Well, We Thought It Was Broken

In the item immediately below this one, we noticed that Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland's website schedule looked a bit odd...with a collision between the weekday schedule and weekend schedule.

As it turns out, the fault lies not with WTAM, but with how the schedule looks in the Firefox browser, at least version 1.5 on our Windows XP equipped PC. Here's what it looks like in that configuration, with the schedule starting at Saturday morning and being "rudely interrupted" (as we jokingly called it) by the weekday schedule:


It turns out the schedule appears as WTAM intended...if you're using Internet Explorer on a Windows XP computer.

We're not sure what web coding is throwing Firefox for a loop, but the alternative browser now has over a 10 percent share of the market... so we certainly aren't alone in seeing that. And we think it'd probably be a good idea for WTAM's web folks to look at the schedule in Firefox - after it's edited to remove a certain liberal radio/trash TV talk show host...

Anyway, our apologies to the normally-on-top-of-it staff at WTAM. We've edited the item below to remove the "error" reference, since we cover the problem fully in this entry.

Weekend Tidbits

Some random items for your weekend:

WEIGHING ANCHORS: Plain Dealer radio/TV columnist Julie Washington has a nice piece spotlighting a piece of recent news - the naming of WJW FOX 8 weekend anchor Lou Maglio to a permanent seat alongside long-time anchor Wilma Smith at 6 PM.

FOX 8 president/GM Mike Renda tells Washington that the station wanted to keep a different anchor team at 6 PM, with Bill Martin and Stacey Bell in place as the 5 and 10 PM weekday anchors. The station hasn't yet announced who will take Maglio's place aside Suzanne Stratford on weekends.

OMW feels the move was a good one, and that Maglio and Smith work very well together as an anchor team. Both are former WEWS/5 staffers, and have known and worked with each other for some 20 years. You can try your best to fake chemistry between two co-anchors, but it's apparent that Maglio and Smith really do like each other. Smith was clearly happy when she announced Maglio's addition on a newscast earlier this week.

The addition of the Cleveland TV news vet continues WJW's "Cleveland's Own" theme, with Maglio joining not only Smith, but the venerable Dick Goddard and popular sports anchor Tony Rizzo.

BROKEN WEBSITES: As we've already mentioned, a new "Listen Live" link on website of Salem Cleveland sportstalker WKNR/850 isn't working as you'd expect. It links to an "MP3" file that many browsers have trouble with. On our systems, QuickTime tries to play what is actually not a single MP3 file, but a stream, and it stops after 10 seconds. That's in Firefox 1.5 for Windows XP. On Internet Explorer 6, it doesn't even get that far.

Since we've been asked by OMW readers how we got it to work, we'll share...the workaround for users is relatively simple:

* On Internet Explorer, right-click on the WKNR "Listen Live" logo. Select "Copy shortcut". Load up either WinAmp or Windows Media Player, and use the File menu to "Open URL" in Windows Media Player or "Play URL" in WinAmp. Paste the URL into that box (CTRL-V or right-click Copy > Paste).

* On Firefox 1.5, right-click on the WKNR "Listen Live" logo. Select "Copy Link Location", then follow the rest of the IE instructions.

You can also copy/paste this URL directly from our link:

http://206.183.0.11:8001/stream.mp3

You'll still have to paste it directly into WinAmp or Windows Media Player, at least on Windows XP. We'll assume the usually smart Macintosh crowd can figure out how to do it on their own.

If WKNR would fix this, OMW wouldn't have to give people instructions on how to actually listen to their live stream. The fix would be to create a "playlist" file (listenlive.pls or something of the sort) that will launch the media player, THEN launch the MP3 streaming audio. This is Internet Webcasting 101, folks...

DIGITAL TV: We understand that Kent-based public TV outlet WNEO/45-WEAO/49 ("PBS 45 & 49") is still working to get prime-time high-definition PBS programming back on their digital broadcast feed. For now, the station has finally come into compliance with FCC rules regarding digital station identification ("PSIP"), and here in Akron, WEAO-DT now correctly identifies as 49-x (1-4). Until now, it'd been coming in as "50-x".

Until 45/49 get the HD stuff working again, here's your lineup for WEAO-DT. WNEO-DT is the same, except "45" will substitute for "49":

49-1 - "Create", a subchannel devoted to arts and crafts, gardening and the like
49-2 - Simulcast of the analog WEAO/49 signal
49-3 - "The Annenburg Channel", national public affairs and telecourse programming
49-4 - "The Ohio Channel", statewide government and public affairs programming

When WNEO/WEAO's HDTV feed comes back up, the three extra subchannels will go away in prime-time hours only, and the feed will have HD on 49-1 (and 45-1), and analog simulcast on 49-2 (and 45-2).

