Yes, we were a bit harsh in yesterday's item, explaining the "lack of power" out of Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8's new digital transmitter...which was believed to be running at 30 kW, but is actually only putting out 11 kW, based on our research of FCC filings.
Read more at our Ohio Digital TV blog...
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
ODTV: WJW Power Mystery Solved?
(This is a full reprint of an item posted on our Ohio Digital TV blog.)
The biggest post-DTV transition story in Northeast Ohio is the surprisingly anemic performance of WJW/8 "Fox 8"'s new signal on VHF channel 8, its old analog channel.
As it turns out, the signal may be less powerful than pretty much everyone thought, including us, and WJW's digital channel 8 appears to be operating not at the approved post-transition power level of 30 kW, but at 11 kW instead.
Yes, you read that right.
It took us about a half-hour going through WJW's FCC application records, but we're pretty confident we've figured that out. Follow along with us, to see if we've reached the proper conclusion. As always, especially in engineering matters - with only FCC records to work from - we could be wrong.
The key that unlocked this mystery for us was the station's "License to Cover", which tells the FCC that WJW is indeed operating "pursuant to automatic program test authority" on its construction permit for digital channel 8. That was filed Monday, so it's information we didn't have before now.
It appears that the "license to cover" filed Monday, however, was to cover the original 11 kW construction permit granted in March, 2008 (file number 20080311AAN)...not the construction permit modification to increase to 30 kW, which was granted in June, 2008 (20080620AHI).
We've previously referenced this line from the station's April transition update (caution: FCC filing form all upper case ahead):
WJW PLANS TO USE ITS CURRENT CHANNEL 8 ANALOG ANTENNA FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION AFTER IT CEASES ANALOG TRANSMISSION AS OF JUNE 12, 2009. THE STATION HAS PURCHASED AND TESTED A NEW INTERIM DIGITAL CHANNEL 8 TRANSMITTER AND PLANS TO USE THAT TRANSMITTER AT FULLY-AUTHORIZED POWER AS OF JUNE 12, 2009, WHILE ITS ANALOG TRANSMITTER IS BEING CONVERTED TO DIGITAL, AFTER WHICH WJW-DT WILL SWITCH TO THE CONVERTED ANALOG TRANSMITTER FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION.
From our digging into this, it now appears to us that "fully-authorized power" refers to the 11 kW CP granted in March of last year, not the 30 kW CP modification granted a few months later.
The problem?
We're not hearing ANYTHING from either inside South Marginal, or from the station in public, that the 30 kW facility is coming any time soon...despite its approval one year ago.
You'd figure that if this was the case, WJW would trumpet it loudly. But word that a facility improvement is in the works isn't found anywhere we can see on the Fox 8 website.
The latest word on DTV on Fox8.com is in this article promising "New DTV info" for viewers, which basically amounts to a procedure meant to "unstick" the previous WJW-DT facility on digital 31 from converters boxes and tuners. That does indeed happen, depending on the tuner, and it looks to be a solid procedure to clear out the converter box's memory.
But...the web article contains nothing about a power increase.
If WJW has talked about it on "Fox 8 News" or anywhere, we haven't seen it. There are just 24 hours in a day, and we can't watch every single local newscast.
The problems receiving WJW have made both major local newspapers, and have been talked about extensively right here on the OMW Blog Network. (Hey, that's a pretty good name for the OMW and ODTV combo...too bad we didn't think about it back in April!)
Again, if WJW was in the process of upgrading, and putting its modified construction permit on the air, one would think they'd say something about it...if only to give viewers who've lost the station over the air, some even in Cuyahoga and Summit counties, some hope for the near future.
As such, we can't even speculate that the situation will change soon...though on FCC paper, it looks like the path is still there.
The 30 kW CP MOD, as it's called, specifies a June 12, 2009 expiration date...but we don't think that means anything for such facilities. It clearly shows up a "post-transition" permit, which is why we think the date is automatic and doesn't mean anything. We could be wrong.
Anyway, if anyone at South Marginal is reading this, that's a hint.
You may or may not like us, but if we're wrong, you have to set us straight...and more importantly, notify your lost viewers that an increase in power should help bring back reliable reception for areas in your primary coverage area that can't receive Fox 8 over the air. Your obligation is to them, not us.
And as for those viewers, you have an obligation, too.
You need to call WJW, and tell them you can't receive their signal, even in a traditionally strong signal area. You need to complain, and make your voice heard. When you can't pick up a station, even in areas as close as Shaker Heights (in Cuyahoga County, at last check), the converter box does not notify the station.
Be prepared for the "you don't have the right antenna" speech, and at least have a modest indoor VHF/UHF combo antenna in place.
Tell them that you're a 10 minute drive down I-480 from Parma, and that you should reasonably expect not to have to mount a roof antenna up there on your home for a station that you could pick up with a paperclip back when it was on digital RF channel 31.
And yes, tell them you've read that they are not operating with their maximized FCC power of 30 kW, and ask them why not.
Or, do nothing, and hope that the folks at Local TV get the message when WJW starts losing ratings points compared to stronger local competitors.
OK, so that last one is a bit of hyperbole, as the Cleveland market has about 80%-ish cable/satellite penetration. Those folks (we're certainly in that 80%) have not lost WJW or any other over-air local station.
But anyone who watches the local TV ratings wars knows that WJW, WKYC, WOIO and WEWS fight like junkyard dogs over slim ratings margins. Even if the DTV over-air only audience in Northeast Ohio is only about 20 percent, every viewer counts.
We repeat, if a power increase is coming for their over-air signal, WJW needs to tell viewers, now.
Our only "ray of hope" on this is that the 30 kW increase would happen sooner rather than later, and WJW is just hoping that viewers will keep rescanning their converter boxes or tuners, find it, and be happy. But if viewers couldn't pick up the new signal to begin with, it won't magically appear when the power increases.
If we're wrong, we need to be corrected. But we have reason to believe that even outside the FCC records we've cited, we are correct about the 11 kW power level that WJW is currently using on digital channel 8...
The biggest post-DTV transition story in Northeast Ohio is the surprisingly anemic performance of WJW/8 "Fox 8"'s new signal on VHF channel 8, its old analog channel.
As it turns out, the signal may be less powerful than pretty much everyone thought, including us, and WJW's digital channel 8 appears to be operating not at the approved post-transition power level of 30 kW, but at 11 kW instead.
Yes, you read that right.
It took us about a half-hour going through WJW's FCC application records, but we're pretty confident we've figured that out. Follow along with us, to see if we've reached the proper conclusion. As always, especially in engineering matters - with only FCC records to work from - we could be wrong.
The key that unlocked this mystery for us was the station's "License to Cover", which tells the FCC that WJW is indeed operating "pursuant to automatic program test authority" on its construction permit for digital channel 8. That was filed Monday, so it's information we didn't have before now.
It appears that the "license to cover" filed Monday, however, was to cover the original 11 kW construction permit granted in March, 2008 (file number 20080311AAN)...not the construction permit modification to increase to 30 kW, which was granted in June, 2008 (20080620AHI).
We've previously referenced this line from the station's April transition update (caution: FCC filing form all upper case ahead):
WJW PLANS TO USE ITS CURRENT CHANNEL 8 ANALOG ANTENNA FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION AFTER IT CEASES ANALOG TRANSMISSION AS OF JUNE 12, 2009. THE STATION HAS PURCHASED AND TESTED A NEW INTERIM DIGITAL CHANNEL 8 TRANSMITTER AND PLANS TO USE THAT TRANSMITTER AT FULLY-AUTHORIZED POWER AS OF JUNE 12, 2009, WHILE ITS ANALOG TRANSMITTER IS BEING CONVERTED TO DIGITAL, AFTER WHICH WJW-DT WILL SWITCH TO THE CONVERTED ANALOG TRANSMITTER FOR DIGITAL TRANSMISSION.
From our digging into this, it now appears to us that "fully-authorized power" refers to the 11 kW CP granted in March of last year, not the 30 kW CP modification granted a few months later.
The problem?
We're not hearing ANYTHING from either inside South Marginal, or from the station in public, that the 30 kW facility is coming any time soon...despite its approval one year ago.
You'd figure that if this was the case, WJW would trumpet it loudly. But word that a facility improvement is in the works isn't found anywhere we can see on the Fox 8 website.
The latest word on DTV on Fox8.com is in this article promising "New DTV info" for viewers, which basically amounts to a procedure meant to "unstick" the previous WJW-DT facility on digital 31 from converters boxes and tuners. That does indeed happen, depending on the tuner, and it looks to be a solid procedure to clear out the converter box's memory.
But...the web article contains nothing about a power increase.
If WJW has talked about it on "Fox 8 News" or anywhere, we haven't seen it. There are just 24 hours in a day, and we can't watch every single local newscast.
The problems receiving WJW have made both major local newspapers, and have been talked about extensively right here on the OMW Blog Network. (Hey, that's a pretty good name for the OMW and ODTV combo...too bad we didn't think about it back in April!)
Again, if WJW was in the process of upgrading, and putting its modified construction permit on the air, one would think they'd say something about it...if only to give viewers who've lost the station over the air, some even in Cuyahoga and Summit counties, some hope for the near future.
As such, we can't even speculate that the situation will change soon...though on FCC paper, it looks like the path is still there.
The 30 kW CP MOD, as it's called, specifies a June 12, 2009 expiration date...but we don't think that means anything for such facilities. It clearly shows up a "post-transition" permit, which is why we think the date is automatic and doesn't mean anything. We could be wrong.
Anyway, if anyone at South Marginal is reading this, that's a hint.
You may or may not like us, but if we're wrong, you have to set us straight...and more importantly, notify your lost viewers that an increase in power should help bring back reliable reception for areas in your primary coverage area that can't receive Fox 8 over the air. Your obligation is to them, not us.
And as for those viewers, you have an obligation, too.
You need to call WJW, and tell them you can't receive their signal, even in a traditionally strong signal area. You need to complain, and make your voice heard. When you can't pick up a station, even in areas as close as Shaker Heights (in Cuyahoga County, at last check), the converter box does not notify the station.
Be prepared for the "you don't have the right antenna" speech, and at least have a modest indoor VHF/UHF combo antenna in place.
Tell them that you're a 10 minute drive down I-480 from Parma, and that you should reasonably expect not to have to mount a roof antenna up there on your home for a station that you could pick up with a paperclip back when it was on digital RF channel 31.
And yes, tell them you've read that they are not operating with their maximized FCC power of 30 kW, and ask them why not.
Or, do nothing, and hope that the folks at Local TV get the message when WJW starts losing ratings points compared to stronger local competitors.
OK, so that last one is a bit of hyperbole, as the Cleveland market has about 80%-ish cable/satellite penetration. Those folks (we're certainly in that 80%) have not lost WJW or any other over-air local station.
But anyone who watches the local TV ratings wars knows that WJW, WKYC, WOIO and WEWS fight like junkyard dogs over slim ratings margins. Even if the DTV over-air only audience in Northeast Ohio is only about 20 percent, every viewer counts.
We repeat, if a power increase is coming for their over-air signal, WJW needs to tell viewers, now.
Our only "ray of hope" on this is that the 30 kW increase would happen sooner rather than later, and WJW is just hoping that viewers will keep rescanning their converter boxes or tuners, find it, and be happy. But if viewers couldn't pick up the new signal to begin with, it won't magically appear when the power increases.
