster, and some of it may depend on how long Infinity hangs on to one-foot-out-the-door Howard Stern.
* Our usual listener/tipster in the area reports that Beacon Broadcasting's WGRP/940 Greenville PA, which had returned to the air simulcasting WLOA/1470's "Wexy 107" oldies format, is once again silent. There's no word if this is due to technical problems, or perhaps recent bad weather. When OMW visited the area recently, the 940 signal wasn't quite what it was last time the station was on the air, so maybe they're fixing it.
* Meanwhile, also in the Land of Glunt, we heard "Michael Angel" (aka soon-to-be-former majority owner Michael Arch) on Beacon's WANR/1570 Warren last Sunday, playing secular oldies music, and trying his best to turn the names or lyrics in the songs into religious messages. Yes, secular oldies, religious disk jockey. Our favorite was when "Mr. Angel" spun off the line "Jesus loves you more than you will know" from the Simon and Garfunkel hit "Mrs. Robinson" - without mentioning that whole Married Mother Seduces Young Student thing in the movie "The Graduate", by the character of the same name.
* OMW is once again on the road starting Sunday night, with a week long jaunt through much of the Upper Midwest. As usual, we're laptop equipped, and our stopping places are all reputed to have high-speed Internet access, so we won't stray TOO far from The Mighty Blog of Fun(tm). We also have full electronic access to most of our usual local radio and TV stations, thanks to modern technology, though we'll be occupied most of the day all week. But, if there's a big change, we'll be able to hear or see it.
* Congratulations to WEWS/5 general manager Ric Harris, who's leaving the local ABC affiliate to head up the "digital media" section of NBC Universal. He'll help NBC forge ahead in Internet initiatives and other "new media" projects. Harris has been with "NewsChannel 5" for five years.
* The Cleveland Browns start their pre-season schedule against the New York Giants on Saturday night (WOIO/19, 8 PM). Two voices which should be very familiar to Browns fans and radio listeners handle the call - Akron market talker WNIR/100.1 afternoon host Bob Golic, a popular former Brown, does play-by-play. Will Kaiser Bill give him Saturday afternoon off of his radio show? Hmmm. Former Brown Brian Brennan, who's done on-air work for Browns AM flagship WTAM/1100, does color. The game will also be seen in Youngstown (WYTV/33), along with affiliates in Columbus and Toledo. And in case you missed it and have the NFL Network on cable or satellite, it'll rerun the game Sunday night at 11 PM ET, along with a high-definition feed (presumably from the Giants' home station, WNBC) at the same time. Adelphia cable carries NFL Network on digital channel 178, and NFL Network HD on channel 778.
* Speaking of Golic's radio home, it still hasn't happened yet - as the long-time CBS Radio News affiliate hasn't switched to ABC Information Network. OMW's sources have told us that WNIR was slated to pick up the affiliation after WTAM/1100 Cleveland dumped ABC. As we mentioned earlier, though WTAM and other Clear Channel talkers in Ohio have gone to FOX News Radio, there's no way to tell when WTAM's contract with ABC Information Network expires. We're pretty sure WTAM's continued carriage of ABC's Paul Harvey is not tied into this.
* Speaking of things that haven't happened yet - we're still in a holding pattern re: "JACK FM" in the Cleveland market, as Infinity's WQAL/104.1 and WDOK/102.1 (along with other Infinity Cleveland market stations) haven't budged from their current formats, despite rumors to the contrary. A suggestion: look to the start of the Fall book for ANY changes in the local Infinity cluster, and some of it may depend on how long Infinity hangs on to one-foot-out-the-door Howard Stern.
* Our usual listener/tipster in the area reports that Beacon Broadcasting's WGRP/940 Greenville PA, which had returned to the air simulcasting WLOA/1470's "Wexy 107" oldies format, is once again silent. There's no word if this is due to technical problems, or perhaps recent bad weather. When OMW visited the area recently, the 940 signal wasn't quite what it was last time the station was on the air, so maybe they're fixing it.
* Meanwhile, also in the Land of Glunt, we heard "Michael Angel" (aka soon-to-be-former majority owner Michael Arch) on Beacon's WANR/1570 Warren last Sunday, playing secular oldies music, and trying his best to turn the names or lyrics in the songs into religious messages. Yes, secular oldies, religious disk jockey. Our favorite was when "Mr. Angel" spun off the line "Jesus loves you more than you will know" from the Simon and Garfunkel hit "Mrs. Robinson" - without mentioning that whole Married Mother Seduces Young Student thing in the movie "The Graduate", by the character of the same name.
* OMW is once again on the road starting Sunday night, with a week long jaunt through much of the Upper Midwest. As usual, we're laptop equipped, and our stopping places are all reputed to have high-speed Internet access, so we won't stray TOO far from The Mighty Blog of Fun(tm). We also have full electronic access to most of our usual local radio and TV stations, thanks to modern technology, though we'll be occupied most of the day all week. But, if there's a big change, we'll be able to hear or see it.
The Edwards Thing Again
Now that we've finally figured out if the Cleveland Browns' top draft pick, Braylon Edwards, is signed or not (he is), we have some Brownie Points to make. For one, we spotted WEWS/5's "Chevy Network Dealers Sports Wrap Brought To You By Pepsi And In Part By Cintas" (OK, so we're kidding about everything after "Wrap", though we're pretty sure Cintas sponsors the Browns training camp this year.). And before WEWS sports director Chris Miller told us that Braylon Edwards had officially signed, a graphic told us that Channel 5 was, in big letters, "THE INDEPENDENT HOME OF BROWNS FANS". Shades of, say, WKNR/850, "The Voice of the Fan"!
The "OFFICIAL HOME OF THE BROWNS", WOIO/19, did manage to get the Edwards news conference on the air, live. For whatever reason, the OTHER "official" Browns broadcast partner, WTAM/1100 ("The AM Home of the Browns"), did NOT have the news conference on the air, though it's traditionally an event they would carry. On afternoon motormouth Mike Trivisonno's show, sports director Mike Snyder noted that they were "technically unable" to carry the news conference.
OMW observes that perhaps WTAM was down some equipment, given their assistance to their sister cluster in North Canton, which was hit by a lightning strike a few days ago. And they were doing one of those "Triv in Your Backyard" remotes...though OMW wonders why they don't have a dedicated line to Browns HQ in Berea. Or, perhaps, they could have an agreement with WOIO/19 to simply air 19's audio? Or, perhaps, Browns beat reporter Andre Knott could have held a cell phone up to Braylon? It worked for a Philadelphia sports radio reporter, who used the same technique to feed live audio of Terrell Owens' bizarre outside-his-house press conference the other day...
We didn't hear WKNR running the press conference, either. But we don't expect much from a station that used to air phone-line-fed sound bites from Berea two days after a Butch Davis press conference.
