Some other stuff not related to impending changes in Good Karma Land...well, mostly not related...
MILLER REPLACEMENT TIME: WEWS/5 sports director Chris Miller is now under a week away from his departure from the Cleveland ABC affiliate, bound for Washington DC's Comcast SportsNet regional sports channel. His last day is February 28th.
We hear that Miller and CSN's Tony Burke (an ex-WEWSer) go back a long time, and that the presence of the offer from DC didn't result in a counter offer from the folks at NewsChannel 5, though the popular sports anchor and his Cleveland station had been talking contract.
And though we hear John Chandler is also talking contract with WEWS, it's not a foregone conclusion that he'll move up to replace Miller after his exit. In fact, it seems that at least some folks believe Channel 5 will look outside the building for Chris' replacement...
XM/SIRIUS MERGER: By request from a very nice OMW reader...
OK, so we don't really "play requests" here, and don't have much to say about it, but you'd have to be under a rock to not know that satellite radio services XM and Sirius are hoping to merge.
We say "hoping", as despite the announcement, it would appear the regulatory hurdles are rather high. Approval, unlike most FCC approvals (and FTC, etc.), would not seem to be anywhere near automatic for any number of reasons.
There is a tiny Northeast Ohio angle here.
Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin is the father of Good Karma's Craig Karmazin (WKNR/WWGK), who is a bit busy these days with his own facilities in Cleveland. OK, so there's a small WKNR-related item here...
Karmazin the Elder would retain his CEO title in a merged XM/Sirius, whatever it's called. We believe that gives him the upper hand in this so-called "merger of equals"...
KASPER ACTION: We spent a lot of time on this the last time it happened, but don't have much to say this time about two Cleveland radio names getting some attention.
The name of WAKS/96.5 "Kiss FM" afternoon drive host/APD Kasper has once again shown up in the "Action" section of the popular trade website AllAccess. Twice...once Friday, and once Monday.
Not to be outdone, "Kiss" programmer Bo Matthews, who also is still in his original role programming sister Clear Channel rock outlet WMMS/100.7, appeared in that same list on Tuesday.
"Action" is - presumably - a list of people who might be "up to something" in the near future, news which is usually related to some sort of move or job change.
No, we don't know what, if anything, it means.
The last time, Kasper's name was being attached by the rumor mill to every possible opening at every possible major market top 40 outlet in America. Or, at least it seemed that way to us.
As it turned out, the Friendly Afternoon Driver and OMW reader decided to stick around Northeast Ohio - not upsetting the Radio Talent Balance in this region.
We "haven't heard anything". We're just reminding you that names can, and do, appear in that section of AllAccess even if nothing eventually happens...and if we DO hear anything, we'll let you know...
FILE IT IN THE "DELAY" FILE: And speaking of "Action", OMW is hearing that Cleveland's "19 Action News" may not round out the Local HDTV News Lineup in Cleveland as soon as the end of this month.
Oh, the engineers at Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19 are still working on it - diligently, we're told. We just have heard that the "end of February" target date may be too optimistic for the folks at Reserve Square to become Cleveland's fourth HD newsroom, after WJW/8, WKYC/3 and WEWS/5.
One problem: They'll have to perfect broadcasting in color, first.
Yes, we're just kidding...honest!
Or maybe they're waiting for CBS to return that 5.1 audio equipment, so they can put each "19 Action News" anchor on a different speaker.
Yes, we're kidding...again...
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
WKNR Changes Afoot
OMW has confirmed that long-rumored changes are about to come to the on-air lineup of Good Karma sports talk WKNR/850.
The Cleveland sports outlet has been the subject of many rumors and much speculation since Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin announced he was buying the station, a transaction which recently closed. Karmazin also owns sister sports outlet WWGK/1540 "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540".
We don't have many details.
All we're told is that some sort of lineup change is in the works beginning as soon as next Monday, and that Mr. Karmazin himself is expected to announce the changes on afternoon drive host Kenny Roda's show later this week - Friday, is what we hear.
You can draw your own conclusion about what those changes might be. We've certainly provided enough speculation, and there have been enough on-air indications that may - or may not - turn into reality next week...
The Cleveland sports outlet has been the subject of many rumors and much speculation since Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin announced he was buying the station, a transaction which recently closed. Karmazin also owns sister sports outlet WWGK/1540 "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540".
We don't have many details.
All we're told is that some sort of lineup change is in the works beginning as soon as next Monday, and that Mr. Karmazin himself is expected to announce the changes on afternoon drive host Kenny Roda's show later this week - Friday, is what we hear.
You can draw your own conclusion about what those changes might be. We've certainly provided enough speculation, and there have been enough on-air indications that may - or may not - turn into reality next week...
Monday, February 19, 2007
Monday Night Mix
A whole buncha stuff tonight, mostly updates:
TIME WARNER REDUX: We're glad to provide a source of amusement to the fine folks over at Time Warner Cable. No, really, we are!
