Options For WABQ and WKNR

Just some random stuff floating around in our head about the past week's biggest radio news items in Northeast Ohio: the departure of ESPN Radio from Salem's WKNR/850, and the purchase of WABQ/1540 by a noted sports format operator:

TRIPLE X: We're wondering if this is an option on Craig Karmazin's Cleveland table.

Washington DC is abuzz about a brand new sports talk competitor to established Clear Channel sports outlet WTEM/980. The station owned by Red Zebra Broadcasting - the radio arm of Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder - will be known on air as "Triple X - ESPN Radio". It's reportedly due to start Tuesday, according to our colleague Dave Hughes at DCRTV.

At the start, "Triple X" will launch on three signals.

The central signal is WKDL/730 Alexandria VA, which actually does pretty well in much of the DC market in daylight hours - it's an 8000 watt signal at a low position on the AM band. At night, it virtually disappears at 25 watts.

But the primary signals "Triple X" will promote are on the FM band. WBPS/94.3 Warrenton VA is a rimshot from the western end of the fast growing Northern Virginia suburbs. WBZS/92.7 Prince Frederick MD is a rimshot from southeast of DC in Maryland. Until now, they've all been running a Spanish-language format.

There's been a lot of buzz that the combo won't be enough for the Red Zebra folks. The FMs struggle to reach Washington itself. The AM signal drops to "under lightbulb power" at night. And the outlets, the new flagship of Snyder's team, will air a number of Redskins night games in the pre-season and first part of the regular season...when that AM signal drops to low-power. There are strong rumors that the "Triple X" combo will at least buy airtime on a fourth, in-market signal to carry Redskins games.

Fast forward to Cleveland, and the options being considered by Good Karma's Craig Karmazin for his presumed new ESPN Radio outlet in this area.

Could Karmazin take a page from Dan Snyder's playbook, and grab a couple of rimshot FMs to approximate full market coverage? The relative equivalent of the Red Zebra FM signals in the Cleveland market would be WCLV/104.9 Lorain on the west side, and WKKY/104.7 Geneva on the east side.

We mention them just to note their signal and approximate location in this region compared to the Red Zebra rimshots in DC, and not to suggest anything involving any specific stations in the Cleveland area. For that matter, we're just looking at possible options, and have no idea if Mr. Karmazin's "Good Karma" is even looking in that direction. And as noted, there has been a lot of negative buzz about the signal strength of the Red Zebra FM stations.

But the general idea of adding FM rimshots to complement the city-based daytime signal of WABQ/1540 is an interesting one.

We just don't know how many options Mr. Karmazin has to do that in this region...for one, WCLV is not going anywhere due to its long-term commitment to the classical format on the Lorain rimshot, part of its 2001 agreement to move from 95.5 to 104.9. And we don't believe the Music Express folks would sell WKKY, either...

We also don't know if Karmazin would approach the owners of the two small Ohio stations on the 1540 frequency, WBTC/Uhrichsville - owned by one Mr. Jim Natoli - and WRTK/Niles, a part of the Harold Glunt World Empire at Beacon Broadcasting.

It would appear to us that if he has any designs of moving WABQ's tower site south of Cleveland and aiming it to the north with greater power, or of increasing its power in general, those contacts are the first thing he'd have to pursue...perhaps along with calling up Radio One, and asking if the 6 PM-6 AM hours are for sale as a block on WERE/1300...

WKNR OPTIONS: Salem sports talker WKNR/850 has roughly until the end of the baseball regular season to figure out what replaces ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike" in morning drive. No, we mean the REAL end of the baseball season, not the end of the Indians' season, which is basically...um...now.

The smart money is on WKNR program director Michael Luczak going local again in morning drive. One good reason for that...outside of "Mike and Mike", the network radio options pretty much stink up the place.

FOX Sports Radio has Washington DC-based Steve Czaban ("Czabe") and his "First Team on FOX" morning drive show. "Czabe" has some talent, but is only the latest in a long string of FSR morning shows.

Sporting News Radio has one reasonably attractive offering with former ESPN and FSR host Tony Bruno...but Bruno runs 9 AM-1 PM in the Eastern time zone, so that's not a morning option here. SNR's morning show is something called "The Morning Show with Matt Spiegel and Bill Lekas". Would you trust your morning drive slot to roughly the 20th morning show SNR has run in the past five years?

There is the option, of course, to more Greg Brinda to morning drive, and run SNR's Bruno in his current mid-morning slot. But as far as we recall, Brinda has never done morning drive in his entire radio career, and may be one of those folks - like your Primary Editorial Voice - who does not relish the early wake up call.

We're reminded of a popular afternoon male-female host team at one of our previous radio stops. The male half of the team was tapped to move to morning drive when that time slot's long-time duo bolted for a larger market. It had been widely expected that his female co-host would follow. But this was something we knew personally...a certain hot place would freeze over before she got up at 3 AM!

The loss of "Mike and Mike" would appear to open up an opportunity, somewhere, for one of WKNR's stable of part-time hosts. Rather conveniently, summer vacation season has given these folks plenty of exposure...with drive time fill-ins recently by Bob Karlovec, Mike Catan and others.

Then, there's Neil Bender, who has raised his profile considerably by co-hosting the FSN Ohio-simulcasted "Cleveland Rants" with Les Levine.

Then, there are other options out there...like long-time Euclid-based sports radio host and comedian Chuck Booms - now heard weekend overnights on FSR, locally via WEOL/930 Elyria - or WOIO/19-WUAB/43 sportscaster and sports radio veteran Chuck Galeti.

Our gut still tells us that Mr. Luczak goes local in morning drive...we're just not sure how...

Weekend Catchup

We've been so busy with the ESPN/WKNR/WABQ thing this week that we haven't had time for much else. So, here's some of the "much else":

LAYOFFS HIT HOME: We don't know the details yet, but more information is trickling out around the country about the massive CBS Radio layoffs earlier this week. And to follow up on our earlier report, there may have been an exit or two at the company's Cleveland cluster.

We have no details, though...and we'll pass them along to you as they become available....

WNCX MORNING SHOW: More sketchy rumors here, but at least some chatter suggests that CBS Cleveland classic rocker WNCX/98.5 has finally settled on a morning show. The credibility of this chatter is about 2 on a scale of one to five, so we're not going to spend a lot of time on it... we're just "throwing it out there" as something we'll be watching in the next couple of weeks or so.

WIDER NET: Heading south for a bit, Clear Channel Columbus top 40 WNCI/97.9's morning show is starting its long-rumored in-house syndication.

AllAccess reports that starting Monday, "The Dave and Jimmy Morning Show" begins airing on its second station, Clear Channel Louisville KY top 40 outlet WZKF/98.9 "Kiss FM".

WZKF program director Chris Randolph calls the incoming team "the hardest working morning team I've ever seen", and other such Incoming Morning Team Praise.

How far will the Dave and Jimmy Train go?

The show has a pretty generic looking flashy new website, complete with a professional logo and no up-front mentions of Columbus. (Well, aside from at the bottom - the small print address of the company which developed the website.) Are they tabbed to become an east coast morning drive option for Clear Channel top 40 stations?

