WMMS PD Takes On "Kiss FM"

As hinted in an earlier item here on OMW...it's now been officially announced.

Clear Channel Cleveland rocker WMMS/100.7's program director, Bo Matthews, tacks on additional duties programming sister top 40 WAKS/96.5 "Kiss FM". He takes over the station's PD slot after the departure of long-time "Kiss" programmer Dan Mason to sister Clear Channel Miami top 40 outlet WHYI "Y100".

Matthews, who has a Jacksonville FL top 40 outlet on his programming resume, tells the folks at AllAccess:

"I am totally thrilled to be a part of this KISS team in CLEVELAND, and back into the Top 40 world again. KASPER has been doing a tremendous job at holding it down, and I am looking forward to working with him. Big thanks to RVPP KEVIN METHENY, SVPP GENE ROMANO and RVP MIKE KENNEY for allowing me this opportunity. It's not often that you get to inherit a winning radio station. I look to build on what DAN MASON built, and continue WAKS' success."

Random Pieces

Some follow to start off your week:

'QMX CONFUSION: As it turns out, Rubber City Akron country WQMX/94.9 traffic/news reporter Marcy Pappafava has not (as we wrote earlier) "moved into the co-host seat" alongside "Country Club" host Scott Wynn (pictured here).

We probably should have made clearer that such a presence may have been temporary and maybe even just incidental, but we did note that we didn't know if it was permanent...even though WQMX's own staff page listed her as "co-host".

We guess we implied too strongly that it could have been more than what it was.

We know that our report wasn't quite accurate for two reasons:

* First, no less an authority than WQMX/WAKR/WONE news director Ed Esposito calls us on it in a comment posted to the earlier item. Ed tells us that the item is "off the mark", and says we might want to check in with them.

We apologize for the reticence to do so, but frankly, OMW's not used to receptive answers from some local broadcast clusters. We do have some folks who will help us out, and Ed's a regular reader who has pointed us in the right direction in the past. We'll indeed check in with Mr. Esposito or others at the Akron Radio Center, if they're indeed willing to provide us with the right answers.

But some local broadcast clusters view us as a digital gnat that needs to be swatted far away, and wouldn't confirm to us even that their stations are broadcasting on their assigned frequencies. At least one area programmer is actively hostile to OMW, basically questioning our right to breathe air - though we hear we're in good company in that regard. Thankfully, the folks on West Market Street have usually been much nicer to us. Well, most of them.

Honestly, we really try to "get it right" here, though we do not expect confirmation or even acknowledgement of "hot unannounced tips" like the recent dropping of WMMS/100.7's local morning show for the syndicated "Bob and Tom". We repeat that local broadcast operations are encouraged to get in touch with us ("View my complete profile" link on the left for our private E-Mail) and be proactive about staff changes and the like.

Second, as we noted above, WQMX's own website's staff page, which actually LISTED Ms. Pappafava as "co-host" last week (thus, one of the reasons we ran with the item), has now returned her to the status of "news anchor". We're not sure why the station would list her as a co-host of the show, if such a possibility was not in the cards. Or maybe we're just confused about the definition of "co-host"?

Anyway, it would appear that 'QMX is still out there looking for a co-host to join Wynn, Pappafava and the Country Club gang. It'd be a great gig for whoever would be interested, if you're reading and think you'd be up for it. WQMX is a stable, powerhouse station in the Akron market. T&R's to program director Kevin Mason...

MORE MMS FOLO: When a personality or show leaves a radio station, most stations do their best impression of Stalinist Russia - removing all traces of the show or personality like they were never a part of the station in the first place, and leaving behind no explanation.

That's basically what happened on the Internet on Friday, when Clear Channel Cleveland rocker WMMS/100.7 dumped "Sean, Hunter and Cristi" from both the morning drive airwaves and the station website...the first move that tipped to us that a long-rumored change was officially in the works. The station's mornings.wmms.com subdomain got redirected to the home page.

But we're told that visitors to the WMMS website this morning were still greeted with the faces and names of the now-deposed morning drive trio in the "Now On-Air" box (pictured here, grabbed off of the WMMS server just moments ago). Oops! At least "The Buzzard" has a week to flip out that graphic with the "Bob and Tom" one.

