The Week's Starting Menu

ONE FROM COLUMN A: A followup to our item about Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC/3 and its impending change to HDTV local news.

The station is now doing its newscasts from a temporary newsroom-based set, which looks to us like it's roughly "just behind" where the station's regular set would be. Here's a screen shot from Sunday night's "Channel 3 News at 11":

If we remember the placement of the regular WKYC set, it'd be to the left of where Lydia Esparra, Scott Newell and Betsy Kling are sitting, and further back from the newsroom back wall. We don't know if this means they just had to install HDTV cameras, or if they're working on a brand new set.

UPDATE: We hear the change could come as soon as tonight's 6 PM edition of "Channel 3 News"...

ONE FROM COLUMN B: An item from our long-time friend Scott Fybush and this week's edition of NorthEast Radio Watch. Scott tells us that Cumulus Youngstown market rocker WWIZ/103.9 "Rock 104" is abandoning a move to change its community of license from Mercer PA to Hermitage PA, closer to the heart of the Youngstown market.

Why? Scott believes that it may have to do with something called "Rule 4" in FCC parlance. That basically means that Cumulus/Youngstown is already grandfathered to be allowed to own eight stations in the Youngstown market, and moving WWIZ would result in that arrangement having to be abandoned.

In addition to WWIZ, Cumulus owns top 40 WHOT/101.1, classic rock WYFM/102.9, AC WLLF/96.7, sports WBBW/1240, and news/talk WPIC/790 - all attributed on the company's website to its Youngstown "Radio Center" on Simon Road. (We're pretty sure WPIC, as a Mercer County-targeted station, still broadcasts from studios on Pine Hollow Road in Sharon.)

Then, of course, there's country monster WQXK/105.1 and sister standards WSOM/600 listed in its "Canton Salem" office along with rock WRQK/106.9 in the Canton market. But, everyone on the list except for WRQK has main studios at the Youngstown complex. "K-105" holds down a sales desk or two in Canton.

All but WRQK can be tabbed to Cumulus/Youngstown, which makes the list more than would be allowed without the grandfathering clause.

An oddity when you go into the Youngstown market page for Cumulus (go here, then select Youngstown) - they also list "WBJT-FM 101.9". Are we missing something, or did Cumulus ever have even LMA control of the station now coming out of that Stop 26 Riverbend bankruptcy proceeding? The current calls - WRBP - date back to Stop 26's initial purchase of the station. And the above listed calls would presumably be a typo for the WBTJ calls 101.9 sported in its "Beat" Rhythmic Top 40 days...a format which eventually landed at Clear Channel's "Kiss FM" (WAKZ/95.9 Sharpsville PA).

ONE FROM COLUMN C: A brief visit with Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Roger Brown's Monday sports media column.

He enlists anonymous local media executives to speculate on former WKNR host Bruce Drennan's chances of returning to the airwaves, after he'll spend five months in prison for a tax evasion charge stemming from his illegal gambling. With answers from "I won't bet on it" to "interesting thought, but he does carry baggage", Brown gets a mixed reception.

But one media executive is already on board. In fact, according to Brown's column, that area news director will have Drennan write a weekly website column from prison! It should be no surprise to any local media observer which outlet would do so...yep, you guessed it, WOIO/19-WUAB/43's "19 Action News".

The station has a history with "rehabilitative hires"...remember the trouble Chuck Galeti got into before he was brought aboard first to do fill-in reporting, then as main sports anchor? In that case, it worked out very well, as near as we can tell. And Drennan would certainly be a good fit at "Action News", style-wise, if he eventually landed on the air after the prison term.

We have never been big fans, or even small fans, of Mr. "I LOVVVVVVE YA, CLEVELAND!". Our last straw wasn't the gambling thing, but Drennan singing show tunes on his old WKNR morning drive show. We always thought he was more schtick than substance.

But we have no problem with a "second chance" for him. Not at all. We heard him talk after his tax evasion case plea, via soundbites on one of his former employers, Cleveland Clear Channel talker WTAM/1100. And he said all the right things...he accepted guilt for what he did, and he didn't try to sugarcoat it.

We do NOT expect him to return to the airwaves of Salem's WKNR/850, for any number of reasons...both philosophical and programming wise, as they've basically moved on. But we wouldn't be surprised for him to show up elsewhere, even in addition to "19 Action News".

And in a "sign of the media times" item, Brown notes that WKNR sportscaster Neil Bender is not paid extra for his work on the FSN Ohio/WKNR simulcast "Cleveland Rants" Indians post-game show.

Well, that's not a surprise to us...we're also assuming that FSN Ohio's Les Levine isn't getting paid by WKNR for appearing on their airwaves as well... it's the "you pay your guy, we'll pay ours" dynamic that probably makes "Rants" even possible, considering the two employers involved. In the meantime, though Bender isn't getting any TV coin, he is getting the ability to compile TV demo tapes...

"19 Action News" Hits New Low

Regular readers know that here at your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), we aren't usually at a loss for words when the subject is "19 Action News", the dual-headed monstrosity that occupies airtime at Raycom's local CBS affiliate, WOIO/19, and sister UPN-to-become-MyNetworkTV affiliate, WUAB/43.

We've hit that inability to say much more with this story, which we found in Saturday's "Tipoff" column by the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Michael K. McIntyre.

We find it hard to improve on the original, so we'll put up a few choice quotes about how WOIO handled a story of an "after hours strip joint" which led to the arrest of a local coffee shop owner...

Reporter Matt Stevens referred to "a woman who just arrived with a date" paying $20 each to get in and then engaging with a nude dancer in "an hourlong relationship that could easily be used as a definition of obscenity." The man and woman, their anonymity protected, were then interviewed about what "our undercover camera" caught.

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What the reporter failed to tell viewers was that the woman, who works at a local legitimate strip joint, and a man were recruited and paid several hundred dollars by the station to get lewd undercover video. And they didn't sit there passively in the one-hour obscenity session.

Wow.

For his defense, 19 Action News news director Dan Salamone tells McIntyre that he needed to hire the ringers because he was having trouble getting usable video with his regular news production staffers. Oh, boy. The cost of getting video of a situation Salamone says he really wanted to "expose" (ahem)?

"$300, including cocktails", says Salamone to the PD. Nice work if you can get it, no?

It reminds of us of the Los Angeles market, where video cameras roll every day taping this kind of stuff. Only the footage is not paid for by TV news operations - as far as we know. It gets transfered to tape and DVD and gets sold behind the curtain at the local low-rent video store, and is sold all over the Internet.

Say, Mr. Salamone! If you have trouble getting naughty stuff on video in the future, for a story on naked people...remember, in your own Reserve Square newsroom, you have an attractive female anchor who's willingly shed her clothes for your own cameras before. In public, even! For a news story! The money you put aside in this story for paying "interviewees" could have just been added to her bonus check.

Of note - McIntyre says the "pay for sex sources" story has hit a sour note even with some WITHIN that very newsroom.

When Mr. Salamone was hired as news director at WOIO/WUAB, he had been a manager at a Portland OR station with a far less, umm, unseemly reputation. We wondered how he'd fit in at Cleveland's 19 Tabloid News. We guess it didn't take long for him to do so.

OK, so we DID have a little more to say...

EXCLUSIVE: WKYC/3 News Coming in HD

As OMW tipped a month and a half ago, Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC/3 is now touting its newscasts in high-definition.

WKYC is now airing a promo tagged "local television redefined", and promises "the bigger picture... with greater clarity" in a spot helmed by Channel 3 News weekday anchors Tim White and Romona Robinson.

We have only seen the promo, so far, on WKYC's "NBC Weather Plus" feed. And it gives no indication when the newscasts will air in HDTV. For all we know, they already have started, since we haven't watched in a while...but we now have our HD DVR set up to record the station's newscasts so we can check for sure.

Though "local television redefined" is a nice tagline, WKYC is not the first station to do HDTV newscasts. WJW/8 "FOX 8" has been doing all of its newscasts in HD for some time now. What we believe MAY be different at WKYC - they may be airing local field video in HD, which WJW does not. Right now, "FOX 8 News" only airs the studio in HD...remote live shots are 16x9 SD widescreen, and all video is pillarboxed 4x3 SD.

WKYC, of course, has HD-capable facilities at its relatively new broadcast center at 13th and Lakeside in downtown Cleveland, and does HD production of Cleveland Indians games not only for itself, but for the team's SportsTime Ohio.

The move by WKYC is part of what appears to be a chainwide effort by station owner Gannett. The company has flipped or will flip local news to HD in markets such as Washington DC, Atlanta and Minneapolis...

WEWS/5's Adam Shapiro Headed to NYC

Lose power and stay away from the keyboard for a couple of days...and what else can you miss?

The Plain Dealer's Julie Washington reports that ABC affiliate WEWS/5 morning co-anchor Adam Shapiro is leaving the station, is headed out of Cleveland and is moving to New York. Apparently, he doesn't have a gig in NYC at this time, and is just moving because he's wanted to live there for a long time...near family members in the area, for one reason.

Shapiro exits "Good Morning Cleveland" on June 2nd, and has even already sold his house and two vintage cars he owns.

Local TV veteran Jack Marschall, who's been flying in the station's helicopter as "Air Marschall", will fill in for Shapiro in the mornings until WEWS names a new "GMC" co-anchor. In addition to replacing him as a news anchor, Shapiro's departure means WEWS will also have to find a new host this fall for "Academic Challenge", the station's long-running weekend high school quiz show...

Not Driving To Talk

And another update to an earlier item - Detroit's WDTW/106.7 is not flipping from classic hits/rock "The Drive" to a FM news/talk format, one format that had been earlier considered one possibility for the station by industry observers.

No, "106.7 Needs Help", it now says, with names for a new country music format. So, Detroit doesn't go on the list in our watch of FM stations flipping to news/talk or sports formats, at least not now.

Unless, of course, they're "double stunting" with a temporary country format. We're reminded by a Detroit area resident among our group visiting for the weekend that 106.7 was a long-time country station before flipping to the rock hits format ditched last week. The station's old "W4" name as a country outlet is atop the "names" list on the 106.7 website. (We have a feeling they don't really need any help with the naming, either. Just a guess on our part...)