And oh, if you were a Browns fan trying to find out the latest on their high-profile holdout, being near a radio wasn't the place to be in general. With WTAM's Trivisonno wrapped up in his remote, and a long discussion on police chases (something we'd normally encourage from the station!), it was tough to find out the latest until the signing was actually imminent. WKNR was no better, with afternoon driver Kenny Roda spending a long amount of time talking about some odd basketball tournament at Gund Arena this weekend. It took a snippet in one of Ryan McNaughton's sports updates - delayed by an interminable amount of commercials until about 4 minutes after the hour - to learn that Edwards' agent was stuck in bad weather in Chicago, which caused the delay in the actual signing.
By the way, for all the complaining about WTAM's huge commercial load in PM drive, WKNR is not any better. It sounded like they were trying to match their larger competitor spot for spot!
Oh, and when Triv did get around to talking about it, he verbally sparred (playfully) with his foil, Mike Snyder, about whether there was an agreement or not, repeatedly, on and on... then complained that we wouldn't BE in the dark if Carmen Policy was still around. Oh, brother.
We would have much appreciated Triv, Roda, Snyder or someone mentioning the status of the situation once every so often, like, maybe, coming out of a break? We know we ask a lot here at OMW...but our standards are high.
The "OFFICIAL HOME OF THE BROWNS", WOIO/19, did manage to get the Edwards news conference on the air, live. For whatever reason, the OTHER "official" Browns broadcast partner, WTAM/1100 ("The AM Home of the Browns"), did NOT have the news conference on the air, though it's traditionally an event they would carry. On afternoon motormouth Mike Trivisonno's show, sports director Mike Snyder noted that they were "technically unable" to carry the news conference.
OMW observes that perhaps WTAM was down some equipment, given their assistance to their sister cluster in North Canton, which was hit by a lightning strike a few days ago. And they were doing one of those "Triv in Your Backyard" remotes...though OMW wonders why they don't have a dedicated line to Browns HQ in Berea. Or, perhaps, they could have an agreement with WOIO/19 to simply air 19's audio? Or, perhaps, Browns beat reporter Andre Knott could have held a cell phone up to Braylon? It worked for a Philadelphia sports radio reporter, who used the same technique to feed live audio of Terrell Owens' bizarre outside-his-house press conference the other day...
We didn't hear WKNR running the press conference, either. But we don't expect much from a station that used to air phone-line-fed sound bites from Berea two days after a Butch Davis press conference.
And oh, if you were a Browns fan trying to find out the latest on their high-profile holdout, being near a radio wasn't the place to be in general. With WTAM's Trivisonno wrapped up in his remote, and a long discussion on police chases (something we'd normally encourage from the station!), it was tough to find out the latest until the signing was actually imminent. WKNR was no better, with afternoon driver Kenny Roda spending a long amount of time talking about some odd basketball tournament at Gund Arena this weekend. It took a snippet in one of Ryan McNaughton's sports updates - delayed by an interminable amount of commercials until about 4 minutes after the hour - to learn that Edwards' agent was stuck in bad weather in Chicago, which caused the delay in the actual signing.
By the way, for all the complaining about WTAM's huge commercial load in PM drive, WKNR is not any better. It sounded like they were trying to match their larger competitor spot for spot!
Oh, and when Triv did get around to talking about it, he verbally sparred (playfully) with his foil, Mike Snyder, about whether there was an agreement or not, repeatedly, on and on... then complained that we wouldn't BE in the dark if Carmen Policy was still around. Oh, brother.
We would have much appreciated Triv, Roda, Snyder or someone mentioning the status of the situation once every so often, like, maybe, coming out of a break? We know we ask a lot here at OMW...but our standards are high.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Being "Official Home of the Browns" Means You Should Get It Right
UPDATE: As of 11:30 tonight, both WOIO/19 and WKYC/3 are reporting that the tide has turned AGAIN, and that there is a deal between Braylon Edwards and the Browns. The below was written before that news came out, and still stands on its own... -- OMW
----------
Watch out, Reserve Square...this one is for you.
So, OMW caught all but the very beginning of tonight's "19 Action News", the 10 PM edition on WOIO/19 sister station WUAB/43. We saw lead sports anchor Chuck Galeti reporting live, "breaking news" from Berea, where Cleveland Browns first round draft pick Braylon Edwards had apparently bolted for his home in Detroit, just hours after his contract negotiations with the team had gone sour.
It's not Galeti's reporting we're calling into question here.
No, just a few minutes after Galeti correctly brought "19 Action News at 10" viewers up to date on the contract situation suddenly falling apart between the talented wide receiver and the team, the station's crawl let us know that Edwards was in Berea and was close to signing a contract, and could be in uniform as soon as tomorrow! Yes, stay tuned to "19 Action News" - The Official Home of the Browns - for details.
Huh?
We've checked the wires (see this AP story via Cleveland.com), and as near as we can tell, someone at Reserve Square neglected to update the crawl to reflect the most recent information. It wouldn't be so funny if WOIO didn't spend hours breathlessly proclaiming itself the Official Home of the Browns....a phrase that was repeated again in the crawl.
Oops.
It's not the first time the 19 crawl has been behind reality. One Sunday night recently, it proclaimed that a local freeway would be shut down until early Monday morning for construction work...a project which actually wrapped up three hours before we saw the crawl. We knew that, because we saw competitor WEWS/5 air live video of the re-opened freeway.
Someone at Reserve Square has to shout out - "HEY! THE CRAWL! UPDATE IT!" - when something changes in a major news story. And as OMW enters this update, the "Braylon could be in uniform as soon as tomorrow" line has repeated itself on the crawl.
----------
Watch out, Reserve Square...this one is for you.
So, OMW caught all but the very beginning of tonight's "19 Action News", the 10 PM edition on WOIO/19 sister station WUAB/43. We saw lead sports anchor Chuck Galeti reporting live, "breaking news" from Berea, where Cleveland Browns first round draft pick Braylon Edwards had apparently bolted for his home in Detroit, just hours after his contract negotiations with the team had gone sour.
It's not Galeti's reporting we're calling into question here.
No, just a few minutes after Galeti correctly brought "19 Action News at 10" viewers up to date on the contract situation suddenly falling apart between the talented wide receiver and the team, the station's crawl let us know that Edwards was in Berea and was close to signing a contract, and could be in uniform as soon as tomorrow! Yes, stay tuned to "19 Action News" - The Official Home of the Browns - for details.
Huh?
We've checked the wires (see this AP story via Cleveland.com), and as near as we can tell, someone at Reserve Square neglected to update the crawl to reflect the most recent information. It wouldn't be so funny if WOIO didn't spend hours breathlessly proclaiming itself the Official Home of the Browns....a phrase that was repeated again in the crawl.