(EDITED: 3/11/06 9:02 PM - see item immediately above for clarification!)

Tribe and DirecTV Standoff

We almost missed this one in today's Roger Brown column in the Plain Dealer, primarily because we were preoccupied with the WTAM situation.

Brown quotes DirecTV executive vice president Dan Fawcett, saying it's "unlikely" the nation's biggest satellite provider will come to an agreement with Cleveland Indians-owned SportsTime Ohio before Opening Day to air the 130 cable/satellite Indians games. This had kind of been hinted for some time, but it's the first public statement from the satellite TV giant.

And like other providers who have balked at the STO offering, Fawcett cites the STO financial terms, which he says would "effectively double" previous terms to carry the games on former Tribe cable outlet FOX Sports Net Ohio.

On the other side, that "our product is worth it line in the sand" is still there for STO chief Jim Liberatore. He tells Brown he's about ready to unveil a number of cable contracts that'd cover over a million subscribers. If we had to guess, Adelphia cable would be in that group, judging from the subscriber number he gives. Adelphia is by far the largest cable provider north of the Ohio Turnpike.

UPDATE: SportsTime Ohio has now put up a pull-down list on its website of what appears to be every major and minor multichannel TV provider in its Ohio territory, and it's pretty easy to tell which agreements are likely to be announced soon.

We've gone through each system, and only the following systems show that they "fully expect an agreement soon": Adelphia, Comcast, Cox, Buckeye Cablesystem (Toledo) and Buckeye's Erie County Cablevision sister system. That phrase next to Cox is interesting, since Cox is the driving force behind the MakeThemPlayFair.com website, which is still up as of this writing.

For systems that are not in the "fully expect an agreement" category, including DirecTV, Dish Network and other providers not listed above, STO "helpfully" provides a phone number to call them.

The systems already carrying STO have channels listed, and oddly enough, Time Warner Cable Northeast Ohio lists cable channel 23, the local programming channel that also carries such programs as WKYC's Akron/Canton News. Doylestown Cable is also listed as an STO system, and we don't recall the cable TV arm of Doylestown Telephone as a signup for the network.

Liberatore believes he has a bargaining chip with those apparently-soon-to-be-done contracts, saying DirecTV will lose some ground to stand on complaining about the rates STO is asking for.

But there's one missing part there, assuming our assumptions are correct about Adelphia. The Adelphia deal, whenever it's completed, would be for less than half a season. Adelphia and Comcast's local operations will be likely absorbed into existing STO partner Time Warner Cable, roughly around June 1st or so (approximately). That's about two month's worth of Indians games, plus whatever spring training games show up.

So, even if the terms are a multiple of whatever FOX Sports Net Ohio has been charging Adelphia, it means basically nothing, since there won't be an Adelphia to pay either FSN Ohio or SportsTime Ohio anymore...at least after about June or so. Adelphia is not negotiating a long-term deal, since STO and the Indians games show up no matter what when Time Warner takes official control of the service (and local Comcast systems).

It will, though, still give Liberatore some leverage. He'll at least be able to say that DirecTV folks can sign up for cable in most of the region.

The other problem with a lack of a DirecTV deal - Indians fans nationwide who depend on the "Extra Innings" feed to keep track of their hometown team won't be able to see any STO broadcasts until a deal is reached. DirecTV says it'll only be able to feed the other team's TV broadcast without those Cleveland rights.

On a personal note, a relative of your Primary Editorial Voice is a big Indians fan, and a subscriber to DirecTV who's used to watching many Indians games at night. We're sure he wasn't happy to read this in Roger Brown's column, and we suspect he's the kind of person Jim Liberatore hopes will call up DirecTV...

EXCLUSIVE: No More Jerry...Jerry...Jerry

UPDATE: While in line at the grocery store listening on our portable AM radio, OMW heard WTAM news anchor Darren Toms confirm this report during his 4 PM newscast. Today was indeed Springer's last day on WTAM, and a "variety of local hosts" will air in the 9-11:30 AM weekday slot until a permanent local host is named.

Here's radio trade site AllAccess' confirmation of the item below, which you read first right here on OMW...

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ALL ACCESS has confirmed a story first reported by OHIO MEDIA WATCH this morning, the dropping of JERRY SPRINGER's syndicated show from CLEAR CHANNEL Talk WTAM-A/CLEVELAND.

The station is replacing SPRINGER with a "checkerboard" of local fill-in talent while a permanent local replacement is sought; SPRINGER, whose CLEAR CHANNEL show has been offered alongside AIR AMERICA RADIO programs as well as independently, will continue the show for the rest of his affiliates. SPRINGER's show has been airing on WTAM for about a year in the 9-11:45a slot.