We also hear that Clear Channel had tried to throw people off during the Detroit stunting...dropping hints of a new rock format called "The Brew", presumably a clone of their similarly-named stations in Columbus and Milwaukee. But, we remember that Clear Channel did the same in reverse when stunting before the debut of Milwaukee's version of "Brew" - dropping all sorts of hints about a liberal talk format with the words "Air America" sprinkled in. (Clear Channel runs FM liberal talker WXXM/92.1 "The Mic" in the nearby Madison WI market.)

There are so many reverses and double reverses in this situation, we can't say for sure what the station will stick with. And radio being what it is, even "permanent" formats have a way of becoming somewhat more temporary than imagined...

A Three Tier HDTV Update

Our apologies for being gone for a day or two here at OMW. Not only are we busy enjoying weekend activities with some out-of-town friends who are in Northeast Ohio through tomorrow, but the palatial OMW World Headquarters was without power for the better part of Friday night into Saturday morning! And only the OMW World Headquarters, and about 34 other unlucky neighboring souls. All's back to normal, now.

UPDATE LEVEL 1: A clarification to our earlier item, suggesting that Cleveland market WB-to-become-CW affiliate WBNX/55 may not have its digital signal over the air until Spring 2007. Don't blame us...blame whoever answers the WBNX feedback E-Mail for this directly quoted answer, received by our OMW tipster as a reply to a message asking them about their digital situation in the wake of the approval of the WBNX-DT construction permit:

Thank you for your feedback. An antenna has to still be designed and built at our transmitter site. Spring of 2007 is a likely date. Thank you for watching wbnx-tv!

The information did NOT come from WUAB/43 or another competitor, and we thought we made that clear in the initial item. It came directly from the keyboard of whoever answers the "vwrfdbk" E-Mail address at "wbnx.com"...it's the link you see on their web page under "Viewer Feedback". We did not pull this out of the air, folks. We did not make this up. It was not planted by a competing station.

If indeed WBNX is actively constructing its over-air digital facility and aiming to get The CW on the air in HDTV by this fall (or for that matter, whatever The WB runs in the summer in HDTV), someone better tell whoever answers their E-Mail to provide the correct answers to viewers. We understand WBNX is advertising their upcoming digital capability on air, but we have yet to see that in occasional watching of the station the past few days...and their "trends" web page has yet to be updated.

Quite frankly, the E-Mail we've been forwarded above didn't make a lot of sense to us, but it was (presumably) from a station employee charged with answering viewer E-Mail. (It would not be the first time that such an event has occurred, depending on what kind of attention a station pays to its incoming viewer E-Mail.)

We will attempt to get a straight answer from WBNX, and will post it here when we do receive that answer.

UPDATE LEVEL 2: WNEO/WEAO "PBS 45 & 49" programming and operations director Don Freeman weighs in on the digital TV situation at the Kent-based PBS affiliate. Freeman tells a home theater/HDTV hobbyist website about the station's travails with aging digital encoding equipment and automation interfacing, which have prompted some unwanted changes on the WNEO-DT/WEAO-DT signals:

Our first generation digital encoding equipment is showing its age. The unit has limitations and those, combined with our incompatible automation system interface, limit what the station can deliver. That's why the Information & Education Channel (CPB/Annenberg) has temporarily been discontinued. That is also why, after 6 months of effort, we are TEMPORARILY de-listing our HD service. That is also why we've made considerable changes to our 2am-5 am primary channel service.

We have been expecting funds from a federal grant to upgrade our automation system since September. We are now spending considerable time reviewing replacement mux and encoding equipment. But we are not abandoning HD as one of the significant broadcast streams in our future.

When we get all the pieces-parts together HD will be on the air again. I, for one, can hardly wait.

Don Freeman
Director of Programming and Operations

UPDATE LEVEL 3: Over in the Youngstown market, CBS affiliate WKBN/27's digital/HDTV signal is now available via Armstrong Cable channel 104. And sister WYFX-LP/62-WFXI-CA/17, better known as "FOX 17/62", is also available in digital format AND with FOX HD programming on Armstrong Cable channel 105.

Since FOX 17/62 can't literally do any better digitally over-the-air than an SD subchannel of WKBN-DT 41, the FOX HDTV feed is being sent via fiber optic from WKBN to Armstrong (as is the CBS HDTV feed).

There's no word on if Time Warner Cable, the other major Youngstown/Warren market operator, will add these feeds...

The CW and WBNX

The CW Network, which premieres in September on many former WB and UPN affiliates, has unveiled its premiere lineup at a new website, complete with video of the network's opening promo.

Meanwhile, OMW hears that WBNX/55 Akron, the Cleveland market WB affiliate that's moving to The CW in the fall, may NOT have its digital signal up in time for the fall CW season's high-definition programming.

OMW reported earlier that WBNX had finally received a construction permit for WBNX-DT 30, which has been tied up for years due to interference concerns with a Canadian station. WBNX said it'd obtained the verbal OK from the Canadians, but didn't hear from the FCC until the CP was approved.

An OMW tipster tells us the station is now telling viewers who ask about it that WBNX may not be able to put up the digital signal until "spring 2007". The station says it has to still design and build an antenna, for one.

We're not engineers, so we don't know how much work a station can do on a new facility - legally - before the FCC approves the construction permit. We're guessing they can build the physical building that would hold a new transmitter, if needed, but they probably can't work on any of the actual technical pieces that would create the new facility.

In the meantime, we're wondering why WBNX isn't readying a cable-only HD feed for The CW in the fall...

Thursday Fun Stack

Just a few odds and ends from various parts of the state and beyond:

STACK ITEM #1: You normally don't look to TV "up front" presentations for radio news, but that's what happened Wednesday. CBS head honcho Les Moonves tipped at the network's presentation to advertisers that the company's looking to sell off 35 "small market" radio stations.

It's not the first time the company's said that. It's not even the second time. And we don't have any indication, at least in the above-linked article from TheStreet.com, of what markets CBS plans to exit.

We're assuming that Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati aren't on the list, for now. But a friend of ours who works for the company in the North Carolina "Triad" area (Greensboro et al.) may be working for new bosses if CBS ever gets around to selling stations in smaller markets...

STACK ITEM #2: AllAccess reports that Cox country powerhouse WHKO/99.1 "K99.1" Dayton morning man Jim Day is headed for a plum gig...mornings at Cumulus country WSM-FM/Nashville "99.5 The Wolf". (Jim's pictured here with "K99.1" morning partner Nancy Wilson.)

It's hard to think of many better gigs for a country morning guy than working in Music City, though the competition is quite intense in country radio there. Among other things, Day and partner Amy Nash will be up against country radio legend Gerry House and his "House Foundation" (on Clear Channel country WSIX/97.9 "The Big 98").

STACK ITEM #3: It doesn't have anything to do directly with Ohio radio, but it reminds us of something that happened here about a year ago.

Still reeling from reaction to a morning show parody called "Wetback Steakhouse", Cox rocker WBAB in Long Island is now dealing with more fallout from something it says it did NOT do - broadcast a racially-charged country song with numerous not-so-nice references to African-Americans, both offensive and violent.

Long Island Newsday reports that the station says someone apparently hijacked the WBAB signal, by interjecting their signal between the station's studio and transmitter site - disrupting the existing STL. WBAB programmer John Olsen says he's "not happy about it" and wants to find out who did it...saying the same song was interjected over sister CHR WBLI's signal a couple of years ago.

It reminded us of the stunting that Clear Channel's Akron/Canton cluster did shortly before the flip of then-sports "Fox Sports 1350" into today's liberal talk WARF "Radio Free Ohio". The local stunting involved a supposed pirate taking over the signal to "bring the truth to the people"...when of course, it was actually the station itself simulating such interruptions.

We're not engineers here at your MBoF(tm), so we don't know how likely it is for someone to overpower the Long Island station's STL feed and broadcast intensely racist hate songs. But we tend to think the station itself couldn't possibly do that. Well, unless they're the dumbest radio station in America - broadcasting such garbage just days after apologizing for a skit they DID produce.

They say "no publicity is bad publicity", but this would pretty much be it. The "Wetback Steakhouse" bit they can earnestly "apologize for", and not lose a lot of face. But this isn't the kind of "stunting" a legitimate radio station does...or anything anyone wants to be associated with. Just our thoughts...

The OMW FM Talk Watch - Detroit?

In our continuing series highlighting moves to put talk, news/talk and sports formats on FM across the country...is Detroit next?

AllAccess reports that Clear Channel Detroit classic rock/hits station WDTW/106.7 "The Drive" has pulled the plug on its eclectic format, and is stunting with "everything from Garth Brooks to Barry Manilow".

Detroit TV news legend Bill Bonds is reported to be voicing the stunting, directing listeners to make requests at "www.1067needshelp.com", and is inviting them to "build your own radio station".

One of the rumored permanent format candidates for the Detroit FM signal, according to AllAccess, is news/talk.

It makes a lot of sense. Detroit is used to talk on FM, with CBS Radio's long-running, successful hot talker WKRK/97.1. Meanwhile, Clear Channel has never mounted a serious news/talk challenge to ABC's WJR/760. The company's largest AM station is popular sports WDFN/1130 "The Fan", which is not changing format. The company started a second-tier talk station on 1310 AM, but that signal is not nearly good enough to go up against WJR with. (It's now liberal talk WDTW[AM], which oddly enough sports the same calls as the stunting 106.7.)

It reminds us a lot of Pittsburgh, where Clear Channel's AM signal (sports WBGG/970) is not good enough to go up against full-market blowtorch CBS Radio news/talk KDKA/1020...so the company launched "FM News/Talk 104.7" on now-WPGB/104.7, and was more successful than anyone had anticipated. And the use of a market TV news legend to voice the stunting would seem to point to a news/talk format in the future, no?

We keep bringing this trend up - news/talk radio on FM - because of by now almost comical ongoing rumors that either Clear Channel or Infinity would do the same in Cleveland. But unlike Detroit, Clear Channel's AM in Cleveland IS the market blowtorch, WTAM/1100.