OMW regular reader Johnny Morgan checks in to remind us that former WHTZ/100.3 "Z100" New York City personality Ross Brittain was a part of the WMMS Revolving Morning Show wheel. He tells us that Brittain dropped in for a few months during 1994 to "burn off his non-compete". He apparently fits in the WMMS timeline right before "Brian and Joe".

And a plug for Johnny - he's heard early Sunday mornings (overnight) on "Sunday Oldies Jukebox", the one-day oldies side of otherwise alt-rock WSTB/88.9 out of Streetsboro, which is also heard in a large chunk of the Akron area....

Plain Dealer Saturday Folo

Two items from the keyboard of Cleveland Plain Dealer TV/radio writer Julie Washington in the Saturday morning paper:

WMMS SWITCH: A brief item on the WMMS/100.7 replacement of "Sean, Hunter and Cristi" with Premiere's "Bob and Tom". Washington notes that the Indianapolis-based duo has always been brought up when a morning show opening comes up, but now, it's finally happening. She also reminds us that B&T co-host Tom Griswold is a Cleveland-area native.

She quotes Clear Channel regional programming head Kevin Metheny about the outgoing WMMS morning crew (pictured here in a March article in the Scene weekly newspaper): "They are looking elsewhere, and we are attempting to support their search." (That's sure better than physically throwing them to the street and saying "get lost", no?)

And Washington notes that the Clear Channel Cleveland rocker has had "at least 13 morning shows in the past 12 years", after the departure of "Jeff and Flash" in 1994. Has it really been that many? Wow. We're reminded that perhaps the last morning show that gained even any brief traction for 'MMS was "Brian and Joe", the team which got moved over to sister WMVX/106.5...where they remain today.

The volatility of the WMMS morning slot is somewhat amazing, especially when you realize that every other Clear Channel station in the Cleveland market has kept a morning show for YEARS. We believe the newbie in that lineup is WAKS/96.5's syndicated Valentine, who's only the low man on that totem pole because "Kiss FM" has only been around as a station for about 7 years (starting as Lorain-licensed 104.9).

Then, there's WMVX's Brian and Joe, WGAR's Jim Mantel, WTAM's "Wills and Coleman" (nee' "Wills, Webster and Coleman"), and the morning show longevity king at Oak Tree, market icon John Lanigan and partner Jimmy Malone on WMJI/105.7.

We're not sure about the exact order of tenure there, but all four of those shows have been on for some time, and WMMS can't seem to keep a morning show for two or three ratings books. We'll see if "Bob and Tom" change that...

TV RATINGS: Washington's main article on Saturday concerns the local TV news ratings horse race, focusing on an apparent migration of morning news viewers from WKYC/3's "Channel 3 News Today" to WJW/8's "Fox 8 News in the Morning".

FOX 8 president/GM Mike Renda proclaims the latter show's team is "hitting their stride", and notes that roving reporter Kenny Crumpton ("Kickin' It With Kenny", pictured here) is the "straw that stirs the drink".

Meanwhile, over at WKYC, boss Brooke Spectorsky mostly blames NBC's flagging prime-time lineup for the morning show's ratings woes, and hopes that'll begin to improve with the new fall season.

The rest of the day seems to be a news ratings dogfight between three of the four local news operations, WKYC (#1 at 6 and 11 PM), WJW (tops at 5 and 6 AM and 10 PM), and ABC affiliate WEWS/5 (first at noon, closing on WKYC at 11 PM).

Sorry, Reserve Square, you know better than we do that the news is not as good for WOIO/19-WUAB/43's "19 Action News". Washington notes the CBS station's noon show is second to WEWS, but the CBS/UPN combo's newscasts are last in every other daypart. WOIO/WUAB news director Dan Salamone is reduced to digging out a near demographic tie with Channel 3 at 11 PM (viewers 25-54).

WOIO will apparently start a new digital channel, according to the article, though it's not clear what they would add...we'll assume it somehow involves news or weather. There's no new network out there waiting for a home, as both The CW and My Network TV are spoken for (the latter on WOIO sister WUAB), and "The Tube" music video service is already on WUAB's subchannel. Our guess - a weather channel to go after WKYC's "NBC Weather Plus"...

Washington also notes that WEWS/5 investigative reporter Duane Pohlman is off for (planned) health reasons, not related to an apparently quite messy divorce case...we'll leave those details for Washington's article...