MOVING DAY: Radio One Cincinnati urban outlet WIZF/100.9 Erlanger KY "The Wiz" was scheduled to make its move to 101.1 this week. The "nudge up the dial" was set for Friday morning, with a contest winner doing the official "switch flipping" honors. Or...whatever method the station used. (Clicking a computer mouse?)

The move is needed to make way for the company's incoming FM station in the Cincinnati market, the current WIFE-FM/100.3 Connorsville IN, which will be planted smack dab in the middle of Cincinnati with a COL of Norwood OH. WIFE's longtime calls will be left behind on 1580 AM in Connorsville, with the latter station's oldies format...

HALL OF FAMER: Our congratulations to Rubber City Radio/Akron programmer Kevin Mason...the country WQMX/94.9 operations manager will be inducted into the Ohio Radio/Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame on October 8th at the Hilton in Fairlawn.

Mason's also heard on-air on WQMX from 9-11 AM.

Well, at least we think it's him. The picture next to his entry on the station's staff page is of a cat. Meow!

Seriously, whether he has to use his paws to turn on the microphone or not, congratulations to Kevin. He joins broadcast luminairies such as Allan Freed, Phil Donahue, Bob Hope and ESPN Radio's Dan Patrick in the Akron-based Hall...

Random Musings About Recent News

Whenever breaking media news happens locally, we're usually either out of town or away from the keyboard more than we'd like to be, and this week is certainly no exception.

We've been looking into the announced sale of D&E Communications gospel WABQ/1540 Cleveland to Craig Karmazin's Good Karma Broadcasting, and we haven't noticed anything particularly new to pass along.

We didn't know until we read the FCC application, however, that D&E's Dale Edwards is listed "as manager and member of Radio Advantage One, LLC, licensee of WBKC(AM) Painesville, OH". We're sure this will fuel the Speculation Train on what happens next with Good Karma and its likely network partner, ESPN Radio.

WBKC is currently simulcasting classical WCLV/104.9 Lorain most of the day, in an effort for the latter station to gain at least some listeners in eastern parts of the Cleveland area. Last we heard, WBKC still breaks away from WCLV for a three-hour local morning drive show, and Cleveland Indians baseball broadcasts. We don't know if Edwards' interest in WBKC is large enough to even begin this line of thought...we're just throwing that information out there.

For now, we'll weigh in with some observations. The following is mostly our own speculation - you know, we should get a graphic for that! - but there are some reasonable educated guesses in here as well.

OBSERVATION 1: OMW finds it very hard to envision Craig Karmazin operating a 1,000 watt daytime sports outlet as his only Cleveland station. The WABQ signal struggles to even cover a decent chunk of its home county.

Karmazin is stuck with a daytimer in Milwaukee, WAUK/1510 Waukesha WI. And though he's managed to get an upgrade for that signal of 23,000 watts days/20,000 watts critical hours (the CP was approved last month), there's still basically no possibility of squeezing 24 hour operation - with any power level that makes it worthwhile - out of either WAUK, or his newest acquisition, Cleveland's WABQ.

UPDATE 7/13/06 11:47 PM: Our good friend Scott Fybush reminds us that the "critical hours" authorization is often confused with pre-sunrise/post-sunset authority. For one, apparently in the mind of Your Primary Editorial Voice(tm), who's never worked at a station with either.

Basically, it covers hours after sunrise and before sunset, and not the other way around. There's a great explanation of it on Scott's comment to this item. We've known him for over 10 years now, and we are constantly reminded that he's an excellent resource on things like this.

Karmazin will - if he hangs onto WABQ - most certainly upgrade the signal as much as possible. Our non-technical guess...he'll try to take the most advantage of the fact that Cleveland is on Lake Erie, and try to squeeze the signal between the existing higher power occupants...like, perhaps, Toronto's CHIN, Albany's WDCD, Waterloo IA's KXEL, and very powerful first and second adjacents (WCKY/1530 Cincinnati, WWKB/1520 Buffalo and the like).

Oh, and don't forget nearby daytimer WRTK/1540 Niles, from the Land of Glunt in the Mahoning Valley - otherwise known as Beacon Broadcasting. That would likely preclude any south-facing signal, for one. (WRTK, last we checked, ran ABC's 24/7 gospel format "Rejoice - Musical Soul Food". We don't know what it started running after that format died recently.)

Anyone with a better handle on this stuff, feel free to help us along.

OBSERVATION 2: If Karmazin hangs onto WABQ, even after upgraded, will he spring for a second "night" signal as he has done in Milwaukee?

In that market, WAUK pairs up with urban talk WMCS/1290 for nights as "ESPN 1510 Days, 1290 Nights". The arrangement with WMCS is a part-time LMA which landed one of WAUK's daytime hosts on the 1290 signal in early evenings, with ESPN programming the rest of the night and early morning.

One big problem with this may mostly be solved soon. WMCS won't relinquish the signal to WAUK and "ESPN Milwaukee" any sooner than 6 PM. In the dead of winter, 1510 actually has to sign off for a while before 1290 allows the ESPN affiliate to program it. That includes a show with the station's newest high-profile host, former WISN/1130 host Steve "The Homer" True.

Now, back to Cleveland. Can anyone even THINK of a station that would be available to Karmazin in this manner? We're coming up empty, at least when it comes to a signal that makes a reasonable approximation of being a full-market signal.

Every signal from Clear Channel, CBS Radio (all FMs) and Radio One is likely far out of the consideration. And certainly, all of Salem's stations are out. Aside from former Salem daytimer WCCD/1000, which does not have a night signal either and is owned by a church, and various lower-power rimshots from the east and west (Willoughby, Lorain, etc.), there's nothing left.

Which brings us to...

OBSERVATION 3: It's more of a question, really.

Does this set the stage for Karmazin to upgrade WABQ, hanging in there for a year or two with it as a 1000 watt daytimer mostly running ESPN network programming, then flipping it with ABC/Disney for the company's full-time Radio Disney signal on 1260?

In this scenario, ESPN would on 1260 24/7. Radio Disney lands on a bigger 1540, with no nighttime signal...and the Disney company gets a full-time signal for their own ESPN Radio format with Karmazin at the helm. (Remember, both ESPN Radio and Radio Disney are not involved in the Citadel/ABC deal.)

Is everyone happy? The only fly we can see in this ointment is the fact that ABC/Disney seems to eschew daytimers even for the kid-oriented Radio Disney format.

Just some Random Thoughts out of our brains...again, all of the above is purely OMW's own speculation...

FCC Approves Adelphia Deal

The Federal Communications Commission, as expected, gave the OK to the deal to break up Adelphia's cable systems between Time Warner and Comcast. It's the last big regulatory hurdle for the deal.

The Washington Post reports that the 4-1 nod came with some conditions, mostly attached to rights to sports programming.

Adelphia's management had said earlier that July 31st was a "drop dead" date for the deal to be completed. Here at OMW Central, we don't know if this officially clears away all the obstacles for the deal - we're wondering if the new Adelphia owners have gotten all their local approvals, for one.