If the company ever does mount an FM spoken word format here, it could well be a WTAM simulcast. (Just a guess on our part, don't go to press with it!) But we'd expect that to happen only if there is competitive concern, much like Entercom did in New Orleans with news/talk giant WWL/870's new FM simulcast...moving to dull the impact of a rumored/now-announced new Clear Channel FM talker there...

WFMJ's Mark Koontz Will Be Back

After suffering a stroke during one of his weekend weather segments in March, NBC affiliate WFMJ/21 Youngstown meteorologist Mark Koontz will be back on the air this Saturday evening.

The Youngstown Vindicator reports that Koontz got hugs and handshakes from WFMJ co-workers, when he returned to visit the station on Tuesday. Koontz had trouble coming up with the right words when he had the stroke on March 17th, and needed help from weekend anchor Jennifer Baligush to finish his weather report. Koontz was then quickly whisked to a Youngstown hospital, and then lifeflighted to Cleveland later that evening.

He tells the Vindicator's Guy D'Astoflo that he's very thankful for the support shown by viewers, and that his doctor is prescribing less stress and a better diet for his recovery. He says health-wise, he's "90 percent back".

Cleveland area TV viewers over a certain age (including, umm, us) remember Koontz for his long-time stint as Dick Goddard's backup at then-CBS affiliate WJW/8...

Midday Items

ITEM 1: That was indeed Ron "The Ghoul" Sweed we heard plucking Froggy's magic twanger this morning on CBS Radio Cleveland classic rocker WNCX/98.5, as the station continues its search for a new morning show.

The Plain Dealer's Julie Washington updates that search, noting the laundry list of mostly veteran local radio personalities filling in the time slot once occupied by Howard Stern, and most recently, the David Lee Flop show. Er...Roth, sorry.

When CBS Radio Cleveland decided not to pit young-skewing shock talkers Opie & Anthony against the company's homegrown "Rover's Morning Glory", that opened up the floodgates. But not everyone's hoping to take the full-time gig...some are just doing it for fun, much like the week of "Five Cleveland Mornings", where the 6-10 AM slot became a reunion for almost anyone who's opened up a microphone on WNCX, WMMS/100.7 and other stations like the old "M105" (the former rocker WWWM, now Clear Channel oldies WMJI/105.7).

Like "Five Cleveland Mornings", the WNCX fill-in rotation has a definite "old WMMS" feel to it. Notable is an appearance by "Jeff and Flash", the long-time WMMS morning team of Jeff Kinzbach and Ed "Flash" Ferenc. Former WMMS voices "Slats" - who later hopped over to WNCX CBS sister alt-rock WXRK/92.3 - and David Spero have also been aboard.

Though WNCX is reportedly also listening to out of town applicants, CBS Radio Cleveland VP Christopher Maduri's job description for the new host/hosts would almost seem to ensure they'll have WMMS experience. He tells Washington that WNCX "is looking for a host or morning crew that can create a show that relates to Cleveland, pulls in listeners 40 and up and fits in with the station's classic rock feel".

With "The Buzzard" rock radio's golden child in Cleveland, especially for those in that 40-plus demo, we'd be shocked if a WMMS veteran or veterans were not in the WNCX morning chair. (And though we don't know if they're seriously trying for it, it'd be hard to beat the name recognition "Jeff and Flash" would have, especially in that demographic.)

ITEM 2: Second in our Julie Washington trifecta, as she notes the departure of Carole Sullivan, Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3's morning news co-anchor. Sullivan, known as Carole Chandler before marrying former Browns assistant coach Mike Sullivan, is following her husband to Kalamazoo MI...where he's an offensive line coach for Western Michigan University. She broke the news on Channel 3's morning show on Monday...

ITEM 3: And Washington finally catches up with our item about the hiring of new news director Mike McCormick at WKYC. The Jacksonville FL TV veteran ("First Coast News"/WTLV/WJXX) starts at Channel 3 in June. Exiting VP/news Dick Moore, headed for a role as associate professor at the University of South Carolina's school of journalism, heads south in July.

For the record, OMW gave readers a heads up on this item nearly one month ago...

Lima's UPN Outlet to...ABC

In a late March item, OMW actually foresaw this possible outcome for Greg Phipps' UPN LPTVer, WLQP-LP/18.

The Lima News reports that come September 1st, "UPN 18" will become..."ABC 18". Apparently, Phipps has been trying to land approval for an ABC affiiation in Lima for some time. We're not sure why it didn't happen until now...perhaps ABC's own O&O affiliate up in Toledo, WTVG/13, stood in the way. (We seem to remember, last time we were in Lima, that WTVG had local cable carriage there.)

The move gives Phipps' three low-power Lima stations affiliations with three of the "Big Four" networks - ABC on 18, FOX on WOHL-CA "FOX 25" and CBS on WLMO-LP "CBS 38". He tells Lima News reporter Tim Rausch that they'll have to do some co-branding between the CBS and ABC affiliates, as they "don't have the ability to produce two newscasts at the same time", likely at the traditional times of 6 PM and 11 PM.

The move to ABC on 18 means that the recently announced My Network TV affiliation in Lima will indeed land out of pattern, we assume after 11 PM, on "FOX 25".

Across town at dominant Block Communications full-power NBC affiliate WLIO/35 "NBC Lima", they'll take on The CW network...which will not only replace WLIO-operated "WB100" cable channel "WBOH", but will also air on a subchannel of WLIO-DT.

And thus, like Charlottesville VA, the very small TV market of Lima will officially have every nationwide English-language general entertainment network represented on the local TV dial, even with the area's second full-power station running a religious format...

BREAKING NEWS: Drennan Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

As expected, it's not the illegal gambling that was veteran Cleveland sports personality Bruce Drennan's downfall...it was the taxes.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports this afternoon that Drennan pleaded guilty to evading federal taxes on winnings from betting on baseball games in 2003 and 2004. The plea deal between Drennan and prosecutors will put the talk host behind bars for five months, and under house arrest for up to another five months.

Drennan admitted placing the illegal bets with David Hammon Jr., who's now in prison on a two-year sentence for operating an illegal gambling operation and evading taxes. Prosecutors indicated earlier that they would not go after Drennan on the gambling charges, leaving only the tax evasion charges against him.

The former WKNR/850 and WTAM/1100 sports talker has been working as program director and midday host for Paul Belfi's SportsTalkCleveland.com (aka SportsTalkNetwork.com), a Cleveland-based Internet sports radio outlet. Until news of the gambling investigation surfaced, and resurfaced, Drennan held down mid-mornings at Salem sports talk WKNR...moving from morning drive after the station added ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike".

Drennan has actually been on TV frequently in the past few days, as one of the folks featured in SportsTime Ohio's special on the 25th anniversary of Indians pitcher Len Barker's perfect game in 1981. Drennan was in the Tribe TV booth that day, alongside play-by-play voice Joe Tait... who's rather busy these days with the Cavaliers' extended playoff run.

Bruce Drennan's formal sentencing is set for July...

WOAC/67 Needs New Programming

Shop at Home Network owner E.W. Scripps has announced it is shutting down the TV home shopping network, which airs locally on WOAC/67 Canton. In a company release, Scripps says it's shutting down the Shop at Home TV side, and the network's associated Internet site, on June 22nd.

The company has been doing some shopping of its own - shopping around the SAH stations to other buyers. Scripps says that effort continues, and they'll seek alternative programming for the stations while they seek a new owner or owners. The Scripps release says the company's lost $84 million on the effort since first buying into SAH in 2002.

There's no word, even in this report by Reuters, what kind of programming would be sought for the on-the-block SAH stations.

In Northeast Ohio, WOAC is actually technically a sister station of long-time Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 Cleveland, though we don't believe there's been any connection between the two local stations other than common ownership. And with Scripps still looking to sell off the stations, presumably as a block, there may not be even the outside chance the company will do anything with WOAC and WEWS here...even temporarily.

Channel 67 began life as an attempt to bring Canton a new independent, secular TV station, after WJAN/17 turned into religious WDLI, and eventually landed in the hands of the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

The station actually mounted a small local programming effort, with local news updates by Scott Davis and public service talk shows with Sherry Lee (our swiss cheese memory isn't all that clear if that's her correct name). It was also the first station to air local "Ghoul"/"Ghoulardi" knockoff "Son of Ghoul", who now airs on "The Cat" low-power combo (WAOH-LP 29/Akron - W35AX/Cleveland).

And the land of low-power TV is where Canton-serving local TV ended up.

After being bought by Paxson Communications (WVPX/23 owners), WOAC/67 upgraded to the maximum 5,000,000 watts of UHF power to serve the entire Cleveland TV market...and was then sold to Shop at Home. Image Video's WIVM-LP/52 Canton then became the latest entrant in the Canton Local TV Sweepstakes, and still operates today with sister LPTVer WIVN-LP/29 Newcomerstown aiming at nearby New Philadelphia and Coshocton...

A Neighboring Update

Insomnia leads us to an early morning update that really doesn't have much to do with Ohio, especially if you are an Ohio State Buckeyes fan, but it clarifies an earlier item of ours.

We had learned that Michigan Wolverines football broadcasts were headed off of long-time flagship WJR/760 Detroit, and wondered if that's what paved the way for Cumulus Toledo talker WTOD/1560 to pick up the games starting this fall.

As it turns out, it appears Northern Ohio will still be blanketed by a Detroit-area AM powerhouse's signal for Michigan games in the fall...just a different signal.

Detroit News writer Angelique S. Chengelis reports that the AM flagship for Wolverines football is expected to be announced soon, and it'll likely be in another country. Canada, that is, on 50,000 watt blowtorch CKLW/800 Windsor ON. CKLW focuses mainly on the Windsor area with its news/talk format these days, but has a rich history serving both sides of the international border. CKLW also runs a handful of U.S.-based syndicated talk programs, such as Dr. Joy Browne, Dave Ramsey, and Premiere's "Coast to Coast AM" overnight show.