Weekend Grab Bag

Some random items floating to our attention:

ITEM 1: Talk about your bad timing. On the day WMMS/100.7 Cleveland morning show hosts Sean, Hunter and Cristi were let go in favor of Premiere's Bob and Tom, we noticed this on the AllAccess scroll: "Doing the Birthday boogie on SATURDAY (6/17) (...) WMMS/CLEVELAND’s CHRISTI CANTLE". Ouch. Getting canned the day before your birthday is never fun. Then again, it's not terribly fun even nowhere near your birthday...

ITEM 2: While we're still electronically visiting the Clear Channel World Domination HQ on Oak Tree... is it true that WMMS program director Bo Matthews is adding sister top 40 WAKS/96.5 "Kiss FM" to his programming duties? That's what we're hearing here at the OMW World Non-Domination HQ. Perhaps losing a live morning show under his oversight over on 'MMS "freed up" Matthews for the extra duties...? (WAKS, of course, is also not running a live, local morning show thanks to Los Angeles-based Sean Valentine...)

Presumably, this would not mean an elevation for longtime WAKS APD/MD/afternoon driver Kasper, though one would expect that he would still play a vital role in the station's progress...

ITEM 3: Still at Oak Tree (sorry, it's hard to leave the place!) - we heard a promo this afternoon for WTAM/1100 reporter Greg Saber's live reports from Iraq next week. WTAM's website has more here with a blog, pictures, and audio and video clips.

Saber is making the trip with anchor/reporter Eben Brown from Clear Channel sister station WFLA/970 Tampa (pictured with Saber here), and maybe other Clear Channel newsies as well. (Jim Sharpe of KFYI/Phoenix is also pictured on the site.)

According to the trip blog, they should be on a military transport plane even as we type this, heading for Iraq...

Such a gig for then-KTRH/740 Houston reporter Aaron Katersky got him noticed by ABC News Radio, which offered him a correspondent's job...

ITEM 4: WNIR/100.1 afternoon talker Bob Golic is scheduled for a TV appearance this weekend. He'll be doing fill-in sports anchoring Sunday evening on Cleveland CBS affiliate WOIO/19, where he has done Cleveland Browns preseason analysis and other Browns related duties.

This one's a heads up for Cleveland Plain Dealer sports media columnist Roger Brown - as we're sure he'll closely scrutinize Golic's choice of clothing on Sunday night. We think that sort of comment rotates on Brown's item menu with real estate listings and plugs for WERE/1300 morning host/Cleveland Cavaliers PA announcer Ronnie Duncan...

OFFICIAL: WMMS Morning Team Out, Bob and Tom to Replace

UPDATE 6/16/06 2:44 PM: As OMW first reported, here's the official word from Oak Tree, in a release:

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WMMS/Cleveland has added The Bob and Tom Show to its line-up, with the syndicated morning program starting on June 26.

"The show is presented in an unpredictable, irreverent group atmosphere that listeners can identify with, belong to, and talk about every day," said Clear Channel Radio Regional Vice President of Programming Kevin Metheny.

"The Bob and Tom Morning Show is the perfect compliment to the rich heritage of WMMS," adds WMMS Program Director Bo Matthews. "We are committed to bringing the best possible programming to the airwaves each morning and we’re excited to add Bob and Tom to the arsenal of talented individuals that currently make up the Buzzard air staff."

Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold, co-hosts of The Bob and Tom Show, have been established syndicated morning personalities for over 10 years and are on over 150 stations. The four-hour program will air weekdays from 6–10 a.m. on WMMS.

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Below is our original report, first anywhere:

As hinted below, OMW hears that it has officially been announced. "WMMS Mornings with Sean, Hunter and Cristi" will no longer be heard on the Clear Channel Cleveland rocker, and starting Monday, June 26th, Premiere syndicated morning team "Bob and Tom" will take the WMMS morning slot...

WMMS Mornings

What does it mean when a radio station pulls its morning show's web page?

You'll have to ask Clear Channel Cleveland rocker WMMS/100.7 that question, because as of now, the "WMMS Mornings" page no longer exists. The subsection of the station's website that was devoted to the show with "Sean, Hunter and Cristi" now redirects to the main WMMS site.

Could our musings just before this be turning to reality? Is an Indianapolis-based syndicated morning show in "The Buzzard"'s future?