If we're wrong, we need to be corrected. But we have reason to believe that even outside the FCC records we've cited, we are correct about the 11 kW power level that WJW is currently using on digital channel 8...
Monday, June 15, 2009
ODTV: ODTV Followup Monday
We're sorting out what's left after Friday's end of full-power analog TV service, and even correcting ourselves once or twice...
Read more at our Ohio Digital TV blog, including VIDEO of a local station's DTV switch...
Read more at our Ohio Digital TV blog, including VIDEO of a local station's DTV switch...
Monday's Very Mixed Bag
We've been hanging onto some items for a while, since we were swept up in the Digital TV Conversion wave starting on Friday. (We do still have some ODTV follow up items, which we'll put on that blog later today.)
AN SDV UPDATE: Though nearly all of the Time Warner Cable Northeast Ohio monolith is now "Switched Digital Video" (SDV) capable, there are small pockets that have not yet taken the new technology.
OMW hears that will change, soon, with the SDV rollout "scheduled to be completed" by this Friday, June 19th.
We're told that the Lakeside and Cleveland Heights areas are among the final stragglers, though we're wondering if the former Comcast systems in Mentor and Elyria are also left to be done.
We assume "Lakeside" means TWC's Cleveland customers served directly out of the company's Cleveland headquarters on Lakeside Avenue in downtown Cleveland, the former home of the Adelphia operations in Cleveland.
As we've reported numerous times, the SDV rollout is necessary before TWC customers can receive new HDTV channels that debuted starting in May.
And another batch is coming in June...the following new HD channels are set to debut "on or after" June 15: Lifetime Movies, Travel, AMC, Versus, SPEED and ESPNU. The new batch will only show up immediately in SDV areas, and will show up elsewhere as SDV is turned on...presumably, by the scheduled completion of the rollout on Friday.
Our sources at TWC say there are still more channels scheduled to be added between now and the end of the year, and we should learn more about the post-June list soon...
IS THIS ANY WAY TO RUN A TALK RADIO STATION?: No matter what format it carries, Media-Com Akron market eastern rimshot daytimer WJMP/1520 Kent/Wherever Else It Happens To Reach has been a long-neglected sister station to talk powerhouse WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron".
Basically from the moment the former WKNT(AM) split from simulcasting with what used to be WKNT-FM, 1520 has been off in its own little world.
We've chronicled the station going off the air so frequently, you could almost set a calendar up to track it. WJMP has been, on numerous occasions, off for 3 or 4 days until someone fixed the situation - or noticed.
So, it wasn't a surprise to us late last week, when we tried to pick up 1520 while driving through Portage County on I-76, and found nothing at about 7:15 PM. WJMP was off, again, and we even managed to hear weak strains of co-channel Canton gospel outlet WINW/1520 "Joy 1520" in Akron's eastern suburbs.
According to the FCC's approximations, the station should be able to stay on the air in June and July all the way up to 9 PM. That link will show 8 PM at first, but it starts off in Eastern Standard Time.
But that's just the prelude to this act.
This morning, while checking on WJMP's status (through the usual heavy static, as we are not in Portage County), that definitely was not Erich "Mancow" Muller on the air with his Talk Radio Network program...and it wasn't a fill-in, either, on the TRN side.
It was a host and program quite different from the former "shock jock''s" morning show - WOR Radio Network's laid-back overnight program with host Joey Reynolds, talking about the history of women radio air personalities in New York City with the author of a new book.
Huh?
We think we've figured it out...it would have to be an automation error.
Reynolds' show is fed down both WOR Radio Network satellite channels all the way until 9 AM, though the show only airs live until 5 AM.
WJMP airs an extensive schedule of WOR Radio Network's weekend specialty show programming (pets, gardening, etc.), and that lineup takes most of the station's Sunday schedule - with the exception of Citadel financial advice star Bob Brinker's "Moneytalk" program from 4-7 PM.
The station does not list programming past 7 PM on weekends. We'll make the easy assumption that WJMP heads back to WOR Radio Network after Brinker, where it could pick up refeeds of "The Car Doctor" and "Food Talk" on the WOR2 satellite schedule (PDF) until signoff...if it hadn't already dropped carrier at 7 PM.
We're guessing that WJMP's Scott Studios automation somehow missed the command to kick it back to Talk Radio Network at 6 AM Monday for "Mancow". bringing the few thousand listeners within range of 1520 a taste of WOR's Joey Reynolds.
Obviously, Reynolds could not otherwise air on WJMP, as 1520 is filled on the local airwaves with static and a distant signal from Buffalo NY powerhouse WWKB in the overnight hours.
We should really charge a consulting fee for this kind of stuff...
WNCO ADDITIONS: We're nowhere near its signal, but we assume Clear Channel's WNCO/1340 Ashland has made the switch to its new talk format as "Mid-Ohio's Talk Station".
Our earlier item, and trade sites like AllAccess, had much more information on the switch than the Ashland Times-Gazette. The local newspaper was pretty much reduced to writing its article based upon on-air listening, because it said station officials were "on vacation", and no one else was talking.
With that lack of input, the paper openly speculated on the status of WNCO's Gene Davis, who has hosted the "Anything Goes" local talk/public affairs show from 9 AM to 9:30 AM weekdays.
Yes, Davis is no longer on the schedule, as a newspaper ad (we don't know if it ran last week, or will run this week, in the Gazette itself) shows the entire lineup, including WPGB/Pittsburgh-based "Quinn and Rose" from 6-10 AM weekdays.
But Gene hasn't been let go.
Clear Channel's Keith Kennedy. a regular reader here, had the answers in a comment on our original item, in response to another regular reader, Nathan Obral:
Gene will still be along side Ron mornings/middays on WNCO-FM.
Gene is also the PD for WNCO-AM, and will continue that role.
Anything goes will continue to air in shortform segments thru the day, rather than the full 30 mins.
WNCO/1340's big brother/sister station, "Mid-Ohio Country" WNCO-FM/101.3, is not affected by the changes...where Gene Davis is still listed from 10 AM-3 PM on the FM station's schedule...
AN SDV UPDATE: Though nearly all of the Time Warner Cable Northeast Ohio monolith is now "Switched Digital Video" (SDV) capable, there are small pockets that have not yet taken the new technology.
OMW hears that will change, soon, with the SDV rollout "scheduled to be completed" by this Friday, June 19th.
We're told that the Lakeside and Cleveland Heights areas are among the final stragglers, though we're wondering if the former Comcast systems in Mentor and Elyria are also left to be done.
We assume "Lakeside" means TWC's Cleveland customers served directly out of the company's Cleveland headquarters on Lakeside Avenue in downtown Cleveland, the former home of the Adelphia operations in Cleveland.
As we've reported numerous times, the SDV rollout is necessary before TWC customers can receive new HDTV channels that debuted starting in May.
And another batch is coming in June...the following new HD channels are set to debut "on or after" June 15: Lifetime Movies, Travel, AMC, Versus, SPEED and ESPNU. The new batch will only show up immediately in SDV areas, and will show up elsewhere as SDV is turned on...presumably, by the scheduled completion of the rollout on Friday.
Our sources at TWC say there are still more channels scheduled to be added between now and the end of the year, and we should learn more about the post-June list soon...
IS THIS ANY WAY TO RUN A TALK RADIO STATION?: No matter what format it carries, Media-Com Akron market eastern rimshot daytimer WJMP/1520 Kent/Wherever Else It Happens To Reach has been a long-neglected sister station to talk powerhouse WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron".
Basically from the moment the former WKNT(AM) split from simulcasting with what used to be WKNT-FM, 1520 has been off in its own little world.
We've chronicled the station going off the air so frequently, you could almost set a calendar up to track it. WJMP has been, on numerous occasions, off for 3 or 4 days until someone fixed the situation - or noticed.
So, it wasn't a surprise to us late last week, when we tried to pick up 1520 while driving through Portage County on I-76, and found nothing at about 7:15 PM. WJMP was off, again, and we even managed to hear weak strains of co-channel Canton gospel outlet WINW/1520 "Joy 1520" in Akron's eastern suburbs.
According to the FCC's approximations, the station should be able to stay on the air in June and July all the way up to 9 PM. That link will show 8 PM at first, but it starts off in Eastern Standard Time.
But that's just the prelude to this act.
This morning, while checking on WJMP's status (through the usual heavy static, as we are not in Portage County), that definitely was not Erich "Mancow" Muller on the air with his Talk Radio Network program...and it wasn't a fill-in, either, on the TRN side.
It was a host and program quite different from the former "shock jock''s" morning show - WOR Radio Network's laid-back overnight program with host Joey Reynolds, talking about the history of women radio air personalities in New York City with the author of a new book.
Huh?
We think we've figured it out...it would have to be an automation error.
Reynolds' show is fed down both WOR Radio Network satellite channels all the way until 9 AM, though the show only airs live until 5 AM.
WJMP airs an extensive schedule of WOR Radio Network's weekend specialty show programming (pets, gardening, etc.), and that lineup takes most of the station's Sunday schedule - with the exception of Citadel financial advice star Bob Brinker's "Moneytalk" program from 4-7 PM.
The station does not list programming past 7 PM on weekends. We'll make the easy assumption that WJMP heads back to WOR Radio Network after Brinker, where it could pick up refeeds of "The Car Doctor" and "Food Talk" on the WOR2 satellite schedule (PDF) until signoff...if it hadn't already dropped carrier at 7 PM.
We're guessing that WJMP's Scott Studios automation somehow missed the command to kick it back to Talk Radio Network at 6 AM Monday for "Mancow". bringing the few thousand listeners within range of 1520 a taste of WOR's Joey Reynolds.
Obviously, Reynolds could not otherwise air on WJMP, as 1520 is filled on the local airwaves with static and a distant signal from Buffalo NY powerhouse WWKB in the overnight hours.
We should really charge a consulting fee for this kind of stuff...
WNCO ADDITIONS: We're nowhere near its signal, but we assume Clear Channel's WNCO/1340 Ashland has made the switch to its new talk format as "Mid-Ohio's Talk Station".
Our earlier item, and trade sites like AllAccess, had much more information on the switch than the Ashland Times-Gazette. The local newspaper was pretty much reduced to writing its article based upon on-air listening, because it said station officials were "on vacation", and no one else was talking.
With that lack of input, the paper openly speculated on the status of WNCO's Gene Davis, who has hosted the "Anything Goes" local talk/public affairs show from 9 AM to 9:30 AM weekdays.
Yes, Davis is no longer on the schedule, as a newspaper ad (we don't know if it ran last week, or will run this week, in the Gazette itself) shows the entire lineup, including WPGB/Pittsburgh-based "Quinn and Rose" from 6-10 AM weekdays.
But Gene hasn't been let go.
Clear Channel's Keith Kennedy. a regular reader here, had the answers in a comment on our original item, in response to another regular reader, Nathan Obral:
Gene will still be along side Ron mornings/middays on WNCO-FM.
Gene is also the PD for WNCO-AM, and will continue that role.
Anything goes will continue to air in shortform segments thru the day, rather than the full 30 mins.