The football team also ends up on FM via CBS Radio oldies WOMC/104.3, and Wolverines basketball and hockey get split among two Detroit CBS Radio AM stations, news WWJ/950 and sports WXYT/1270.

We don't feel TOO bad for Chuck Matthews and the gang at Toledo's WTOD, though. Even with a big signal like CKLW blowing down I-75 and across Lake Erie, they'll still be able to sell the local call of the Michigan games in Toledo with no problem...

My Network TV Slowly Expands in Ohio

With The WB and UPN going away in September, new merged network The CW - and new competitor My Network TV - are slowly building their nationwide affiliate lists.

But unlike The CW, the network owned by UPN parent CBS and WB parent Time Warner, FOX's My Network TV is ramping up rather slowly in Ohio. There's now officially a CW affiliate in every Ohio market short of Zanesville, a puny mini-market which will likely see its WB100 cable channel flip to CW+ without much fanfare.

My Network TV has only managed to sign up affiliates in Cleveland (WUAB/43 UPN) and Cincinnati (WSTR/64 WB), until today. The MNTV folks have announced a clearance in Lima, where Greg Phipps' WOHL-CA 25 "FOX 25" is now listed as the network's new affiliate.

We'll assume that's a mistake, and that the MNTV affiliation is instead headed for Phipps' WLQP-LP 18 "UPN 18"...which would seem much more likely to us than a delayed clearance on FOX 25. MNTV probably listed WOHL's call letters due to parent FOX's main network airing there. (The CW will air in Lima on a newly-minted subchannel of NBC affiliate WLIO/35.)

My Network TV still has to announce affiliates in Columbus, Dayton and Toledo.

It'll likely be stuck with a delayed clearance or a new DT subchannel in Columbus, with LIN TV's WWHO/53 "UPN 53" landing as a CW primary affiliate recently.

WWHO has carried WB programming out of pattern, so it'd only make sense that they could do the same with MNTV if the network has no other choice in the market. And LIN TV has an existing relationship with the My folks...affiliating some of its stations with MNTV before going with the CW in markets like Columbus.

Dayton may be a little easier, as we're surprised My Network TV hasn't inked a deal with WHIO-TV's sister station, cable/digital-only "UPN 17". (CW goes to WB's WBDT/26.)

Toledo is a little more interesting. With the current cable/digital/satellite-only WB affiliate ("WT05 - Toledo's WB") going to CW, the My folks may be without a broadcast option with the questionable status of UPN affiliate WNGT-LP 48 - in bankruptcy receivership and likely to be picked up by the Cornerstone Church.

And we wouldn't be surprised at all if there is no new My Network TV option in Youngstown. The market never had a UPN affiliate, with Cleveland powerhouse WUAB/43 filling that role with extensive cable coverage...and WUAB will likely act as Youngstown's imported My Network TV affiliate as well.

My Network TV doesn't have a generic cable feed like WB/CW, so it'd be status quo unless perhaps WKBN/27's sister FOX affiliate WYFX/62 "FOX 17/62" carries the network out of pattern at 11 PM. Or, if ABC affiliate WYTV/33 somehow mounts a new digital subchannel to run MNTV. We don't consider that very likely...

Odds and Ends and Sides

ODDS: Exiting "Kiss FM" Cleveland PD Dan Mason weighs in with AllAccess on his appointment as PD of sister Miami top 40 outlet "Y100": "It's an honor and privilege to be part of one of the most legendary Top 40 stations in America. This is my dream job and I look forward to working alongside DAVE DENVER and (RVP/GM) MIKE CRUSHAM to make an already great station even greater."

Radio and Records Online has their version of the story here. It reminds us of how Mason, by far WAKS' first programming employee, guided the station's move from class A rimshot 104.9/Lorain (now upgraded and used by Seaway classical WCLV) to the much stronger 96.5 signal once occupied by Akron's WKDD (now on Canton-licensed 98.1 out of an upgraded stick in Hartville).

As far as the opening caused by Mason's departure south, Clear Channel regional programming VP Kevin Metheny is heading up the search at WAKS. He's soliciting resumes and audio via E-Mail at his CC E-Mail address. For those who don't know the mailing address of the Clear Channel World Domination HQ by now, it's 6200 Oak Tree Boulevard, 4th Floor, Cleveland, OH 44131-2510.

We're far from experts in the realm of Top 40 radio, but we'd have to say that Kasper has a good shot at shedding the "acting" from his new "Kiss FM" title. For one, he's been alongside Mason as APD/MD for some time at WAKS, except for a brief stint doing afternoons at Clear Channel Philadelphia top 40 outlet WIOQ "Q102"...

ENDS: The Toledo Blade finally picks up on the exit of long-time WSPD/1370 news director Tom Watkins from the Toledo Clear Channel building, which OMW first reported last week.

The Blade's Russ Lemmon characterizes the move as "getting the boot", though Watkins (and WSPD program director Brian Wilson) will not comment on the specifics to the newspaper as the parties work out a separation agreement. Watkins will NOT call the move a "retirement", and says he's "on the market" for a new gig. Clear Channel Toledo's news department is now overseen by Wilson's wife, veteran radio news anchor Cassie Wilson.

Meanwhile, WSPD's newest employee - former WNWO "NBC 24" reporter Kevin Milliken - has been filling in news-wise. And Milliken also continues hosting the talk show "Eye on Toledo" (weeknights 6-7 PM). Despite burning the radio candle at both ends of the day, Milliken continues to update his new blog. Hmm. Either he's a reader of OMW, or he just happened to pick the same Blogspot template...

SIDES: AllAccess reports that there's a new local show in evenings at Clear Channel sports talker WONE/980 Dayton ("980 Homer"). "The Sports Mafia" features Steve Huggins, a station weekender and former host at a Sarasota station, and producer/host Dave Alexander.

"The Sports Animal" is primarily a repeater for its sister Cincinnati station, WSAI/1360 ("1360 Homer"), and mirrors the Cincinnati-based station's programming from 6 AM to 6 PM, including affiliations for both stations with Premiere's Jim Rome. But the 6-8 PM slot has been local for some time...we're just losing memory of the show/hosts who held down evenings before on the Dayton station. WSAI airs Premiere's Phil Hendrie in the 6-9 PM slot, when it isn't pre-empted by sports play-by-play.

And a side note to our side note - NBC TV has declined to pick up Hendrie's sitcom, "Teachers", for the 2006-2007 TV season. But Phil was well aware of that prospect even before announcing he was leaving his radio show to concentrate on acting...

BREAKING NEWS: KISS FM's Dan Mason To Miami

OMW hears it is official - Clear Channel Cleveland top 40 WAKS/96.5 "KISS FM" program director Dan Mason is exiting the station, heading for the PD slot at legendary Miami CC sister top 40 outlet WHYI "Y100".

APD/MD/afternoon driver Kasper has been tapped as acting program director while the station searches for Mason's permanent replacement.

UPDATE: AllAccess quotes CC South Florida regional programming VP Dave Denver on the move: "Dan's an exciting programmer. We love his promotional mind and passion for the format. He has proven himself at WAKS taking that from a baby startup to a successful Top 40 within CLEAR CHANNEL. We think he's going to bring all that programming expertise to our successful Y100 brand for the youthful culture of SOUTH FLORIDA."

The OMW "News/Talk On FM" Watch

We promised to bring word of companies converting FM stations to talk or news/talk (or sports) formats across the nation, and there's now officially another one on the way. (Thanks to Perry Michael Simon at AllAccess for the tip!)

In New Orleans, Clear Channel is about to wipe out classic rock mainstay WRNO/99.5 for a new FM news/talk station. New Orleans Times-Picayune media columnist Dave Walker reports that the "working date" for the new station is June 1st. From the description, it sounds like it'll be a lot like the company's successful FM news/talker in Pittsburgh, WPGB/104.7. Clear Channel actually has had the rights to ABC Radio's Sean Hannity for a few months - a competing AM talker stopped airing Hannity in February - and we wouldn't be surprised to see them to land Rush Limbaugh as well.

But the flip has been all over the radio rumor mill in the Big Easy for at least a month or two. In fact, Entercom, which owns news/talk powerhouse WWL/870 in New Orleans, recently added a permanent FM simulcast to the AM broadcast. Many NOLA radio observers believe Entercom returned FM 105.3 to the WWL simulcast as a pre-emptive strike to Clear Channel's then-rumored FM talk effort.

There are indeed some parts of this story that are unique to New Orleans. In the weeks and months after Hurricane Katrina, Clear Channel and Entercom actually cooperated to form "United Radio Broadcasters"...delivering vital news and information over a number of both AM and FM frequencies owned by both companies (and others). Clear Channel has apparently come to the belief that they need a news/talker in New Orleans due to the continuing appetite for news and information in that market.

For now, this makes New Orleans one of the few markets with two major FM news/talk stations. Others include Salt Lake City, where Bonneville AM blowtorch KSL/1160's FM simulcast on 102.7 gets competition from upstart Simmons FM talk KFMS/97.5.

The WRNO name may be familiar to radio hobbyists even far afield from New Orleans. "The Rock of New Orleans" once had a shortwave radio sister station, which simulcast large chunks of the FM rocker's programming some time ago. The shortwave outlet known as WRNO still exists as far as we know, though it is no longer co-owned with the FM station now owned by Clear Channel. It now runs mostly paid religious programming, and hasn't simulcast WRNO-FM in many years...

It's Roger's World - We Just Live In It

Our weekly dissection of Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Roger Brown's Monday sports media column, with some extra added flavor by OMW:

* Actual news out of the column concerns the growing interest in high school football by local sports TV outlets. Noting that FSN Ohio has already said it will do high school games in the fall, Brown adds that competitor SportsTime Ohio is expected to do so as well, perhaps airing a live Saturday night "game of the week".

Last we heard, STO plans to go 6 PM-midnight daily in a couple of months or so, though we suspect the already-existing replay of the night's Indians game will cover much of that time.