We don't have any solid information on this right now. But it certainly would not be surprising if this meant the station was pulling its current morning show. We understand that the WMMS morning show page was up as usual just two hours ago. Stay tuned...

Filling the WNCX Morning Hole

It's been nearly two months since CBS Radio Cleveland classic rocker WNCX/98.5 has been freed of the Shackles of Diamond Dave...when the station was finally able to take over its own morning drive slot with the end of CBS' failed David Lee Roth experiment.

Since then, the WNCX morning slot has seen a wide variety of local fill-ins and auditioners. Aside from the presence of a veritable truckload of former WMMS, WNCX and M105 personalities in various configurations, the station has also tried "theme weeks" - like a week of all female personalities a while back.

(We'd dub it "Women of Rock", but we're not sure if that moniker would cover former WTAM/1100 afternoon co-host and newly minted WDOK/102.1 weekender Kim Mihalik, who took the last day of that week...)

We don't have a bead on who's a front runner for this position, though we're pretty confident the new show will have at least one or two components with WMMS on their resume. The city's iconic rock station and its past personalities are still "top of mind" among many in the current WNCX audience.

Then, there could be a curveball. Could WNCX scrap the whole thing and go with another syndicated morning drive talk show aimed at rock stations? No, not CBS Radio's Opie and Anthony, who are already airing on sister alt-rocker WXRK/92.3 in afternoon drive. O&A don't move period, primarily because the company is not willing to toss them at WXRK's Shane "Rover" French.

We're talking about a curious possibility we wondered about earlier in this discussion - Premiere's syndicated "Bob and Tom Show".

If WNCX were a Clear Channel station, the Indianapolis-based duo would be almost a no brainer. "Bob and Tom" does very well in rust belt markets...it's pretty much their base. It's certainly compatible with the rest of the station.

And Cleveland is the only market of any size in Ohio where the show is not heard. The pair has had no Akron market affiliate since WONE/97.5 dropped the show long ago, but they can be heard easily in Akron on Cumulus rocker WRQK/106.9 out of Canton.

But A) we don't know if "Bob and Tom" air on any CBS Radio stations and B) the window to try to recover a classic rock audience used to talk in morning drive may have died with David Lee Roth and the 2 month hiatus after his departure.

And there would also appear to still be a need to protect Rover on 92.3 by not airing a talk-heavy comedic morning show up against him. If they're not planning on mounting a local show in morning drive, WNCX is sure going to a lot of trouble to make it look like they're going to do so.

A little voice just whispered into our ear, though, reminding us that we've been seeing rumors of changes on the horizon at Clear Channel's Oak Tree World Domination HQ for the past week or two now, and it would appear the smoke is coming from rocker WMMS/100.7.

Could the "T" we see in the WMMS Tea Leaves stand for "Tom" (as in "Bob and..."), and not "Triv"?

Just a hunch. For those keeping track, this entire item is clearly in our "semi-educated speculation" file, and we wouldn't advise driving to Atlantic City to bet on this one...

WQMX Morning Changes

We'd heard that Rubber City Radio Akron country powerhouse WQMX/94.9 was looking for a new co-host for morning host Scott Wynn. Then we saw the ad posted Tuesday on AllAccess - quoted below in part:

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WQMX Morning Show Co-Host/News Anchor
This person will be part of the music, information and fun in the morning on Akron’s top-rated WQMX Country Club Morning Show. Must have top-of-mind awareness, ability to present news and information in a pleasant and professional manner and a passion for entertaining daily radio programming.

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

Though we don't know if it's permanent or not, OMW hears that traffic/news reporter Marcy Pappafava has moved into the co-host's chair.

Indeed, even the WQMX web site now lists her with that title. Those who don't listen to much country music are more likely to know Marcy from her Akron traffic reports on WEWS/5's "Good Morning Cleveland".

In the unlikely event that 'QMX is still looking for someone else for the job, the ad calls for T&Rs to WQMX PD Kevin Mason...at the usual address at the Akron Radio Center, 1795 W. Market St., Akron, OH 44313...

OMW's Optical Illusion

As it turns out, there really is NOT an STL antenna pointing south on the Clear Channel Akron/Canton tower behind the company's Freedom Avenue compound in Jackson Township. But...that doesn't mean we were wrong about the antenna.