But barring any tie up, it would appear that the deal is on track to close sometime before the end of the month.

When it does, Time Warner Cable will take the mantle of the most dominant cable operator in the Northeast Ohio region...taking not only Adelphia's large Cleveland-based system and others in Northern Ohio, but also Comcast's Cleveland operations. Comcast will - in turn - take over some Time Warner systems in other markets to pair with Adelphia's systems...

BREAKING NEWS: WABQ/1540 Cleveland Sold To Good Karma

D&E Communications is selling Cleveland gospel daytimer WABQ/1540 to Good Karma Broadcasting for $2.5 million in cash. Details at Radio & Records Online.

As reported here, Good Karma is owned by Craig Karmazin, the son of former CBS Radio/Infinity chief Mel Karmazin (now with Sirius). Among other small stations, he owns two stations in Wisconsin's two largest markets - a pair of sports talkers in Milwaukee and Madison. His reported interest in the Cleveland radio market was first mentioned in Roger Brown's column in the Plain Dealer.

The Akron Beacon Journal's David Lee Morgan, meanwhile, confirms our earlier report that Salem sports talker WKNR/850 is losing ESPN Radio "this fall". Program director Michael Luczak tells Morgan that WKNR is "dropping" the network and morning show "Mike & Mike". (If ESPN decides to go elsewhere, is that a "drop"? Hmm.)

We'll leave the rest of the day for the assembled OMW readership to connect a few dots on this one...

Two My Network TV Moves

As a number of Ohio TV stations get ready to mount a fall season with a new network, at least two stations are doing something this week.

MY43 COMING?: The long-standing WUAB.com website, online home of current Cleveland market UPN affiliate WUAB/43, is now sporting this one-page under construction graphic... with a hint of things to come:

Presumably, this leads to on-air branding of "My 43" to replace "UPN 43" at the market's upcoming My Network TV affiliate.

Well, at least for how long it will last at the Raycom Media sister of CBS affiliate WOIO/19...the station hasn't been emphasizing the UPN 43 branding for all that long. Until fairly recently, it was "43 The Block". We recall one of our earlier missives on that name: "The Block of What?"

WOIO's website at 19ActionNews.com is unaffected.

CAPITAL GETS MY NET ON DIGITAL: That second "new network" has also found a landing spot in Columbus, and it won't be running off pattern on the current "UPN Columbus" (WWHO/53 Chillicothe) when that station becomes an affiliate of the CW Network in September.

TVWeek reports that among the latest batch of outlets for My Network TV includes Sinclair's WSYX/6 "ABC 6", half of the company's current duopoly with co-owned WTTE/28 "FOX 28".

The story indicates My Network TV will air on WSYX-DT, which would indicate the company will mount a third channel via the ABC 6 digital signal - and seek cable and satellite carriage in the market. That's the same route taken by Chelsey Broadcasting ABC affiliate WYTV/33 Youngstown...which will launch "MyYTV" in the fall on WYTV-DT, as that market's My Network TV outlet.

Sinclair has a very good relationship with the MNTV folks...they were one of the first broadcast groups to sign up for the new network, happy with the fact it wasn't asking for "reverse compensation" like The CW is.

Thanks to an OMW tipster for the heads up on both of these items!

This Is... Not... CBS... At Least For 115 People

In what some trade publications are calling "Black Wednesday", CBS Radio had one of those periods of corporate indigestion...and fired some 115 people company-wide today.

CBS Radio chief Joel Hollander said he could have saved money if he hadn't have wasted millions on David Lee R...er...wait, no, he actually said "reducing headcount is never easy" in a corporate memo obtained by the trade press and reported in AllAccess, Radio & Records Online and on the Reuters news wire.

Hollander said the cutbacks affect a small percentage of CBS Radio's 8500 full-time and part-time employees, and were needed "to position us for further growth in a changing business".

[oomph!] Whew. That was tough, extricating ourselves from Corporate Speak!

AllAccess lists a number of managers and programmers out in the company's largest markets, from some general managers to mid-level sales managers, and a program director or three.

OMW hears that the CBS Radio cluster in Cleveland may have been spared in the employment bloodletting out of the company, and in fact, a morning drive voice in that cluster may have just signed a contract renewal...

KISS'in Down to Miami

Former WAKS/96.5 "Kiss FM" program director Dan Mason has taken his first draw from his ex-station's staff.

AllAccess reports that Mason has tabbed night slammer J-NIICE and imaging director Brian Mack from the Clear Channel Cleveland top 40 outlet to join him at the company's sister station in Miami - WHYI "Y100" - where Mason recently took over the programming chair.

You may have noticed we said "first". It means nothing, other than us wondering if other "Kiss Cleveland" types will join Mason in Miami. We haven't heard anything about anyone following J-NIICE and Mack down to South Florida. Former WIOQ "Q102" Philadelphia imaging director Steve Sykes is also on-board at Y100 now, acting as a "creative consultant" from his current location in St. Louis.

And yes, before anyone comments, we know that Q102 was Kasper's last radio address before he returned to the APD/MD/afternoon gig at WAKS. We only keep repeating this because these sorts of moves always have people asking about Kasper for some reason.

We have yet to hear if Kasper even has an INTEREST in moving on from Cleveland. For all we know, he's snug as the proverbial bug in a rug in his current position. We do know he's a local native, and all other issues aside, he presumably likes it here.

We're beginning to wonder if Kasper isn't Cleveland radio's version of basketball's LeBron James, where people are SURE he's destined for Bright Lights, Big Cities...just waiting for his chance to bolt Cleveland. (Of course, Kasper already left once for that Philly gig.)

No matter what happens in that regard, new "Kiss" PD Bo Matthews is looking for replacements for his departed night guy and imaging guy. If you're a regular reader here and can't find the address of the Clear Channel World Domination HQ by now, we're not going to be of much help...

Items That Are NOT Related To WKNR

We've spent a lot of time the past day or so on the WKNR/ESPN rumblings...here's some of what else we missed:

NARDING IT: OMW hears that it's official - "Nard" is taking the programming duties at CBS Radio Cleveland alt-rock/talk outlet WXRK/92.3 "K-Rock". With Rover in the morning, and Opie & Anthony in afternoon drive, we thought it was time to officially add the "talk" to WXRK's format description.

We're reminded that Nard has been aboard at 92.3 for some five years, going back even into the station's days in the "Jammin' Oldies" format. Remember "Jammin' Oldies", kids? Nard does.

By the way, "K-Rock's" website is advertising a future market visit from those afternoon shock talk hosts...and provides listeners with a way to sign up to get notification of the date for a local visit from "Opie and Anthony's Traveling Virus". No, we just write these things, we don't come up with names...

WE REACH INTO BOARD ROOMS: OMW hears that your very own Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) was even mentioned at an "all staff" meeting at Canton's WHBC/1480 - WHBC-FM/94.1, the NextMedia combo that has shown up here in rumors for the past few days.