* Brown also reports rumblings that STO may sign up local radio sports voice Mark "Munch" Bishop (mainly heard on Clear Channel's WMMS/100.7 and WMJI/105.7) as a correspondent for the Ohio State Buckeyes' upcoming football season. It'd be a good move, and "Munch" has not only done some TV work...he's filled in doing weekend sports anchoring at WOIO/19's "19 Action News"...but he's a fixture on radio Buckeyes coverage out of Columbus on WTVN/610.

* Non-news items include a talk with WJW/8 weekend sports anchor and local TV sports fixture John Telich, with a note that he "recently" got a 3 year contract extension. That extension would push his on-air tenure to nearly 30 years at the local FOX station. Of course, much of that was during WJW's time as the local CBS affiliate.

* And Brown weighs in on comparing Cleveland sports radio to what's offered in Detroit. It's hard to argue with his conclusions, based on our brief experience dipping into the web stream offerings of Detroit sports stations WDFN/1130 (Clear Channel) and WXYT/1270 (CBS Radio). At very least, the competition appears to be much stiffer in the Motor City...

Cincinnati Road Trip

Well, it's a virtual road trip to the Queen City, since a quick look at the OMW budget shows we can barely afford to leave the OMW World Headquarters...

STOP 1: Some changes at CBS Radio's Cincinnati cluster, courtesy of Cincinnati Enquirer TV/radio columnist John Kiesewetter's excellent blog...WKRQ/101.9 "Q102" programmer Patti Marshall ascends to OM of Q102 and sister alt-rocker WAQZ/97.3. Marshall keeps her Q102 programming duties, and Julie Evans slides into that chair at WAQZ from the promotions director's seat.

On the TV side down in Cincy, Brian Giesenschlag moves from sports reporter to sports director at WXIX/19 "FOX 19", replacing now-minor league baseball voice Dan Hoard. Giesenschlag and WXIX are looking for his replacement in his old gig.

STOP 2: As we mentioned earlier, Premiere Radio is debuting a new AC-focused morning show hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. We noodled through the unlikely chances for it to end up airing on Clear Channel's hot ACs WMVX/106.5 (high-rated "Brian and Joe" in the way) and WKDD/98.1 ("Matt and Angela" also are not going anywhere).

If "Wake Up With Whoopi" ended up outside the Clear Channel AC/hot AC universe, CBS Radio's WDOK/102.1 isn't about to let go of Trapper Jack, and even a replacement of "Wilde and Fee" on WQAL/104.1 with a syndicated Premiere offering is unlikely.

As for Cincinnati, "Kiese" jumps in with a comment from WMVX's sister station in Cincy, WVXM. "Mix" programmer "Bobby D" tells the columnist in an item this week - "The Whoopi show announcement yesterday was the first I heard of it. We are coming off 2 very strong ratings months and feel the more music in the morning angle is working very well for us."

Across town in the Cincinnati Post, TV/radio columnist Rick Bird notes "Mix" Cincinnati's mediocre morning drive ratings for the music-intensive show hosted by Mike Stevens, and says "many local radio observers" expect Whoopi to show up in Cincinnati in July...

Premiere's Glenn Beck Confirmed For 3 Hour WHLO Slot

As first reported here on OMW, Clear Channel talk WHLO/640 Akron is indeed expanding the live clearance of Premiere's Glenn Beck - to its full 9 AM to noon time slot.

The station had polled listeners via its website about the change. Beck has been airing for only two hours (10 AM-noon) due to the repeat of the first hour of the morning show hosted by WPGB/104.7 Pittsburgh's Jim Quinn and Rose Somma Tennent. At least a part of the reason for the Quinn and Rose repeat was due to the station's weaker night-time signal, which encroaches into morning drive during much of the winter months.

Former Elyria Newspaper/Radio Group Leader Dies

This one directly from our OMW tipster in the area, Nathan Obral (photo courtesy Elyria Chronicle-Telegram)

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Arthur D. Hudnutt, retired publisher of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram and Medina Gazette, and former chairman of Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting, passed away (Thursday). Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting owns WEOL/930 and WNWV/107.3, so it's recognized as a rare grandfathered radio/newspaper duopoly.

Hudnutt served as publisher for the C-T's parent firm, Lorain County Printing & Publishing, from 1970 to 1991. Concurrently, he also was chair of ELB (solely owned by LCP&P) through this same period. Control of both parties have rested in his son's hands, A. Cooper Hudnutt, since.

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The Plain Dealer obituary on Hudnutt says services will be held Saturday morning at Elyria's First Congregational United Church of Christ. Hudnutt was 76.

In addition to the newspapers and WEOL/WNWV, Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting also owns country WKFM/96.1 "K96" Huron, AC WLKR/95.3 Norwalk and oldies WLKR/1510, also in Norwalk...

Mr. and Mrs. Golic?

We're not sure if it is leading to anything permanent, or what prompted it, but Media-Com talk WNIR/100.1 afternoon drive host Bob Golic has his wife, Karen, aboard as a co-host on his show today on the Akron market talk station.

We heard someone ask about her presence on the show this afternoon, and we got the idea that they might find some sort of on-air role for her...if not necessarily co-hosting the show with her husband.

Mrs. Golic once filled in for her former Cleveland Browns star/husband on his Saturday afternoon show, while Bob was busy with TV duties for a WOIO/19 pre-season Browns telecast...

Two Cleveland-Related Moves

Two moves involving Cleveland radio names this afternoon:

* Former WXRK/92.3 program director Kim Monroe lands quickly after her departure from the CBS Radio alt-rocker, and lands on the music end of the business. She's been announced as National Director of Artist Development and Promotion for Sony/BMG/Red Strategic Marketing. Monroe will reportedly work out of Cleveland, for now. R&R Online reports she'll not only be working with radio stations, but will create "marketing concepts for artists".

* Eddie Bauer, who's been APD/MD of Radio One urban WENZ/107.9 "Z107.9" Cleveland, heads south to Dayton to program sister Radio One CHR/rhythmic WDHT/102.9 "Hot 102.9". He replaces Craig Blac, who exited to program yet another Radio One outlet, CHR/rhythmic WHHL/104.1 "Hot 104.1" St. Louis. We'll assume Eddie's heard all the jokes about a certain New England outfitter...

Blocked Up And Off The Air

Best wishes to former Cleveland-based host Shane "Rover" French, who is recovering from being hospitalized on Monday. Chicago Sun-Times radio/TV beat writer Robert Feder reports that French left his now-Chicago-based morning drive show early on Monday, and checked himself into a Chicago area hospital for tests. "Rover's Morning Glory" is telling listeners that Rover suffered from "an intestinal blockage".

A word of advice to CBS Radio's morning doggie, as we wouldn't be surprised if the host formerly based here was reading - keep away from Feder's columns, as they may not help your indigestion. Feder, who's actually a really nice guy in person, hasn't been Rover's biggest fan since he moved to the Windy City in January. Or even before...

TOLEDO: WSPD News Director Out

OMW hears that long-time WSPD/1370 Toledo news director Tom Watkins has left the Clear Channel talk station after 7 years.

The Clear Channel Toledo cluster recently hired Cassie Wilson to oversee news at all of the company's stations. Wilson is the wife of WSPD program director and afternoon drive host Brian Wilson, and also anchors newscasts in afternoons on WSPD.

Ears in the market tell us that newly-minted 6-7 PM "Eye on Toledo" talk show host Kevin Milliken has been heard doing news in the wake of Watkins' departure. Milliken recently came to WSPD after a stint reporting at NBC affiliate WNWO "NBC 24"...

Morning Thoughts

Some random, unconnected, late morning thoughts:

THINKING OF FM: OMW has promised you updates on FM stations across the country flipping to a news, talk or spoken word format, and there's another on the way. Bonneville, which has been leading the way in this, is buying Emmis' CHR/rhythmic KKFR/92.3 in the Phoenix market and will flip it to a simulcast of their news/talk AM in the market, KTAR/620.

The announcement follows the company's move in two other large markets, moving all-news powerhouse WTOP in Washington DC to a primary FM broadcast, and adding an FM simulcast of flagship news/talk KSL in Salt Lake City. And it follows the company's announced goal of adding more news and talk on the FM band.

Bonneville, of course, doesn't own any stations in Ohio. But we still believe the trend will become red hot in the next couple of years, particularly if Bonneville and others (Clear Channel in Pittsburgh and Minneapolis) have success with these new operations. If nothing else, the presence of the spoken word format on FM lowers its demographics by a few years.

Oh, and if Good Karma Broadcasting's Craig Karmazin is really serious about mounting a sports talk station in Cleveland, he'd do well to look at an FM. We don't know if he can afford a full-market FM in a top-30 market, but he's young and likely agrees with us on this trend.

The obvious Cleveland FM candidate would be Moody's WCRF/103.3, but they've likely turned down any number of multi-gazillion dollar offers from the majors over the years. If they didn't sell in the big Cleveland Frequency Swap of 2001, they may not sell now...and as well as he seems to do, Karmazin likely doesn't have that kind of money.

Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting's WNWV/107.3 Elyria could well be another candidate, but we're sure the locally-owned Cleveland-targeted smooth jazz outlet has also seen offers from the major groups and turned them down before. And we don't expect that to change.

It's a thought, though...FM is the new "plastics" for news/talk format operators. (Think "The Graduate"...)

WHOOPI! (YAWN.): You've no doubt heard by now that comedienne Whoopi Goldberg is the latest mega-star to try her hand at radio, with a recently announced deal with Clear Channel. "Wake Up with Whoopi" is set to start in morning drive on July 31st, and is aimed mostly at AC stations. Stations will apparently be able to program the show's music locally, much like a couple of other syndicated morning shows which aim at different demographics.

The Premiere-syndicated show will be based in New York City, and a CC executive hints to Radio & Records that some "major" stations are already on board. The initial affiliate list will be announced in early July.

We're going to assume that Whoopi's morning show is not likely to be heard in Cleveland or Akron/Canton, at least on Clear Channel-owned stations. For that to happen, either or both WMVX/106.5's Brian and Joe or WKDD/98.1's Matt and Angela would have to go, and that'd be considered somewhat north of "unlikely". (Unless, of course, Mr. Patrick has a REAL retirement announcement in his future. Heh.)