WNCO/1340's big brother/sister station, "Mid-Ohio Country" WNCO-FM/101.3, is not affected by the changes...where Gene Davis is still listed from 10 AM-3 PM on the FM station's schedule...
Metro Heads North, Well, Sort Of
Last year, Westwood One announced that it was shuttering about 50 of Metro Networks nationwide offices and bureaus, including its Cleveland office.
The idea, according to the company, was to better utilize technology to gather information about area traffic (as well as sports and news)...and the result, we were told, is that markets like Cleveland would still receive reports - just from people based in Detroit. The same scenario would play out in the other 12 remaining market "hubs".
Metro/Detroit's Howard Bouton amplified that noise all by himself in a recent AllAccess item, where he was all but begging qualified applicants to join him at the company's suburban Detroit outpost (Southfield, MI) to feed reports to Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and other markets under his purview.
Well, OMW can confirm that Metro's Cleveland market office has officially closed, as of Friday night, and no more reports will come from the first floor of the office tower on Granger Road in Independence, visible as you head up or down I-77 north of I-480.
But...
Many of the Metro-based voices you hear and see on Cleveland area stations aren't going away Monday, and almost none of them are making the move to Detroit.
Huh?
OMW hears that at least four Metro/Cleveland regulars are staying in-town, and are being "embedded" at various affiliate stations while still working for Metro.
To wit:
* Long-time Metro/Cleveland director of operations Terry Groden remains a Clevelander, and will be "embedded" starting Monday at the Salem cluster in Independence, just a short drive from his former office. We hear Groden will be tasked with doing news and traffic for Salem talk WHK/1420 and CCM sister WFHM/95.5 "The Fish".
* Veteran traffic reporter Linda Dawson is also staying in town. She'll be "embedded" at CBS Radio's operations in the Halle Building, doing reports for CBS' WDOK/102.1, WQAL/104.1 and WNCX/98.5.
* The rumblings we heard that morning sports anchor Jeff Thomas would be heading for the Galleria, and continuing his reports for Good Karma sports WKNR/850 "ESPN 850" are correct, except that Jeff will continue under Metro's employ in his new "embedded" situation.
We hear afternoon sports updates on WKNR will be taken by a "player to be named later", as it were...who will also be embedded at the Galleria. It doesn't sound like former afternoon sports anchor Daryl Ruiter will keep "filling in" during his old slot, which he gave up back when he left Metro originally for a full-time in-house job at WKNR. Good Karma certainly gives him enough work to do already.
* Rick Abell will continue to do traffic working for Metro, and working at Reserve Square for Raycom CBS/MyNetwork TV affiliate WOIO/19-WUAB/43's "19 Action News". This arrangement has been in place for some time, and won't change Monday. Abell physically moved from the now-closed Metro offices/studios to Reserve Square a few months ago.
OMW hears that "many feeds" will indeed be done out of the Detroit hub, but that's a pretty big list above.
One of the biggest Metro clients not on this "embedded" list is the Cleveland Radio One cluster, and we're guessing they'll welcome their own Detroit-based voices - particularly since some of the Cleveland anchors won't be available to the cluster (WZAK/93.1, WENZ/107.9, WJMO/1300 and WERE/1490) since they'll be attached to another client full-time.
We also hear that two producers, including afternoon producer/traffic voice/fill-in Jim Dubenetsky (sp?), are heading for Detroit to help compile information from Cleveland for anchors in both cities.
The various traffic cameras around town, two-way audio from ground spotters on area roads, and other resources in Cleveland will be hauled up electronically to Detroit, where the hub can do such things as move the cameras and talk back to the local spotters.
We're hearing that one consequence of the move may be significantly more accurate traffic information. Our sources connected to the situation are touting a new cell-phone "pulse" based traffic measuring system that will provide the equivalent of "several thousand" on-the-ground traffic sensors from anonymous cell phone data from the roads.
Metro parent Westwood One signed an exclusive deal with the company, AirSage, in July 2008.
It'll also help Metro measure traffic on roads off the highway system.
And that new data will help out some Metro/Cleveland staffers as they move to their new "embedded" locations.
Considering the tone of Mr. Bouton's AllAccess ad, we're wondering - did Metro/Detroit just not get enough qualified applicants willing to cover multiple Ohio markets from Detroit?
Did some of the long-standing local Metro affiliates lobby for their familiar Metro-based voices?
That, we don't know.
Maybe Metro saw enough savings by shutting down the physical office, or by letting go the people they have already released at Metro/Cleveland.
We're in speculation territory here...at least with the last part of this item..
The idea, according to the company, was to better utilize technology to gather information about area traffic (as well as sports and news)...and the result, we were told, is that markets like Cleveland would still receive reports - just from people based in Detroit. The same scenario would play out in the other 12 remaining market "hubs".
Metro/Detroit's Howard Bouton amplified that noise all by himself in a recent AllAccess item, where he was all but begging qualified applicants to join him at the company's suburban Detroit outpost (Southfield, MI) to feed reports to Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and other markets under his purview.
Well, OMW can confirm that Metro's Cleveland market office has officially closed, as of Friday night, and no more reports will come from the first floor of the office tower on Granger Road in Independence, visible as you head up or down I-77 north of I-480.
But...
Many of the Metro-based voices you hear and see on Cleveland area stations aren't going away Monday, and almost none of them are making the move to Detroit.
Huh?
OMW hears that at least four Metro/Cleveland regulars are staying in-town, and are being "embedded" at various affiliate stations while still working for Metro.
To wit:
* Long-time Metro/Cleveland director of operations Terry Groden remains a Clevelander, and will be "embedded" starting Monday at the Salem cluster in Independence, just a short drive from his former office. We hear Groden will be tasked with doing news and traffic for Salem talk WHK/1420 and CCM sister WFHM/95.5 "The Fish".
* Veteran traffic reporter Linda Dawson is also staying in town. She'll be "embedded" at CBS Radio's operations in the Halle Building, doing reports for CBS' WDOK/102.1, WQAL/104.1 and WNCX/98.5.
* The rumblings we heard that morning sports anchor Jeff Thomas would be heading for the Galleria, and continuing his reports for Good Karma sports WKNR/850 "ESPN 850" are correct, except that Jeff will continue under Metro's employ in his new "embedded" situation.
We hear afternoon sports updates on WKNR will be taken by a "player to be named later", as it were...who will also be embedded at the Galleria. It doesn't sound like former afternoon sports anchor Daryl Ruiter will keep "filling in" during his old slot, which he gave up back when he left Metro originally for a full-time in-house job at WKNR. Good Karma certainly gives him enough work to do already.
* Rick Abell will continue to do traffic working for Metro, and working at Reserve Square for Raycom CBS/MyNetwork TV affiliate WOIO/19-WUAB/43's "19 Action News". This arrangement has been in place for some time, and won't change Monday. Abell physically moved from the now-closed Metro offices/studios to Reserve Square a few months ago.
OMW hears that "many feeds" will indeed be done out of the Detroit hub, but that's a pretty big list above.
One of the biggest Metro clients not on this "embedded" list is the Cleveland Radio One cluster, and we're guessing they'll welcome their own Detroit-based voices - particularly since some of the Cleveland anchors won't be available to the cluster (WZAK/93.1, WENZ/107.9, WJMO/1300 and WERE/1490) since they'll be attached to another client full-time.
We also hear that two producers, including afternoon producer/traffic voice/fill-in Jim Dubenetsky (sp?), are heading for Detroit to help compile information from Cleveland for anchors in both cities.
The various traffic cameras around town, two-way audio from ground spotters on area roads, and other resources in Cleveland will be hauled up electronically to Detroit, where the hub can do such things as move the cameras and talk back to the local spotters.
We're hearing that one consequence of the move may be significantly more accurate traffic information. Our sources connected to the situation are touting a new cell-phone "pulse" based traffic measuring system that will provide the equivalent of "several thousand" on-the-ground traffic sensors from anonymous cell phone data from the roads.
Metro parent Westwood One signed an exclusive deal with the company, AirSage, in July 2008.
It'll also help Metro measure traffic on roads off the highway system.
And that new data will help out some Metro/Cleveland staffers as they move to their new "embedded" locations.
Considering the tone of Mr. Bouton's AllAccess ad, we're wondering - did Metro/Detroit just not get enough qualified applicants willing to cover multiple Ohio markets from Detroit?
Did some of the long-standing local Metro affiliates lobby for their familiar Metro-based voices?
That, we don't know.
Maybe Metro saw enough savings by shutting down the physical office, or by letting go the people they have already released at Metro/Cleveland.
We're in speculation territory here...at least with the last part of this item..
Saturday, June 13, 2009
ODTV: Cleveland Digital TV Transition Awards
Welcome, to our first Cleveland Digital TV Transition Awards!
Here are our own "winners and losers" from the day analog, full-power TV went away in Ohio's largest TV market, and our primary coverage area:
MOST IMPROVED: A tie between two occupants of that new antenna tower on Broadview Road in Parma, WKYC-DT (RF 17) and WVIZ-DT (RF 26).
You could make a case for either to be the ultimate winner, but it's basically a tie due to their cooperative work and co-location.
With the new facility replacing its former interference-plagued RF 2 facility, WKYC-DT went from the outhouse to the penthouse as far as TV signal strength is concerned. Digital over-air tuners across Northeast Ohio welcomed Cleveland's NBC affiliate...for many, its first appearance.
We'll give a slight nod to WKYC over WVIZ for one reason: WKYC-DT now appears to be the most powerful digital signal in the Cleveland market, or at very least on par with WEWS-DT (RF 15). With an indoor, non-amplified antenna here at the OMW World Headquarters somewhere in northern or western Summit County, you have to work pretty hard to lose the new WKYC digital signal.
WVIZ-DT's new signal is a little lower here, signal wise, but more than enough for an easy "lock". It's pretty much troublefree from our indoor antenna-equipped installations, a far cry from its former temporary status running anywhere from 1 kW to 10 kW from places like the small tower behind the former WVIZ studios to an auxiliary tower on the WKYC property.
We realize that YMMV - "Your Mileage May Vary". Our Friday night comments included one from a Wayne County resident upset that he couldn't get WKYC-DT to watch the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. We'll assume that comparison is to the analog WKYC, vs. the anemic WKYC-DT which until recently occupied RF channel 2.
Honorable Mention; WVPX-DT 23 (ION), which puts a respectable signal out on its new digital channel 23...after years with no digital signal whatsoever.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: That'd pretty much have to be Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8, which mounted its digital RF channel 8 in a flash cut on Friday.
Viewers responded in numbers: "Bring back RF 31! Please!"
"Fox 8" is not in as bad a situation as the Cleveland market's perennial digital TV laggard, WOIO-DT (RF 10).
Close-in viewers in Cuyahoga and northern Summit Counties should still be able to pick up the new WJW-DT VHF signal with a VHF antenna of some sort, and decent antenna placement. (We found that spot here at the OMW World Headquarters, about 20 air miles from Parma.)
But the move turns WJW-DT into one of our weakest stations, and we're not alone. Our E-mail tells us that some folks as close as Shaker Heights lost WJW-DT with the change on Friday.
We also don't know if WJW is running the full 30 kW post-transition power on RF 8. The station had indicated that it acquired a temporary transmitter at that full power level, while it retrofits the now-former analog 8 transmitter to digital, so maybe things will improve...