This time, it was our item/speculation about the presence of "Time Warner One", a new channel showing up on cable position 1 on the Akron/Canton-based TWC cable system.
It's showing instructional videos right now, and we wondered aloud if Time Warner would mount a new local programming channel there.
OK, so we're wrong...again. (We did say we could be, and were speculating. Remember, read this report with a grain of salt, for at least a portion of it is our own musings.)
No less a source than Time Warner suit Bill Jasso checks in and says there is no local programming channel shift planned... and whatever is done, won't involve "Time Warner One", which will be expanded as the system's official customer information channel.
Not that there aren't changes afoot.
The first has already happened - the migration of some of the former Adelphia/Cleveland programming on cable channel 15, to the Akron/Canton systems' cable channel 23. This includes shows like "More Sports and Les Levine", which started airing in the Akron/Canton end of TWC last week.
Jasso calls that "a soft launch", and says TWC is hoping to "officially" launch the local origination channel with a new name/branding by early March.
It doesn't appear, at least for now, that the channel positions are changing - with 23 remaining the local programming channel in the "legacy" Akron/Canton TWC world, and 15 remaining the local programming channel in the former Adelphia universe. (We didn't think to ask about former Comcast customers.)
But Jasso does tell us that the existing local programming will be "widened" in scope to include the company's entire Northeast Ohio footprint, "without losing the local flavor" for either the former Adelphia programming based in Cleveland, or the Akron/Canton-based programming.
We also hear that such Time Warner Akron-based stalwarts as "Civic Forum of the Air" will be brought into the company's new Cleveland footprint. That public affairs program dates back to the old WAKR-TV 23, and moved to TWC when the former ABC affiliate dumped all local programming.
So, we're not 100% wrong, as it does appear the programming will go back and forth between the two sections of Time Warner Cable - just on the existing channels, with new name/branding coming soon.
And no, we have no idea what this means for "Akron/Canton News", the WKYC-produced local news program that still does not air in the former Adelphia region serving western Summit County. (That would include, by the way, Bath, Copley, Northampton Township, even some areas actually within the Akron city limits these days!).
But it seems likely the news show will end up seen in all of the company's Summit County communities once covered by Adelphia's system.
Mr. Jasso also tells us that the "On Demand" programming on the Cleveland end of the system will "soon" be populated by existing TWC local programming, along with "newly produced programming"...keep watching...
HE'S BAAAAACK!: It looks like you WILL have Roger Brown to kick around again in print.
The former Cleveland Plain Dealer sports/media columnist has resurfaced in two co-owned suburban newspapers, the Lorain Morning Journal and the Lake County News-Herald, with a weekly column which debuted on Sunday.
We actually heard about it tonight from a caller to WTAM/1100's "Sportsline with Kevin Keane", where the station's evening sports talk host referred to Roger as "a fungus".
The Morning Journal/News-Herald column is Roger's usual mix of news, rumor, speculation and real estate listings. Come on, where else can you find out the price of Browns player Andra Davis' new digs in Strongsville?
Oh, yes, and there are sports media items, too...a note that Chris Miller, WEWS/5's sports director, is heading for Comcast SportsNet in DC in part because of a former NewsChannel 5 producer who's now an executive with the regional sports network.
(Umm, but Roger? Chris hasn't been "weekend" sports anchor for some time, unless you count the presence of the regular weekday team on Sunday nights during sweeps months.)
And in the surest sign that Roger has continued to be a regular OMW reader in his time away from newspaper writing, he says WJW/8 lead sports anchor Tony Rizzo "dismisses" talk that he'll soon land with a second job on Good Karma sports WKNR/850, replacing current mid-morning host Greg Brinda.
For the record, we've heard this rumor popping up again, which we hinted about earlier, but once again have NO confirmation that it's happening. Some folks in our comments section even had Brinda dumped from the station, only to have him do his show the next day!
We don't run with anonymous, unsourced comments, and will only report such an event here if we have reason to believe it's actually going to happen. We only mention it by name here because it was in Roger's column.
Take everything you read in the comments (or on message boards, etc.) with a grain of salt larger than the WKNR studio building on Broadview Road.
Oh, and though we have yet to see him, we believe Roger is still providing quips to the folks at WOIO/19-WUAB/43's "19 Action News", where he landed shortly after taking the Plain Dealer's buyout offer...
5.1 TO 2.0 AGAIN: Speaking of "Cleveland's CBS 19", those with fancy home theatre systems tell us that that Raycom Media Cleveland CBS affiliate is back to plain old stereo, after about three weeks passing along CBS' Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.
The expanded sound showed up just before the Super Bowl, and hung in there until late last week, when it went away.
We hear from an OMW reader that WOIO staffers are telling viewers that the 5.1 sound is gone because the CBS-provided equipment is gone as well, with the network apparently looking to a "different direction" as far as the equipment type goes.
We also hear that Raycom Media has no intention on resuming 5.1 broadcasts, unless CBS delivers them new equipment. And we hear that's not expected to happen for at least a few months, if ever...with the company not looking to buy its own 5.1 equipment...