And we've gotta give it to A) whoever asked about the sale rumors we've reported (we don't know who it was...they are not even a source for us), and B) to WHBC management for even attempting to answer the question.

We're told that station GM Rich Bossler said "we're as much for sale today as we were the day Ted Boyd sold us to NextMedia in 2000"...but admitted that if NextMedia corporate had designs on selling either or both of the WHBC stations, the company probably would not tell even him.

The station blames the dismissal of news anchor/reporter Alan Zarek and engineer/IT guy Dan Mamone on long-time mandated budget cuts from NextMedia corporate...cuts that have been held off until now. This is consistent with what we've heard in recent days from other sources.

Once again, though these sale/resale rumors are pretty strong in the Canton market - we're surprised we haven't heard from every single person who works in that city, but it's not far off - we have no concrete information that it's happening. Still, when you take the national move by NextMedia to reduce its size by selling off other clusters, it sure makes sense that some sort of move would be made eventually in Canton...

MANCOW MOVE: It doesn't directly affect Northeast Ohio. Yet.

But long-time WKQX/101.1 "Q101" Chicago morning man Erich "Mancow" Muller is officially leaving the Emmis Broadcasting alt-rock station. His last show on his current radio home in the Windy City is July 14th. The show will continue to be broadcast for affiliates of "TRN-FM", and Mancow says he is actively seeking a new flagship in Chicago.

We seem to remember reports out of that city - sometime last year - that Mancow was supposedly negotiating with CBS Radio to replace Howard Stern on the company's FM talker there, WCKG/105.9. If we're remembering right, those talks fell apart. (We're not altogether sure we remember correctly, but it seems to ring our memory bells.)

We're not about to suggest that Mancow would be an automatic replacement for former Cleveland-based morning doggie Shane "Rover" French in Chicago - where he's currently based as the man who DID take over for Stern on WCKG - but...we could see just how patient CBS Radio is with Rover...

Followup to a Bombshell

OMW reported earlier today that Salem sports WKNR/850 Cleveland was on the outs with the ESPN Radio Network. We have a little more clarification.

As we mentioned earlier, OMW sources tell us that the folks at ESPN dropped a bombshell on WKNR on Monday...a 90-day notice to get out of the network's contract with the long-time affiliate. We hear that ESPN Radio will eventually be heard on another Cleveland market outlet, and from what we are told, that outlet will be a 24/7 affiliate of the network.

It appears, for now, that ESPN isn't going to be pulled immediately from the WKNR airwaves, despite Salem's obvious displeasure with the exit move.

As we reported here first, the station performed what we've called in the past a "Soviet-style purge" of ESPN's mentions on the WKNR website, including erasing program listings for morning show "Mike and Mike" in at least two places. (We also believe an ESPN news ticker once graced the 'KNR site...that's definitely gone.) By the way, a tip of the OMW hat to long-time reader Nathan Obral for first noticing the absence of ESPN material on WKNR's website.

While station management may have wanted to pull the plug immediately on ESPN Radio, cooler heads seem to have prevailed. Not only would that move mean a mad scramble for a new morning show, nighttime and weekend programming, but it would have cost the station tonight's Major League Baseball All-Star Game. To the on-air listener, there's no riff between WKNR and ESPN. Yet. We'll see how that changes over the next three months, and when.

Now, as far as that "what next" option for the sports network... there really seem to be very few options. Let's ride the Speculation Train, shall we? All of the above is merely open thinking on our part. Feel free to hit the comments or the local radio message boards to dissect this one:

STOP 1: With ESPN leaving Salem, there goes all that company's stations - even if one of them were willing to go 24/7 with ESPN alongside WKNR, which would be unlikely even in the best of a Salem/WKNR relationship. WHK and WHKW aren't changing from their talk and religious formats, anyway.

STOP 2: Clear Channel has no stations to give ESPN for full 24/7 coverage, as they have no other Cleveland AM stations besides WTAM/1100. And even if there were a Clear Channel FM in dire trouble, it wouldn't go all-network sports, ever.

STOP 3: Both of Radio One's AMs have a purpose - WERE/1300 with its new company-driven urban news/talk format, and WJMO/1490 with its long-time local gospel format. Ditto, certainly, with their FM stations.

That leaves no other full-market, full-time Cleveland signals left for ESPN besides one: company-owned Radio Disney outlet WWMK/1260. We'd almost consider the in-house move from kids radio to ESPN a given, except we don't know if ESPN has ever flipped a Radio Disney station to ESPN sports.

Note that ESPN Radio owns a full-time Pittsburgh sports station, WEAE/1250...which does its best to be competitive in the tough Pittsburgh sports radio market.

It just swiped Stan Savran, former afternoon drive competitor (WBGG/970) to WEAE's popular afternoon drive show with Mark Madden, to help with Steelers coverage and fill-in talk.

And in an odd coincidence in this situation, former station owners Jacor and Capstar once swapped WEAE and WKNR in a two-city deal made necessary by regulatory concerns at the time.

Be sure you realize we have NO even rumored information that WWMK/1260 is the eventual destination for ESPN Radio in Cleveland. But if our speculation turns out to be correct, and ESPN Radio does go 24/7 on Disney's own 1260 frequency - it seems likely from the company's history in sports formats that they'll make a run at being competitive...with at least some local presence on the air.

It would be a fun ride...

BREAKING NEWS: ESPN Out at WKNR/850

OMW hears that Salem Cleveland sports talk WKNR/850 is losing ESPN Radio.

We hear the station was given a notice by ESPN Monday. The network may air in the Cleveland market on a full-time (24/7) signal at some point in the next few months. At this point, we can guess, but don't know for sure what that station may be...or what will be the eventual disposition of ESPN programming on WKNR.

We hear WKNR may have pulled some network programming, but it's still running promos for ESPN and for the network's presentation of the All-Star Game tonight.

More as we hear it...

Of HD, HD, M&M and Housekeeping

First, a housekeeping note. Our updates will be less frequent and involved for about the next week or so, but we'll still be here.

And no, we're not going out of town, so the usual warning about major changes may not apply. Or does it?

OF HDTV: As first reported (anywhere) by OMW, DirecTV confirms in a press release what it's been doing for the past nearly two weeks...HDTV broadcasts of local regional sports networks, including Cleveland Indians games on team-owned SportsTime Ohio.

The presence of STO in the DirecTV "local-into-local" HD lineup makes Cleveland one of 13 "major markets" offering the HD sports feeds, with six more to follow. The release also notes that local HD NBA and NHL broadcasts will come this fall - OMW has already reported that the list would include FOX Sports Net Ohio's coverage of the Cleveland Cavaliers in HDTV.

OF HD RADIO: OMW hears that some of Clear Channel Cleveland's HD-2 subchannels are up and running on HD Radio feeds of those stations involved.

Top 40 WAKS/96.5 "Kiss FM" is doing a "newer hits" version of the Kiss top 40 format on its HD2 channel.

And sister hot AC WMVX/106.5 "Mix 106.5" is running an adult album alternative format called "The Lake". This may or may not be the same format as the "Summit" AAA format crafted in Clear Channel's HD format labs, but it doesn't carry the same name as Akron-based triple-A outlet WAPS "91.3 The Summit".