ARE THEY REALLY TRANSMITTING?: For many, picking up WOIO-DT's 3.5 kW RF 10 signal has been a challenge, and that didn't change a bit on Friday...the station is, as far as we know, still using that facility at the moment.
WOIO has two answers to questions about this untenable situation:
1) "We applied for a power increase." Well, they did, from 3.5 kW to 10.3 kW, but it's being held up by Canadian coordination issues.
You think? Really? Wow, what a surprise! Gee, we wonder why?
Considering that London ONT powerhouse CFPL is also sitting on 10 (analog right now, they'll keep 10 for digital whenever that happens), what were Raycom corporate engineers thinking by insisting on a RF 10 digital facility for WOIO? What were they smoking?
Didn't they realize that before their digital facility first tuned up, in-market viewers along Lake Erie were able to watch CFPL *IN THE CLEVELAND MARKET* with little difficulty? Didn't they know that CFPL was so strong in eastern Cuyahoga County, it was carried on local cable in that part of the area?
Someone has to tell CBS about this.
WOIO is losing in-market viewers in places like Stark County and Portage County to Youngstown's CBS affiliate digital powerhouse, WKBN/27 (RF 41). Those viewers may have no interest in "27 First News", but CSI looks the same on WKBN as it does on WOIO. (For that matter, WJW may face the same problem in those areas, with the WKBN-DT signal also carrying an HD version of "Fox Youngstown".)
While the over-air only percentage of the Cleveland market's viewership is only a certain amount (roughly 20%, we believe, with nearly 80% cable/satellie penetration here), WOIO is left to hold its breath and hope cable and satellite carry the day.
2) 'An outdoor antenna will help". Sure, it will. It pretty much always does.
But how many people have rooftop antennas anymore, and when is telling viewers they have to spend $50-100 or more ever a good idea for a TV station? Particularly when their existing or cheap "rabbit ears" and/or UHF loop antennas pick up all the other stations without going outside?
The insistence on keeping WOIO-DT on RF channel 10 - with a strong Canadian station pushing across the open waters of Lake Erie - may be the stupidest engineering decision ever made by a major market, network affiliate station. And we are being quite kind.
Amd we doubt the proposed 10.3 kW upgrade will not make matters all that much better...
BOOBY PRIZE: To nearly all local TV stations in the Cleveland market, for not doing much to mark the analog shutoff.
We didn't see it, but we're told that Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 was the only station that did ANYTHING...breaking away on analog 5 to run a short feature on the ending analog transmission...right before analog 5 went away after 62 years (!) of serving Northeast Ohio viewers. 62 years...gone like "that".
WKYC/3 has a regularly scheduled local program at 10 AM, "Good Company Today"...but there wasn't much interesting talk about the end of analog TV, just a brief talk with a station "expert" on a show that's basically an hour-long series of live infomercials.
It was as if all the stations threw up their hands, and said, "we're sick of this, just push the button and move on"...
AND THE "IF YOU CAN'T SEE ME" AWARD: ...goes to, as far as we can tell, all four local TV news operations.
Reporters covering the "DTV Switch" for noon newscasts pretty much all stated that "if you can't see or hear us", viewers needed to call certain numbers to get help.
Well, if you can't see or hear TV, you probably can't see or hear the TV reporter telling you to get help, but that's just a guess...
Here are our own "winners and losers" from the day analog, full-power TV went away in Ohio's largest TV market, and our primary coverage area:
MOST IMPROVED: A tie between two occupants of that new antenna tower on Broadview Road in Parma, WKYC-DT (RF 17) and WVIZ-DT (RF 26).
You could make a case for either to be the ultimate winner, but it's basically a tie due to their cooperative work and co-location.
With the new facility replacing its former interference-plagued RF 2 facility, WKYC-DT went from the outhouse to the penthouse as far as TV signal strength is concerned. Digital over-air tuners across Northeast Ohio welcomed Cleveland's NBC affiliate...for many, its first appearance.
We'll give a slight nod to WKYC over WVIZ for one reason: WKYC-DT now appears to be the most powerful digital signal in the Cleveland market, or at very least on par with WEWS-DT (RF 15). With an indoor, non-amplified antenna here at the OMW World Headquarters somewhere in northern or western Summit County, you have to work pretty hard to lose the new WKYC digital signal.
WVIZ-DT's new signal is a little lower here, signal wise, but more than enough for an easy "lock". It's pretty much troublefree from our indoor antenna-equipped installations, a far cry from its former temporary status running anywhere from 1 kW to 10 kW from places like the small tower behind the former WVIZ studios to an auxiliary tower on the WKYC property.
We realize that YMMV - "Your Mileage May Vary". Our Friday night comments included one from a Wayne County resident upset that he couldn't get WKYC-DT to watch the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. We'll assume that comparison is to the analog WKYC, vs. the anemic WKYC-DT which until recently occupied RF channel 2.
Honorable Mention; WVPX-DT 23 (ION), which puts a respectable signal out on its new digital channel 23...after years with no digital signal whatsoever.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: That'd pretty much have to be Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8, which mounted its digital RF channel 8 in a flash cut on Friday.
Viewers responded in numbers: "Bring back RF 31! Please!"
"Fox 8" is not in as bad a situation as the Cleveland market's perennial digital TV laggard, WOIO-DT (RF 10).
Close-in viewers in Cuyahoga and northern Summit Counties should still be able to pick up the new WJW-DT VHF signal with a VHF antenna of some sort, and decent antenna placement. (We found that spot here at the OMW World Headquarters, about 20 air miles from Parma.)
But the move turns WJW-DT into one of our weakest stations, and we're not alone. Our E-mail tells us that some folks as close as Shaker Heights lost WJW-DT with the change on Friday.
We also don't know if WJW is running the full 30 kW post-transition power on RF 8. The station had indicated that it acquired a temporary transmitter at that full power level, while it retrofits the now-former analog 8 transmitter to digital, so maybe things will improve...
ARE THEY REALLY TRANSMITTING?: For many, picking up WOIO-DT's 3.5 kW RF 10 signal has been a challenge, and that didn't change a bit on Friday...the station is, as far as we know, still using that facility at the moment.
WOIO has two answers to questions about this untenable situation:
1) "We applied for a power increase." Well, they did, from 3.5 kW to 10.3 kW, but it's being held up by Canadian coordination issues.
You think? Really? Wow, what a surprise! Gee, we wonder why?
Considering that London ONT powerhouse CFPL is also sitting on 10 (analog right now, they'll keep 10 for digital whenever that happens), what were Raycom corporate engineers thinking by insisting on a RF 10 digital facility for WOIO? What were they smoking?
Didn't they realize that before their digital facility first tuned up, in-market viewers along Lake Erie were able to watch CFPL *IN THE CLEVELAND MARKET* with little difficulty? Didn't they know that CFPL was so strong in eastern Cuyahoga County, it was carried on local cable in that part of the area?
Someone has to tell CBS about this.
WOIO is losing in-market viewers in places like Stark County and Portage County to Youngstown's CBS affiliate digital powerhouse, WKBN/27 (RF 41). Those viewers may have no interest in "27 First News", but CSI looks the same on WKBN as it does on WOIO. (For that matter, WJW may face the same problem in those areas, with the WKBN-DT signal also carrying an HD version of "Fox Youngstown".)
While the over-air only percentage of the Cleveland market's viewership is only a certain amount (roughly 20%, we believe, with nearly 80% cable/satellie penetration here), WOIO is left to hold its breath and hope cable and satellite carry the day.
2) 'An outdoor antenna will help". Sure, it will. It pretty much always does.
But how many people have rooftop antennas anymore, and when is telling viewers they have to spend $50-100 or more ever a good idea for a TV station? Particularly when their existing or cheap "rabbit ears" and/or UHF loop antennas pick up all the other stations without going outside?
The insistence on keeping WOIO-DT on RF channel 10 - with a strong Canadian station pushing across the open waters of Lake Erie - may be the stupidest engineering decision ever made by a major market, network affiliate station. And we are being quite kind.
Amd we doubt the proposed 10.3 kW upgrade will not make matters all that much better...
BOOBY PRIZE: To nearly all local TV stations in the Cleveland market, for not doing much to mark the analog shutoff.
We didn't see it, but we're told that Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 was the only station that did ANYTHING...breaking away on analog 5 to run a short feature on the ending analog transmission...right before analog 5 went away after 62 years (!) of serving Northeast Ohio viewers. 62 years...gone like "that".
WKYC/3 has a regularly scheduled local program at 10 AM, "Good Company Today"...but there wasn't much interesting talk about the end of analog TV, just a brief talk with a station "expert" on a show that's basically an hour-long series of live infomercials.
It was as if all the stations threw up their hands, and said, "we're sick of this, just push the button and move on"...
AND THE "IF YOU CAN'T SEE ME" AWARD: ...goes to, as far as we can tell, all four local TV news operations.
Reporters covering the "DTV Switch" for noon newscasts pretty much all stated that "if you can't see or hear us", viewers needed to call certain numbers to get help.
Well, if you can't see or hear TV, you probably can't see or hear the TV reporter telling you to get help, but that's just a guess...
Friday, June 12, 2009
ODTV: Almost Done
At this writing, the end of full-power analog TV in Northeast Ohio is nearly complete.
Only the analog signals of WKYC/3 (NBC), WVIZ/25 (PBS), WNEO/49 (PBS) and WQHS/61 (Univision) remain, and the last three will be gone before midnight tonight. WKYC's "nightlight" DTV information loop will continue through June 26th...the station having taken all entertainment and news programming off of analog 3 at 10 AM.
Over in the Mahoning Valley, only the analog signal of WFMJ/21 (NBC) is still on the air late this Friday night. It plans to pull the analog plug at just before midnight tonight, and will have to do so even if the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings take over four hours to finish Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
UPDATE 10:37 PM 6/12/09: Game 7 is over, with the Pittsburgh Penguins victorious...leaving plenty of time for WFMJ/21 to shut down its analog signal at a minute before midnight, as planned. Ditto for Toledo NBC affiliate WNWO/24, which held off its own switch due to rabid Detroit Red Wings fans. Those fans may be begging for an early switch now.
By the way, OMW hears from our friends at Western Reserve PBS that though Youngstown low-power analog fill-in translator W58AM (Channel 58) is indeed still off the air, the Kent-based PBS operation is planning to return the Youngstown fill-in service via digital channel 44 (58's replacement, W44CR) in the fall of this year.
We'll have a post-mortem and commentary over the weekend, and more information about other Ohio markets (particularly Toledo and Columbus) as it becomes available to us...
Only the analog signals of WKYC/3 (NBC), WVIZ/25 (PBS), WNEO/49 (PBS) and WQHS/61 (Univision) remain, and the last three will be gone before midnight tonight. WKYC's "nightlight" DTV information loop will continue through June 26th...the station having taken all entertainment and news programming off of analog 3 at 10 AM.
Over in the Mahoning Valley, only the analog signal of WFMJ/21 (NBC) is still on the air late this Friday night. It plans to pull the analog plug at just before midnight tonight, and will have to do so even if the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings take over four hours to finish Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
UPDATE 10:37 PM 6/12/09: Game 7 is over, with the Pittsburgh Penguins victorious...leaving plenty of time for WFMJ/21 to shut down its analog signal at a minute before midnight, as planned. Ditto for Toledo NBC affiliate WNWO/24, which held off its own switch due to rabid Detroit Red Wings fans. Those fans may be begging for an early switch now.