WTAM NEWS CHANGE: This change doesn't involve personnel at Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 in Cleveland, but rather, formatics.
We can't pin down when it happened, but at some point, top-of-the-hour newscast formats changed on WTAM.
The station's newscasters now do a brief headline, go to traffic, then go into FOX News Radio...returning to local news after the network's three minute newscast (the first section of the FNR 5 minute cast).
Also gone during the top-of-hour casts - the recorded brief "20/20 Sports" once heard in that newscast. The anchor reads one sports headline under that name before going to commercial. "20/20 Sports" with anchors continues as usual in the station's sports talk programming, as well as during the afternoon drive foodfest hosted by Mike Trivisonno.
Why did WTAM do this?
It would seem simple to us, as Clear Channel talkers around the country continue to embrace the popular FOX News branding. We'll assume that WTAM or Clear Channel management felt that carrying the actual newscast when possible would strengthen that branding - much more so than just running an occasional FOX News Radio wrap or actuality.
We're told by listeners that the new format extends to all the station's local newscasts, not just the evening and weekend casts we heard earlier...
TIME WARNER REDUX: We're glad to provide a source of amusement to the fine folks over at Time Warner Cable. No, really, we are!
This time, it was our item/speculation about the presence of "Time Warner One", a new channel showing up on cable position 1 on the Akron/Canton-based TWC cable system.
It's showing instructional videos right now, and we wondered aloud if Time Warner would mount a new local programming channel there.
OK, so we're wrong...again. (We did say we could be, and were speculating. Remember, read this report with a grain of salt, for at least a portion of it is our own musings.)
No less a source than Time Warner suit Bill Jasso checks in and says there is no local programming channel shift planned... and whatever is done, won't involve "Time Warner One", which will be expanded as the system's official customer information channel.
Not that there aren't changes afoot.
The first has already happened - the migration of some of the former Adelphia/Cleveland programming on cable channel 15, to the Akron/Canton systems' cable channel 23. This includes shows like "More Sports and Les Levine", which started airing in the Akron/Canton end of TWC last week.
Jasso calls that "a soft launch", and says TWC is hoping to "officially" launch the local origination channel with a new name/branding by early March.
It doesn't appear, at least for now, that the channel positions are changing - with 23 remaining the local programming channel in the "legacy" Akron/Canton TWC world, and 15 remaining the local programming channel in the former Adelphia universe. (We didn't think to ask about former Comcast customers.)
But Jasso does tell us that the existing local programming will be "widened" in scope to include the company's entire Northeast Ohio footprint, "without losing the local flavor" for either the former Adelphia programming based in Cleveland, or the Akron/Canton-based programming.
We also hear that such Time Warner Akron-based stalwarts as "Civic Forum of the Air" will be brought into the company's new Cleveland footprint. That public affairs program dates back to the old WAKR-TV 23, and moved to TWC when the former ABC affiliate dumped all local programming.
So, we're not 100% wrong, as it does appear the programming will go back and forth between the two sections of Time Warner Cable - just on the existing channels, with new name/branding coming soon.
And no, we have no idea what this means for "Akron/Canton News", the WKYC-produced local news program that still does not air in the former Adelphia region serving western Summit County. (That would include, by the way, Bath, Copley, Northampton Township, even some areas actually within the Akron city limits these days!).
But it seems likely the news show will end up seen in all of the company's Summit County communities once covered by Adelphia's system.
Mr. Jasso also tells us that the "On Demand" programming on the Cleveland end of the system will "soon" be populated by existing TWC local programming, along with "newly produced programming"...keep watching...
HE'S BAAAAACK!: It looks like you WILL have Roger Brown to kick around again in print.
The former Cleveland Plain Dealer sports/media columnist has resurfaced in two co-owned suburban newspapers, the Lorain Morning Journal and the Lake County News-Herald, with a weekly column which debuted on Sunday.
We actually heard about it tonight from a caller to WTAM/1100's "Sportsline with Kevin Keane", where the station's evening sports talk host referred to Roger as "a fungus".
The Morning Journal/News-Herald column is Roger's usual mix of news, rumor, speculation and real estate listings. Come on, where else can you find out the price of Browns player Andra Davis' new digs in Strongsville?
Oh, yes, and there are sports media items, too...a note that Chris Miller, WEWS/5's sports director, is heading for Comcast SportsNet in DC in part because of a former NewsChannel 5 producer who's now an executive with the regional sports network.
(Umm, but Roger? Chris hasn't been "weekend" sports anchor for some time, unless you count the presence of the regular weekday team on Sunday nights during sweeps months.)
And in the surest sign that Roger has continued to be a regular OMW reader in his time away from newspaper writing, he says WJW/8 lead sports anchor Tony Rizzo "dismisses" talk that he'll soon land with a second job on Good Karma sports WKNR/850, replacing current mid-morning host Greg Brinda.
For the record, we've heard this rumor popping up again, which we hinted about earlier, but once again have NO confirmation that it's happening. Some folks in our comments section even had Brinda dumped from the station, only to have him do his show the next day!