And though the music mix would apparently be locally selected, the show seems aimed at AC stations, anyway...though we suppose hot AC stations could come along for the ride.

Like AllAccess news/talk/sports maven and Friend of OMW Perry Michael Simon, we were also rankled by Whoopi's press release. "Radio is an area I have always wanted to play in," it quotes the star of such gems as "Jumpin' Jack Flash". (Not every movie can be "The Color Purple".)

You know, Whoopi? We've always wanted to "play in" the movie business. Can you call up a producer or two and make that possible? Thanks. Sheesh! At least the Air America Radio folks didn't say they wanted to "play in" radio when that motley collection of movie stars, comedians and an actual talk show host or two started their venture...

What, Whoopi, you saw John Tesh doing morning drive for a smooth jazz station or two and thought it'd be easy?

RADIO WASTELAND: Regular OMW readers know we're pretty much a news/talk/sports creature when it comes to our regular listening. (We try, really, not to give short shrift to music formats, but there's only so much one can say about Matchbox 20, and actual PERSONALITY radio offerings on the music side are few and far between in 2006.)

We were up in Lake County visiting some friends the other night, and we did a scan of the AM band in the 8 PM hour...and were sorely disappointed.

The lakeshore counties have the benefit of getting any number of stations on both AM and FM from anywhere from Detroit to southern Ontario. ABC Radio news/talk WJR/760 Detroit and CHUM's news/talk CKLW/800 Windsor ON blast across the lake like local signals into the lake-facing counties, and were no exception the other evening. It's no wonder that CKLW, in its historic top 40 incarnation, regularly showed up in the Cleveland ratings book.

This night, though, it wasn't contemporary music or even local - or Canadian - talk blasting across Lake Erie from that powerhouse stick at 800 AM. It was, and no, we're not making this up, DAVE RAMSEY. Yes, the homespun Southern money advice guy is now being cleared in Canada. (Isn't there a law against that?) Presumably, Ramsey considers CKLW his Detroit market affiliate, though the station mostly aims at the Canadian side with its news/talk format.

For ABC's WJR, it was Dr. Laura Schlessinger, enjoying one of her now-very-few 50,000 watt clearances. Here in Ohio, Dr. Laura can't field a station larger than Canton's 500 watt religious/talk WCER/900, but she hangs in there on WJR for whatever reason.

And CKLW and WJR were not the only booming disappointments that night. Sean Hannity was heard on two stations, WRVA/1140 Richmond and WOWO/1190 Fort Wayne. Clear Channel powerhouse WHAM/1180 Rochester was pumping out...Michael Savage. Why do we even bother to bandscan at night?

Locally, Cleveland's 50,000 flamethrower, WTAM/1100, was dutifully presenting a Cleveland Indians game with, we believe, Kansas City...and 50,000 watt day/4700 watt night WKNR/850 was covering the team down the street from where we were, the Lake County Captains. Our frustration was mostly aimed out of town...as the Indians and Captains play-by-play offerings were certainly preferable to a blowtorch signal delivering Dr. Laura or Dave Ramsey...

Former CC Cleveland Boss Lands In Pittsburgh

Former Clear Channel regional honcho Jim Meltzer has landed in Pittsburgh, where he's been announced as the new VP/GM of CBS Radio's Pittsburgh cluster...rock/O&A affiliate WRKZ/93.7 "K-Rock", hot AC WZPT/100.7 "Star 100.7", and country WDSY/107.9 "Y108".

Meltzer left his post as regional VP for Clear Channel's Northeast Ohio stations, and as market manager of the company's Cleveland cluster, in November 2005. He was replaced by CC Cincinnati market manager Mike Kenney.

Three Situation Wanted Ads

We'll print our latest Situation Wanted ads here, and repeat our first ad as well. If you'd like to add yours, drop us a note at the address under "View my complete profile" over on the left side of OMW. Please let us know if you'd like to place the ad "openly", and what contact information you want to publish. We will provide forwarding/blind boxes/etc. for anyone who needs that.

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SITUATION WANTED: Northeast Ohio radio veteran, now in Florida, would like to return to Ohio. Bob Knight is now in Florida programming AM standards outlet WSBB/1230 in Daytona Beach, and his resume up here includes WIXY, WDOK and WMMS/Cleveland, WKBN/Youngstown, and a long stint programming WCUE/1150 in the Akron market. He also reminds us that he put the original WKDD/96.5 Akron on the air. Bob has also been in Lima, Findlay and Toledo, among other markets. Contact Bob at home: 386-424-9942, or office: 386-428-9091.

SITUATION WANTED: Extremely loyal, opinionated, and personable 25-year radio vet seeking full-time gig in any Northeast Ohio capacity. Last heard on-air full-time as a dominator in small-market AC format where personality was king, currently part-time in Classic Rock where liners are lords in two minutes per hour. Know some digital, learn more with ease. Willing to work on-air, promotions, production...doesn't matter, and don't need the big bucks...just something livable. Prefer adult skewed music/talk format where lines are clear and smart fun can be had by all. Small, medium, or large market..let's make broadcast radio great again! Reply to OMW Blind Box #2, via our E-Mail address under the "View my complete profile" link.

SITUATION WANTED: A 15-year-plus broadcast professional is looking for part-time, fill-in or even full-time work in Northeast Ohio radio, or full-time work anywhere in America. Our first job seeker is a veteran of mainly news/talk formats. Experienced in news anchoring, reporting and hosting. A hard worker, dedicated and with many skills outside the newsroom or talk studio, including extensive experience in operations assistance, computer automation systems and Windows PCs. Our ad placer can do not just news and talk, but would be interested in working in any adult-targeted music format as well, and would also be interested in off-air operations support work. Reply to OMW Blind Box #1, via our E-Mail address under the "View my complete profile" link.

WHLO Update

OMW hears out of Freedom Avenue that Clear Channel talk WHLO/640 Akron is preparing to make a mid-morning change, which is hinted about on a page on their website. The page allows listeners to vote on a choice between "The War Room with Quinn and Rose" and Premiere's Glenn Beck in the 9-10 AM hour.

Starting Monday, the station will air Beck for all three hours of his live show, from 9 AM to noon. When WHLO picked up Beck after sister talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland dumped him, they slotted the show from 10 AM-noon, despite the fact that the morning drive show with WPGB/104.7 Pittsburgh's Jim Quinn and Rose Somma Tennant actually stops airing at 9 AM. The 9-10 AM hour of "Quinn and Rose" on WHLO has been a repeat of the 6-7 AM hour already airing on the Akron station.

The reason for that repeat? WHLO's night power level, 500 watts, basically doesn't reach nearly all of Cuyahoga County - or as Quinn puts it, "the more fortunate suburbs of Cleveland". In winter months, the 500 watt power level doesn't go away until roughly 7:45 AM. But in the summer, all or nearly all of "Quinn and Rose" is heard at WHLO's daytime power of 5000 watts. Thus, more sunlight paves the way for full, live airings of both "Q&R" and Glenn Beck.

It's good timing, too, with Monday's premiere of Beck's CNN Headline News show. (We unfortunately missed most of it yesterday, as we were engrossed in something else when intending to watch the show. But we caught the tail end of it late Monday night.)

The previously announced "National Lampoon Comedy Countdown" show will air Sundays from 7-10 PM on WHLO...a change now reflected on a new WHLO schedule on the station's website...

Tuesday Menu

It's a late lunch here at your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm):

ONE FROM COLUMN A: We assumed, but were not 100% sure, that one Todd Kelly Smith would not keep his position as promotions director of Canton market CHR WZKL/92.5 ("Q92").

After all, it's kind of hard to promote a Northeast Ohio radio station when you're in a Kentucky jail, and that's where Smith has been since being arrested on some 11 theft-related charges related to his self-styled "Todd Kelly Foundation" charity...for ALS ("Lou Gehrig's Disease"), which Smith himself claimed to have.

The confirmation comes from Louisville Courier-Journal TV/radio writer Tom Dorsey, who wrote in his column last Monday that Smith is "no longer there" - as in working for Q92. Well, that, and the whole jail thing.

The former Louisville radio personality has pleaded not guilty to those charges, reports the Courier-Journal today. Smith's attorney tells the paper that the indictment does not name victims of Smith's alleged theft, and claims there is "ample evidence" that his foundation properly raised money and followed "all laws" in disposing of the donated money.

Smith's mother, also arrested in the case, has been released on home confinement.

ONE FROM COLUMN B: Cleveland Indians' cable/satellite network SportsTime Ohio will televise a special marking the 25th anniversary of pitcher Len Barker's historic perfect game.

The special airs starting Sunday at 7 PM, and will be repeated on STO seven more times in three days. STO says it'll also air the game "as seen on TV" uninterrupted on May 18th at 7 PM.

In addition to former Tribe player Rick Manning - now working as an analyst for STO - the special talks to former Blue Jays catcher Ernie Whitt...the final out in Barker's perfect game run. Ex-Indians and current Cavs voice Joe Tait, Indians PR VP Bob DiBiasio and Ron Hassey are also interviewed.

Oh, and another former Indians voice shows up in the special. We're guessing SportsTalkNetwork.com host and program director Bruce Drennan was just glad not to be talking to someone from the IRS...

ONE FROM COLUMN C: OMW hears that local NBC affiliate WKYC/3 has received a tentative digital channel assignment in the FCC's latest round of digital channel elections. (Caution: Excel-format spreadsheet at that link.)

It'd be DT channel 17, which becomes available at the February 2009 analog shutdown...as TBN religious WDLI/Canton will vacate the analog channel to keep digital channel 39.

It's still not set in stone yet, as there are other steps to the process at the FCC, but local OTA digital watchers will likely be thrilled with this. WKYC's current digital assignment in the low-VHF band (DT 2) is plagued with interference, and it's hard to get even if you're just down the road from the station's Parma antenna site...

Digesting Roger Brown

It usually takes us a full day here at OMW to digest Roger Brown's Monday sports media column in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. We take at least part of the day to filter out plugs for people he likes, real estate listings, or obvious tidbits. (This week, it's the startling proclamation that over half of Salem sports talk WKNR/850's listeners are men ages 35 to 54. Wow...a sports station with listeners mostly being adult males! Hold the presses!)