While driving north on I-77 yesterday, we spotted what we believed to be a new STL antenna on that tower, pointing in the general direction of the highway (aiming south). But a second examination reveals it was an optical illusion to our OMW eyes - caused by the backside of a north-facing STL antenna (aimed at the Cuyahoga Falls site of WARF/1350) being visible through the tower, and appearing to us - at 55 MPH - as an actual southbound antenna...when none is there.

But...the Mystery of the STL Antenna has been solved.

In an attempt to clear this up, we took another drive behind the Freedom Avenue building, otherwise known as negotiating I-77 northbound once again. And we can thank the setting sun in the west for very brightly illuminating...you guessed it, a round STL antenna, this one still in shipping material sitting on the ground, directly behind the Clear Channel complex. And this time, it was NOT an optical illusion! We only saw it for a couple of seconds due to the highway driving, but it is most assuredly there.

So, the antenna is there - it's just not up yet. And unless Clear Channel's Akron/Canton complex has yet ANOTHER radio station moving in, it would presumably have to be for WJER-FM's new tower site...wherever that is...

Triv and Akron

It was the first time we'd listened to WTAM afternoon motormouth Mike Trivisonno in a while. This evening, bouncing off the announcement of an upcoming event with Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James at Akron's Tangier, Triv spent much of the 6 PM hour concerned that he wasn't getting proper credit for his listeners in Akron.

Huh?

Triv lined up phone call after phone call from listeners who said they were in Akron, and barked out that those listeners should "call Arbitron", presumably to overcome the lack of measurement. He said "I could be number one-and-one-AND-one" if the Akron listeners were properly counted.

Again, we say - huh?

Unless the radio ratings business has changed dramatically since we last saw a ratings report close up, we're quite sure Arbitron "properly counts" listeners to WTAM in the Akron market. The station is usually somewhere in the top 10 in Akron (12-plus), and occasionally in the top 5.

What Triv may ranting about is this - Akron listeners do not count in the CLEVELAND Arbitron ratings.

Presumably, Triv's performance bonuses and whatnot trigger off of only the Cleveland book, and not other nearby markets. That's something the talker should bring up with his WTAM bosses, not Arbitron.

There are situations where smaller, nearby markets are included in the larger market's book. San Jose CA is one of those - it is a separate market "embedded" in, and included in, the San Francisco book. Long Island NY is another such market with nearby New York City. But it's highly unlikely Arbitron or any other ratings service will do the same with Akron and Cleveland, despite the fact that the two cities (and Canton) share the same TV market.

It's kind of a waste of Triv's breath to complain about this, frankly...

Q92/Canton Names New Promotions Director

AllAccess reports that Canton market top 40 WZKL/92.5 "Q92" has found its new promotions director.

He's Josh Miely, recently of hot AC WCEM/106.3 "The Heat" in Cambridge MD. AllAccess lists him as that station's production director and assistant sales manager, but we found a page also listing him as the midday on-air personality. At a station that small, people often have roughly five job titles...

That cursory Google search we did revealed no news articles about a "fake charity" scandal, so we'll assume that Q92 did a little more background checking this time around. If you're a regular OMW reader, you'll remember that the station's first hire for the promotions director job was, at the time of hiring, implicated in such a scandal...

The Heated Political Talk of Akron

It's not like Media-Com Akron market talker WNIR/100.1 has not provoked public officials before.

But Summit County executive James McCarthy was apparently rankled by evening host Tom Erickson's discussion of a controversial job appointment...so much so that he picked up the phone and called Erickson's show Tuesday night to defend the hiring of county animal control director Christine Congrove.

We haven't followed this closely, but the hiring of the 23 year-old former secretary at the dog pound - who just conveniently happens to be the daughter of a county council member - seems quite a good fit for talk radio. Talk radio hosts who cover local government drool over stuff like this.

The Beacon Journal thought it so notable that they ran what is nearly an plug on Ohio.com for Erickson's show tonight, where the WNIR host replayed the "sometimes heated" 40 minute long McCarthy call "in segments". The newspaper has been covering the questions surrounding Congrove's hiring for weeks, which could explain their interest in the call to the radio station...

UPDATE: 6/15/06 1:10 PM - The Beacon Journal's Thursday article on this has some choice quotes from the radio interview, which came as a result of McCarthy's unsolicited call to the WNIR talk lines.