Oops.
It's not the first time the 19 crawl has been behind reality. One Sunday night recently, it proclaimed that a local freeway would be shut down until early Monday morning for construction work...a project which actually wrapped up three hours before we saw the crawl. We knew that, because we saw competitor WEWS/5 air live video of the re-opened freeway.
Someone at Reserve Square has to shout out - "HEY! THE CRAWL! UPDATE IT!" - when something changes in a major news story. And as OMW enters this update, the "Braylon could be in uniform as soon as tomorrow" line has repeated itself on the crawl.
That Ashtabula Bull Ride Has Begun
Our good friend Scott Fybush at NorthEast Radio Watch happened to be within listening range of new Clear Channel country station WYBL/98.3 Ashtabula on its first day Tuesday, and reports that the station has indeed launched as advertised.
Scott tells OMW that "98.3 The Bull" charged out of the gate (too bad we don't get paid for our pithy prose!) with a live and local airstaff, and spent much of its first day with a live remote from the Ashtabula County Fair.
"The Bull's" website is up and running. It's using the new Clear Channel music station template, and for example, looks nearly identical in style to Cleveland CC hot AC WMVX "Mix 106.5"'s site.
The air staff:
Morning Drive: Roger McCoy (PD)
Middays: Jake Andrews
Afternoon Drive: Kristie Lee
Nights: Paul West
OMW has no idea how many of those personalities are live and not voice tracked, though it appears both drive time shifts are live. Ms. Lee's afternoon drive show is certainly live from the Ashtabula County Fair this week. (And what a way for a country station to launch - live from the county fair!)
According to Clear Channel sister news/talker WFUN/970's website, morning driver/program director Roger McCoy has been doing morning drive for that station. And we'll assume Ms. Lee is no relation to the Bob & Tom Show regular of the same name...
Scott tells OMW that "98.3 The Bull" charged out of the gate (too bad we don't get paid for our pithy prose!) with a live and local airstaff, and spent much of its first day with a live remote from the Ashtabula County Fair.
"The Bull's" website is up and running. It's using the new Clear Channel music station template, and for example, looks nearly identical in style to Cleveland CC hot AC WMVX "Mix 106.5"'s site.
The air staff:
Morning Drive: Roger McCoy (PD)
Middays: Jake Andrews
Afternoon Drive: Kristie Lee
Nights: Paul West
OMW has no idea how many of those personalities are live and not voice tracked, though it appears both drive time shifts are live. Ms. Lee's afternoon drive show is certainly live from the Ashtabula County Fair this week. (And what a way for a country station to launch - live from the county fair!)
According to Clear Channel sister news/talker WFUN/970's website, morning driver/program director Roger McCoy has been doing morning drive for that station. And we'll assume Ms. Lee is no relation to the Bob & Tom Show regular of the same name...
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
"Mix's" New Midday Mix
Local listeners have noticed a regular new midday host on WMVX/106.5 "Mix 106.5" - by the name of Lori Bradley. The Clear Channel Cleveland Hot AC station is still looking for an afternoon personality, as OMW noted a while back.
Lori's been saying the word "Mix" into a microphone for a long time. She worked at "Mix" stations in Austin and Houston, and has been voicetracking for the "Mix" station in Rochester, all of them owned by Clear Channel. She replaces other voices heard in middays on 106.5, including Kat Jackson (who's at CC sister WGAR/99.5) and Cindy Spicer. Her voicetracking studio must be busy, as we spotted her on the air personality list for contemporary Christian network "Air 1", the younger skewing side of satellite-driven "K-Love". "Air 1", of course, is not owned by Clear Channel.
Ms. Spicer has some career moves herself, according to our friends at SDRadio.net in San Diego. She has been doing middays at Clear Channel's "My 94.1" in that market (itself, you guessed it, once known as "Mix 94.1"), but moves to CC sister country KUSS "US 95.7" as midday host and music director, next week. No, they're not changing the name of the country station to "Mix 95.7".
OMW doesn't know for sure, but we're pretty confident when we say it's likely neither woman is anywhere near the Clear Channel World Domination HQ on Oak Tree Boulevard. But, the afternoon drive "Mix" opening is indeed in-house.
Lori's been saying the word "Mix" into a microphone for a long time. She worked at "Mix" stations in Austin and Houston, and has been voicetracking for the "Mix" station in Rochester, all of them owned by Clear Channel. She replaces other voices heard in middays on 106.5, including Kat Jackson (who's at CC sister WGAR/99.5) and Cindy Spicer. Her voicetracking studio must be busy, as we spotted her on the air personality list for contemporary Christian network "Air 1", the younger skewing side of satellite-driven "K-Love". "Air 1", of course, is not owned by Clear Channel.
Ms. Spicer has some career moves herself, according to our friends at SDRadio.net in San Diego. She has been doing middays at Clear Channel's "My 94.1" in that market (itself, you guessed it, once known as "Mix 94.1"), but moves to CC sister country KUSS "US 95.7" as midday host and music director, next week. No, they're not changing the name of the country station to "Mix 95.7".
OMW doesn't know for sure, but we're pretty confident when we say it's likely neither woman is anywhere near the Clear Channel World Domination HQ on Oak Tree Boulevard. But, the afternoon drive "Mix" opening is indeed in-house.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Ashtabula - The Small Market Radio Capital of Northeast Ohio?
While waiting for WYBL/98.3 Ashtabula to unleash its country "Bull" tomorrow...
It turns out that there's yet ANOTHER possible FM station in Ashtabula's future. OMW stumbled upon this allocation from the FCC earlier this year...granting a move by long-time broadcast engineer Dana Puopolo to add a class A allocation on 96.1 FM in Ashtabula. According to our good friends at NorthEast Radio Watch, Puopolo originally tried for an allocation on 95.9 just up I-90 in Erie a couple of years ago. Unlike the Erie attempt, the Ashtabula allocation for 96.1 FM is officially on the books, though Puopolo hasn't yet applied to put a station on there.
As NERW's Scott Fybush pointed out, putting an FM on in that section of the band along the Lake Erie coastline is quite a squeeze, considering the monster signal pushing across the lake from rocker "FM 96", otherwise known as CFPL-FM/95.9 London, Ontario, Canada. In fact, on our trip into Ashtabula over the weekend, OMW heard 95.9 out of Canada along the lake just east of Cleveland, with a signal that was nearly as strong as Northeast Ohio's locals.
If you read the allocation, you'll note that Puopolo's request reportedly works out interference issues with CFPL-FM as a "specially negotiated, short-spaced allotment", and got the approval of Canada's version of the FCC for the allocation. Maybe it was the nudge one channel over to 96.1, and the move to Ashtabula, that sealed it for Puopolo.