The most interesting tidbit in Brown's Monday column is his bringing some light to new "buzz" on the local radio rumor circuit...the rumor that one Craig Karmazin is looking to buy a local AM station to establish a sports talk format. Brown says the son of former Infinity/CBS radio boss and current Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin is rumored to be eyeing either picking up WKNR from Salem, or buying Radio Disney's WWMK/1260.

While we have no idea how solid Mr. Brown's information is (and really, are we EVER sure?), this would be a VERY interesting development if it happens. Please stress - IF.

Karmazin owns two sports stations in Wisconsin. His first, formerly a guy/hot talker in Madison, is now a full-time FM sports talker (WTLX/100.5 Columbus WI) under the moniker "Madison's Fox Sports Radio". Karmazin's second purchase was WAUK/1510 Waukesha WI, a rimshot daytimer which was the Milwaukee market's only sports talk station until Entercom started up rival WSSP/1250. (WSSP's afternoon driver should be familiar to long-time local sports talk listeners - he's former WKNR/1220 Cleveland afternoon drive host Peter Brown.)

To try to overcome the lack of a night signal for his Milwaukee market station, Karmazin's Good Karma Broadcasting LMAs the 6 PM-6 AM hours from urban talker WMCS/1290 in Milwaukee, creating "ESPN Milwaukee - 1510 Days, 1290 Nights". We hear the wags over at Entercom, where WSSP uses the slogan "Milwaukee's Only Full-Time Sports Station", jokingly call their own sports station "1250 Days, 1250 Nights".

Karmazin simulcasts mid-mornings and afternoon drive between the two stations, with shows now based out of Milwaukee.

What does this all mean to Cleveland?

Karmazin would be a player here. Maybe not enough of a player to put a big scare into the Clear Channel sports empire at Oak Tree, but more of a player than Salem ever will be in sports radio. His Milwaukee outlet swiped the market's most known sports talk host, Steve "The Homer" True, for afternoon drive...after Clear Channel talk WISN/1130 moved True from early evening into nights. Karmazin knows how to market and run a sports station. He's young, but clearly learned something from his father in this business.

It'd certainly put a little more competitive spring into the Cleveland sports radio market, at any rate. We've taken a shot or two or five at WKNR over the years, but they've hung in there all these years, and they DO have some things going for them.

We just continue to wonder what a non-Salem-owned sports talk competitor could do in this region. And unlike Salem, a Karmazin-owned sports station would probably at least try to be competitive with Clear Channel for the rights to the Cleveland market's major professional sports franchises...

Weekend Update - Still No Chevy Chase

Some items brand new, some a day or so old, but not yet on the MBoF(tm):


WVKO'S AM OFF AIR: Columbus urban/talk/religion WVKO(AM)/1580 is now silent, at least for a few months.

The Columbus Dispatch reports this morning that the station's new management - "Bernard Radio", a radio group operated by an investment fund which was owed millions by bankrupt owner Percy Squire's Stop 26 Riverbend - temporarily shut down the station Friday because the WVKO(AM) tower lease is set to expire at the end of May, and the station's towers are set to go down in June.

Brad Scher, who's been appointed to run the stations for Bernard Radio, also tells the Dispatch that WVKO is "bleeding" money. The station does have a construction permit for a new tower site off Morse Road, but the new site won't be up until the fall...and Scher says former management "did nothing" to construct the site.

In addition to disrupting programming aimed at the black community in Columbus, the move also bounces the AAA Columbus Clippers baseball team off of the Columbus radio dial...the team is scrambling to get a new home. For that matter, so is Capital University's baseball team - the team even had a game scheduled to air on WVKO this afternoon.

For his part, Squire tells the Dispatch's Mark Ferenchik he believes the new group wants "to stop paying employees while they upgrade the station". Squire is continuing his legal fight to block the transfer of WVKO and the other Stop 26 Riverbend stations (including WVKO-FM/103.1 in the market, and Youngstown market stations WRBP/101.9, WGFT/1330 and WASN/1500), a fight which so far has had no success. As recently as Friday, a U.S. District judge blocked a Squire request for a temporary restraining order against the sale's closing.

Scher and Bernard Radio apparently have no interest in disrupting the format of the Columbus station they run that's still on the air - Spanish-language WVKO-FM.

LAUGHING MATTER: AllAccess reports that the weekly "National Lampoon's Comedy Countdown" show has found an Akron market home - Clear Channel talk WHLO/640. No word on if the station is taking the one, two or three hour version of the show, or in what slot it'll be heard. The station does not have an hour-by-hour schedule on its website, though we did note that 640 has picked up NASCAR racing from sister talk WARF/1350 ("Radio Free Ohio"). Are there liberal NASCAR fans, anyway?

PAIN-FREE: Another AllAccess report - Cleveland native Ally Pain, who's been heard at stations like WCOL/Columbus, joins program director Scott Free for mornings at top 40 WNKI/Elmira NY. She tells the trade website that she grew up listening to Free when he was on Cleveland's WZJM/92.3 (at the time, "Jammin' 92.3"). We don't recall her from radio here, though.


BECK DEBUT: Premiere syndicated midday host Glenn Beck, heard locally on WHLO/640 Akron and WEOL/930 Elyria, starts his CNN Headline News program on Monday at 7 PM. Here's CNN's description of TV's Glenn Beck...

"Glenn Beck" is an unconventional look at the news of the day featuring Beck's unique and often amusing perspective on top stories from world events and politics to pop culture and everyday hassles. Like Beck's radio program, the show will be centered on current events and the opinions of Beck, all delivered in Beck's humorous, self-deprecating style.

We're wondering if the show will be amusing, or humorous. Or maybe amusingly humorous, in an unconventional way. (Don'tcha just love TV show descriptions?)

Beck has put up his own "behind the scenes" video of his preparation for the show at the popular video site YouTube.com. And in that "self-deprecating style", Beck's website has a page where listeners can weigh in on when they think the TV show will be cancelled.

The show will repeat at 9 PM and midnight ET.

First Situation Wanted Ad

As promised, OMW will run free "Situation Wanted" ads for out-of-work broadcast pros. Or, for that matter, those looking to move to a different job. E-Mail OMW at the address on our profile. Confidentiality, as always, is assured. We'll even help write the ad for you, like we did below...

---------

SITUATION WANTED: A 15-year-plus broadcast professional is looking for part-time, fill-in or even full-time work in Northeast Ohio radio, or full-time work anywhere in America. Our first job seeker is a veteran of mainly news/talk formats. Experienced in news anchoring, reporting and hosting. A hard worker, dedicated and with many skills outside the newsroom or talk studio, including extensive experience in operations assistance, computer automation systems and Windows PCs. Our ad placer can do not just news and talk, but would be interested in working in any adult-targeted music format as well, and would also be interested in off-air operations support work. Reply to OMW Blind Box #1, via our E-Mail address under the "View my complete profile" link.

Two Followup Items

INDICTED: Former WDJX/Louisville KY air personality and promotions staffer Todd Kelly Smith has been indicted by a Louisville grand jury, and arrested on a dozen theft related charges, according to Louisville TV stations WHAS/11 and WAVE/3...which report his mother was also arrested.

The charges stem from Todd's involvement in a self-created charity for victims of ALS ("Lou Gehrig's Disease"), and the indictment says he never forwarded money collected by the Todd Kelly Foundation to ALS victims. The TV stations were among many media outlets he used to spread the word about the foundation while working at WDJX.

We mention it here not because Louisville is not far from Ohio, but because earlier, Canton market CHR WZKL/92.5 Alliance ("Q92") had announced the hiring of Smith as their new promotions director. Shortly after that, we got word that the AllAccess news item for his hire here in Northeast Ohio prompted people in Louisville to contact local TV newsrooms.

We don't know what happened at the local end of things, but we understand Smith - assuming he avoids a long sentence behind bars - is probably not expected to ever work at WZKL. At this moment, the "About Q92" page on the station's website literally has no name listed next to the "Promotions Director" title. We suppose "The Guy We Thought We Hired Until We Realized He Could Be Headed For Jail" doesn't fit on the page.

Indeed, we understand that "Q92" may well not have known of Smith's legal troubles. Though we know for sure that the station does read AllAccess (it posts job listings there frequently), they apparently did not make the connection with the popular trade site's January item on Smith's problems at WDJX. And their background checking may not have even taken place - for just a cursory call to ANYONE in the Louisville radio market would likely have uncovered this widely publicized story, which has been all over local TV stations since it broke there.

Anyway, we'd be surprised if Todd made it up here. And if he ends up getting convicted on the theft charges, well, you can't really promote a Canton, Ohio radio station from behind bars in Kentucky...we assume.

RIVER MORNINGS: AllAccess reports that CCM WCVO/104.9 in the Columbus market ("104.9 The River") reshuffles morning drive, with new program director Todd Stach and WCVO morning vet Tracy Leek joining up for "The Todd and Tracy Morning Show"...

Random Notes

NOTE 1: A regular OMW reader tells us WTAM/1100 afternoon motormouth Mike Trivisonno turned his sights on John Gorman, former veteran local PD who now writes a radio column for the Cleveland Free Times weekly newspaper. The problem? Gorman's most recent column, where he echos the general thought that Triv is "quaking in his boots" over the addition of syndicated stars Opie and Anthony to the WXRK/92.3 "K-Rock" afternoon lineup.

Well, OK. Regular readers of This Space know that we're not exactly in the "O&A Will Wipe The Floor With Triv" category, even assuming he stays in his current time slot (see many, many items below for speculation on that). There's no denying the pair was formidable competition for Triv in the talk radio realm, when they were on then-WXTM/92.3 in 2002...but we went into a multi-part dissection of their chances in the current environment long ago.

We'd also like to take the opportunity to reiterate that WE HAVE NOT HEARD ANY EVEN SOLID RUMOR that Triv is about to make the move from WTAM afternoons to mornings on FM (presumably WMMS, if that happened). IF this is indeed being kicked around, which we do not know if it is, a lot of consideration would have to be taken, including the impact on A) Clear Channel's existing morning drive shows and B) the question of how Triv would actually do against strengthened morning drive competition.