------------



As we write this item, there is just under an hour left in the Jerry Springer era on Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland.

OMW hears that WTAM is about to cut the Cincinnati-based liberal talk radio host loose. In fact, his program airing right now on Northeast Ohio's version of "The Big One" will be Springer's last on the powerhouse Cleveland talk radio station.

We also hear that WTAM will be definitely going "live and local" in the 9-11:30 AM slot for the first time in ages. We don't have the exact date when WTAM last aired a local program in the late morning hours, but we do know it's been years. Preceding Springer in the slot was Premiere's Glenn Beck (now on Clear Channel Akron talk WHLO/640 and Elyria's WEOL/930) and Premiere/Take On The Day host Dr. Laura Schlessinger (now pretty much in obscurity, with an afternoon clearance on Canton talk/religion WCER/900).

Who will host the show on a regular basis?

OMW hears from all over the place that it hasn't been decided, but we understand you'll hear the voice of Clear Channel talk WSPD/1370 Toledo evening host Bob Frantz first up out of the box next week, starting Monday. (You might recall that back when everyone was wondering what we were talking about, we mentioned this possibility right here in Your Mighty Blog of Fun[tm].)

Frantz has a previous sports stint at WTAM under his belt, and has since moved to general issues talk. He did mornings at WSPD until being moved to the evening "Eye On Toledo" last year. There will be others behind the microphone next week, but we hear Frantz will open up the Local Mid-Morning Talk Era on WTAM on Monday.

In our "musings" section - we believe the move to go local is good move for 'TAM. We have been listening on occasion to the station's "big brother" down in Cincinnati, the original "Big One"...WLW/700. The station was recently added to the XM Satellite Radio lineup.

The more you listen to WLW, the more you hear WTAM as a nearly direct clone of that hugely successful talk radio station. One thing 'TAM lacked in comparison was a heavy local presence. Unlike WTAM, WLW is "live and local" 24 hours a day.

Now, we know that Rush Limbaugh's show isn't (and shouldn't) be going anywhere. But aside from now-former weekender Rick Gilmour, WTAM has had no local issues talk show for a long, long time. (Afternoon motormouth Mike Trivisonno's occasional forays into supporting casino gambling or making fun of whoever Cleveland's mayor is this week barely count.)

If the new local WTAM host - whoever it is - is GOOD, this could open a new era for 1100. The fun begins on Monday...

RUMOR ALERT: O&A To Replace DLR?

A heads up about this one. It's a post from Allan Sniffen, owner of the popular New York Radio Message Board, with a rumor that would appear to be somewhat unconfirmed.

We only post it here because, well, it's interesting...and Sniffen at least seems to be connected to the New York City radio rumor mill.

Sniffen says the rumor would have former CBS/Infinity afternoon bad boys Opie & Anthony, now heard on XM Satellite Radio, return to over-air radio to take over for embattled Howard Stern replacement David Lee Roth "in multiple markets". He cautions that it's just a rumor at this time, and it's not something he believes "positively is going to happen"...he says it *may* happen.

The rumor is that O&A would continue their show on XM, and that it'd be sort of a joint venture between CBS and the satellite company - presumably with the show continuing to air uncensored in its XM incarnation, while the over-air version would air on the "Free FM" stations carrying it.

He also doesn't have any details on the "multiple markets" involved, though one presumes that Cleveland would be on the list. O&A did quite well in the ratings in their brief stint in afternoon drive on then-WXTM/92.3, now WXRK "K-Rock". And Cleveland is one of DLR's markets. So WTAM/1100 afternoon motormouth Mike Trivisonno can continue to breathe, we'll remind the 'TAMers that this rumor would involve morning drive, not afternoons.

Again, just a rumor at this point with no confirmation, though Sniffen certainly has his ear to the NYC radio rumor mill. It's just something to think about at this point...

Cincinnati Gets A New WIFE (Well, Sort Of)

Radio One is picking up a third station to add to its Cincinnati cluster. The urban broadcast giant reports the acquisition of WIFE(FM)/100.3 in Connersville IN, for a reported price of $18 million.

The station currently runs a country format, and serves the eastern Indiana area northwest of Cincinnati, with basically no appreciable signal in the Cincinnati area itself. That'll change soon enough, as WIFE already holds a construction permit to move to a community of license of Norwood (a Cincinnati suburb), and its new signal will serve the Cincinnati metro area.

We don't see any porcine creatures in the air, so we assume Radio One's first move after lighting up the new CP will be to put a new format on the station. The calls will likely change at the same time.