We don't run with anonymous, unsourced comments, and will only report such an event here if we have reason to believe it's actually going to happen. We only mention it by name here because it was in Roger's column.
Take everything you read in the comments (or on message boards, etc.) with a grain of salt larger than the WKNR studio building on Broadview Road.
Oh, and though we have yet to see him, we believe Roger is still providing quips to the folks at WOIO/19-WUAB/43's "19 Action News", where he landed shortly after taking the Plain Dealer's buyout offer...
5.1 TO 2.0 AGAIN: Speaking of "Cleveland's CBS 19", those with fancy home theatre systems tell us that that Raycom Media Cleveland CBS affiliate is back to plain old stereo, after about three weeks passing along CBS' Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.
The expanded sound showed up just before the Super Bowl, and hung in there until late last week, when it went away.
We hear from an OMW reader that WOIO staffers are telling viewers that the 5.1 sound is gone because the CBS-provided equipment is gone as well, with the network apparently looking to a "different direction" as far as the equipment type goes.
We also hear that Raycom Media has no intention on resuming 5.1 broadcasts, unless CBS delivers them new equipment. And we hear that's not expected to happen for at least a few months, if ever...with the company not looking to buy its own 5.1 equipment...
WTAM NEWS CHANGE: This change doesn't involve personnel at Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 in Cleveland, but rather, formatics.
We can't pin down when it happened, but at some point, top-of-the-hour newscast formats changed on WTAM.
The station's newscasters now do a brief headline, go to traffic, then go into FOX News Radio...returning to local news after the network's three minute newscast (the first section of the FNR 5 minute cast).
Also gone during the top-of-hour casts - the recorded brief "20/20 Sports" once heard in that newscast. The anchor reads one sports headline under that name before going to commercial. "20/20 Sports" with anchors continues as usual in the station's sports talk programming, as well as during the afternoon drive foodfest hosted by Mike Trivisonno.
Why did WTAM do this?
It would seem simple to us, as Clear Channel talkers around the country continue to embrace the popular FOX News branding. We'll assume that WTAM or Clear Channel management felt that carrying the actual newscast when possible would strengthen that branding - much more so than just running an occasional FOX News Radio wrap or actuality.
We're told by listeners that the new format extends to all the station's local newscasts, not just the evening and weekend casts we heard earlier...
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Comings And Goings To The Power Of 5
Cleveland Plain Dealer media columnist Julie Washington has more on one exit and one entrance at 3001 Euclid Avenue, the home of Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS/5.
MILLER TO CSN: Washington confirms a departure first reported here a while back: "NewsChannel 5" lead sports anchor/sports director Chris Miller is headed for Washington DC's Comcast SportsNet. She says Miller will anchor evening newscasts for the regional sports network which covers not only Washington, but nearby Baltimore MD.
"CSN" also airs in other markets, such as Chicago and Philadelphia, but we're pretty sure it produces its local sportscasts only within the market in question...so we'll assume Miller will only be seen in the DC/Baltimore area.
Miller exits WEWS at the end of the month, and starts in DC a week later. There's no word on who might succeed him, though at least some believe the station's John Chandler (nephew of the late legendary Cleveland sportscaster Nev Chandler) might move up to replace Miller...
INCOMING TRAFFIC: Washington also notes that new "NewsChannel 5" traffic reporter Tricia Skidmore has local roots.
Though she joins WEWS from a station in Peoria IL, we're told Skidmore used to live in Mentor and Highland Heights, and graduated from a school in Cleveland Heights. And Skidmore's mother still lives in the area, in Willoughby Hills.
Though she's been seen throughout the day in the past week due to the station's extended weather coverage, Skidmore is a part of the "Good Morning Cleveland" team.
She's basically an in-house replacement for long-time Metro Networks-based traffic anchor Linda Dawson, who continues her duties on various area radio stations for that company...
MILLER TO CSN: Washington confirms a departure first reported here a while back: "NewsChannel 5" lead sports anchor/sports director Chris Miller is headed for Washington DC's Comcast SportsNet. She says Miller will anchor evening newscasts for the regional sports network which covers not only Washington, but nearby Baltimore MD.
"CSN" also airs in other markets, such as Chicago and Philadelphia, but we're pretty sure it produces its local sportscasts only within the market in question...so we'll assume Miller will only be seen in the DC/Baltimore area.
Miller exits WEWS at the end of the month, and starts in DC a week later. There's no word on who might succeed him, though at least some believe the station's John Chandler (nephew of the late legendary Cleveland sportscaster Nev Chandler) might move up to replace Miller...
INCOMING TRAFFIC: Washington also notes that new "NewsChannel 5" traffic reporter Tricia Skidmore has local roots.
Though she joins WEWS from a station in Peoria IL, we're told Skidmore used to live in Mentor and Highland Heights, and graduated from a school in Cleveland Heights. And Skidmore's mother still lives in the area, in Willoughby Hills.