By the way, OMW hears from our friends at Western Reserve PBS that though Youngstown low-power analog fill-in translator W58AM (Channel 58) is indeed still off the air, the Kent-based PBS operation is planning to return the Youngstown fill-in service via digital channel 44 (58's replacement, W44CR) in the fall of this year.
We'll have a post-mortem and commentary over the weekend, and more information about other Ohio markets (particularly Toledo and Columbus) as it becomes available to us...
Ashland AM To Get Talking
We actually have had this one for a while, but figured we'd put it up when it appeared on the AllAccess Net News scroll. (The fine folks at AllAccess don't have the digital TV transition in their workload, after all. Heh.)
Yes, Clear Channel standards/soft AC WNCO/1340 Ashland is changing to a talk format, featuring a lineup that does not duplicate sister news/talk WMAN/1400 Mansfield.
While WMAN carries shows like Premiere's Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Coast to Coast AM, "Mid-Ohio's Talk Station" will carry Pittsburgh-based "Quinn and Rose", Cox/Dial Global's Neal Boortz, self-syndicated financial advice guru Dave Ramsey, Premiere/Citadel afternoon driver Sean Hannity and Citadel early evening host Mark Levin.
As far as we know, WNCO's AM side will also have Ohio's first clearance of Premiere 6-9 PM (ET) host Jason Lewis, based at KTLK-FM in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
We're told WNCO will be Ohio's first affiliate for Premiere's "Jesus Christ Show", a unique Sunday morning program based at talk powerhouse KFI/640 Los Angeles and created by KFI's Neil Saveedra.
Until now, 1340 has been an affiliate of Citadel's "Timeless", the soft AC/nostalgia hybrid format that grew out of mergers with former networks like "Stardust"...which WNCO's AM side started carrying originally.
And none of this, of course, affects the other Clear Channel Ashland-based station carrying the WNCO calls, country giant WNCO-FM 101.3...
Yes, Clear Channel standards/soft AC WNCO/1340 Ashland is changing to a talk format, featuring a lineup that does not duplicate sister news/talk WMAN/1400 Mansfield.While WMAN carries shows like Premiere's Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Coast to Coast AM, "Mid-Ohio's Talk Station" will carry Pittsburgh-based "Quinn and Rose", Cox/Dial Global's Neal Boortz, self-syndicated financial advice guru Dave Ramsey, Premiere/Citadel afternoon driver Sean Hannity and Citadel early evening host Mark Levin.
As far as we know, WNCO's AM side will also have Ohio's first clearance of Premiere 6-9 PM (ET) host Jason Lewis, based at KTLK-FM in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
We're told WNCO will be Ohio's first affiliate for Premiere's "Jesus Christ Show", a unique Sunday morning program based at talk powerhouse KFI/640 Los Angeles and created by KFI's Neil Saveedra.
Until now, 1340 has been an affiliate of Citadel's "Timeless", the soft AC/nostalgia hybrid format that grew out of mergers with former networks like "Stardust"...which WNCO's AM side started carrying originally.
And none of this, of course, affects the other Clear Channel Ashland-based station carrying the WNCO calls, country giant WNCO-FM 101.3...
ODTV: Cleveland Switch: First Impression
The first wave of analog shutoffs in the Cleveland/Akron TV market happened, as planned, at 10 AM this morning.
And here at the OMW World Headquarters somewhere in western or northern Summit County, it's mostly good. Mostly.
Analog signals for the following stations are no longer broadcasting: WEWS/5 (ABC), WJW/8 (Fox), WOIO/19 (CBS), WVPX/23 (ION), WUAB/43 (MyNetwork TV) and WBNX/55 (CW).
WKYC/3 analog (NBC) is airing the expected DTV information-only "nightlight" video loop, with video and text containing both English-language and Spanish-language instructions. That comes from the National Association of Broadcasters, and WKYC's analog channel 3 will continue to air it through Juen 26th.
WVIZ/25 analog (PBS) is airing a one-day-only slide explaining the switch. Analog 25 won't be continuing with this slide after it signs off later today.
WEAO/49 analog (PBS) has regular programming, which will go away when it signs off at 11:59 PM tonight.
WQHS/61 analog (Univision) is airing regular programming, which will go away when it signs off later tonight.
Low-power stations, such as Media-Com's WAOH-LP 29 Akron/W35AX Cleveland, are unaffected and are broadcasting as usual.
This update is up a little later than we'd planned. For one, we've been spending much of the past half-hour trying to get indoor antenna placement that'll pick up the new RF 8 signal of WJW/8 on the VHF band.
We finally gained success with an unamplified, modest indoor antenna spread out into a "V" in a second floor window. Well, mostly success, as it breaks up very infrequently, but is mostly locked.
The WJW move turns it into our second hardest-to-get OTA signal here - WOIO/19's RF 10 facility is by far still the worst. We admit that the antenna situation here at the OMW World Headquarters is indoor-only, and we still need to do some adjusting.
But it's odd coming from the pre-transition world, where we nearly needed a court order to get the signal of WKYC-DT on RF 2, to getting the WKYC-DT signal on RF 17 in our teeth...and struggling to get a decent lock on WJW-DT...which used to be in that "in our teeth" category on RF 31.
Elsewhere, Toledo has all but completed its switch, with NBC affiliate WNWO/24 the only station waiting until late tonight. (They're waiting for the NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game 7, involving the nearby Detroit Red Wings.) We'll have many more comments on VHF-based DTV later, as two Toledo stations made that switch.
And two of the three full-power Youngstown market commercial stations turn off analog just over an hour from now. The third, NBC affiliate WFMJ/21, is also waiting until just before midnight....maybe they're also waiting for the Stanley Cup Finals to end, with the nearby Pittsburgh Penguins being the other team in the series.
More on these situations, and other comments, later...
And here at the OMW World Headquarters somewhere in western or northern Summit County, it's mostly good. Mostly.
Analog signals for the following stations are no longer broadcasting: WEWS/5 (ABC), WJW/8 (Fox), WOIO/19 (CBS), WVPX/23 (ION), WUAB/43 (MyNetwork TV) and WBNX/55 (CW).
WKYC/3 analog (NBC) is airing the expected DTV information-only "nightlight" video loop, with video and text containing both English-language and Spanish-language instructions. That comes from the National Association of Broadcasters, and WKYC's analog channel 3 will continue to air it through Juen 26th.
WVIZ/25 analog (PBS) is airing a one-day-only slide explaining the switch. Analog 25 won't be continuing with this slide after it signs off later today.
WEAO/49 analog (PBS) has regular programming, which will go away when it signs off at 11:59 PM tonight.
WQHS/61 analog (Univision) is airing regular programming, which will go away when it signs off later tonight.
Low-power stations, such as Media-Com's WAOH-LP 29 Akron/W35AX Cleveland, are unaffected and are broadcasting as usual.
This update is up a little later than we'd planned. For one, we've been spending much of the past half-hour trying to get indoor antenna placement that'll pick up the new RF 8 signal of WJW/8 on the VHF band.
We finally gained success with an unamplified, modest indoor antenna spread out into a "V" in a second floor window. Well, mostly success, as it breaks up very infrequently, but is mostly locked.
The WJW move turns it into our second hardest-to-get OTA signal here - WOIO/19's RF 10 facility is by far still the worst. We admit that the antenna situation here at the OMW World Headquarters is indoor-only, and we still need to do some adjusting.
But it's odd coming from the pre-transition world, where we nearly needed a court order to get the signal of WKYC-DT on RF 2, to getting the WKYC-DT signal on RF 17 in our teeth...and struggling to get a decent lock on WJW-DT...which used to be in that "in our teeth" category on RF 31.
Elsewhere, Toledo has all but completed its switch, with NBC affiliate WNWO/24 the only station waiting until late tonight. (They're waiting for the NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game 7, involving the nearby Detroit Red Wings.) We'll have many more comments on VHF-based DTV later, as two Toledo stations made that switch.
And two of the three full-power Youngstown market commercial stations turn off analog just over an hour from now. The third, NBC affiliate WFMJ/21, is also waiting until just before midnight....maybe they're also waiting for the Stanley Cup Finals to end, with the nearby Pittsburgh Penguins being the other team in the series.
More on these situations, and other comments, later...
No, Dick Goddard Isn't Retiring
UPDATE 10:52 AM 6/12/09: A Friend of OMW tells us that the Plain Dealer's Julie Washington is "still in the building", just not this week...she's on vacation...
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In a normal OMW news cycle, putting the words "Dick Goddard" and "retirement" in the same sentence would warrant four-star ALL CAPS BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! alerts.
Even if that retirement isn't happening.
But since we have been pre-occupied with the digital television transition the past few days, and since we haven't cracked the code in finding relevant TV/radio-related stories on the Plain Dealer's Cleveland.com, we missed an article by Plain Dealer theater critic Tony Brown about Mr. Goddard's future at Local TV Cleveland Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8".
And for now, at least, the local TV icon isn't going away with the end of the signal of analog channel 8:
Goddard, 78, perhaps Cleveland's most beloved television personality, said WJW Channel 8 had offered him a buyout that, if he took it, could end an on-air career as the city's go-to meteorologist and animal activist that goes back to 1961.
"Everyone here who is over 50 and has worked for the station for 15 years has been offered a buyout, and that certainly includes me," Goddard said shortly after the 6 p.m. newscast ended Wednesday.
Though the man who brought the Woollybear Festival and televised pet adoptions to Northeast Ohio says he'll talk to his agent about it, he doesn't sound likely to exit. "I like it here," Goddard tells Brown.
WJW vice president/general manager Greg Easterly confirms the generalities of the buyout offer to the newspaper, but doesn't offer specifics. He says WJW is "not in dire straits", and cites the general economic and advertising downturn.
And Easterly is very quick to say Goddard "will be around", certainly knowing that even HINTING about the retirement of Dick Goddard is like touching the Third Rail of Cleveland Broadcasting.
(That's the same Third Rail that Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert knows not to touch when it comes to another local broadcasting icon in his 70's, Cavs play-by-play voice Joe Tait.)
So, stand down from the Dick Goddard Retirement Rumor Watch, at least at this point.
Our other question: Why was the story on Goddard done by Plain Dealer theatre critic Tony Brown?
Television news can resemble theatre, at least over at Reserve Square (sorry, it was easy), but we're wondering if long-time Plain Dealer media columnist Julie Washington is no longer in the building.
If that's the case, it's probably more newspaper economic woes, given that the theater critic is now apparently writing media stories...will Brown be asked to write articles for the food section, too?
In the meantime, when Goddard and WJW do eventually announce the weatherman's retirement, we're pretty sure state law requires notification of the governor or something...
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In a normal OMW news cycle, putting the words "Dick Goddard" and "retirement" in the same sentence would warrant four-star ALL CAPS BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! alerts.
Even if that retirement isn't happening.But since we have been pre-occupied with the digital television transition the past few days, and since we haven't cracked the code in finding relevant TV/radio-related stories on the Plain Dealer's Cleveland.com, we missed an article by Plain Dealer theater critic Tony Brown about Mr. Goddard's future at Local TV Cleveland Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8".