In the Cincinnati market, Radio One owns urban WIZF/100.9 Erlanger KY ("The Wiz") and operates urban talk WDBZ/1230 Cincinnati in an LMA with owner Blue Chip Broadcasting.

And...That Channel 43 Comment On My Network TV

As it turns out, the Cleveland Plain Dealer did run a small item on WUAB/43's affiliation with FOX/NewsCorp's "My Network TV". (You'll have to forgive us...we don't subscribe to the PD, and their website often makes it hard to find articles.)

WUAB/WOIO/Raycom Cleveland GM Bill Applegate tells PD media columnist Julie Washington that he was actually in New York City considering a pitch from My Network TV officials when rival WBNX/55 (WB) was announced as the CW Network's Cleveland market affiliate. When he heard that news, Applegate says WUAB "didn't have any problem sitting here and letting WBNX get that affiliation."

Uh huh. Whatever you say, Bill. We assume if that's correct, the rumors OMW has heard of WUAB telling advertisers that IT would be the local CW affiliate in the fall aren't true.

Anyway, Applegate spins the My Network TV deal as expected, noting that it means WUAB will have no problem running 30 Cleveland Cavaliers games a year. He actually approached the financial issue, noting My Network TV isn't asking for money from broadcasters and saying it'll mean more slots for local commercials. He also called the 3-5 PM slot The CW wants to program "a crucially important time period for local stations".

We note that Applegate, like other stations ending up with My Network TV over CW, didn't say how great the programming would be. How popular the "telenovela" format will be is certainly unknown at this time. It's wildly popular in Spanish-language TV, and My Network TV is even using the scripts from those Spanish-language shows recycled into English.

Mmmm. Recycled scripts. Sounds tasty...

Three Beacon Items

Three things out of Thursday's Akron Beacon Journal caught our attention:

* TV columnist R.D. Heldenfels catches up with WUAB/43's affiliation with My Network TV. It's a pretty basic article, and doesn't contain any comment from WUAB/WOIO general manager Bill Applegate. We only note that because just once, we'd like to hear a comment from one of the new "My" affiliates...something to the effect that "we chose My Network TV because, frankly, it cost a lot less than The CW". So much for a lack of spin, eh?

* We normally don't touch on print media here in OMW, but we just had to comment on the Beacon's story about its own fate. Bids are due today for Knight Ridder, the chain which owns the ABJ and several other big city newspapers. McClatchy, a Sacramento-based group, is considered the likely winner. That'd be good news for local newspaper readers, in our opinion...McClatchy's Sacramento Bee is generally well-regarded, and the chain's not known for large rounds of budget slashing.

But we couldn't help but notice the quote from Beacon Journal editor Debra Adams Simmons. "I believe that the Akron Beacon Journal will continue to exist, whether or not the (parent) company is sold,'' Simmons is quoted as saying in the article.

Huh?

Ummm...when was the last time a major daily newspaper with no in-city competition actually FOLDED? Sure, companies could make drastic changes in the newspaper and its contents, but the newspaper business isn't in THAT bad a shape...at least yet.

* And we note, with some sadness, the potential fate of a "radio station" most of Akron can't even hear. The Written Communication Radio Service (WCRS) is the local agency providing radio reading services for the area's blind population. It's been around for ages. In fact, your Primary Editorial Voice volunteered as one of the service's readers as a teenager, back when WCRS was known as the Tri-County Radio Reading Service. WCRS airs its readings over a subcarrier of Akron University's WZIP/88.1.

Now, WCRS' existence is in jeopardy. State Attorney General Jim Petro's office has problems with how WCRS operates the bingo games that run in the old Rollercade roller rink on Akron's East Market Street, a facility which now houses not only the games, but the WCRS studios.

We don't claim to have any special knowledge of this case beyond what's in the Beacon today, but it'd be a shame if the loss of a large chunk of that bingo money would force WCRS off the air. Someone's got to step up here, and though we have no idea if Attorney General Petro reads the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), we'd like to remind him of something.

Umm, Mr. Petro? You're running for governor, remember? No matter what the technicalities involved in running WCRS' in-house bingo games, your office basically forcing a radio reading service for the blind to close after decades does not look good for you.

We'd strongly advise that you get together with long-time WCRS executive director Marcia Jonke and figure out a way for them to return to normal, fundraising-wise...no matter what's happened up to this point. If the bingo problems just aren't "fixable", maybe you can shepherd them to another source of funding and look like a hero.

Just some advice...