Though she's been seen throughout the day in the past week due to the station's extended weather coverage, Skidmore is a part of the "Good Morning Cleveland" team.
She's basically an in-house replacement for long-time Metro Networks-based traffic anchor Linda Dawson, who continues her duties on various area radio stations for that company...
A "Dumb" Stunt
So, the OMW inbox was peppered with notes from folks telling us about the streaker who interrupted a "19 Action News" live shot in snowy downtown Cleveland during this past week's storm. The clip made it onto, among other places, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live", and MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann".
Basically, a large, apparently naked man cavorts around 19's Jon Loufman as the weather forecaster interviews someone else in the snow out at East 12th and Chester Avenue.
That's otherwise known as The Convenient Downtown Live Shot Location Right Outside Reserve Square - the home of Raycom Media CBS/MyNetworkTV combo WOIO/19-WUAB/43.
Given the Naked History of "19 Action News", we wondered if WOIO itself had put the man up to it. Now, the station has generally been known to parade around or hire naked female anchors, but maybe this time, they thought a naked man would be funnier in a major snowstorm.
We weren't THAT far off.
No, it wasn't WOIO management who put the streaker up to it. It was another media outlet.
The now-world-famous streaker is known only as "Dumb" (sometimes the shoe just fits so easily), and he's the phone screener for WXRK/92.3 "K-Rock"-based morning drive show "Rover's Morning Glory".
"Dumb" ended up talking to Loufman later, clothed, thankfully, for a follow-up piece, which brought the forecaster into the WXRK studio.
And a German TV crew, with apparently nothing better to cover in the United States, visited Cleveland Friday and interviewed both men in front of Reserve Square.
(We sure hope the crew was already in the States. Sending a TV news crew from Germany to Cleveland to cover this "story" may be the definition of television idiocy.)
We say "apparently naked", by the way, because there's at least one shot of the guy wearing a small pair of shorts after the "romp". Thank goodness for, uh, small favors. That can't be seen on camera in the original shot because, again, thankfully, the station's on-screen graphics obscure that part of his body.
Oh, and one thing?
In all the plays on network or cable TV, or in any of the clips seen all over the Internet, not once do viewers find out that the naked man in question is the employee of a radio station doing a stunt...let alone find out the name of his employer.
We thought it was Radio 101 that such stunts needed to include some sort of sign or visual display or audio getting publicity for the radio station and the show.
Maybe the folks in Rover's "kennel" need to call up "Opie and Anthony" (heard in afternoon drive on WXRK) for some pointers on that...
Various video links to the stories are prominently displayed on Rover's website, and the "19 Action News" site has its own video links to the original story and follow-ups.
Speaking of Rover's site, we've noticed it has excised the section on the show's syndicated outposts. Well, really, are there any left? We thought "The Nerve" in Rochester NY was still along for the ride...
Basically, a large, apparently naked man cavorts around 19's Jon Loufman as the weather forecaster interviews someone else in the snow out at East 12th and Chester Avenue.That's otherwise known as The Convenient Downtown Live Shot Location Right Outside Reserve Square - the home of Raycom Media CBS/MyNetworkTV combo WOIO/19-WUAB/43.
Given the Naked History of "19 Action News", we wondered if WOIO itself had put the man up to it. Now, the station has generally been known to parade around or hire naked female anchors, but maybe this time, they thought a naked man would be funnier in a major snowstorm.
We weren't THAT far off.
No, it wasn't WOIO management who put the streaker up to it. It was another media outlet.
The now-world-famous streaker is known only as "Dumb" (sometimes the shoe just fits so easily), and he's the phone screener for WXRK/92.3 "K-Rock"-based morning drive show "Rover's Morning Glory"."Dumb" ended up talking to Loufman later, clothed, thankfully, for a follow-up piece, which brought the forecaster into the WXRK studio.
And a German TV crew, with apparently nothing better to cover in the United States, visited Cleveland Friday and interviewed both men in front of Reserve Square.
(We sure hope the crew was already in the States. Sending a TV news crew from Germany to Cleveland to cover this "story" may be the definition of television idiocy.)
We say "apparently naked", by the way, because there's at least one shot of the guy wearing a small pair of shorts after the "romp". Thank goodness for, uh, small favors. That can't be seen on camera in the original shot because, again, thankfully, the station's on-screen graphics obscure that part of his body.
Oh, and one thing?
In all the plays on network or cable TV, or in any of the clips seen all over the Internet, not once do viewers find out that the naked man in question is the employee of a radio station doing a stunt...let alone find out the name of his employer.
We thought it was Radio 101 that such stunts needed to include some sort of sign or visual display or audio getting publicity for the radio station and the show.
Maybe the folks in Rover's "kennel" need to call up "Opie and Anthony" (heard in afternoon drive on WXRK) for some pointers on that...
Various video links to the stories are prominently displayed on Rover's website, and the "19 Action News" site has its own video links to the original story and follow-ups.