And for now, at least, the local TV icon isn't going away with the end of the signal of analog channel 8:
Goddard, 78, perhaps Cleveland's most beloved television personality, said WJW Channel 8 had offered him a buyout that, if he took it, could end an on-air career as the city's go-to meteorologist and animal activist that goes back to 1961.
"Everyone here who is over 50 and has worked for the station for 15 years has been offered a buyout, and that certainly includes me," Goddard said shortly after the 6 p.m. newscast ended Wednesday.
Though the man who brought the Woollybear Festival and televised pet adoptions to Northeast Ohio says he'll talk to his agent about it, he doesn't sound likely to exit. "I like it here," Goddard tells Brown.
WJW vice president/general manager Greg Easterly confirms the generalities of the buyout offer to the newspaper, but doesn't offer specifics. He says WJW is "not in dire straits", and cites the general economic and advertising downturn.
And Easterly is very quick to say Goddard "will be around", certainly knowing that even HINTING about the retirement of Dick Goddard is like touching the Third Rail of Cleveland Broadcasting.
(That's the same Third Rail that Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert knows not to touch when it comes to another local broadcasting icon in his 70's, Cavs play-by-play voice Joe Tait.)
So, stand down from the Dick Goddard Retirement Rumor Watch, at least at this point.
Our other question: Why was the story on Goddard done by Plain Dealer theatre critic Tony Brown?
Television news can resemble theatre, at least over at Reserve Square (sorry, it was easy), but we're wondering if long-time Plain Dealer media columnist Julie Washington is no longer in the building.
If that's the case, it's probably more newspaper economic woes, given that the theater critic is now apparently writing media stories...will Brown be asked to write articles for the food section, too?
In the meantime, when Goddard and WJW do eventually announce the weatherman's retirement, we're pretty sure state law requires notification of the governor or something...
ODTV: Nightlight
We've been saying it for a long time...Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 in Cleveland will keep analog channel 3 going an extra two weeks longer than any local station.
Instead of finding WKYC's local news or NBC's entertainment programming there, though, you'll find rather boring programming on the soon-to-be-former home of WKYC itself.
Read the details on our Ohio Digital TV blog...
Instead of finding WKYC's local news or NBC's entertainment programming there, though, you'll find rather boring programming on the soon-to-be-former home of WKYC itself.
Read the details on our Ohio Digital TV blog...
Thursday, June 11, 2009
ODTV: On The Night Before DTV
...there were some clarifications, some changes, and more testing...
Read the full item on our Ohio Digital TV blog...
Read the full item on our Ohio Digital TV blog...
BREAKING NEWS: Full-Power WKYC-DT On Air
(This is a repost from our Ohio Digital TV blog, in full.)
At this writing, the new WKYC-DT facility on RF channel 17 is lit up now, and is putting a strong signal into the digital tuners at the OMW World Headquarters, located next to Bruce Wayne's mansion somewhere in western or northern Summit County. (We get out of here via a bat cave, too, you know.)
We'd checked as recently as late morning, when a reader told us he'd been receiving the new WKYC-DT. We looked, didn't see a signal on RF 17, and did a rescan just to be sure...but now, it's up and running.
Just judging by the rudimentary signal level meters on our digital tuners and boxes, WKYC-DT is a "notch" stronger than the other occupant of that new tower we made famous on Broadview Road in Parma, WVIZ-DT/25 (RF 26). It's not that WVIZ-DT has any trouble locking in here, but WKYC-DT is a bit stronger (and given the power levels for each post-transition signal, that's not at all surprising).
A caution here: This could well be a day for testing for WKYC-DT at RF channel 17. We would not at all be surprised to see the signal go away, come back, go away, etc., through early Friday morning, as tuning and adjustment is being done.
But if you have a digital tuner or converter box, check out the signal now, scan it in, and you'll be more than ready for whatever happens in the next 24 hours.
By the way, our signal meter on our Zenith converter box is still picking up a weak signal out of the pre-transition RF 2 signal for WKYC-DT, though we imagine that it's not carrying the PSIP information that'd make it appear on converter boxes at this point...
At this writing, the new WKYC-DT facility on RF channel 17 is lit up now, and is putting a strong signal into the digital tuners at the OMW World Headquarters, located next to Bruce Wayne's mansion somewhere in western or northern Summit County. (We get out of here via a bat cave, too, you know.)
We'd checked as recently as late morning, when a reader told us he'd been receiving the new WKYC-DT. We looked, didn't see a signal on RF 17, and did a rescan just to be sure...but now, it's up and running.
Just judging by the rudimentary signal level meters on our digital tuners and boxes, WKYC-DT is a "notch" stronger than the other occupant of that new tower we made famous on Broadview Road in Parma, WVIZ-DT/25 (RF 26). It's not that WVIZ-DT has any trouble locking in here, but WKYC-DT is a bit stronger (and given the power levels for each post-transition signal, that's not at all surprising).
A caution here: This could well be a day for testing for WKYC-DT at RF channel 17. We would not at all be surprised to see the signal go away, come back, go away, etc., through early Friday morning, as tuning and adjustment is being done.
But if you have a digital tuner or converter box, check out the signal now, scan it in, and you'll be more than ready for whatever happens in the next 24 hours.
By the way, our signal meter on our Zenith converter box is still picking up a weak signal out of the pre-transition RF 2 signal for WKYC-DT, though we imagine that it's not carrying the PSIP information that'd make it appear on converter boxes at this point...
ODTV: Getting Ready
Here at the OMW World Headquarters, we often note that these blogs are published at our discretion, and we may not be around every day.
Well, you'd have to round up the proverbial "wild horses" to pull us away from this today and Friday.
Read the "one day before" DTV update on our Ohio Digital TV blog...
And note: We do have some other updates not related to digital TV...we may or may not be able to post them before Monday, as nothing is pressing news. Keep watching...
Well, you'd have to round up the proverbial "wild horses" to pull us away from this today and Friday.
Read the "one day before" DTV update on our Ohio Digital TV blog...
And note: We do have some other updates not related to digital TV...we may or may not be able to post them before Monday, as nothing is pressing news. Keep watching...
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
ODTV: Analog Shutoff Times As We Know Them
It has taken us far too much time to compile this list...and it's not even complete.
View the analog TV shutoff list for Friday, at least what information we do have, on our Ohio Digital TV blog...
View the analog TV shutoff list for Friday, at least what information we do have, on our Ohio Digital TV blog...
Non-DTV Stuff
There are actually some items in our hopper that aren't linked to the DTV switch on, umm, let us check the calendar, FRIDAY..
SPORTS ON FM: The continued march of sports radio format to the FM band shows no signs of abating.
The phenomenon has become so prevalent, Chicago radio wags are speculating that CBS Radio will simulcast its big Chicago sports talk station on WJMK/104.3, currently the home of the company's "Jack FM" format (and historically, the market's oldies/classic hits station).
That speculation comes out of CBS' upcoming move to simulcast the AM sports outlet, WSCR/670, on WJMK's HD3 subchannel, and out of CBS' penchant to launch big FM sports stations...among them, one that shows up on the radio in parts of Northwest Ohio, WXYT/97.1 Detroit "97.1 The Ticket"...though it's a tight squeeze with now-EMF-owned "K-Love" CCM outlet WNKL/96.9 Wauseon also on the Northwest Ohio radio dial.
But we're not here to talk about that FM sports talker in Detroit.
OMW is hearing rumblings that one Ohio radio cluster is preparing to mount a full-signal FM simulcast of its existing sports outlet. We're hearing it could happen within the next two weeks.
We'll only give you a hint: The station/cluster in question is NOT within our primary coverage area of Northeast Ohio, though it's definitely in a market we usually cover. (So, no, it doesn't involve Good Karma sports WKNR/850 in Cleveland, and for that matter, no station purchases or LMAs are involved.)
We're hearing that the move should happen later this month...
RECALL THIS: Here at your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), not a bit of that fun usually involves politics...unless it intersects with media, which it does here.
Rubber City Radio oldies/news WAKR/1590 Akron is putting together special news coverage regarding the upcoming Akron mayoral recall election.
If you aren't from Summit County, you may not realize that Akron voters will go to the polls on June 23 to decide if they want to recall long-time Akron mayor Don Plusquellic. (Technically, voters have been "going to the polls" for a while now, as absentee voting is available at the Summit County Board of Elections.)
Rubber City VP/Information Media and OMW reader Ed Esposito outlines special recall coverage this weekend on WAKR and the station's online presence, in his "Letters From The Editor" blog on the radio group's AkronNewsNow.com:
In addition to our on-air coverage "WAKR Primer: The 2009 Recall" to air Sunday, June 14, 2009 from 12:00 to 2:00, we will also feature repeated webcasts of the audio on our news stream WAKRNewsNow and video on AkronNewsNow. We will also include easier-to-digest podcast "chunks" of these interviews, but feel it is important to present full and complete versions as well.
The audio will be from each side: The station will feature an April interview with Mayor Plusquellic, plus a new interview with former Akron mayor and State Senator Tom Sawyer, leader of the anti-recall movement ("Citizens for Akron").
On the pro-recall side, the special will air Akron attorney Warner Mendenhall, the face of the recall effort, and co-chair Patti Longville, of "Change Akron Now".
But as is common with "inside the newsroom" blogs like Ed's, you get a very lengthy taste of the "story behind the story" here, and it's almost as good as the recall story itself.
Apparently, Mayor Plusquellic wouldn't agree to a new sit-down interview...without various conditions being accepted by the Akron Radio Center newsroom. Not wanting to accept such conditions on journalistic grounds, WAKR will air audio from a previous interview Plusquellic had with morning host Ray Horner, and add-in the new interview with Sawyer.
The WAKR recall coverage is part of a cooperative effort with the Akron Beacon Journal, and the station will give a promotional nod to a similar project in the newspaper, with in-depth interviews by the Beacon's Stephanie Warsmith.
Ed writes:
On a local journalism note, there may likely be critics of the decision of the Beacon Journal and WAKR in promoting our "competition."
But with local television pulling their limited resources closer to home and shrinking news budgets impacting the number of bodies covering stories despite the urgent need for news of our communities, we may be seeing even more collaborative projects in the future. Personally, I hope so; it seems we spend a lot of time worrying more about the masthead or frequency number than what matters most.
Our readers, listeners, viewers and visitors need to know what's going on more than ever.
It's definitely a "changed world" out there in local media...and really, "competition" isn't what it used to be in all phases of media, everywhere...
CHUCK'S BACK, FOR A WHILE: Long-time Northern Ohio radio guy and Friend of OMW Chuck Matthews is being heard in at least western sections of the Cleveland market this week.
The former Clear Channel classic hits WMJI/105.7 staffer recently picked up part-time and fill-in work at Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting's Sandusky area stations.
And a fill-in this week lands him on the company's Sandusky-area country powerhouse, WKFM/96.1 Huron "K96". Chuck will be heard on K96's afternoon drive show through Friday.
As we noted back when Friend of OMW Danny Wright's Jones-syndicated country overnight show aired there, "K96"'s signal gets to listeners in the western part of the Cleveland market, as far east as the Cleveland suburbs of Westlake and even Lakewood.