WKNR's Streaming Is Back (If You Know How)

Sports talk WKNR/850 lost its live Internet streaming feed - when the relationship between the Salem Cleveland station and long-time website provider SportsTalkCleveland.com soured last year, and STC backed out of the joint venture.

Tonight, a message board post alerted us to the return of the WKNR live streaming feed via the station's own site at WKNR.com. We're listening to it right now, and it sounds fine.

But...it took a while for us to get it going.

The station is using MP3 streaming, but directly clicking on the "Listen Live" link did not work for us this early morning. Our primary browser, Firefox 1.5 for Windows XP, is set up to load embedded QuickTime when we click on an .MP3 extension link. It yielded the WKNR feed, but only for about 10 seconds. We couldn't even get that much out of Internet Explorer 6...it tried to load the link and failed.

The only way we could get it to work was by copying and pasting the URL underneath the "Listen Live" link into WinAmp's "Open URL" menu option. The same method worked with Windows Media Player 10 as well. But we had to do it outside the browser, both in Firefox and Internet Explorer.

We're not professional webmasters here, but we believe the direct link being a filename ending in "MP3" is a no-no for live streaming audio, probably for the reasons we encountered above.

But we won't aim our barbs at WKNR or Salem just yet, as we don't know if it's mostly a configuration issue for us, or if they really should change the link to a ".pls" (playlist) file - which automatically invokes WinAmp or WMP 10 instead of assuming that there's a single MP3 file underneath the link.

For an example of the way we believe it SHOULD be done, visit the website of legendary ABC talk KGO/810 in San Francisco and its "Listen Live" page. The MP3 stream on that page is a link to a ".pls" playlist file...which launches WinAmp on our soon-to-be-sold laptop and launches KGO's live stream with no problem...

Those "Commercial Free" Satellite Radio Channels

In their battle to gain listeners from over-air radio stations, satellite radio providers Sirius and XM have often highlighted their "commercial free" music channels. Back in 2004, XM joined Sirius in banishing advertisements from music channels, though both still air in-house promos that many listeners may consider to be similar content.

After touting "100% commercial free music", XM is going to have to change that.

Billboard Radio Monitor confirms a report that's been floating around the message boards and blogosphere the past few days...that its loss of arbitration with Clear Channel means the latter company can add commercials to four music stations it still programs - "MIX", "Sunny", "Nashville" and "KISS". (If you can't tell the formats by the obvious Clear Channel-owned names, you haven't been listening to radio enough!)

XM is adding additional commercial-free music channels of its own, in an attempt to balance out the four newly-commercial laden channels.

Clear Channel used to own about 20 percent of the satcaster, until it sold its stake in XM a couple of years or so ago. The arbitration relates to the loss of income Clear Channel saw from its own channels being made commercial free.

Though it's not confirmed in the Billboard report, as we reported earlier, OMW still believes that the arbitration settlement was responsible for the recent addition to XM of another Clear Channel-programmed channel, the simulcast of Cincinnati news/talker WLW/700 (XM 173). The addition of four more channels is also apparently responsible for a dive in audio quality on many XM channels, including most news/talk/sports stations (ironically, not including WLW, which did not appear to be affected).

To the OMW ears, the audio quality on those channels has improved somewhat since a low point last week, though there is still a rather noticeable "S" sound, as if there was a gap in the tooth of the person speaking. But if satellite radio is going to continue to try to compete against AM and FM, it CAN'T sound WORSE than over-air radio...which XM did much of late last week.

And some conspiracy minded folks note that Clear Channel apparently did not opt for a financial buyout/settlement, and insisted on the commercials on the four channels it runs on XM. They note that it would appear Clear Channel more likely wanted to undercut XM's "commercial free" position, though it could be just as likely that Clear Channel thought it could make more money by selling the spots...

Local TV Folo

Unlike the move of Cleveland WB affiliate WBNX/55 to pick up the new CW Network in the fall, news of WUAB/43 (UPN)'s move to My Network TV is basically being greeted with indifference by the area's two largest local newspapers.

A quick check of websites for both the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Akron Beacon Journal shows no mention of WUAB's new "network affiliation". Contrasting, both papers did full articles on the WBNX/CW move, and the Plain Dealer's Julie Washington even did a followup article later that week. We're not sure if it's because "My Network TV" isn't considered as potentially significant as The CW, or because the move was basically not a surprise after WBNX's CW affiliation.

We did find one item we hadn't heard, going through the PD... WJW FOX 8 has officially named local TV vet Lou Maglio to replace retired anchor Tim Taylor, alongside Wilma Smith on the station's "FOX 8 News at 6". Anchor team Bill Martin and Stacy Bell remain firmly ensconsed at 5 and 10 PM...