The Ashtabula market has seen two new FM signons in recent years. In addition to the new WYBL/98.3, Clear Channel also added WFXJ/107.5 North Kingsville, now running classic rock as "107.5 The Fox". Puopolo appears to have no connection with Clear Channel, being a broadcast engineer who's worked in markets such as Boston and Los Angeles. He's most recently been listed as chief engineer for MultiCultural Radio's Los Angeles operations.
With two new FMs in a couple of years, and a third on the way sometime in the next couple of years or so, will Ashtabula...an economically depressed area...become over-radioed?
It turns out that there's yet ANOTHER possible FM station in Ashtabula's future. OMW stumbled upon this allocation from the FCC earlier this year...granting a move by long-time broadcast engineer Dana Puopolo to add a class A allocation on 96.1 FM in Ashtabula. According to our good friends at NorthEast Radio Watch, Puopolo originally tried for an allocation on 95.9 just up I-90 in Erie a couple of years ago. Unlike the Erie attempt, the Ashtabula allocation for 96.1 FM is officially on the books, though Puopolo hasn't yet applied to put a station on there.
As NERW's Scott Fybush pointed out, putting an FM on in that section of the band along the Lake Erie coastline is quite a squeeze, considering the monster signal pushing across the lake from rocker "FM 96", otherwise known as CFPL-FM/95.9 London, Ontario, Canada. In fact, on our trip into Ashtabula over the weekend, OMW heard 95.9 out of Canada along the lake just east of Cleveland, with a signal that was nearly as strong as Northeast Ohio's locals.
If you read the allocation, you'll note that Puopolo's request reportedly works out interference issues with CFPL-FM as a "specially negotiated, short-spaced allotment", and got the approval of Canada's version of the FCC for the allocation. Maybe it was the nudge one channel over to 96.1, and the move to Ashtabula, that sealed it for Puopolo.
The Ashtabula market has seen two new FM signons in recent years. In addition to the new WYBL/98.3, Clear Channel also added WFXJ/107.5 North Kingsville, now running classic rock as "107.5 The Fox". Puopolo appears to have no connection with Clear Channel, being a broadcast engineer who's worked in markets such as Boston and Los Angeles. He's most recently been listed as chief engineer for MultiCultural Radio's Los Angeles operations.
With two new FMs in a couple of years, and a third on the way sometime in the next couple of years or so, will Ashtabula...an economically depressed area...become over-radioed?
No, "19 Action News", You Don't Own The Browns
Cleveland CBS affiliate WOIO/19 has made a big deal about their new deal with the NFL's Cleveland Browns. Along with broadcasting the team's pre-season games, and producing other programs, 19 proudly proclaims itself "The Official Home of the Browns" on the air.
Someone might want to send a note down to Reserve Square to remind them that WOIO only bought the rights to AIR the Browns, not to run the training camp in Berea.
OMW hears that WOIO's staffers spent much of the first week of training camp acting like they were an extension of the team. The "last straw", as we're told, involved a 19 producer clearing out a refrigerator full of bottled water to deliver to the "Action News" team at the camp. (That whole thing about having water for the TEAM, in 90-degree weather, must have gotten past the producer.)
And as a result, from what we've been told, WOIO's staffers no longer have unfettered reign in Berea. They're still allowed in the building, of course, but with a Browns escort. Outside work at the practice field is unaffected.
Though it's quite easy to poke fun at the folks at Reserve Square, we'll end this missive with a positive note. Though he acts like a hyperactive high school basketball coach on camera, especially when there's severe weather, we're hearing nothing but nice things about 19 weathercaster Jeff Tanchak. Especially considering the above, he's a great ambassador for the station, and his presence may smooth over at least some of the ruffled feathers from the station's "we own this place" attitude at training camp...
Someone might want to send a note down to Reserve Square to remind them that WOIO only bought the rights to AIR the Browns, not to run the training camp in Berea.
OMW hears that WOIO's staffers spent much of the first week of training camp acting like they were an extension of the team. The "last straw", as we're told, involved a 19 producer clearing out a refrigerator full of bottled water to deliver to the "Action News" team at the camp. (That whole thing about having water for the TEAM, in 90-degree weather, must have gotten past the producer.)
And as a result, from what we've been told, WOIO's staffers no longer have unfettered reign in Berea. They're still allowed in the building, of course, but with a Browns escort. Outside work at the practice field is unaffected.
Though it's quite easy to poke fun at the folks at Reserve Square, we'll end this missive with a positive note. Though he acts like a hyperactive high school basketball coach on camera, especially when there's severe weather, we're hearing nothing but nice things about 19 weathercaster Jeff Tanchak. Especially considering the above, he's a great ambassador for the station, and his presence may smooth over at least some of the ruffled feathers from the station's "we own this place" attitude at training camp...
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Robin Swoboda Stops "Fishing" August 19th
A confirmation on our earlier report... as OMW hears the news from WFHM/95.5 Cleveland "The Fish" morning co-host Robin Swoboda.
Robin tells OMW that her last day at the Salem contemporary Christian station will be August 19th. And as we indicated in the earlier report, Mrs. Swoboda-Wagner tells us that it's indeed for family reasons. Her husband, former Cleveland Browns punter Bryan Wagner, now has a teaching job which starts at 7:45, and her three children have a new school with a new starting time of 9 AM...and mom's going to take them to school herself. After all, "the thought of hiring a stranger to do it just seems...well, strange!!", says the former local TV news anchor, whom we remember very well from her days at WJW's "NewsCenter 8".
Robin adds in her note to OMW, "Look for me to pop up here or there every once in awhile...just not at the expense of the children!"
Once again, in our opinion, it's good to see someone putting "family first" in their real life, and not just using it as a slogan. (Robin, or anyone, by the way, if you want to contact us directly via E-Mail, feel free to write "OhioMediaWatch" [at] gmail [dot] com, our new address. Or find the E-Mail link under our profile link, at the top left hand side of this page.)
Robin tells OMW that her last day at the Salem contemporary Christian station will be August 19th. And as we indicated in the earlier report, Mrs. Swoboda-Wagner tells us that it's indeed for family reasons. Her husband, former Cleveland Browns punter Bryan Wagner, now has a teaching job which starts at 7:45, and her three children have a new school with a new starting time of 9 AM...and mom's going to take them to school herself. After all, "the thought of hiring a stranger to do it just seems...well, strange!!", says the former local TV news anchor, whom we remember very well from her days at WJW's "NewsCenter 8".
Robin adds in her note to OMW, "Look for me to pop up here or there every once in awhile...just not at the expense of the children!"
Once again, in our opinion, it's good to see someone putting "family first" in their real life, and not just using it as a slogan. (Robin, or anyone, by the way, if you want to contact us directly via E-Mail, feel free to write "OhioMediaWatch" [at] gmail [dot] com, our new address. Or find the E-Mail link under our profile link, at the top left hand side of this page.)