"The Lake", by the way, is the name of a similar, over-air station in the Buffalo market...owned by Entercom. It's the former FM sports station, WNSA/107.7, a rimshot from the southeast of the Buffalo market...

OF "M&M": An eagle-eyed OMW tipster spotted the removal of ESPN Radio morning show "Mike and Mike in the Morning" from the website of Salem's Cleveland sports talk outlet, WKNR/850.

Not only has the ESPN Radio morning duo been removed from the station's lineup on its front page, the show is also missing from the "Programming" page.

If you'd guess that the station was doing so to highlight only its local personalities, then the presence of Premiere syndicated midday host Jim Rome in both spots might throw you off that scent.

OMW has heard nothing about any changes at WKNR, so we're just warning you that there's no meat to this...yet. It wouldn't seem necessary to remove all mentions of "Mike and Mike" from your website unless changes were in the offing, but there is no other sign of why this has been done. We're just giving a "heads up"...

Yet Another Cincinnati Update (And Even Columbus)

No, we haven't moved to the Queen City...but since we've been watching things in the Cincinnati market lately, here's the latest update on that big move among two of Clear Channel's AM stations in the market, and other notes south of our usual region:

BIG SPORTS: The sports section of the Cincinnati Enquirer weighs in on the move of sports talker "Homer, The Sports Animal" to its larger cage at 1530 AM. There isn't a lot new in this article by Enquirer sports writer Jacob Dirr, though they have sorted out where all the games are going to air. (Photo by the Enquirer's Jeff Swinger.)

In case you're keeping track, the new "1530 Homer" sports station (now WCKY) not only brings its status as AM flagship of the Cincinnati Bengals to its new home, it also takes along rights to ESPN Radio play-by-play to 1530.

It inherits the University of Kentucky's football and basketball coverage, which aired on 1530 even in the liberal talk format - much to the chagrin of diehard listeners of "The Revolution of Talk Radio".

1360 is not entirely out of play-by-play sports as the home of Jerry Springer and company - Air America evening talker Randi Rhodes and weekend talk programming will get preempted occasionally by Miami University football and basketball, and some high school contests.

And a note to Mr. Dirr and everyone covering this story in the Cincinnati print media: The 50,000 watt signal of WCKY/1530 is NOT heard "along the East Coast and Florida" in the daytime hours. During the day, it struggles to reach Dayton and Columbus, and doesn't get a LOT farther than 1360 AM. It's only the magic of the ionosphere at night that bounces 1530 to far away places.

And Clear Channel cluster VP/GM Karrie Sudbrack notes that the stronger "Homer" signal will make it through concrete and steel in downtown Cincinnati office buildings.

We can't vouch for that, as we haven't tried tuning in AM radio stations in a building in downtown Cincinnati, but as a rule, even powerful AM stations like WCKY have trouble blasting through the "concrete and steel jungle". It's one reason many AM radio stations (including all the Clear Channel stations in the Queen City) took to Internet streaming, and it's been cited as a factor in new FM simulcasts of 50,000 watt stations like WWL/870 New Orleans and KSL/1160 Salt Lake City...

NEW NON-COMM: And nearly on the opposite end of powerful AM stations like WCKY and sister talker WLW/700 "The Big One" is a new small non-commercial FM in the market.

Bill Spry drops us a note to tell us that his Spryex Communications is about to sign on WMWX/88.9 Miamitown OH, a class A non-comm signal that he says could be in reach of "nearly 1.5 million potential listeners" in the Cincinnati market.

Take a look at the station's FCC service area map here - it appears the transmitter location will be just north of I-74, just into Indiana, northwest of Cincinnati. It may at least have a shot at gaining listeners north and west of downtown Cincinnati. The construction permit for the station was approved in late April.

Spry calls the new station's format "top secret" at this point, though he believes people might be "pleasantly surprised" when WMWX signs on at some point in the next month or so. They're aiming for "late July/early August", after an antenna delivery...

COLUMBUS MOVE: While we're electronically looking south of the usual OMW coverage area, Radio & Records Online reports that "Stash", APD/MD of CBS Radio Columbus rock WAZU/107.1, is upped to program director of the station. He'll replace Joe Pasternak, who continues in afternoons on CBS sister rocker WLVQ "QFM96".

"Stash" slid from afternoon drive into middays when syndicated hot talkers Opie & Anthony returned to that slot on "The Big Wazoo"...

A WBNX HDTV Update - Sort Of

OMW reported in April that Cleveland market WB network affiliate WBNX/55 Akron had received its long-awaited construction permit for its digital station on channel 30, WBNX-DT.

Since then, it's been a bit confusing. After we were told that a station representative said construction wouldn't be complete until "Spring 2007", others said they'd heard that the station would be up by the fall premiere of WBNX's new network, The CW.

Despite numerous attempts to get an answer out of WBNX, we haven't heard any clarification or received any response. Well, there's a little more to the story...we think.

WBNX's "Trends" web page has changed slightly. Though the text about the station's earlier inability to get FCC approval of its digital construction permit has not changed - even though that permit has actually been obtained - they have changed the date they have in mind.

It's over in the "Frequently Asked Questions" section in blue-green print:

Q: What is the projected
start date for wbnx-tv?
A: Endeavoring for Sep 2006

That "Endeavoring" date used to say July 2006, until recently. September, of course, is the debut of the new CW Network...we now hear that it'll start Monday, September 18th.

In case you're a fan of TV history, even recent TV history, you might want to tune into WBNX on the previous night, Sunday the 17th. The outgoing WB network plans a look back at its 10 years on the air...and has even obtained rights to early WB shows that are now airing elsewhere...

Joe's 80 Candles

We neglected to put this one up earlier in the week since we got so busy, so...

A belated Happy Birthday to WARF/1350 Akron "Radio Free Ohio" midday host Joe Finan, who turned 80 on Thursday.

That's right, 80. We missed his show on Thursday, but we'll assume there were lots of jokes about calling the fire department for all the candles on his birthday cake. Hope you had that fire extinguisher at the ready, WARF program director and Finan sidekick Jerry Mullins...

Week Ending Wrapup

Tying up our usual loose ends...

WHBC NEWSMAN OUT: OMW hears, and AllAccess confirms this afternoon, that WHBC/1480 Canton veteran news anchor/reporter Alan Zarek is out after a 6 year run at the station. OMW also hears that the change leaves WHBC without news coverage on weekend afternoons.

This is particularly interesting timing, since we spent some time here recently talking about rumors of a sale of NextMedia's Canton cluster.

The company has been selling one cluster after another...one recent NextMedia exit was from nearby Erie PA, where the current version of Connoisseur Media picked up the company's stations (two AM, four FM) there for over $17 million earlier this year. We're also reminded that Connoisseur Media - first incarnation - is not new to Northeast Ohio...

We'll repeat our rumor from earlier. It appears NextMedia intends to sell WHBC's AM side, the venerable 1480, and may pick up an FM station to pair with 94.1, for eventual sale to a third party. We would not bet the whenever-we-get-it-on-the-market OMW World Headquarters on it, but it seems possible...