And one other small detail we didn't know - Erickson's daughter is local "animal rights advocate" Heather Nagel, who's been a vocal critic of the Congrove hire. In fact, McCarthy's interview apparently ended by accident, when Erickson attempted to conference Nagel with McCarthy...

Putting Together the WJER-FM Mystery

As regular OMW readers know, we've been diligently tracking the upcoming move of WJER-FM 101.7 in Dover/New Philadelphia, which has been owned by Clear Channel for some time in preparation for a nudge north into the Canton market.

Earlier this week, we reported the move of WJER veteran Steve Kelly to afternoon drive on Columbus AC WSNY/94.7 "Sunny 94.5". And now, some more pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together, and we're even finding out some things by accident.

FIRST PIECE: On a drive up I-77 north from Belden Village Mall, we couldn't help but notice a crane out back of the Clear Channel World Domination HQ (Southern Command) on Freedom Avenue, roughly by the station's tall STL antenna tower. We were driving too fast to make out what was going on behind the building, so we ran by there earlier this evening.

(EDITED 6/15/06 7:50 PM: We have cleared up this part of the earlier item here, in this update above. To save space, we have removed our long, convoluted explanation about why a south-facing STL antenna that isn't there yet would be pointing south. See the above update for the real story.)

SECOND PIECE: We checked in with a regular OMW source in the Tuscarawas Valley, who tells us that advertisers being sold high school football packages from WJER this fall are being told that they will be only be able to advertise on AM 1450 this season.

THIRD PIECE: Clear Channel Akron/Canton has put up what appears to be an all-encompassing Help Wanted ad - spotted in the AllAccess "Job Market" section. To us, it sounds like they're, well, trying to staff an entire radio station:

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Clear Channel Radio of Akron/Canton is currently accepting resumes from dynamic individuals for future growth. These are not immediate openings. Positions include: on air talent both full and part time, off air part time board operators, part time street team members, news anchors/reporters, promotions and marketing managers/directors, Commercial production and station imaging directors, and sales account representatives.
Please send materials to: Clear Channel Radio, 7755 Freedom Avenue, NW. North Canton, Ohio 44720. Attention: HR Director. No emails or phone calls please.
Clear Channel Radio Akron/Canton is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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

We could be wrong about this, and it could just be one of those "catch-all" ads radio stations occasionally put out, but...we're guessing the WJER relocation is involved.

We continue to check the FCC's website, and have not seen any application from Clear Channel for a construction permit for the new 101.7/North Canton facilities.

But one is likely soon, as there is about a month remaining for the company to file - the window for the filing, after the approval of a North Canton community of license, was 90 days. While Clear Channel can't begin to build out the new WJER-FM facility itself until a construction permit is approved, they can certainly make preparations back at the studio complex.

Adding together the above activity, it appears likely to us that by somewhere early in the high school football season, WJER-FM will be aiming itself at its new Canton (and for that matter, Akron) audience, and AM 1450 may not be making the trip north with 101.7.

At this point, we don't know if former owner Gary Petricola will buy back WJER's AM side, but even if he didn't, it sounds like he could continue to run it even under the existing reverse LMA with Clear Channel...while WJER-FM heads north under that company's direction. We've said about a dozen times now that we don't see Freedom Avenue having much interest in a small AM with a signal that can't even reach Canton.

We're keeping an eye on this, and hope to have more details soon...

UPDATE: WYTV Makes It Official: My Network TV Subchannel, New Studio

(UPDATED 6/14/06 with new information from the Tribune-Chronicle and Business Journal)

Youngstown ABC affiliate WYTV/33 has officially unveiled its much-discussed future plans, which include a new My Network TV-affiliated secondary channel - to be called "myYTV" - to debut in September. And as expected, WYTV will also mount a 10 PM newscast on the new channel, going up against the only current 10 PM newscast in the market, WYFX/62 "FOX 17/62"'s "First News at 10".

The station is also building a new satellite news studio in downtown Youngstown. The new studio is part of what is at least the second attempt to renovate the Realty Building, on the square at Federal Plaza. It'll be on the first floor of that basically abandoned building, which is scheduled to be revamped into a condominium and apartment building.

Though the condo/apartment project will take a while, WYTV hopes to have the downtown studio up and running by early September, roughly in concert with the "myYTV" debut. The station will continue to operate from its South Side location on Shady Run Road.