Yes, Our Report Was No...Uh...Bull
When stations are in the throes of format changes, and are stunting, OMW can't resist.
We piled into the newly-tagged OMW Mobile this afternoon and headed for Ashtabula, where we confirmed our earlier listener report of WYBL/98.3's stunting. The station abandoned its temporary oldies format, and is now running a continuous loop of country songs with the word "country" in them. (We're no country music experts at OMW, but it sounds like they're all from the same artist.)
And new since our last report - the station is actually using "The Bull" on air to refer to its upcoming format, and proclaims that "The Bull ride starts Tuesday morning at 6".
From the song clips they've been using, it sounds like "The Bull" is going to be a modern/hot country station, perhaps somewhat more so than the other country outlet in the region, Geneva's WKKY/104.7. As noted here in OMW before, WKKY spends a lot of time serving Lake County, even to the point of running Lake County Captains baseball games on Saturday evenings.
A full-bore effort at a contemporary country format by Clear Channel Ashtabula may ensure that WKKY spends even less time paying attention to areas east of Geneva. Of course, anyone who knows the area will tell you that there's more money in Lake County, anyway...but WYBL's signal doesn't serve much of Lake County, which they'd assuredly leave to Clear Channel Cleveland big sister station WGAR/99.5.
By the way, OMW has recorded some clips of this stunting. At some point, as soon as we can figure out where to put it, we'll start linking audio we've recorded on the road...
We piled into the newly-tagged OMW Mobile this afternoon and headed for Ashtabula, where we confirmed our earlier listener report of WYBL/98.3's stunting. The station abandoned its temporary oldies format, and is now running a continuous loop of country songs with the word "country" in them. (We're no country music experts at OMW, but it sounds like they're all from the same artist.)
And new since our last report - the station is actually using "The Bull" on air to refer to its upcoming format, and proclaims that "The Bull ride starts Tuesday morning at 6".
From the song clips they've been using, it sounds like "The Bull" is going to be a modern/hot country station, perhaps somewhat more so than the other country outlet in the region, Geneva's WKKY/104.7. As noted here in OMW before, WKKY spends a lot of time serving Lake County, even to the point of running Lake County Captains baseball games on Saturday evenings.
A full-bore effort at a contemporary country format by Clear Channel Ashtabula may ensure that WKKY spends even less time paying attention to areas east of Geneva. Of course, anyone who knows the area will tell you that there's more money in Lake County, anyway...but WYBL's signal doesn't serve much of Lake County, which they'd assuredly leave to Clear Channel Cleveland big sister station WGAR/99.5.
By the way, OMW has recorded some clips of this stunting. At some point, as soon as we can figure out where to put it, we'll start linking audio we've recorded on the road...
Saturday, August 06, 2005
The Bull's About To Launch
Update on the story of new Clear Channel oldies WYBL/98.3 Ashtabula:
A listener in the region tells us that they've dumped the temporary oldies format entirely, and are now stunting with such songs as "Gone Country", "Rock My World, Little Country Girl" and other songs with the word "country" in them, in a continuous loop.
OMW reported earlier that WYBL was slipping country songs into the oldies format, and was hinting at a format change with "bull noises". It's expected that WYBL will adopt a typical country station name, "98.3 The Bull", and eagle eyed web surfers would do well to keep checking "www.983thebull.com"...which is currently dead, but does have a server attached to it.
If this were a larger market, we'd wonder if this stunting was a little TOO perfect, and wonder if CC Ashtabula had a different format up its sleeve...
A listener in the region tells us that they've dumped the temporary oldies format entirely, and are now stunting with such songs as "Gone Country", "Rock My World, Little Country Girl" and other songs with the word "country" in them, in a continuous loop.
OMW reported earlier that WYBL was slipping country songs into the oldies format, and was hinting at a format change with "bull noises". It's expected that WYBL will adopt a typical country station name, "98.3 The Bull", and eagle eyed web surfers would do well to keep checking "www.983thebull.com"...which is currently dead, but does have a server attached to it.
If this were a larger market, we'd wonder if this stunting was a little TOO perfect, and wonder if CC Ashtabula had a different format up its sleeve...
Friday, August 05, 2005
Lightning Strikes...And Not The Lou Christie Song
At OMW World Headquarters overnight Thursday into Friday morning, we rode through some lines of heavy thunderstorms safely, and didn't lose power or have any problems once. The folks at Clear Channel Akron/Canton wish they could say the same.
OMW hears that lightning directly struck the tall tower behind the CC Akron/Canton building on Freedom Avenue in North Canton, in heavy thunderstorm weather early Friday morning. It's believed the tower was struck at least twice.
The damage was so severe that the mighty WKDD/98.1, the cluster's hot AC station, is now operating off of a $300 Mackie mixer the station bought at a music store. Talker WHLO/640 is operating out of a news booth at the station. Liberal talk WARF/1350 "Radio Free Ohio" is mostly unaffected, though OMW thought we heard some STL noise while sitting in line at the Ohio eCheck station literally in the shadow of 1350's towers off State Road in Cuyahoga Falls. (Yes, it's that time of year for the OMW Mobile.)
Other equipment was also fried, including production gear, ISDN units and the like. The estimated total damage that needs to be repaired or replaced is over $50,000.
And the GOOD news? There was no fire, and very thankfully, there were no injuries. All three stations recovered by afternoon as far as their on-air presence - due to the temporary setup described above.
But if you happen to run into someone in North Canton who smells like they've been in a fire, ask them where they work...
OMW hears that lightning directly struck the tall tower behind the CC Akron/Canton building on Freedom Avenue in North Canton, in heavy thunderstorm weather early Friday morning. It's believed the tower was struck at least twice.
The damage was so severe that the mighty WKDD/98.1, the cluster's hot AC station, is now operating off of a $300 Mackie mixer the station bought at a music store. Talker WHLO/640 is operating out of a news booth at the station. Liberal talk WARF/1350 "Radio Free Ohio" is mostly unaffected, though OMW thought we heard some STL noise while sitting in line at the Ohio eCheck station literally in the shadow of 1350's towers off State Road in Cuyahoga Falls. (Yes, it's that time of year for the OMW Mobile.)
Other equipment was also fried, including production gear, ISDN units and the like. The estimated total damage that needs to be repaired or replaced is over $50,000.
And the GOOD news? There was no fire, and very thankfully, there were no injuries. All three stations recovered by afternoon as far as their on-air presence - due to the temporary setup described above.
But if you happen to run into someone in North Canton who smells like they've been in a fire, ask them where they work...
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Telegraphing A New Format In Ashtabula
It's not like Clear Channel's Ashtabula cluster wants to hide its intentions with new signon WYBL/98.3.