Speaking of Rover's site, we've noticed it has excised the section on the show's syndicated outposts. Well, really, are there any left? We thought "The Nerve" in Rochester NY was still along for the ride...
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Saturday Stuff
Three items, including two semi-related, maybe. Or maybe not:
MORE LES STILL: At this rate, we're going to have to start charging local sports media personality Les Levine for ad space.
But we can't help it if the fast moving developments in local sports radio and TV lately all seem to involve him, for whatever reason.
This time, it's Mr. Levine's second straight appearance on the "Saturday Morning Sports Show" on Good Karma sports talker WKNR/850 this morning. But unlike last week, where Les did the show solo, his partner was former WKNR host Kendall Lewis.
It, presumably, was something of an audio preview of the upcoming season of FSN Ohio's "Cleveland Rants", where Lewis will join Levine as his new co-host, along with "roving reporter" Kim Mihalik (WNCX/98.5). We didn't get to hear the show, though.
We're starting to agree with other observers...the Saturday show appears to officially be Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin's "audition show" for personalities he might want to add in the future.
One big reason for our agreement: Lewis had already been scheduled for a March 3rd WKNR fill-in.
We didn't realize until looking at the calendar that March 3rd is a Saturday, which would put him in the "Saturday Morning Sports Show" slot as a solo host. Today's appearance was apparently added very recently, at least after Lewis told the Akron Beacon Journal's George M. Thomas about the March 3rd show.
One thought we can't shake, though it's just a guess on our part: Somewhere in there, we have to believe that Mr. Karmazin wants at least one two-person show on his daily lineup.
The two-person sports talk show is iconic in the format. Though several popular hosts basically run solo (Jim Rome, etc.), nearly every sports talk station features a popular show with two hosts bantering back and forth about sports.
You can come up with examples without even trying. America's most popular local sports talk show is WFAN/660 New York City's "Mike and the Mad Dog", which owns sports talk radio in that market.
And though they do have solo hosts, the format at Philadelphia sports station WIP/610 is also littered with dually-hosted shows. Even market icon Angelo Cataldi has a credited co-host/sidekick in morning drive now (Al Morganti).
That last station is important, for it's the sports talk station which helped form the views of a certain new WKNR owner.
Mr. Karmazin began his own radio career as an intern at WIP, along with fellow intern Steve Politziner - now co-host along with him of Good Karma syndicated show "Steve and Craig". Good Karma's WWGK/1540 "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" will begin airing that show in early March after the Daylight Saving Time change, when the station's broadcast hours extend past 7 PM due to a later sunset.
And Karmazin himself uses the format at some of his other stations.
Though his highest profile show at WAUK/1510 Milwaukee is a solo show hosted by market veteran Steve "The Homer" True in afternoon drive, "ESPN Milwaukee"'s mid-morning show "The D-List" features sportswriter Drew Olson and "a group of co-hosts featuring WISN 12's Dan Needles and The Game's former co-host Bill Johnson in a light-hearted look at the sports world from Milwaukee's premiere sports enthusiasts."
With the "auditions", and the longer the station waits to make an on-air overhaul of its overall sound (for the love of Pete, please get rid of the Michael Luczak liners!!!), we have to wonder if Something Big is coming in the next few weeks. We just don't know when, though some would suggest by the end of the month...
TIME WARNER ONE: Yet another in our series of continuing updates on this certain group of stories.
This time, an OMW reader who subscribes to Time Warner Cable's Akron/Canton system notes the recent addition of a channel identified as "Time Warner One" to that system, on, well, cable channel 1.
For now, there is no programming on "Time Warner One", which features ongoing instructional video about hooking up your cable equipment. The onscreen programming guide only has the words "Coming Soon!" on the channel.
But...we wonder. Is more headed for "One"?
Again, just a wonder here. We have no information that the channel will become anything but a place your cable box points to, when you are "welcomed" to the system (or when the cable box resets, etc.).
We'd also have to note that you need a cable box to tune to any channel 1, so if it were destined for something more, "Time Warner One" would have to be remapped to another channel for analog customers.
It's just another data point, and may mean nothing. But wouldn't "Time Warner One" make a great name for a local programming channel? And why would the system put "Coming Soon!" on the programming guide if there's nothing more destined for "One" than setup videos?
On the former Adelphia system serving greater Cleveland and parts of western Summit County, cable channel 1 is the relatively new home for "Time Warner On Demand"...
ROB OUT: OMW hears that WKDD/98.1 overnight/swing/weekend jock Rob Mckenzie has parted ways with the Clear Channel Akron/Canton hot AC outlet.
In addition to being heard overnight and weekends, Rob also held down traffic/co-host duties with WKDD program director Keith Kennedy in afternoon drive.
Rob, as the saying goes, is "looking for his next opportunity". Drop him a line at robmichaels81 - at - yahoo - dot - com, without all the dashes and substitutions...
MORE LES STILL: At this rate, we're going to have to start charging local sports media personality Les Levine for ad space.
But we can't help it if the fast moving developments in local sports radio and TV lately all seem to involve him, for whatever reason.