Bob & Tom Off Mid-Ohio Classic Rock Combo

If there's one thing that seems to be as certain as death and taxes, it's a small market Clear Channel Ohio classic rock format station carrying Premiere's syndicated morning show "Bob & Tom". So much for certainty - we'll have to check that death and taxes thing.

An alert reader on Radio-Info's Columbus board points this one out...as it appears Clear Channel's "Fox Rock Network" near Mansfield/Ashland (WFXN/102.3 Galion, WXXR/98.3 Fredericktown and WXXF/107.7 Loudonville) has dumped Bob & Tom. The combo now touts a local show in morning drive, "Jeffro's Morning Jam".

And "Jeffro" is rather open about the changes, which apparently made quite a few "Bob & Tom" fans unhappy. On his web page, "Jeffro" (how can we NOT put that name in quotes?) says the Indianapolis-based duo's contract "got too big for small-market radio". He advises B&T fans that if they want to hear talk, "pick up a good book on tape". Yipes.

Some wondered about the move, noting that Clear Channel owns both the WFXN trio and Premiere Radio Networks, which sells Bob & Tom. But we remind them that these contracts aren't just shuffling money back and forth among different Clear Channel pockets.

It's "pay" to Bob & Tom for their show being used in other markets...it's part of their syndication deal that they get money for new stations. It's pretty standard stuff. Infinity/CBS stations often paid dearly for Howard Stern when he was around, many times well into 6 digit numbers. It's not like Clear Channel can pick up the show for free on WFXN...the ones being paid are Bob & Tom.

Clear Channel Mid-Ohio apparently decided that they'd pay less for a local guy in morning drive.

It's "Bernard Radio" For Stop 26 Stations

Trade reports this morning say that the major creditor of Stop 26 Riverbend Productions has ended up with the company's five Ohio stations in a bankruptcy auction.

The radio operation side of the D.B. Zwirn Special Opportunities Fund - Bernard Radio - now gets control of WRBP/101.9 Hubbard (urban) and AMs WGFT/1330 Campbell (gospel) and WASN/1500 Youngstown (Spanish/brokered) in the Youngstown market. Bernard also picks up Stop 26's WVKO/1580 Columbus (gospel) and WVKO-FM/103.1 Johnstown (Spanish) in the Columbus market. Bernard Radio is now reportedly LMAing the stations.

The reported price - $12 million. That's about $4 million south of the amount owed to Bernard/D.B. Zwirn by Stop 26, which was run by Youngstown-area broadcast veteran and political maven Percy Squire. The fund also picked up two Dallas area AM stations not long ago.

Despite the various trade reports, last time we were in Youngstown, WGFT and WASN were not simulcasting. 1330 was pumping out the gospel, and 1500 was in Spanish. We're not sure if well traveled local talk radio host Louie Free was still doing his afternoon show in English on 1500...

BREAKING NEWS: The Other Network Shoe Drops In Cleveland

Having lost the new CW Network to current Cleveland market WB affiliate WBNX/55, UPN affiliate WUAB/43 has decided to go with the OTHER "new network" to start this fall.

As part of a deal involving two other Raycom Media stations, Broadcasting & Cable magazine reports that WUAB will indeed air the FOX/NewsCorp-owned "My Network TV" starting in September. Other Raycom stations going with "My" include WBXH/Baton Rouge LA, and KFVE/Honolulu HI. The latter is rather significant, as KFVE is a popular VHF (Channel 5) general entertainment WB affiliate station. UPN in Hawaii currently airs out of pattern early afternoons on a station that otherwise airs Japanese and other non-English programming.

Like Sinclair's David Smith, Raycom CEO Paul McTear praised the My Network TV "business and programming model". That first part is TV station group code for "unlike CW, they're not asking us to pay for it!" McTear also praised the track record of NewsCorp and its FOX TV network, now the nation's fourth major broadcast network.

The move also means Youngstown market viewers, and many outside Cleveland, should be able to watch "My Network TV" on cable. WUAB enjoys wide cable coverage in Youngstown and surrounding areas as the defacto UPN affiliate for most of Youngstown's TV audience.

CW Network's Set For Youngstown

Not like it was a big surprise, but there's word that the new CW Network will be seen in the Youngstown market this fall on the current WB affiliate there, "WBCB", currently known on-air as "The Valley's WB".

The cable/digital-only station originates as a sub-channel on the digital side of NBC affiliate sister WFMJ/21. Since Youngstown has no UPN affiliate - cable systems in the market import WUAB/43 out of Cleveland - there was basically no other choice for the new network to be created out of the ashes of WB and UPN.