More than once here in OMW, we've pointed to market rumors and other signs that the new station, which hit the air running automated oldies with no production other than a brief legal ID, would go country as "The Bull"...a name even suggested by the "WYBL" calls.
A listener in the region now tells OMW that WYBL has "now added some country into its oldies mix, and they are now running teasers that say 'More country, better country, coming soon'". Our tipster also notifies us that they're throwing in sounds of a "bull whip cracking".
You think they're gonna change formats, soon?
As noted earlier here in OMW, there's already a country station serving the Ashtabula region: Geneva's WKKY/104.7, otherwise known as "One Reason Classical WCLV/104.9 Lorain Can't Move East". WKKY has a local morning show and a local afternoon drive show, and otherwise, last we heard it, was running ABC's satellite-delivered "Country Coast to Coast" format, usually positioned as "America's Best Country" or "The Best Country Around". (NOTE: We've edited this to indicate WKKY's broader local programming.) It's the same format Wooster's WQKT/104.5 ran until switching to Westwood One's similar full-time satellite country format.
WKKY makes a pretty concerted effort at serving areas to their west along the I-90 corridor, such as much of Lake County (Mentor, Painesville, etc.). 104.7's stick is actually west of Geneva, on the eastern edge of Lake County. There could very well be enough room for WKKY to focus there, and WYBL to focus on Ashtabula and its nearby areas. One thing's for sure...the Bull is about to be unleashed.
More than once here in OMW, we've pointed to market rumors and other signs that the new station, which hit the air running automated oldies with no production other than a brief legal ID, would go country as "The Bull"...a name even suggested by the "WYBL" calls.
A listener in the region now tells OMW that WYBL has "now added some country into its oldies mix, and they are now running teasers that say 'More country, better country, coming soon'". Our tipster also notifies us that they're throwing in sounds of a "bull whip cracking".
You think they're gonna change formats, soon?
As noted earlier here in OMW, there's already a country station serving the Ashtabula region: Geneva's WKKY/104.7, otherwise known as "One Reason Classical WCLV/104.9 Lorain Can't Move East". WKKY has a local morning show and a local afternoon drive show, and otherwise, last we heard it, was running ABC's satellite-delivered "Country Coast to Coast" format, usually positioned as "America's Best Country" or "The Best Country Around". (NOTE: We've edited this to indicate WKKY's broader local programming.) It's the same format Wooster's WQKT/104.5 ran until switching to Westwood One's similar full-time satellite country format.
WKKY makes a pretty concerted effort at serving areas to their west along the I-90 corridor, such as much of Lake County (Mentor, Painesville, etc.). 104.7's stick is actually west of Geneva, on the eastern edge of Lake County. There could very well be enough room for WKKY to focus there, and WYBL to focus on Ashtabula and its nearby areas. One thing's for sure...the Bull is about to be unleashed.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Another Cleveland "Where Are They Now" Entry: Jaz McKay
You might remember Jaz McKay from his stint as a talk show host at the station then known as
"3WE", today's WTAM/1100 Cleveland. He was one in a very long line of what could be called "talk radio experiments" on the station, before Jacor bought it and transformed it into today's Clear Channel-owned news/talk powerhouse.
Jaz has, until recently, done evenings at Infinity talk KMJ/580 in Fresno, California. As of August 22nd, according to AllAccess, he'll be working just down California Highway 99 in middays at Buckley talk KNZR/1560 Bakersfield CA.
It's a direct market trade, if not a direct station trade. KMJ's new evening host is Inga Barks, who starts today, and is midday host at Bakersfield's OTHER (and more popular) talk station, KERN/1410. (NOTE: We're told that Barks will continue doing her KERN show, in addition to doing the KMJ evening slot.)
Both Fresno and Bakersfield are a LONG way from Cleveland.
"3WE", today's WTAM/1100 Cleveland. He was one in a very long line of what could be called "talk radio experiments" on the station, before Jacor bought it and transformed it into today's Clear Channel-owned news/talk powerhouse.
Jaz has, until recently, done evenings at Infinity talk KMJ/580 in Fresno, California. As of August 22nd, according to AllAccess, he'll be working just down California Highway 99 in middays at Buckley talk KNZR/1560 Bakersfield CA.
It's a direct market trade, if not a direct station trade. KMJ's new evening host is Inga Barks, who starts today, and is midday host at Bakersfield's OTHER (and more popular) talk station, KERN/1410. (NOTE: We're told that Barks will continue doing her KERN show, in addition to doing the KMJ evening slot.)
Both Fresno and Bakersfield are a LONG way from Cleveland.
The Harold Glunt Wexy Oldies Empire Expands
From the department of "One of Our Favorite Obsessions": A listener along the Ohio/PA border reports that once-silent WGRP/940 Greenville PA has returned to the air.
Take a guess what format it's running! Go on, we'll wait.
We'll give you a hint - what format does Beacon Broadcasting's Harold Glunt run on the AM dial? You guessed it...the "Wexy 107" oldies format once heard on WGRP sister station WEXC/107.1 in that same city. 107.1 has been Youngstown-targetting Christian rocker "Freq 107" for a few weeks now. "Wexy 107" has also been running the past few weeks on new Beacon acquisition WLOA/1470 Farrell PA.
And actually, it's no surprise, since along with listing the now-off-in-other-format 107.1 in its legal IDs, the new "Wexy 107" incarnation has also ID'ed the until-now-silent WGRP, even when it was not actually on the air! So, you have two small AM stations running the unchanged oldies format that used to run on the FM in Greenville, complete with its frequency number, and no acknowledgement of the AM stations except at legal ID time. Yep, that makes sense to US.
We're still waiting to hear if Beacon's WANR/1570 Warren or new acquisition WRTK/1540 Niles will join in the Wexy party at some point, as rumored earlier right here in OMW...
Take a guess what format it's running! Go on, we'll wait.
We'll give you a hint - what format does Beacon Broadcasting's Harold Glunt run on the AM dial? You guessed it...the "Wexy 107" oldies format once heard on WGRP sister station WEXC/107.1 in that same city. 107.1 has been Youngstown-targetting Christian rocker "Freq 107" for a few weeks now. "Wexy 107" has also been running the past few weeks on new Beacon acquisition WLOA/1470 Farrell PA.
And actually, it's no surprise, since along with listing the now-off-in-other-format 107.1 in its legal IDs, the new "Wexy 107" incarnation has also ID'ed the until-now-silent WGRP, even when it was not actually on the air! So, you have two small AM stations running the unchanged oldies format that used to run on the FM in Greenville, complete with its frequency number, and no acknowledgement of the AM stations except at legal ID time. Yep, that makes sense to US.
We're still waiting to hear if Beacon's WANR/1570 Warren or new acquisition WRTK/1540 Niles will join in the Wexy party at some point, as rumored earlier right here in OMW...