This time, it's Mr. Levine's second straight appearance on the "Saturday Morning Sports Show" on Good Karma sports talker WKNR/850 this morning. But unlike last week, where Les did the show solo, his partner was former WKNR host Kendall Lewis.
It, presumably, was something of an audio preview of the upcoming season of FSN Ohio's "Cleveland Rants", where Lewis will join Levine as his new co-host, along with "roving reporter" Kim Mihalik (WNCX/98.5). We didn't get to hear the show, though.
We're starting to agree with other observers...the Saturday show appears to officially be Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin's "audition show" for personalities he might want to add in the future.
One big reason for our agreement: Lewis had already been scheduled for a March 3rd WKNR fill-in.
We didn't realize until looking at the calendar that March 3rd is a Saturday, which would put him in the "Saturday Morning Sports Show" slot as a solo host. Today's appearance was apparently added very recently, at least after Lewis told the Akron Beacon Journal's George M. Thomas about the March 3rd show.
One thought we can't shake, though it's just a guess on our part: Somewhere in there, we have to believe that Mr. Karmazin wants at least one two-person show on his daily lineup.
The two-person sports talk show is iconic in the format. Though several popular hosts basically run solo (Jim Rome, etc.), nearly every sports talk station features a popular show with two hosts bantering back and forth about sports.
You can come up with examples without even trying. America's most popular local sports talk show is WFAN/660 New York City's "Mike and the Mad Dog", which owns sports talk radio in that market.
And though they do have solo hosts, the format at Philadelphia sports station WIP/610 is also littered with dually-hosted shows. Even market icon Angelo Cataldi has a credited co-host/sidekick in morning drive now (Al Morganti).
That last station is important, for it's the sports talk station which helped form the views of a certain new WKNR owner.
Mr. Karmazin began his own radio career as an intern at WIP, along with fellow intern Steve Politziner - now co-host along with him of Good Karma syndicated show "Steve and Craig". Good Karma's WWGK/1540 "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" will begin airing that show in early March after the Daylight Saving Time change, when the station's broadcast hours extend past 7 PM due to a later sunset.
And Karmazin himself uses the format at some of his other stations.
Though his highest profile show at WAUK/1510 Milwaukee is a solo show hosted by market veteran Steve "The Homer" True in afternoon drive, "ESPN Milwaukee"'s mid-morning show "The D-List" features sportswriter Drew Olson and "a group of co-hosts featuring WISN 12's Dan Needles and The Game's former co-host Bill Johnson in a light-hearted look at the sports world from Milwaukee's premiere sports enthusiasts."
With the "auditions", and the longer the station waits to make an on-air overhaul of its overall sound (for the love of Pete, please get rid of the Michael Luczak liners!!!), we have to wonder if Something Big is coming in the next few weeks. We just don't know when, though some would suggest by the end of the month...
TIME WARNER ONE: Yet another in our series of continuing updates on this certain group of stories.
This time, an OMW reader who subscribes to Time Warner Cable's Akron/Canton system notes the recent addition of a channel identified as "Time Warner One" to that system, on, well, cable channel 1.
For now, there is no programming on "Time Warner One", which features ongoing instructional video about hooking up your cable equipment. The onscreen programming guide only has the words "Coming Soon!" on the channel.
But...we wonder. Is more headed for "One"?
Again, just a wonder here. We have no information that the channel will become anything but a place your cable box points to, when you are "welcomed" to the system (or when the cable box resets, etc.).
We'd also have to note that you need a cable box to tune to any channel 1, so if it were destined for something more, "Time Warner One" would have to be remapped to another channel for analog customers.
It's just another data point, and may mean nothing. But wouldn't "Time Warner One" make a great name for a local programming channel? And why would the system put "Coming Soon!" on the programming guide if there's nothing more destined for "One" than setup videos?
On the former Adelphia system serving greater Cleveland and parts of western Summit County, cable channel 1 is the relatively new home for "Time Warner On Demand"...
ROB OUT: OMW hears that WKDD/98.1 overnight/swing/weekend jock Rob Mckenzie has parted ways with the Clear Channel Akron/Canton hot AC outlet.
In addition to being heard overnight and weekends, Rob also held down traffic/co-host duties with WKDD program director Keith Kennedy in afternoon drive.
Rob, as the saying goes, is "looking for his next opportunity". Drop him a line at robmichaels81 - at - yahoo - dot - com, without all the dashes and substitutions...
Friday, February 16, 2007
Weekend Wrapup, Mid-February Edition
Some random stuff:
MASON OUT: It doesn't seem like long ago that we were congratulating long-time WQMX/94.9 operations manager Kevin Mason on his new gig as VP/GM of a record company in Nashville.
Unfortunately, it appears the volatile nature of the music business has left the former Akron country programmer without a job.
AllAccess reports that Mason's new employer, Rust Records, is folding up its tent along Nashville's Music Row, leaving Mason and everyone else with the company out of work.