Of course, WUAB won't be hooking up with The CW, as that affiliation was taken in Cleveland by Winston Broadcasting's WB affiliate WBNX/55. We have yet to learn whether WUAB will hook up with the new alternative to The CW, FOX/NewsCorp's "My Network TV".

The move may bode well for Toledo's WB affiliate, cable-only "WT05", the channel run by Buckeye Cablesystem in that Northwest Ohio city. It at least shows that the CW folks have no problem affiliating with a cable/digital/satellite-only station if it's run well. Of course, "WT05" faces competition with over-air LPTV UPN affiliate WNGT-LP 48, but the latter station's situation is still up in the air due to a bankruptcy...

UPDATE: Indians' Over-Air Rights In Youngstown and Lima

As first reported here on OMW, the Associated Press reports today that FOX affiliate WYFX "FOX 17/62" will be the Youngstown TV market's affiliate for over-air Cleveland Indians TV games this season. "FOX 17/62" is the low-power combo of WYFX-LP 62 Youngstown/WFXI-CA 17 Mercer PA, sister of Piedmont Television's CBS affiliate WKBN/27.

The AP also notes that NBC affiliate WLIO/35 will be the Lima outlet for those 20 over-air Indians games originating at WKYC/3 in Cleveland.

It once again states that there isn't any news on STO's effort to secure more cable and satellite providers for the games. In addition to flagship cable outlet Time Warner Cable and city-owned Wadsworth Cable, tiny cable system TSC in Auglaize County is the only other multi-channel provider agreeing to carry the new Indians-owned network. You know you're not doing well in negotiations if the 3,700 subscriber Wadsworth city system is your second biggest signup.

Meanwhile, there's nothing new out of the other major MSOs in Northern Ohio - Comcast, Adelphia or Cox. Or, for that matter, no word of a deal with smaller services like Massillon Cable/Clear Picture. Or Armstrong Cable in Medina or Youngstown. Or...you get the idea. We're half expecting the next STO announcement to involve an in-house apartment complex cable system. ("SportsTime Ohio signs up Garden Brook Apartments for multi-year deal!")

Cleveland Plain Dealer sports media columnist Roger Brown weighs in again in his Sunday effort...noting that sources say DirecTV is one of the providers balking at SportsTime Ohio's rates. At least one other report claimed that DirecTV was actually close to making a deal with STO, so who knows?

The "So We Don't Look Silly" Department

One thing we like to make clear on OMW - if we're wrong, we'll correct ourselves and own up to the mistake. In this one, we just don't want to look silly.

In an earlier item, we intimated that CBS Cleveland classic rocker WNCX/98.5 had removed CBS syndicated morning host David Lee Roth from its website, including the front page and all mentions except from the "Contact Us" page. We speculated that the station had done the same in Howard Stern's last days.

An Alert Reader pointed out that WNCX, for whatever reason, had NEVER featured Howard Stern on its web page, or in its personality "Rock Jocks" page. Sure enough, we dived into "The Wayback Machine" (aka archive.org), and randomly pulled up pages from WNCX's website dating back to 2000. Indeed, there's not a mention or picture of Stern, going back to the earliest page that web archiving server has for the station. None of the archives cover the past two month's of Roth's time on 98.5, but based on the history, we'll assume it's been the same for Roth.

So, we apologize for latching onto a disappearing web page that never actually disappeared. It's usually easy to tell if a station "purges" all mentions of a personality from its site, but it appears even in his prime, Stern was never prominently featured on WNCX.com...

Toledo Stations Hire News Boss

Clear Channel's Toledo cluster has hired a new "Director of News and Information" for its five station group, and they didn't have to go far to find a qualified candidate for the job.

AllAccess reports that the Clear Channel Toledo stations have hired Cassie Wilson to manage news coverage...she brings experience in radio news in markets such as Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta and Buffalo. She'll also do anchoring on the cluster's news/talk station, WSPD/1370.

And perhaps that's why her name would sound familiar...as Wilson will be working alongside her husband, WSPD program director/afternoon drive host Brian Wilson. The couple also has a stint in radio ownership, having once owned AM daytimer WCTR/1530 Chestertown MD.

No, We're Not Getting Up At 6 AM To Find Out

We've had a lot of TV-related items on the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) the past couple of days, so here's some radio stuff of minor note:

* As this is being written, we're about four and a half hours away from the supposed return of CBS Radio syndicated morning host David Lee Roth, after a one-week vacation that came earlier than anyone who knows radio would have expected.