Job Listing: WQAL/Cleveland Looking For Part-Time Air Talent
From AllAccess:
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WQAL - Cleveland’s Q104 “90’s & Now” needs part-time air talent. Work with a new digital facility this summer and with a team who wins. Duties include weekend on-air shifts. At least 2 years on-air experience preferred. Send your CD and resume to WQAL, Attn: Allan Fee, 1 Radio Lane, Cleveland, OH 44114. Please, no calls.
Infinity Broadcasting is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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WQAL - Cleveland’s Q104 “90’s & Now” needs part-time air talent. Work with a new digital facility this summer and with a team who wins. Duties include weekend on-air shifts. At least 2 years on-air experience preferred. Send your CD and resume to WQAL, Attn: Allan Fee, 1 Radio Lane, Cleveland, OH 44114. Please, no calls.
Infinity Broadcasting is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
The Stick Has Landed In Florida
AllAccess reports that former Clear Channel Cleveland WAKS/96.5 "Kiss FM" jock "Stick on the Radio" is taking nights at CC's CHR "XL 106.7" in Orlando. He's scheduled to start in late August.
"Stick" left Cleveland's Kiss FM after it was announced that former Kiss APD/MD Kasper, a regular reader of This Space, was returning to his old job in Cleveland...from his current gig at CC sister CHR "Q102" in Philadelphia.
Oh, one housekeeping issue: We have a new E-Mail address. It's linked in the profile link at the very left of this blog. Feel free to drop us a line and let us know you're reading OMW! And if you'd like to share some news you know about, or have heard, please also drop us a line. We hear from people in many of the local broadcast outlets, and anyone who's fed us stuff in the past will tell you that we keep our sources confidential. (Of course, since we do, we can't tell you who's fed us stuff. Just thinking about that circular thought is baffling. ;) )
"Stick" left Cleveland's Kiss FM after it was announced that former Kiss APD/MD Kasper, a regular reader of This Space, was returning to his old job in Cleveland...from his current gig at CC sister CHR "Q102" in Philadelphia.
Oh, one housekeeping issue: We have a new E-Mail address. It's linked in the profile link at the very left of this blog. Feel free to drop us a line and let us know you're reading OMW! And if you'd like to share some news you know about, or have heard, please also drop us a line. We hear from people in many of the local broadcast outlets, and anyone who's fed us stuff in the past will tell you that we keep our sources confidential. (Of course, since we do, we can't tell you who's fed us stuff. Just thinking about that circular thought is baffling. ;) )
Why September 22nd Could Be A Big Day at Infinity/Cleveland
This little nugget, from dependable Chicago Sun-Times media columnist Robert Feder, caught the eye of OMW:
Mancow, Johnny B. could be on the move
The upshot in the column is that Infinity and Emmis are reportedly negotiating over a game of musical chairs among three of the Chicago market's bigger stations. If it all falls into place, it'd land WKQX/101.1/TRN FM morning host Erich "Mancow" Muller onto Infinity's hot talk WCKG/105.9, as the replacement for Howard Stern, who'd be pulled off WCKG and other Infinity stations on September 22nd (start of the Fall ratings period).
This move - the end of Stern's terrestrial radio run over three months before Stern joins Sirius Satellite Radio - has been speculated repeatedly by none other than the King of All Media himself. The theory, of course, is that Stern's affiliates would not be able to use his Fall 2005 ratings to sell spot time in January 2006, after he's gone. Feder's column also mentions another Chicago legendary host, Jonathan Brandmeier, but that part doesn't affect Cleveland.
No, what affects us here in Northeast Ohio is Infinity's reported willingness to shut down the Stern Machine at the start of the Fall 2005 ratings book, which puts a whole OTHER set of things into motion among Infinity's Cleveland market stations.
You might recall that WXTM/92.3 "Xtreme Radio" morning star "Rover" recently signed a new contract with Infinity. In that contract, it was actually spelled out that Infinity would syndicate his show, and he was expected to pick up many of the markets being vacated by Howard Stern. Infinity appears to have settled on a regional strategy to fill the Stern hole, with Rover, former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth and "Loveline" host Adam Carolla being mentioned in that mix.
Enter Mancow. According to the Feder column, if this all happens, the Cow would get "at least" 6 former Stern stations on his affiliate list.
You'll only need to look at a map to see how this spells trouble for Rover. Roth would likely get, in addition to Stern's flagship WKRK/New York, stations in markets like Philadelphia and Boston. Carolla would do a live west coast show out of KLSX/Los Angeles for markets like San Diego and Sacramento. And with Mancow in this mix now, he gets new home base WCKG/Chicago, and a half-dozen other Midwest markets.
Does the Cow push Rover out of markets like Detroit, Cincinnati and other major Midwest cities? Rover already airs, at last check, on two non-Stern stations...in Columbus and in Madison, Wisconsin. If Mancow makes this move, Rover can likely axe any hopes of being on in Chicago, and maybe other markets he thought he was ticketed for, when Stern ceases being heard on terrestrial radio.
Meanwhile, back at Infinity/Cleveland, is this speculation the reason we haven't heard JACK... er...JACK FM, that is...out of any of their local stations yet, despite industry rumors? Are they waiting to do it all at once if Stern's being pushed out of the Infinity fold a few months early? Is September 22nd the date to watch?
You make the call. We're just throwing stuff up against the OMW Wall again, seeing if any of it sticks. At least we're open about the speculation...
Mancow, Johnny B. could be on the move
The upshot in the column is that Infinity and Emmis are reportedly negotiating over a game of musical chairs among three of the Chicago market's bigger stations. If it all falls into place, it'd land WKQX/101.1/TRN FM morning host Erich "Mancow" Muller onto Infinity's hot talk WCKG/105.9, as the replacement for Howard Stern, who'd be pulled off WCKG and other Infinity stations on September 22nd (start of the Fall ratings period).
This move - the end of Stern's terrestrial radio run over three months before Stern joins Sirius Satellite Radio - has been speculated repeatedly by none other than the King of All Media himself. The theory, of course, is that Stern's affiliates would not be able to use his Fall 2005 ratings to sell spot time in January 2006, after he's gone. Feder's column also mentions another Chicago legendary host, Jonathan Brandmeier, but that part doesn't affect Cleveland.
No, what affects us here in Northeast Ohio is Infinity's reported willingness to shut down the Stern Machine at the start of the Fall 2005 ratings book, which puts a whole OTHER set of things into motion among Infinity's Cleveland market stations.
You might recall that WXTM/92.3 "Xtreme Radio" morning star "Rover" recently signed a new contract with Infinity. In that contract, it was actually spelled out that Infinity would syndicate his show, and he was expected to pick up many of the markets being vacated by Howard Stern. Infinity appears to have settled on a regional strategy to fill the Stern hole, with Rover, former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth and "Loveline" host Adam Carolla being mentioned in that mix.