G98 FUN: We've caught some of the WNCX/98.5 tribute show to WGCL "G98", which aired this morning in the still vacant morning drive slot. Former WGCL staffer Dave Sharpe (mid-80's) held forth, with many airchecks of the station's days as a top 40 outlet.

And we learned some things we didn't know.

For one, we had no idea that Cleveland urban radio legend Lynn Tolliver (now at Tampa FL's WTMP, and once at Youngstown's WRTK/1390) had actually been heard first on Cleveland radio on the old G98. In specific, under the air name "Truckin' Lenny". The show was worth a listen for that aircheck alone...

And though we haven't reached that point in our recording of the show this morning, we understand they did check in with the man most people remember when they think back to the G98 days..."Dancin'" Danny Wright.

Also in the house on WNCX this morning - Bumper Morgan, a former WGCL air personality who now has a thriving voiceover business...among his recent clients was Clear Channel oldies WMJI/105.7.

The show was scheduled to check in with program director Tom Jeffries, and Joe Bohannon, another WGCL jock who went to even greater fame and fortune in Chicago on WBBM-FM. Maybe WXRK/92.3 syndicated morning doggie Rover - now a co-worker at talk WCKG there - can go to him for advice about how to establish yourself as a "Chicago radio name"...

ED'S WORRIES: From our "If Having Your Show and Your Station's Format Preempted for a Day to Establish a New Station Wasn't Enough Department": OMW hears that Jones Radio syndicated afternoon liberal talk host Ed Schultz is talking about Clear Channel Cincinnati's move, putting his affiliate in the market onto the weaker signal of WSAI/1360.

Though Schultz and "The Revolution of Talk Radio" host Jerry Springer were not even heard in Springer's hometown today, Schultz repeated concerns voiced to local Democratic Party leaders - reported last month in the Cincinnati Enquirer. We hear that in his 3 PM hour (carried locally on Akron's WARF/1350 "Radio Free Ohio"), Schultz told listeners that he didn't think his show would ever be heard in Cincinnati again.

We don't know if that's a specific worry on his part that WSAI will drop him from the lineup, or if he's concerned about the format in general. If they were planning to kill the format, they sure went to a lot of trouble to change all the logos and websites this past week.

It would, however, probably not be a lot of trouble to move Air America host Randi Rhodes into the afternoon slot...if Ed's fears were to come true.

About that house betting - we're not betting the house on "The Revolution of Talk Radio" lasting very long on its new home. And if you don't agree with us, consider Cincinnati Post columnist Rick Bird's latest article on the flip in today's paper:

Cincinnati Clear Channel programmers are being brutally honest about the reason for the switch. In a tongue-in-cheek on-air announcement detailing the change, an announcer is heard saying, "I know this can be confusing," but sarcastically adds, "If all you diehard liberals who whined for Air America programming had bothered to listen to it, none of this would be necessary."

The funny liner is not that surprising coming out of that building.

WLW has cut liners for its simulcast on XM Satellite Radio channel 173 - proclaiming when returning to programming preempted to cover a Cincinnati Reds game: "We now interrupt this crap, to bring you some even BETTER crap!" And you should hear the liner explaining why the station can't air Reds games on its own XM channel, as they're heard instead on XM's Major League Baseball channels...

Cincinnati Fallout - And A Shot Across The Bow

OMW hears that Clear Channel Cincinnati sports "Homer, The Sports Animal" did indeed make its move to 1530 AM today.

We've also heard that the station is indeed, as OMW suspected, simulcasting on both its new home of WCKY/1530, and its old home of WSAI/1360, today. The simulcast started at just after 6 this morning, when "Homer" introduced itself and its airstaff to 1530 AM's listeners...and noted that "soon, you'll be able to hear 'The Revolution of Talk Radio,' Jerry Springer and Ed Schultz on 1360 AM".

This was followed, we're told, by frequent announcements that WSAI/1360 will break off from the "Homer" simulcast at midnight tonight, when it would begin airing the liberal talk format heard until today on 1530 AM.

The most interesting part of today's events comes not on the web stream or on the air, but on the website of "Springer on the Radio", posted by show co-host/sidekick Jene Galvin:

Today Cincinnati listeners will hear - for this day only - a sports format on our former signal, 1530 AM. Starting tonight at midnight, Springer on the Radio and the other progressive lineup will switch to 1360 AM in Cincinnati. Today only, the sports lineup is being broadcast on both 1530 AM and 1360 AM. Our Cincinnati listeners can tune in to our show online for today.

We've gotten some contacts this morning asking about the two local sports talk show hosts doing the morning show, especially since they're taking shots at liberal talk on the air. Here's their story: They've been on the air in Cincinnati talking sports since 1997, for nine years, and have built a tiny audience at best over that time period. Let that fact speak for itself and their amateurish attitude toward our format on the air today.

Yipes.

Since this morning's announcement, we note that the liberal talk format's web stream - now at WSAI.com - is still intact, with WCKY.com now home for "1530 Homer" and the sports format's web stream.

At this hour, we're hearing Air America host Sam Seder subbing for Al Franken on WSAI.com, and John Feinstein subbing for Jim Rome on WCKY.com.

OMW has no idea where 1530's long-running paid religious programming block will run starting tonight at midnight. It's historically been attached to whatever format runs on 1530, due to that station's blowtorch nighttime signal...

Now, WNCX Taps G98's Memories

Apparently having mined most of what there is to mine from the city's rock radio history, with many former WMMS and "M105" personalities contributing to help fill the open morning slot at WNCX/98.5, the CBS Radio Cleveland classic rocker is turning to top 40 radio history tomorrow...and a part of its own history, before classic rock hit the 98.5 airwaves.

Swiped off of a message on a local radio message board, purporting to be from the station:

For fans of the old WGCL, tomorrow (7/7/06) will be your opportunity to relive some old memories. The guest host in the morning will be Dave Sharpe, with guest appearances by Tom Jeffries, Bumper Morgan, Lynn Tolliver, Uncle Vic, The Bagman and perhaps more.

It won't be super inclusive, but there will be airchecks, interviews, music and general reminiscing of old stories for the station that occupied the 98.5 frequency from August 1972 to October 1986.

Tune in to 985WNCX on Friday, July 7th from 6a-10a.

No word on if G98's signature personality, the man once known as "Dancin'" Danny Wright, will take part via phone from Seattle.

Danny, who's now doing Jones Radio's overnight syndicated country show "Wright All Night" based in the Emerald City, wouldn't exactly be hard to track down for the WNCX folks...he's been kicking around the past and demise of "G98" with your Primary Editorial Voice and others on that very message board.

By the way, we stumbled onto a 1985 aircheck of "Dancin' Danny" on G98 at Uncle Ricky Irwin's excellent ReelRadio.com site. However, the site has now put all its audio behind a subscriber wall. If you do subscribe, check it out here.

Meanwhile, we're hearing absolutely nothing about who (or what form of show) may eventually take over the open WNCX morning drive slot...