Chuck also does some weekend voicetracking on ELB AAA outlet WLKR/95.3 Norwalk...
SPORTS ON FM: The continued march of sports radio format to the FM band shows no signs of abating.
The phenomenon has become so prevalent, Chicago radio wags are speculating that CBS Radio will simulcast its big Chicago sports talk station on WJMK/104.3, currently the home of the company's "Jack FM" format (and historically, the market's oldies/classic hits station).
That speculation comes out of CBS' upcoming move to simulcast the AM sports outlet, WSCR/670, on WJMK's HD3 subchannel, and out of CBS' penchant to launch big FM sports stations...among them, one that shows up on the radio in parts of Northwest Ohio, WXYT/97.1 Detroit "97.1 The Ticket"...though it's a tight squeeze with now-EMF-owned "K-Love" CCM outlet WNKL/96.9 Wauseon also on the Northwest Ohio radio dial.
But we're not here to talk about that FM sports talker in Detroit.
OMW is hearing rumblings that one Ohio radio cluster is preparing to mount a full-signal FM simulcast of its existing sports outlet. We're hearing it could happen within the next two weeks.
We'll only give you a hint: The station/cluster in question is NOT within our primary coverage area of Northeast Ohio, though it's definitely in a market we usually cover. (So, no, it doesn't involve Good Karma sports WKNR/850 in Cleveland, and for that matter, no station purchases or LMAs are involved.)
We're hearing that the move should happen later this month...
RECALL THIS: Here at your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), not a bit of that fun usually involves politics...unless it intersects with media, which it does here.
Rubber City Radio oldies/news WAKR/1590 Akron is putting together special news coverage regarding the upcoming Akron mayoral recall election.
If you aren't from Summit County, you may not realize that Akron voters will go to the polls on June 23 to decide if they want to recall long-time Akron mayor Don Plusquellic. (Technically, voters have been "going to the polls" for a while now, as absentee voting is available at the Summit County Board of Elections.)
Rubber City VP/Information Media and OMW reader Ed Esposito outlines special recall coverage this weekend on WAKR and the station's online presence, in his "Letters From The Editor" blog on the radio group's AkronNewsNow.com:
In addition to our on-air coverage "WAKR Primer: The 2009 Recall" to air Sunday, June 14, 2009 from 12:00 to 2:00, we will also feature repeated webcasts of the audio on our news stream WAKRNewsNow and video on AkronNewsNow. We will also include easier-to-digest podcast "chunks" of these interviews, but feel it is important to present full and complete versions as well.
The audio will be from each side: The station will feature an April interview with Mayor Plusquellic, plus a new interview with former Akron mayor and State Senator Tom Sawyer, leader of the anti-recall movement ("Citizens for Akron").
On the pro-recall side, the special will air Akron attorney Warner Mendenhall, the face of the recall effort, and co-chair Patti Longville, of "Change Akron Now".
But as is common with "inside the newsroom" blogs like Ed's, you get a very lengthy taste of the "story behind the story" here, and it's almost as good as the recall story itself.
Apparently, Mayor Plusquellic wouldn't agree to a new sit-down interview...without various conditions being accepted by the Akron Radio Center newsroom. Not wanting to accept such conditions on journalistic grounds, WAKR will air audio from a previous interview Plusquellic had with morning host Ray Horner, and add-in the new interview with Sawyer.
The WAKR recall coverage is part of a cooperative effort with the Akron Beacon Journal, and the station will give a promotional nod to a similar project in the newspaper, with in-depth interviews by the Beacon's Stephanie Warsmith.
Ed writes:
On a local journalism note, there may likely be critics of the decision of the Beacon Journal and WAKR in promoting our "competition."
But with local television pulling their limited resources closer to home and shrinking news budgets impacting the number of bodies covering stories despite the urgent need for news of our communities, we may be seeing even more collaborative projects in the future. Personally, I hope so; it seems we spend a lot of time worrying more about the masthead or frequency number than what matters most.
Our readers, listeners, viewers and visitors need to know what's going on more than ever.
It's definitely a "changed world" out there in local media...and really, "competition" isn't what it used to be in all phases of media, everywhere...
CHUCK'S BACK, FOR A WHILE: Long-time Northern Ohio radio guy and Friend of OMW Chuck Matthews is being heard in at least western sections of the Cleveland market this week.
The former Clear Channel classic hits WMJI/105.7 staffer recently picked up part-time and fill-in work at Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting's Sandusky area stations.
And a fill-in this week lands him on the company's Sandusky-area country powerhouse, WKFM/96.1 Huron "K96". Chuck will be heard on K96's afternoon drive show through Friday.
As we noted back when Friend of OMW Danny Wright's Jones-syndicated country overnight show aired there, "K96"'s signal gets to listeners in the western part of the Cleveland market, as far east as the Cleveland suburbs of Westlake and even Lakewood.
Chuck also does some weekend voicetracking on ELB AAA outlet WLKR/95.3 Norwalk...
ODTV: Two Days Out
This report comes to you just two days before all full-power analog...oh, you know the drill by now. And like one of our OMW updates, it's a multi-parter...look for the bold subheadings...
And coming later today, a list of all the Ohio stations we have shutoff times for on Friday.
Read the rest of this article on our Ohio Digital TV blog...
And coming later today, a list of all the Ohio stations we have shutoff times for on Friday.
Read the rest of this article on our Ohio Digital TV blog...
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Full Power WVIZ-DT On Air
An E-mail from an OMW reader far from Parma sent us sprinting to our nearest digital TV, and yes, it's true...
After a wait of many years, the full-power WVIZ-DT facility has made its first appearance.
At the OMW World Headquarters, about 20 air miles from the Parma antenna farm, WVIZ-DT is providing a strong signal into our 2nd floor HDTV being fed by an indoor amplified antenna. It's also an easy catch on our Zenith converter box feeding a downstairs TV.
And the reader who tipped us off to WVIZ-DT's full power debut says he is in Salem.
A note: Don't be at all surprised if the signal goes off at some point later. There could well be more adjustments and testing.
But we'd guess that the folks at ideastream want to keep this on the air with as few interruptions as possible, even at its debut...
After a wait of many years, the full-power WVIZ-DT facility has made its first appearance.
At the OMW World Headquarters, about 20 air miles from the Parma antenna farm, WVIZ-DT is providing a strong signal into our 2nd floor HDTV being fed by an indoor amplified antenna. It's also an easy catch on our Zenith converter box feeding a downstairs TV.
And the reader who tipped us off to WVIZ-DT's full power debut says he is in Salem.
A note: Don't be at all surprised if the signal goes off at some point later. There could well be more adjustments and testing.
But we'd guess that the folks at ideastream want to keep this on the air with as few interruptions as possible, even at its debut...
From The Rest Of The Broadcast World
We're slowly getting more information on this week's Digital TV transition, and we'll have a separate update on that a little later today.
But, in matters not involving the transition...
METRO'S EXIT: To make this clear...the information we're passing along comes from a message board, and we don't know who wrote it.
But we were tipped to it by Tom Taylor's excellent daily E-mail newsletter "Taylor on Radio-Info" this morning, and the information meshes with what we've already reported.
Quoting a Radio-Info message board user named "NotMe", who started a thread on the Columbus board:
This is the final week of operations for the Columbus office of Metro Networks. Starting Monday, June 15 Metro affiliates (which includes just about everybody that isn't Clear Channel) will get their traffic information out of Detroit.
Again, we have no idea who the Radio-Info user with the handle "NotMe" is. (It's certainly "Not Us", because you'll occasionally find our messages on that site under the easily identifiable "OhioMediaWatch" handle.)
But we already knew that the remaining Ohio offices of Metro Networks, including the Cleveland market outpost in the Independence Media Gulch, were about to shut down....with the company's suburban Detroit office tasked with feeding Ohio markets that will no longer have their own operations.
We already reported that Metro/Detroit boss Howard Bouton went to the trade site AllAccess a few weeks ago with what sounded like an urgent plea for new employees for an operation that was about to start up - the remote traffic, news and sports anchoring for markets like Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.
And June 15th is "as good a date as any" if we're trying to figure out when that all starts.
At Metro's Cleveland market operation, a short rooftop traffic camera shot away from the I-77/I-480 interchange, we don't expect many to head to Detroit.
We already reported about Dave DeNatale, who was the voice of afternoon sports updates on Good Karma's WKNR/850 "ESPN 850", along with adding news updates for Salem talk WHK/1420 when four Metro staffers were let go. He declined to head to Michigan, and is now the voice of the Frontier League's Avon-based Lake Erie Crushers.
Our prediction: whenever this happens, be it June 15th or whatever date Detroit actually begins doing traffic, sports and news for Metro clients, you won't hear many, if any, familiar voices from Metro/Cleveland.
We're also hearing rumblings that the move will trigger sports updates being handled "in house" by WKNR.
Since DeNatale's departure from Metro, "ESPN 850" afternoon producer/beat reporter Daryl Ruiter has been heard in what used to be his old job - doing the afternoon sports updates, but this time from his perch as an in-house employee at the Galleria. (Ruiter has also "filled in" for DeNatale while Dave was still at Metro.)
We have heard rumors, though we can't confirm, that WKNR may take in long-time morning sports update anchor Jeff Thomas from Metro. We wouldn't be surprised to hear Jeff in his familiar perch after the change, only from the Galleria instead of from Independence.
And that's a "good thing" for us.
In our view, Jeff Thomas has always been one of the more underrated sports radio personalities in the Cleveland market. He has a smooth, professional delivery and meshes well with live personalities (in his case, that's "The Really Big Show" with Tony Rizzo and company from 10 AM to noon).
It'd be a shame to hear him replaced with some random Detroit-based sports anchor who needs Google Maps to find Progressive Field, so we're hoping the rumors turn to reality...
SLIMMING DOWN?: It may just be a temporary thing, but an OMW reader points out a new graphic on Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3's website.
It's a header graphic for a page about "Channel 3 News Today", which just lost morning co-host Abby Ham to her old home market (Knoxville TN) and to her old home station (Gannett NBC sister WBIR/10).
Here, take a look:
Yep, it's a close-in shot of "Channel 3 News Today" host Mark Nolan, and weather forecaster Hollie Strano.
Now, they have to put up something there. They can't put up a picture of Ms. Ham with a big "X" in front of her.
Just to clarify...we've heard no indication that WKYC will not replace Ham. But...we're wondering if it's possible. (We're trying not to read too much into one graphic.)
"Channel 3 News"'s evening editions are fronted by solo anchor Romona Robinson, of course, who took the Solo Anchor Slot after former co-anchor Tim White's contract wasn't renewed late last year.
Will WKYC experiment with a similar setup in mornings, with Nolan as sole host, and Hollie Strano and others shuttling in and out to the seat next to him?
Or could one of those others - specifically, "Channel 3 News Today" reporter Maureen Kyle - be a possible co-host to replace Abby Ham?
This item is full of speculation, and we haven't really heard any rumors out of 13th and Lakeside that would validate this thinking.
Consider this item "going through the possibilities"...part of the "musings" that we advertise up in the header...
CALLING COLUMBUS: Central Ohio has always been a secondary market for us, so we apologize that we haven't put up some big TV news in the Columbus market.
But...it is big, we're told.