Enter Mancow. According to the Feder column, if this all happens, the Cow would get "at least" 6 former Stern stations on his affiliate list.
You'll only need to look at a map to see how this spells trouble for Rover. Roth would likely get, in addition to Stern's flagship WKRK/New York, stations in markets like Philadelphia and Boston. Carolla would do a live west coast show out of KLSX/Los Angeles for markets like San Diego and Sacramento. And with Mancow in this mix now, he gets new home base WCKG/Chicago, and a half-dozen other Midwest markets.
Does the Cow push Rover out of markets like Detroit, Cincinnati and other major Midwest cities? Rover already airs, at last check, on two non-Stern stations...in Columbus and in Madison, Wisconsin. If Mancow makes this move, Rover can likely axe any hopes of being on in Chicago, and maybe other markets he thought he was ticketed for, when Stern ceases being heard on terrestrial radio.
Meanwhile, back at Infinity/Cleveland, is this speculation the reason we haven't heard JACK... er...JACK FM, that is...out of any of their local stations yet, despite industry rumors? Are they waiting to do it all at once if Stern's being pushed out of the Infinity fold a few months early? Is September 22nd the date to watch?
You make the call. We're just throwing stuff up against the OMW Wall again, seeing if any of it sticks. At least we're open about the speculation...
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Job Listing: CC Akron/Canton Looking for NTR/Marketing Director
Posted in various places by Clear Channel's Keith Kennedy:
---------------
NTR/Marketing Director Akron, Ohio
At Clear Channel Akron/Canton (Hot AC WKDD/Newstalk 640 WHLO and Progressive talk 1350am Radio Free Ohio) we are losing one of the best in the business! If you can conceive, plan, and manage both large and small events; hire, train and manage a staff; conceive, and design effective marketing pieces; and have a background in graphic design; we need to talk Email resumes to: (danlankford at clearchannel dot com) or via mail to 7755 Freedom Avenue, North Canton, Ohio 44720.
---------------
NTR/Marketing Director Akron, Ohio
At Clear Channel Akron/Canton (Hot AC WKDD/Newstalk 640 WHLO and Progressive talk 1350am Radio Free Ohio) we are losing one of the best in the business! If you can conceive, plan, and manage both large and small events; hire, train and manage a staff; conceive, and design effective marketing pieces; and have a background in graphic design; we need to talk Email resumes to: (danlankford at clearchannel dot com) or via mail to 7755 Freedom Avenue, North Canton, Ohio 44720.
That Confusing ABC/FOX Shuffle, Part Five
Continuing in our quest to keep track of what network radio newscasts are being run at various Northeast Ohio radio stations:
* It turns out that OMW was mistaken, and a well-informed source at the Akron Radio Center tells us that WAKR/1590 Akron runs the ABC Entertainment hourly news feed. As we noted to the source, it's difficult to tell the difference between the ABC Entertainment, Direction, and other feeds that aren't the Information network. The primary difference between the non-Info network casts is length and the top-of-cast sounder.
* A listener has already heard Clear Channel talker WHLO/640 Akron running the FOX News Radio hourly news product, as of tonight. OMW will verify this, but not before going to sleep. :)
* If they haven't made the switch from ABC Information already, we presume it'll be the ABC Direction news feed that will air on Clear Channel liberal talker WARF/1350 Akron in the next while. (See above about WAKR's Entertainment feed.)
* We did hear Clear Channel talker WTAM/1100 Cleveland's new Fox News Radio-based ID/top of the hour news sounder. We're still getting used to it. It's not bad, considering, but OMW loved the "boom-boom-BOOM" of the old ABC-based sounder.
* Still undetermined - when ABC Information Network will start on MediaCom Akron market talker WNIR/100.1 Kent. We'll pull something out of the air, and guess it'll be before August 8th. We'll make the logical assumption that the ABC-I product will also grace the 1000 watt directional daytime signal of WNIR sister station WJMP/1520 Kent(/Akron/Cleveland/Mars/Jupiter), now the area's Fox Sports Radio affiliate.
* Could CBS Radio News try selling their product to WAKR/1590? They could, but WAKR is a long-time Paul Harvey affiliate. ABC may be willing to let WTAM/1100 let go of the ABC-I designation (and inventory) to save Harvey's clearance on a 50,000 watt top-30 market flamethrower, but likely wouldn't be as flexible for an Akron market station.
* It turns out that OMW was mistaken, and a well-informed source at the Akron Radio Center tells us that WAKR/1590 Akron runs the ABC Entertainment hourly news feed. As we noted to the source, it's difficult to tell the difference between the ABC Entertainment, Direction, and other feeds that aren't the Information network. The primary difference between the non-Info network casts is length and the top-of-cast sounder.
* A listener has already heard Clear Channel talker WHLO/640 Akron running the FOX News Radio hourly news product, as of tonight. OMW will verify this, but not before going to sleep. :)
* If they haven't made the switch from ABC Information already, we presume it'll be the ABC Direction news feed that will air on Clear Channel liberal talker WARF/1350 Akron in the next while. (See above about WAKR's Entertainment feed.)
* We did hear Clear Channel talker WTAM/1100 Cleveland's new Fox News Radio-based ID/top of the hour news sounder. We're still getting used to it. It's not bad, considering, but OMW loved the "boom-boom-BOOM" of the old ABC-based sounder.
* Still undetermined - when ABC Information Network will start on MediaCom Akron market talker WNIR/100.1 Kent. We'll pull something out of the air, and guess it'll be before August 8th. We'll make the logical assumption that the ABC-I product will also grace the 1000 watt directional daytime signal of WNIR sister station WJMP/1520 Kent(/Akron/Cleveland/Mars/Jupiter), now the area's Fox Sports Radio affiliate.
* Could CBS Radio News try selling their product to WAKR/1590? They could, but WAKR is a long-time Paul Harvey affiliate. ABC may be willing to let WTAM/1100 let go of the ABC-I designation (and inventory) to save Harvey's clearance on a 50,000 watt top-30 market flamethrower, but likely wouldn't be as flexible for an Akron market station.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Mini Update: Re: WCER/Canton's New Local Show
Talk/religious WCER/900 Canton's new early evening local talk show apparently won't start until the third week in August, according to station OM John Amrhein. AllAccess.com had reported the show, with host Jason Burnette, would begin Monday at 6 PM.
And a question for John, if he's reading: Why 6-7 PM? That time slot will be brutal for Jason when WCER is forced to go to its anemic night power (75 watts!) before 6, in the late fall and winter...
And a question for John, if he's reading: Why 6-7 PM? That time slot will be brutal for Jason when WCER is forced to go to its anemic night power (75 watts!) before 6, in the late fall and winter...
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