Though Roth is still missing from Cleveland CBS affiliate WNCX/98.5's website, aside from the "Contact Us" page, OMW did see a couple of WNCX's "The Wisdom of David Lee Roth" TV ads during tonight's Oscar telecast on ABC (in local breaks on WEWS/5). We haven't watched a LOT of TV in the past week, but we don't recall seeing the ads otherwise during the past few days.

Does that mean Roth's back, "tanned, rested and ready"? We haven't heard anything about him being out yet, aside from the AllAccess Friday item about his "future being decided". Maybe CBS and its DLR affiliates are going to give Diamond Dave a full book to fall on his face? It's very unusual for a radio station to dump someone based on one single month in a three-month trend, no matter how bad that month is. (And Roth's was bad. Not to mention Cleveland's former-own Morning Doggie, Shane "Rover" French, and his first Chicago ratings trend month.)

Dumping DLR starting later this morning would very nearly rank as radio's version of ABC-TV yanking the poorly received concept comedy show "Turn-On" in the late-60's. That show lasted all of one episode. (Read more about it at this Wikipedia entry.) Former Cleveland TV personality Tim Conway was a part of that program...fortunately for Tim, he gained much greater fame with the much, much better "Carol Burnett Show" in the 70's.

Unlike that show, at least David Lee Roth wasn't pulled in some markets in the middle of his first program...

* When you're ready to put fingers to keyboard to write a job listing, you might try a little "honesty". Well, that's maybe what CHR WZKL/92.5 Alliance/Canton ("Q92") program director John Stewart has in mind in the job description...in a listing for a new co-host/sidekick for morning driver DeLuca. Here's the ad seen in AllAccess recently:

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CANTON CHR MORNING SIDEKICK
Can you do the News with audio cuts and current events?

Do you have a good sense of humor?

Can you put our host in his place?

The pay sucks and the hours are intollerable, so send me a resume and MP3. You'll need to know who's on American Idol, the Apprentice and what the latest Kanye West hit is. No need to overnight it, not in a hurry, just want the RIGHT person for the gig.

WZKL
393 Smyth Ave NE
Alliance, OH 44601

or email johnstewartradio (at) AOL (dot) com

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We'll save you some spammage, John, and modify your E-Mail address. Stewart's also looking for the permanent nighttime replacement for DeLuca, in a separate ad: "LAST CALL FOR NIGHTS - If you play phoners instead of sweepers. Do parody songs, funny bits, and memorable contests. This is your last call to entertain Canton, Akron and Youngstown. We rounded up the usual suspects and will be finalizing soon."

But really, is anyone in Akron "entertained" by Q92 personalities? The station basically has little presence up here, and much of Akron has an easier time getting first-adjacent CBS alt-rocker WXRK/92.3 "K-Rock" Cleveland Heights. We can't speak for Youngstown, though...

SportsTime Ohio/Indians Network Update - FOX Youngstown HD

OMW can confirm what we saw on the web site of Youngstown FOX affiliate WYFX ("Fox 17/62") - the station will indeed be the Youngstown market home of the over-air Cleveland Indians broadcasts that will air in Cleveland on NBC affiliate WKYC/3.

We also can clear up the HDTV situation with the over-air broadcasts. We understand that markets outside Cleveland will only be fed a standard/analog signal, and that HDTV broadcasts of the over-air games will only be seen on flagship WKYC...at least this season, at any rate.

Of course, the 63 HDTV home games on SportsTime Ohio will be seen on any cable system which carries the STO HD feed. For example, Time Warner Cable subscribers in Columbus and mid-Ohio will have the HD games on cable channel 752. But whichever Columbus station ends up carrying the games from WKYC, it's our understanding that they won't have the HD feed available for the broadcast games.

We'd also guess that whatever satellite providers sign up with STO will be offered the HD feed as well, but that's just a guess at this point.

We did pick up another semi-related news nugget about WYFX. The FOX affiliate co-owned with CBS affiliate WKBN/27 cannot do HDTV over the airwaves, since it's actually a pair of LPTV stations with no paired digital channel for either station. And although the FCC will allow LPTV/Class A stations to apply for a second digital channel in May, it doesn't appear there is any room for such an additional channel in the Youngstown market.

But...all hope is not lost for folks wanting HDTV from FOX in the Youngstown market, but who don't want to put up an antenna to try to get WJW FOX 8 out of Cleveland or WPGH FOX 53 out of Pittsburgh.

OMW hears from WKBN/WYFX engineering that the station will be providing a fiber optic feed of FOX 17/62 with FOX HD to Armstrong Cable in the Youngstown area. We understand that the station is also talking to other providers, though we have no details about those talks at this time. The cable-only feed is more and more becoming an option for low-power network affiliates who can't provide an over-air digital feed....