UPDATE: 11:42 AM 6/14/06: It appears that the downtown studio will be used as a "downtown bureau" location by WYTV - like the existing Trumbull County bureau in the Warren Tribune-Chronicle facility.

WYTV general manager Dave Trabert tells the Tribune-Chronicle: "It will be similar to what is being done in Warren, where we have a reporter broadcasting stories from a satellite studio."

Today's story in the Youngstown-Warren Business Journal has more of the same: "There WYTV reporters can edit and broadcast live stories involving City Hall and the Mahoning County Courthouse." If there's a Youngstown Vindicator story on this, we can't find it at the paper's Vindy.com website.

More of the station's planned content is known as well. In addition to the 10 PM newscast, "myYTV" will also rebroadcast WYTV's morning news block after the ABC affiliate goes to "Good Morning America", much like WFMJ's WB network sister station WBCB does with the early morning news from channel 21. In addition to the My Network TV fare, syndicated programs will include "Martha Stewart", "The Nanny", and "various game shows".

And by the way, this isn't the first time a Youngstown media outlet has announced a plan to use the very same building. In 1991, the owner of then-country/rock formatted WAXF/95.9 "WAX FM" and sister oldies WRQQ/1470 "The Rock" announced a move of his station from "a dumpy little building above a stationery store" in Hermitage PA to the top floor of the Realty Building in downtown Youngstown.

The station managed to set up sales offices there, but the grandiose studio plans were never completed. Or, for that matter, ever started. WAXF/WRQQ owner Mercury Broadcasting ran out of money, and the stations shut down in November 1991...leaving a trail of bills - and unpaid employee paychecks - behind.

We'll presume that WYTV and owner Chelsey Broadcasting will not face the same fate...

Our Return Entrance

Whew!

OMW may have been on hiatus, but things just don't stop happening in the world of radio and TV while we leave the keyboard. We'll catch up with a few short items first, then have some more later:

CASEY'S RETURN: We did get a chance to catch WTAM/1100 sportscaster Casey Coleman doing some play-by-play on a recent SportsTime Ohio afternoon Indians game, and we were thrilled.

We also note that Casey's told Browns Radio Network play-by-play voice and WKYC/3 sports director Jim Donovan that he hopes to return to the sidelines for Browns radio broadcasts this fall. We hope that's medically possible for him...and wouldn't it be interesting if the Browns started winning football games with Casey working on the sidelines? OK, so we're asking too much...but we can dream.

By the way, don't forget the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's "5th Annual Cleveland Walk For Hope", Saturday, June 24th at 8:30 AM. Details are on WTAM's Wills and Coleman page...

LEAVING 'JER: Long-time WJER/101.7 Dover-New Philadelphia personality Steve Kelly has left the in-limbo station, and takes the afternoon slot at AC WSNY/94.7 "Sunny 95" in Columbus.

OMW has received a couple of inquiries about this - wondering if Kelly's departure from WJER means that the FM station's move up to North Canton is going to happen sooner rather than later. We see no evidence of that at this time...for one, A) WJER-FM's construction permit application for the move has not yet hit the FCC database, and B) Clear Channel will likely not make any moves until the 101.7 signal is no longer based in Tuscarawas County (or is very soon to move). But we could be wrong...

IT'S A GAS STATION, MAN: As OMW expected, the noise out of Clear Channel talk WTVN/610 Columbus was not about the takeover of another radio station, but about a promotion at a gas station. So much for the rampant speculation of the final move of a Marion Clear Channel station to a 106.7 allocation in the Columbus market...

CW'ING IT: Cincinnati CBS-TV affiliate WKRC/12 has launched a web page for its upcoming CW Network digital TV affiliate. It's asking WB and UPN fans to contact local cable systems and satellite operators to urge them to carry the station on an "analog channel on the basic tier". Meanwhile, on the My Network TV side, we haven't yet heard an official announcement from Youngstown ABC affiliate WYTV/33 on its expected addition of a digital subchannel for that new network...

NEW TRIBE OUTLET: We don't know how we missed it, but a Buffalo market station has picked up the Cleveland Indians' over-air TV games originated from Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC/3. It's WNGS/67 Springville NY, a suburban Buffalo independent station running Equity TV's "RetroTV" feed of classic TV shows. WNGS is now operated by Granite's ABC affiliate in the market, WKBW/7. It's the former UPN affiliate in the Buffalo market...

