Three Items Or More

Now, some items we've missed, or smaller items that have just come to our attention...

CAROLE GONE?: Though this appeared on Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 senior director Frank Macek's "Director's Cut" blog, we missed it in our recent trip out of Northeast Ohio.

A job change by newly installed "Channel 3 News at 7" co-anchor Carole Sullivan's husband appears likely to send her packing to San Diego.

That's where Mike Sullivan has been named offensive line coach for the NFL's San Diego Chargers. He came to Cleveland with Carole in 2007, to join the Cleveland Browns' coaching staff...after a college coaching job in Michigan.

Given the changes throughout the coaching staff of the local team, Sullivan will join former Browns offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski on the Chargers' staff.

The former Carole Chandler's return to town with her husband eventually returned her to WKYC, first as a part-time reporter...and most recently paired with anchor Eric Mansfield on the station's 7 PM newscast.

The end of her second stint at 13th and Lakeside has not been officially announced, but appears likely. (We're a native of Northeast Ohio, but we'd choose San Diego, too, especially if our spouse got a job there.)

What isn't known yet - what will WKYC do with staffing on the 7 PM show if it loses a co-anchor?

Will current anchor Eric Mansfield go solo? Will another reporter be brought in alongside him, or will Romona Robinson lose her only on-air break?

We'll see...

SPEAKING OF CHANNEL 3: We also missed an item on Mr. Macek's blog announcing the official 2009 TV schedule of Your Cleveland Indians.

The overall numbers look similar to last year, with SportsTime Ohio picking up 154 regular season contests (and seven games from spring training), and WKYC airing 20 over-air games - presumably again offered to other markets in local syndication. Eight games are scheduled for the Fox Network's national feed, seen locally on Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 "FOX 8". As last year, all the local contests will be in HDTV.

But unless we're not remembering correctly, it appears there is one new wrinkle this year: the 20 WKYC contests will also be "simulcast on STO". We know STO has run repeats of the WKYC games, but we don't believe they've run live simulcasts of the Channel 3 games before.

The numbers work out, as 154 (STO/WKYC) plus 8 (Fox) equals 162, the number of games in baseball's regular season.

And then, there's this:

Rick Manning, Matt Underwood and Al Pawlowski will handle broadcasting duties during the regular season.

There's no mention of WKYC sports director Jim Donovan, who has previously joined the broadcast team on the over-air broadcasts handled by his home station. There's also no mention of what role Pawlowski will play.

But there is this mention:

Manning and Underwood will begin daily updates starting February 16 at 10 p.m. on STO.

With more snow and single-digit lows in the forecast, baseball programming can't come soon enough...

CREATE THIS: Another subchannel of ideastream Cleveland PBS affiliate WVIZ/25 has now shown up on Time Warner Cable.

"Create", a nationally-run PBS subchannel featuring cooking, home improvement, crafts, and other home pursuits, landed last week on TWC's Northeast Ohio system at digital cable 365. It's right after WVIZ's two other digital subchannels - The Ohio Channel and World - and right before the new home for the international TV news channel SCOLA at 366.

The latter got bumped up to digital cable by the addition of Trinity Broadcasting O&O WDLI/17 Canton, on analog cable channel 16...

TRANSLATE THIS: As it turns out, the folks at Christian Voice of Central Ohio aren't hanging onto their small Zanesville-based translator, originally attached to WCVZ/92.7 South Zanesville - the former "92.7 The River" in the Y-Bridge City.

Instead, a commercial operator will purchase it, according to AllAccess:

In another transaction filed with the FCC, CHRISTIAN VOICE OF CENTRAL OHIO, INC. is selling FM translator W233AK/ZANESVILLE, OH to PERRY COUNTY BROADCASTING COMPANY, INC. for $9,000.

The translator will rebroadcast the buyer's Hot AC WWJM (105.9 THE MIX)/NEW LEXINGTON-ZANESVILLE, OH.

Ah, yes, we always forget about "The Mix" when thinking about Zanesville rimshots.

The hot AC/talk outlet runs female-targeted lifestyle talk shows in addition to its music, including the syndicated "Bob and Sheri" in morning drive, "Matt and Romona" in afternoons, and an evening show hosted by Cooper Lawrence.

All three shows are syndicated out of Charlotte NC talk/hot AC hybrid WLNK/107.9, that syndication now under the Dial Global umbrella.

The 16 watt W233AK is at 94.5, and gives the New Lexington station an "in-city" presence in Zanesville.

Christian Voice of Central Ohio continues to serve the region via CCM/Christian teaching WZNP/89.3 Newark "Promise FM".

And of course, CVCO's former home, WCVZ/92.7, is the new home of WHIZ Media Group's FM presence that was long heard on 102.5 FM...which will eventually decamp into the Columbus market, assuming any operator can buy anything in the current economy...

SPEAKING OF WHIZ: No wonder we put "Or More" in the title.

WHIZ's TV side is announcing that it is finally offering high definition programming. In an article from the station's website last week:

(WHIZ Media Group president Hank) Littick added that there was also a lot of equipment replaced. He says “the whole process cost around 3.1 million dollars”. Chief Engineer Bill Hicks says “this past Tuesday at 10:19 am the switched to high definition occurred.

That gave the Zanesville NBC affiliate enough time to air Sunday's Super Bowl in HD.

Yes, we're talking small market here...the "broadcasting in high definition" means the station is finally, in 2009, able to pass along NBC network programming in HD. Unlike big markets like nearby Columbus or Cleveland, this has nothing to do with local programming or news in HD... just passing along the network feed.

Littick is encouraging viewers to call cable and satellite providers to add WHIZ's HD feed. We presume getting it on Time Warner Cable would be fairly straightforward, but we don't believe either major satellite provider offers the one-station Zanesville market "local-into-local" service in even SD format..