A Note To E-Mail Friends

OMW gets regular E-Mails from people at local media operations, but at least one or twice, we can't reply to some of those messages.

If you're looking for an off-blog reply, please use a personal E-Mail account. If you don't have one, it's very easy to get one...we use Google's Gmail, which is very robust, very flexible and most importantly, absolutely free.

We won't reply to your mail if you send it from a station-based or newsroom-based E-Mail address... we'll assume you don't want everyone at the station to know that we're talking to you! And if you've been wondering why we don't answer your E-Mail...now you know... oh, what Paul Harvey is known for saying.

Thank you in advance,
The Management

Cincinnati Swap - Friday or Saturday?

Both stations involved in Clear Channel Cincinnati's AM swap have started promoting the change, both on the air and online.

First, "Homer, The Sports Animal" checks in, with this website banner telling listeners to tune in Friday to hear the new "1530 Homer".

OMW also heard a fill-in for afternoon drive host Lance McAllister this afternoon promoting the switch, and noting that Lance's personal blog is moving to lance1530homer.com - an address which is already working as of today.

Listeners have also heard liberal talk WCKY/1530 promoting the switch, and the home of Jerry Springer's mid-morning show has put up a website banner saying that "The Revolution of Talk Radio" can be heard on 1360 starting Saturday. Is the swap Friday or Saturday?

Simulcasting a moving station on both old and new frequencies is a common thing, but would CC pre-empt all or part of the liberal talk station's programming day on Friday to do it? If we find out which day it happens, and at which time, we'll let you know.

And look at the second banner carefully, and you'll learn that Clear Channel is apparently not changing the calls on the swapping stations. With the move, the progressive talker will apparently take the existing 1360 calls of WSAI and become known as "1360WSAI - The Revolution of Talk Radio".

That leaves the WCKY calls behind for "Homer", which oddly enough is the only station of the two which never uses its call letters on-air - except for during the legal ID...

Talking About Rumors and Such

And even a fact or two thrown in:

CANTON ACTION: Our small item a couple of days ago - talking about rumors of changes at NextMedia's Canton duo of WHBC/1480 and WHBC-FM/94.1 - has prompted a large chunk of the Canton radio community to weigh in...both here on the blog and privately.

We're reminded of rumors we've heard from outside Northeast Ohio...that NextMedia is in a selling mode, from cluster to cluster.

How does this all fit with what we've heard about the WHBC combo?

We noted that we'd heard NextMedia was actually looking to buy a second FM in the Canton market - one would assume either D.A. Peterson's WZKL/92.5 ("Q92") or Jim Natoli's WNPQ/95.9. Both have long been the subject of sale rumors, usually not actually turning into fact.

If WZKL would be involved, we hear it's possible AM 1480 could be flipped back to Mr. Peterson and company, and paired in combo with his existing AM, WDPN/1310 Alliance.

But...why would NextMedia be looking to buy, if it's actually exiting the Canton market (and others)?

Sale bait. Simply put, they'd get more money from a buyer for a combo of 94.1 and 92.5 (or 94.1 and 95.9) than they would for 94.1 and 1480. For example, we hear a potential sale price of $27 million could be attached to 94.1 - and just $8 million for the venerable AM 1480. We'd assume 92.5's price would be at least somewhat closer to the money NextMedia could get for 94.1...at very least, somewhat more than $8 million.

We caution - all of this is at "heard on the street" level. But judging from our response, that noise on the street is rather loud in the Hall of Fame City...

KASPER RUMORS: If we would hear anything definitive from WAKS/96.5 "Kiss FM" APD/MD/afternoon driver Kasper, we'd certainly let you know. But the long-time OMW reader is playing his cards close to the vest...if he has any cards to begin with.

We can't help but note yet another high profile, major market Clear Channel CHR opening on today's AllAccess scroll. "Tik Tak", who's been in and out and in again at Chicago's version of "Kiss FM" (WKSC/103.5), is reportedly out again.

The "Kiss Chicago" afternoon driver has once again turned his shift into a revolving door, and has left the station just two months after he returned. "TIC TAK has left the building, and I have an immediate, rare afternoon opening for true talent," AllAccess quotes WKSC programmer Rick Gillette, who adds that tomorrow, keyword 'gillette' at kisschicago.com will provide details on how to apply.

We're not at all trying to push our long-time reader out the door. But his name keeps coming up in connection with all these big market openings. This one, though, appears to have no programming duties in association with it...and we know that's one reason Kasper came back to Cleveland.

But who knows...Chicago, being a midwestern city and not a huge distance from Cleveland, may appeal to him? We are just speculating...as we said, we have no inside information on this...

FACT: And the one fact we promised. It's not new at all, but we believe we never actually got around to posting a link to the Youngstown Vindicator article on the return of WFMJ/21 weekend meteorologist Mark Koontz...after a stroke he suffered during one of his newscasts.

As the article points out, Mark returned to the Youngstown NBC affiliate in mid-May, and is doing fine. We just link it here because we believe we left readers "hanging" about it...

The Future Look of FOX 8 News?

Regular OMW readers have been following our series on upcoming possible changes to Cleveland FOX O&O WJW "FOX 8"... mostly changes in style and form, along with an upcoming change to their website.

Courtesy of Washington DC sister station WTTG "FOX 5", here's more of a preview.

WTTG has already launched its new FOX-corporate-template site, MyFOXDC.com. One thing it offers that WJW's current site does not - a flash player for news video. When WJW launches MyFOXCleveland.com, it'll become the last local TV news operation in Northeast Ohio to launch news video online...behind all three Youngstown market TV newsrooms and even small market WMFD/68 out of Mansfield.

WTTG's site also provides us with a look at the visual style and branding that will likely filter down to Cleveland sometime in the next few weeks or months. The imaging is FOX's attempt at grabbing the national FOX News Channel branding, and spreading it to the company's local outlets.

It won't be that long before we see "FOX 8 News - The Most Powerful Name in Local News" here, along with that other FNC trademark - the "searchlight" logo with the rotating elements.

In this screen shot from video off the WTTG website, we see the top and bottom of the logos rotate, a move which allows the "NEWS" logo to turn into a display of time and temperature.

The change may - or may not - come with a new set at South Marginal Road. WTTG and another FOX O&O - Boston's WFXT/25 - did a set makeover to develop the new look. The new look seems to be "loud, red, white and blue with lots of graphics"...a far cry from FOX 8's muted current set in Cleveland.

We have no word that a new set will be constructed at WJW, or what the timetable the nationally-mandated changeover will take here, but we would be surprised if it did not happen by the end of the year. We're also not sure about the timing on the new website, though we know WJW has been advertising for web producers...

Pre-Fourth Firecrackers

It's mostly very quiet due to the July 4th holiday, but here are some random things we're hearing or reading...

NEW 5 ND: Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS/5 has finally named a new news director.

He's Steve Hyvonen, who comes from heading up the newsroom at WVTM/13, the NBC affiliate in Birmingham AL. In addition to other stations on his resume, Hyvonen also counts the cable TV news network MSNBC as a former employer. We've seen him listed as a former executive producer and senior producer for the Secaucus NJ-based cable network.