WHK TRIBUTE SITE: Thanks to long-time OMW reader Johnny Morgan for the tip on this one - a true treasure for anyone interested in Cleveland top 40 radio history. WHKColorChannel14.com is chock full of memories of WHK/1420's days as a popular music stations, including so many sound clips we lost track. OMW highly recommends a visit.

It's the second such tribute site to a Cleveland AM music giant of the past - WIXY1260.com is also out there, and is also excellent for those who remember the days when big music hits were heard on the AM dial. WHK, of course, is today's Salem-run news/talk station, and WIXY eventually ended up as local Radio Disney outlet WWMK...

MUSIC CITY PROMOTION: And a tip of the hat to a long-time (and we mean long-time) Friend of OMW on his new job. Cumulus Youngstown staff engineer Gary Zocolo has scooted off to Nashville, where he's been promoted to a new position as chief engineer for the Cumulus stations in the Music City. Congratulations!

"Gary Z" goes way back with your Primary Editorial Voice...he's one of two human beings on the planet who have voiced an "hour opener" for us. The other is veteran WWSW/94.5 Pittsburgh morning host and imaging voice legend Jim Merkel...

More later. Thanks for hanging in there in our absence!

OMW's Return

Ohio Media Watch will return from hiatus on Tuesday, June 13th. Thank you for your patience!

-OMW Staff

Going Away (Updated)

Ohio Media Watch is on hiatus, for now.

We appreciate the E-Mails, calls and other support received after we first posted this message earlier today.

This update is just to let you know that yes, we're OK, and there's nothing untoward going on in the life of your Primary Editoral Voice(tm) or any members of the Vast OMW Editorial Staff. We just have to attend to some things away from the MBoF(tm).

(Note to the humor impaired: Please go find someone to help you with our running jokes.)

We don't know how long our hiatus will last, though it's at very least likely to run through early next week. Keep checking here for our announced return.

In the meantime, if we receive word of any major breaking local radio news, we'll immediately pass it along to our good friend Perry Michael Simon at AllAccess. If you haven't signed up for AllAccess by now, you should! It is free, and chock full of radio news.

And thank you again for reading OMW.

Casey at the Microphone

WTAM/1100 sportscaster Casey Coleman will get to call televised baseball this week.

Plain Dealer sports media columnist Roger Brown reports that Casey will call play-by-play of "a few innings" of the Indians' contest against the Oakland A's on Thursday. The noon game will air on Tribe TV outlet SportsTime Ohio...and we believe STO usually repeats their early games later that evening, as well...

Today's Your Birthday

...if your name happens to be Kevin Metheny, Clear Channel's regional programming VP based out of the Clear Channel World Domination HQ on Oak Tree Blvd. in Independence...

Two Julie Washington Items

From the keyboard of Plain Dealer radio/TV columnist Julie Washington, two items:

* Washington notes that both local public radio outlets are hosting premiere parties for the movie version of public radio staple "A Prairie Home Companion".

Kent State University's WKSU/89.7 holds their party at Shaker Square Cinemas in Shaker Heights, while ideaStream's WCPN/90.3 shows up at the AMC Richmond Town Square 20 in Richmond Heights.

The placement of WKSU's event in the Cleveland area is what we assume is just the latest salvo in the local public radio battle.

You can show up at both parties if you like - WKSU's is Thursday night at 7:30, and WCPN will hold its gala on Friday night at 7:25. Admission for both is $15, which includes popcorn and soft drinks, among other things.

Advantage here goes to WKSU. Their "early premiere" party beats WCPN out of the gate by a day, and they seem to be promoting it more. We can't even find a mention of the WCPN event on the station's own website!

* And if you're a game show enthusiast, listen up - the syndicated "Wheel of Fortune" heads to Cleveland June 16 and 17 to try to find contestants. The show will set up at Cuyahoga Community College's eastern campus in Highland Hills, and will take applications and possibly run would-be Wheel spinners through a quick five-minute version of the game on portable equipment.

The best and the brightest could be called back for closed auditions later this summer. But don't come to Highland Hills looking for Pat or Vanna...local affiliate WEWS/5 says they're not coming to town...