And we'd also like to clarify that such a move, if it happens, wouldn't at all appear to be a reaction to the O&A return to the local airwaves to compete with Triv. We seem to remember that there were marketing calls asking "would you listen to Triv in mornings" even before the CBS Radio afternoon duo returned to over-air radio.

We speculate with the best of 'em, but we try to clearly identify when there is no information we would consider to be solid to back up our speculation. Feel free to join that speculation party, but know that OMW is NOT reporting that a morning drive move is imminent for Triv.

NOTE 2: Local radio types in Northeast Ohio should be thankful that Susquehanna left local radio ownership long ago, with the sale of WHLO/640 back in the day. The company is just a day or so away from being officially taken over by Cumulus...and the job carnage prompted by that merger may make the term "bloodletting" look modest.

So far, Atlanta appears to be the Susquehanna market seeing the most carnage, but Cincinnati has been affected as well. AllAccess reports the exit of urban oldies WMOJ/94.9 "Mojo 94.9", AC WRRM/98.5 "Warm 98" and country WYGY/96.5 "Star 96.5" VP/GM Dan Swenson, with WMOJ VP/GM Gary Lewis taking the reins of all three stations.

More budget cuts are said to be in the works as Cumulus takes over, and anyone in radio will tell you a GM leaving in this kind of environment could well be a sign that more people are also out the door soon.

Cumulus, of course, has existing clusters in Ohio markets like Toledo, Youngstown and Canton. But in those cases, they've been operating the stations for some time.

NOTE 3: OMW has regularly run radio "Help Wanted" advertisements. But the above item reminds us to also offer "Situation Wanted" ads for out-of-work radio/TV pros. The first one is already in, and we'll run it later today.

In yet another reason we probably won't make money with this thing, both "Help Wanted" and "Situation Wanted" advertisements will be free, and will run in the regular course of the OMW news cycle for now. Later, we may add links to them over on the left...

WSPD Replaces Frantz

As expected, the Toledo Free Press reports that Clear Channel talk WSPD/1370 Toledo has hired a local replacement for its evening "Eye on Toledo" talk show (weeknights, 6-7 PM).

The weekly paper reports that former WNWO/24 "NBC 24" investigative reporter Kevin Milliken took over the slot on Monday.

The local show debuted when the station moved then-morning drive host Bob Frantz into the one-hour evening slot, following the afternoon drive show hosted by new station program director Brian Wilson.

Frantz, of course, recently left WSPD for mid-mornings at Clear Channel Cleveland sister talker WTAM/1100. Milliken will also contribute a column for the Free Press, like his predecessor did...

A Public Service to WNIR Talk Show Hosts

When Media-Com Akron market talker WNIR/100.1 switched from CBS Radio News to ABC News Radio's Information network last year, we wonder if ABC was aware that WNIR talk show hosts get to the top-of-the-hour network newscast when they're good and ready. And they've been doing so...for years.

After hearing WNIR afternoon driver Bob Golic join an ABC newscast nearly 40 seconds late the other day, we decided we needed to provide WNIR with some help.

Here ya go, Broadcast Park...a free link courtesy of your friends at OMW:

The official U.S. time - clock

On any Internet-connected computer, this website provides the exact, U.S. government atomic-powered clock time...accurate to within two tenths of a second. We've even given the link to the Java-powered clock for the Eastern time zone.

Since we know that WNIR's in-studio computers are "powered by RoadRunner" cable modem service, the station now officially has no excuse for missing the start of the ABC top-of-the-hour newscast...

Yet Another Triv Folo

If he got yet another call from a listener getting asked if they'd listen to him in mornings, we didn't hear it on WTAM afternoon motormouth Mike Trivisonno's show today. But we did hear something interesting.

Triv was ripping former Indians star Jim Thome for refusing that Indians offer a few years ago to keep him in Cleveland, and taking a larger offer to go to the Philadelphia Phillies while telling Triv and fans he wanted to stay in Cleveland...saying the current Chicago White Sox slugger "lied" to Cleveland fans, and Triv himself.

The afternoon mainstay on Cleveland's "Big One" then told listeners that he had a leg to stand on in criticizing Thome...saying he'd gotten significant offers last fall from "two different places, two different stations" in what he called "a huge opportunity, making more money than I'm making here". But Triv says despite that, he "stayed put for less money", and turned down the offers, even though he believed he could probably get a lawyer to get him out of his WTAM contract...saying he was at "the place (he) wanted to be"...and on the station and in the time slot he wanted to be in.

Hmmm. How does all this play with the talk of moving to mornings?

If it's within the Clear Channel family, though he'd be abandoning WTAM's afternoon listeners, he'd still be within the company and still be talking to local listeners, just in a different daypart and likely on a different local CC station. And this could be yet another on-air negotiating ploy by Triv, as far as that "station and time slot" comment...along the lines of the spelling out of "double pay" on Friday.

About our comment that a Triv move to mornings would likely take place (in our opinion) on a Clear Channel FM station - consider this. There's only one landing place that could even happen for him in the company's firmament here. Look at the rundown:

* Oldies WMJI/105.7 - Unless he retires or leaves on his own, John Lanigan is about as close as you could get to a host being cemented in his current position. Like TV's Dick Goddard (WJW FOX 8), Lanigan leaves when he wants to leave, period.

* Hot AC WMVX/106.5 - While not in the Lanigan category, the prospect of Brian and Joe getting replaced by Mike Trivisonno is about as likely as a UFO landing at Clear Channel's World Domination HQ on Oak Tree. (Hmm, that'd explain Triv making it there in the first place, though...)

* CHR WAKS/96.5 - Triv replacing syndicated Valentine on a top 40 station? Where's that UFO again?

* Country WGAR/99.5 - Umm, Triv on a popular country station? Another UFO stop...

That leaves, of course, only rocker WMMS/100.7 left on the Clear Channel Cleveland FM list. The station's current morning show, "WMMS Mornings with Sean, Hunter and Cristi", is about the 6th WMMS morning show in the past 5 years or so.

We don't have access to WMMS' ratings, let alone specifically for morning drive, but IF there is a Triv move to a Cleveland Clear Channel FM station in morning drive, WMMS is literally the only place it could happen for the above reasons. Again...IF.

There's also the added bonus that WMMS' format would presumably be compatible with Triv's audience, and WMMS is an iconic presence as Cleveland's legendary rock station. With WMMS matching up well against CBS Radio alt-rocker WXTM/92.3, beating it the ratings much of the time according to what we've heard, adding Triv in mornings and keeping the current rock format the rest of the day - especially with 92.3 adding talk in PM drive - could be a good move.

Once again, we feel the need to light up the giant THIS IS ONLY OUR OWN SPECULATION sign. We've heard rumblings that WMMS is behind the "would you listen to Triv in mornings" marketing call flurry, but we cannot confirm that. All of this could well fall apart, and not happen...and pretty much 95% of this entry is our own semi-educated speculation.

But if it happens, you can bet we'll remind you that you heard it here first... heh.

Why Don't They Take Out A Billboard?

We missed it, but an OMW tipster tells us the subject of WTAM afternoon motormouth Mike Trivisonno in mornings came up AGAIN on his Monday afternoon show.

Like Friday, when a caller told Triv about a "research" call asking if he'd listen to the WTAM afternoon driver in mornings, another caller brought up a similar call on Monday's Triv show.

Friday, we heard Triv tell his caller that "you're about the 12th person to tell me about a call like this". We're told the number is apparenly up to "about 30" in Triv's repetoire, and he continues to claim he doesn't know anything about this research effort which is apparently calling folks all over Cleveland. On Friday, he gave a message to his bosses if they wanted him to move to mornings...spelling it out "d-o-u-b-l-e p-a-y".

Really, if WTAM wants to prepare listeners for Triv moving to morning drive, they could take out a billboard at this point. The effort is THAT obvious.

Now, what does it all mean?

* What are the chances that Triv would move to mornings on his own station, displacing or moving "Wills and Coleman"? Not likely. (And we presume in this unlikely event, the recovering Casey Coleman would stay in mornings, anyway. By the way, we were heartened to hear Casey helping out WTAM Browns beat reporter Andre Knott on the second day of the station's draft coverage on Sunday. Not only did he sound good, he provided much needed perspective and help to the station's post-draft show.)

A news/talk station like WTAM needs the Wheel of Service Elements that the W&C show provides in morning drive. Triv has problems hitting time posts for his own show's news, traffic and weather elements on a regular basis...and there's no way they'd let him unleash that on morning drive. Such a move would change the very nature of WTAM as a news/talk station.

We also hear "Wills and Coleman" do quite well in morning drive as it is, so there's no ratings pressure to move Triv, anyway.

* We've often reported rumors here, unsupported and unconfirmed, that both CBS Radio and Clear Channel have kicked around flipping an FM station to talk.

For CBS' part, they are already halfway there with the addition of Opie and Anthony to WXRK/92.3 "K-Rock" in afternoon drive, with hot talker Rover in morning drive. But if Clear Channel moved Triv to morning drive on one of its FMs, how would they be able to do so without causing problems for WMJI/105.7 morning drive icon John Lanigan and co-host Jimmy Malone?

(As we re-read this item, we feel the need to add that it IS entirely possible, if Triv moved to morning drive on one of Clear Channel's FM stations, that the rest of the station may or may not change format. It's quite possible to keep the post-morning drive music format with a morning talk show.)

No matter what the eventual result, it sounds to us like WTAM is trying to pave the way towards moving Mike Trivisonno to morning. The "I've gotten 30 calls" bit sounds like just a bit short of an actual promo, to us. A respected Friend of OMW notes that he believes it's quite possible Triv wouldn't know that they were doing research calls about his radio future, but Triv talking about this over two days sounds like it's a plant, to us.

There is the outside shot that CBS Radio is behind the calls, and you know, oddly enough, the WNCX/98.5 morning drive shift - on a station with a long history of "hot talk" in morning drive - IS open.

We'll see, though, how it pans out...