Dispatch CBS affiliate WBNS/10 "10TV" has moved weekday sports anchor Jeff Hogan over to the news side of the house...where he's taken over as weekend co-anchor with the station's John Fortney.
Back in the Land o' Sports, "10TV" veteran Dom Tiberi becomes weekday sports anchor...with sports reporter/anchor Dan Fronczak moving into Tiberi's former weekend spot.
(And we mean "veteran", as Tiberi was first hired by WBNS-TV in 1981! He's apparently been doing weekends all that time...which would mean it took the station 28 years to promote him into the main sports anchor slot.)
So, back to Hogan...how does someone whose resume screams "sports!" end up in the news business? The WBNS release quotes president and general manager Tom Griesdorn:
"Throughout his career at 10TV, Jeff has demonstrated a strong commitment and leadership in our newsroom, in our community and with our viewers," Griesdorn said.
"His success serving as interim anchor awaiting Aneitra Hamper's debut on our morning and noon newscasts, coupled with his interest in news anchoring, earned him a spot on the weekend desk. I am confident that, just as he did with sports, he will report the news with the passion, commitment and relevance that our viewers have come to expect from Central Ohio's News Leader."
We're wondering what prompted Hogan to officially make the switch into news, and what could happen down the road. But we don't know enough about the Columbus TV market to accurately look at the tea leaves.
And job switches are nothing new in local TV.
Right here in Cleveland, the aforementioned Mark Nolan has successfully moved into morning news hosting after many years as WKYC's chief meteorologist. (Well, he still is, if you believe the recorded intros to his weather forecasts on Clear Channel's Akron/Canton stations...)
THE FAMILY DETROW: When we reported on the death of the mother of SportsTime Ohio Cleveland Indians play-by-play voice Matt Underwood, we passed along an Ashland Times-Gazette item on Sophie Underwood's death - which said she was a partner at Ashland's Detrow and Underwood.
It isn't a big secret that Detrow is the family name of two very successful radio broadcasters who started their careers long ago at Wooster's two commercial radio stations - then known as WWST at AM 960 (now oldies WKVX) and FM 104.5 (now country WQKT).
From the Wayne County seat, the brothers ventured off to build highly successful careers.
Jon Belmont was a member of the iconic "20/20 News" team at Windsor/Detroit powerhouse CKLW/800 "The Big 8", which meant that he had a lot of listeners in Northeast Ohio in those days.
Jon eventually landed as news anchor on ABC News Radio flagship the Information Network, and after a stint in mornings at Journal Milwaukee talk WTMJ/620, he is now morning anchor at Associated Press Radio News.
Jeff Elliott, meanwhile, has been one of San Diego's most popular morning drive radio personalities for many, many years.
His "440: Satisfaction" listing shows Jeff had stints in the 1970's locally at WHLO/640 Akron (as "J.P. Detrow") and WWWE/1100 Cleveland before establishing his San Diego radio, er, beachhead starting in 1988.
Anyway, the reason we bring all this up is because we hear that the Ashland branch of the Detrow family is indeed related to the Wooster branch - they're cousins, we're told.
And Jon and Jeff have not forgotten the old hometown, by far.
Both of the "Detrow Boys" have voiced liners and IDs for their former local home stations. As far as we know, their voices are still heard on "Wooster Radio" today...
But, in matters not involving the transition...
METRO'S EXIT: To make this clear...the information we're passing along comes from a message board, and we don't know who wrote it.
But we were tipped to it by Tom Taylor's excellent daily E-mail newsletter "Taylor on Radio-Info" this morning, and the information meshes with what we've already reported.
Quoting a Radio-Info message board user named "NotMe", who started a thread on the Columbus board:
This is the final week of operations for the Columbus office of Metro Networks. Starting Monday, June 15 Metro affiliates (which includes just about everybody that isn't Clear Channel) will get their traffic information out of Detroit.
Again, we have no idea who the Radio-Info user with the handle "NotMe" is. (It's certainly "Not Us", because you'll occasionally find our messages on that site under the easily identifiable "OhioMediaWatch" handle.)
But we already knew that the remaining Ohio offices of Metro Networks, including the Cleveland market outpost in the Independence Media Gulch, were about to shut down....with the company's suburban Detroit office tasked with feeding Ohio markets that will no longer have their own operations.
We already reported that Metro/Detroit boss Howard Bouton went to the trade site AllAccess a few weeks ago with what sounded like an urgent plea for new employees for an operation that was about to start up - the remote traffic, news and sports anchoring for markets like Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.
And June 15th is "as good a date as any" if we're trying to figure out when that all starts.
At Metro's Cleveland market operation, a short rooftop traffic camera shot away from the I-77/I-480 interchange, we don't expect many to head to Detroit.
We already reported about Dave DeNatale, who was the voice of afternoon sports updates on Good Karma's WKNR/850 "ESPN 850", along with adding news updates for Salem talk WHK/1420 when four Metro staffers were let go. He declined to head to Michigan, and is now the voice of the Frontier League's Avon-based Lake Erie Crushers.
Our prediction: whenever this happens, be it June 15th or whatever date Detroit actually begins doing traffic, sports and news for Metro clients, you won't hear many, if any, familiar voices from Metro/Cleveland.
We're also hearing rumblings that the move will trigger sports updates being handled "in house" by WKNR.
Since DeNatale's departure from Metro, "ESPN 850" afternoon producer/beat reporter Daryl Ruiter has been heard in what used to be his old job - doing the afternoon sports updates, but this time from his perch as an in-house employee at the Galleria. (Ruiter has also "filled in" for DeNatale while Dave was still at Metro.)
We have heard rumors, though we can't confirm, that WKNR may take in long-time morning sports update anchor Jeff Thomas from Metro. We wouldn't be surprised to hear Jeff in his familiar perch after the change, only from the Galleria instead of from Independence.
And that's a "good thing" for us.
In our view, Jeff Thomas has always been one of the more underrated sports radio personalities in the Cleveland market. He has a smooth, professional delivery and meshes well with live personalities (in his case, that's "The Really Big Show" with Tony Rizzo and company from 10 AM to noon).
It'd be a shame to hear him replaced with some random Detroit-based sports anchor who needs Google Maps to find Progressive Field, so we're hoping the rumors turn to reality...
SLIMMING DOWN?: It may just be a temporary thing, but an OMW reader points out a new graphic on Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3's website.
It's a header graphic for a page about "Channel 3 News Today", which just lost morning co-host Abby Ham to her old home market (Knoxville TN) and to her old home station (Gannett NBC sister WBIR/10).
Here, take a look:
Yep, it's a close-in shot of "Channel 3 News Today" host Mark Nolan, and weather forecaster Hollie Strano.Now, they have to put up something there. They can't put up a picture of Ms. Ham with a big "X" in front of her.
Just to clarify...we've heard no indication that WKYC will not replace Ham. But...we're wondering if it's possible. (We're trying not to read too much into one graphic.)
"Channel 3 News"'s evening editions are fronted by solo anchor Romona Robinson, of course, who took the Solo Anchor Slot after former co-anchor Tim White's contract wasn't renewed late last year.
Will WKYC experiment with a similar setup in mornings, with Nolan as sole host, and Hollie Strano and others shuttling in and out to the seat next to him?
Or could one of those others - specifically, "Channel 3 News Today" reporter Maureen Kyle - be a possible co-host to replace Abby Ham?This item is full of speculation, and we haven't really heard any rumors out of 13th and Lakeside that would validate this thinking.
Consider this item "going through the possibilities"...part of the "musings" that we advertise up in the header...
CALLING COLUMBUS: Central Ohio has always been a secondary market for us, so we apologize that we haven't put up some big TV news in the Columbus market.
But...it is big, we're told.
Dispatch CBS affiliate WBNS/10 "10TV" has moved weekday sports anchor Jeff Hogan over to the news side of the house...where he's taken over as weekend co-anchor with the station's John Fortney.
Back in the Land o' Sports, "10TV" veteran Dom Tiberi becomes weekday sports anchor...with sports reporter/anchor Dan Fronczak moving into Tiberi's former weekend spot.
(And we mean "veteran", as Tiberi was first hired by WBNS-TV in 1981! He's apparently been doing weekends all that time...which would mean it took the station 28 years to promote him into the main sports anchor slot.)
So, back to Hogan...how does someone whose resume screams "sports!" end up in the news business? The WBNS release quotes president and general manager Tom Griesdorn:
"Throughout his career at 10TV, Jeff has demonstrated a strong commitment and leadership in our newsroom, in our community and with our viewers," Griesdorn said.
"His success serving as interim anchor awaiting Aneitra Hamper's debut on our morning and noon newscasts, coupled with his interest in news anchoring, earned him a spot on the weekend desk. I am confident that, just as he did with sports, he will report the news with the passion, commitment and relevance that our viewers have come to expect from Central Ohio's News Leader."
We're wondering what prompted Hogan to officially make the switch into news, and what could happen down the road. But we don't know enough about the Columbus TV market to accurately look at the tea leaves.
And job switches are nothing new in local TV.
Right here in Cleveland, the aforementioned Mark Nolan has successfully moved into morning news hosting after many years as WKYC's chief meteorologist. (Well, he still is, if you believe the recorded intros to his weather forecasts on Clear Channel's Akron/Canton stations...)
THE FAMILY DETROW: When we reported on the death of the mother of SportsTime Ohio Cleveland Indians play-by-play voice Matt Underwood, we passed along an Ashland Times-Gazette item on Sophie Underwood's death - which said she was a partner at Ashland's Detrow and Underwood.
It isn't a big secret that Detrow is the family name of two very successful radio broadcasters who started their careers long ago at Wooster's two commercial radio stations - then known as WWST at AM 960 (now oldies WKVX) and FM 104.5 (now country WQKT).
From the Wayne County seat, the brothers ventured off to build highly successful careers.
Jon Belmont was a member of the iconic "20/20 News" team at Windsor/Detroit powerhouse CKLW/800 "The Big 8", which meant that he had a lot of listeners in Northeast Ohio in those days.
Jon eventually landed as news anchor on ABC News Radio flagship the Information Network, and after a stint in mornings at Journal Milwaukee talk WTMJ/620, he is now morning anchor at Associated Press Radio News.
Jeff Elliott, meanwhile, has been one of San Diego's most popular morning drive radio personalities for many, many years.
His "440: Satisfaction" listing shows Jeff had stints in the 1970's locally at WHLO/640 Akron (as "J.P. Detrow") and WWWE/1100 Cleveland before establishing his San Diego radio, er, beachhead starting in 1988.
Anyway, the reason we bring all this up is because we hear that the Ashland branch of the Detrow family is indeed related to the Wooster branch - they're cousins, we're told.
And Jon and Jeff have not forgotten the old hometown, by far.
Both of the "Detrow Boys" have voiced liners and IDs for their former local home stations. As far as we know, their voices are still heard on "Wooster Radio" today...
Monday, June 08, 2009
A Busy DTV Week
We've reached the point of no return in regards to the digital TV transition. And at this point, even a member of Congress wildly waving hands and laying down on the DTV Track won't stop the end of full-power analog TV in the United States, by the end of the day this Friday.
Yep...THIS Friday.
Read the entire article at our Ohio Digital TV blog...
Yep...THIS Friday.
Read the entire article at our Ohio Digital TV blog...
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