The Plain Dealer's Julie Washington reports that Hyvonen is a Michigan native, who's also lived in Indiana. He'll take over the WEWS news director position on July 17th.

The opening dates back to September of last year, when news director John Butte succeeded Ric Harris as WEWS' general manager. Butte has hung onto the news director title as well, while waiting to hire his replacement in the newsroom...

FOUR LETTER FUN: OMW hears that a guest on Air America Radio's Al Franken Show (weekdays 1-3 PM, WARF/1350 "Radio Free Ohio") let forth with an unexpurgated four letter obscenity recently, a word that apparently made it out to the entire network.

And that guest isn't the only one who's cursed recently on national radio.

FOX News Radio affiliates unwittingly aired the "F-bomb" late one night not too long ago. The network's overnight news anchor accidentally aired a piece of pre-recorded audio (link to "Inside Cable" blog story, beware strong language!) that did not contain the voice of President Bush, but the voice of an unidentified FOX News Radio staffer using that expletive in frustration in front of a microphone he apparently did not realize was open.

Franken is among the hosts with subs this extended July 4th weekend - "Majority Report" co-host Sam Seder is not only being heard in his place, but is also being heard locally in the noon-1 PM hour as fill for WARF midday host Joe Finan.

We'd assume that Jones Radio's Stephanie Miller Show is airing in the 11 AM-noon hour on 1350 during Finan's vacation absence - this week, with comedienne Elayne Boosler doing fill-in for Steph. Over on Finan's former home base - talk WNIR/100.1 - regulars Howie Chizek and Bob Golic are on the air today...

NEXTMEDIA'S NEXT: We're hearing rumblings out of the Canton market that NextMedia is itching to make some moves there. Could they be eyeing adding a second FM to WHBC-FM/94.1? Could a possible eventual sale of 94.1's sister station, WHBC/1480, also be in the offing? We'll keep an eye on this for you, but this may not come down for a while...

SportsTime Ohio DirecTV HD - 96 is the Number

Following up on our earlier post about DirecTV offering local RSNs (regional sports networks) in HD...we have a time and a number for you if you're looking for the Cleveland Indians in HD on DirecTV.

The time? Tuesday night at 7:00 PM, when the Tribe takes on the New York Yankees on SportsTime Ohio.

The number? 96. As in channel 96 on DirecTV, if you already have the HDTV LIL (local-into-local) service for Cleveland.

We found the Indians/Yankees game for Tuesday night in the DirecTV local program guide for Northeast Ohio.


(UPDATE: 7/2/06 10:06 PM - We are reminded that the date for the first STO HD Indians game on DirecTV can't be any earlier than Tuesday, as Monday night's game is scheduled for WKYC/3.)

The DirecTV "HD local into local" service launched Wednesday of this week, and includes three of the four local "Big Four" network affiliates. It also requires new MPEG4 hardware...so if you're still using old equipment, you won't be able to get the HD locals via satellite. Since WKYC/3 is in the HD "LIL" package, DirecTV viewers so equipped will be able to watch the Monday night WKYC game.

OMW has read numerous reports from other markets where the HDTV sports network feeds were turned on during the day Saturday. The STO HD coverage only includes home games, so Cleveland won't see the Indians in HD (on the STO cable/satellite feed) via DirecTV until Tuesday night.

Now, there's a caveat here. Remember all the difficulty DirecTV viewers went through when SportsTime Ohio launched on the service? We can't guarantee that the same problem won't happen on Tuesday night, so get ready to call the company's customer service folks if there's a problem.

In theory, if you get the regular SD version of STO, you should get the HDTV feed - again, assuming you have the proper new equipment...

Random Weekend Stuff

Just a couple of unrelated items...

LAURA'S RESURGENCE: After being dumped by a boatload of Clear Channel talk stations over the past 4-plus years, it looks like advice talker Dr. Laura Schlessinger is enjoying a bit of a resurgence.

The controversial host - her program now owned by her own "Take on the Day Productions" - has been showing up on some bigger market signals owned by Salem.

The most recent... a move in Dallas, where she now shows up on Salem Christian teaching/talk KWRD/100.7 Highland Village TX "The Word 100.7". The station is powerful, though something of a rimshot - as are a whole bunch of other Dallas/Ft. Worth market move-in stations.

"The Word" airs her show live 2-4 PM weekdays, and it's not the first Salem teaching/talk outlet to carry her by far. Pittsburgh's WPIT/730 has run Dr. Laura for at least 2-3 years now, and New York's WWDJ/970 ("WMCA 2") has also been an affiliate for a while now.

Do we see her show eventually airing on Salem's Cleveland teaching/talk station, WHKW/1220? It wouldn't be a stretch. "1220 The Word" here seems to be quite happy with Dave Ramsey, their syndicated money advice guy with roots in Christian principles. A Dr. Laura/Dave Ramsey combo would probably work well for WHKW...

ANOTHER CINCY FOLO: There's finally a follow-up newspaper article to the announced Clear Channel AM changes in Cincinnati, where sports WSAI/1360 "Homer, The Sports Animal" will swap frequencies with liberal talk WCKY/1530 "The Revolution of Talk Radio" on July 7th.

The Cincinnati Post's Rick Bird gets a little more out of CC Cincinnati AM guru Darryl Parks, who gushes over "Homer's" potential on the 50,000 watt signal at AM 1530 - and who doesn't at all seem worried that a blowtorch sports format will affect the station which drives the entire bus in Kenwood, talk WLW/700 "The Big One".

Parks tells Bird that the company is still committed to the liberal talk format in Cincinnati - "for now" - though he's hoping that the format becomes less "shrill" and more "humanistic". (Observation: In all of talk radio, only someone who runs the versatile format of WLW - with a popular comedy-talk afternoon drive show - could get away with saying that.)

Parks says he still sees progressive talk succeeding "in the long run".

As for "Springer on the Radio", show marketer and long-time Cincinnati broadcaster Pat Barry tells the Post that they're just "excited" to be on the air, and they aren't concerned with the less powerful, but still decent 1360 signal.

He has a point - "Homer" has done well enough within the usual parameters of a sports talker, and the 1360 signal has never been seen as holding them back.

But we still believe the liberal talk format is on shaky ground in Cincinnati, and may basically have been saved by the fact that Jerry Springer has a contract.

The other thing which may have saved it...what else is Clear Channel gonna put on that fourth AM signal?

There aren't a lot of options for AM formats. With full-time local talk, conservative talk and sports already on the air, what else can CC do? They've already run through "real oldies" and standards, both formats which are even tougher to sell - ratings aside - than any talk format. (And there's already WDJO/1160, which picked up the old 1530 oldies format, as a competitor if they wanted to go back that way.) "Classic Country 1360"? Also an older-skewing format.

There are some folks who believe a Spanish-language station would be possible. It is one of Clear Channel's "format initiatives", but we have no idea if there'd even be enough Hispanic listeners in Cincinnati and environs to support it...