Of course, the former WQMX OM/PD is looking for a new job...reach out to him at kevin - at - kevinmason - dot - com. (We don't know how much that prevents spammers from picking up addresses, but we're trying...)
AIRING IT OUT: George M. Thomas' weekly "Airing It Out" sports media column in Friday's Akron Beacon Journal touches on something we reported here - the expansion of Les Levine's "More Sports and Les Levine" TV talk show to the Akron/Canton reaches of Time Warner Cable this week.
According to Thomas, Levine's show apparently runs only 30 minutes on the Akron/Canton end of TWC, because it has to make way for the 6:30 PM edition of the WKYC/3-produced "Akron/Canton News" on cable channel 23. (It may or may not be repeated later...that, we don't know.)
It's the first cross-pollenization of local programming from the former Adelphia system based in Cleveland, to the existing Akron/Canton-based Time Warner system.
So far, we haven't seen anything more coming back in this direction - we're on the former Adelphia end. And we caution you once again that our earlier posts about this have been primarily speculation - don't blame anyone for them but us.
We'll make that clear again, and wonder (yes, wonder) if Time Warner will eventually launch that "local channel" we guessed about earlier.
There is precedent for it - when the company's Albany NY system launched all-news outlet "Capital News 9", it moved the existing non-news programming on that local channel to cable channel 3, where it became "TW3". (Read about it in this Wikipedia article.)
Again, purely our own speculation here...and not factual. We wouldn't be surprised to see them eventually do it, but we have no indication that it is in the immediate future. And if you have any questions about this speculation, talk to us, not other blogs.
Oh, and we noticed a new "Cleveland Local" heading under Time Warner Cable's "On Demand" channel, free programming section (cable channel 1, former Adelphia system).
So far, the only choices are two recent high school basketball games. No "Akron/Canton News" (yes, we are going to continue to bring this up, TWC folks), no other local programming including Mr. Levine's show, etc.
And while we're talking about the whole topic, we've been asked by readers why WKYC itself doesn't show "Akron/Canton News" on its over-air digital channel.
We can answer that without help from WKYC.
The Cleveland NBC affiliate only runs one subchannel right now on WKYC-DT - "WKYC WeatherPlus", the local version of the NBC-owned weather feed.
As far as we know, there is no provision for WKYC to "break format" and air anything but WeatherPlus on WKYC-DT 3.2.
We've seen other TV stations with home-grown weather channels run actual programming - it's all the rage in Indianapolis, for example. But WeatherPlus would appear to not allow that, either technically or probably contractually.
If WKYC wanted to run "Akron/Canton News" on its digital over-air channel, it would have to open up a second subchannel, then figure out what to surround the channel with. And since WKYC and Time Warner Cable are in a pretty tight situation with the newscast, we doubt they'd do it anyway...it'd be one less "reason" to subscribe to cable...
Again, this is our own information, speculation and educated guesses. Please don't bug the folks at Channel 3 or Time Warner about this...they have nothing to do with this post...
AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT: Please don't associate stuff posted in our comments section (Motto: "On Its Last Legs, Honest!") directly with this report.
A persistent commenter or commenters have added a number of rumors about the employment status of a certain local mid-morning sports talk radio host, and his rumored replacement... a name we've brought up here numerous times. And the station itself, of course, has gone through changes recently.
But let's go on the record.
We've actually been overwhelmed (!) with E-Mail asking about the comments, which were not added by your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) and were posted without identification.
At this point, we have NO information confirming the rumors attached to the comments section on this board. None.
It's not that we believe changes may not happen. After all, the rumored "replacement" host has been mentioned frequently as someone we expect to hear regularly on that certain station in the future.
But...we've got nothing. We just wanted to disassociate ourselves with the rumors, and we'll let you know as soon as we hear anything we can "go to print" with, as it were.
And if you are an "insider" with information that could verify such, feel free to write us privately. Identify yourself, and we will not "give you up"...we hold onto our sources and keep them secret...
MASON OUT: It doesn't seem like long ago that we were congratulating long-time WQMX/94.9 operations manager Kevin Mason on his new gig as VP/GM of a record company in Nashville.
Unfortunately, it appears the volatile nature of the music business has left the former Akron country programmer without a job.
AllAccess reports that Mason's new employer, Rust Records, is folding up its tent along Nashville's Music Row, leaving Mason and everyone else with the company out of work.
Of course, the former WQMX OM/PD is looking for a new job...reach out to him at kevin - at - kevinmason - dot - com. (We don't know how much that prevents spammers from picking up addresses, but we're trying...)
AIRING IT OUT: George M. Thomas' weekly "Airing It Out" sports media column in Friday's Akron Beacon Journal touches on something we reported here - the expansion of Les Levine's "More Sports and Les Levine" TV talk show to the Akron/Canton reaches of Time Warner Cable this week.
According to Thomas, Levine's show apparently runs only 30 minutes on the Akron/Canton end of TWC, because it has to make way for the 6:30 PM edition of the WKYC/3-produced "Akron/Canton News" on cable channel 23. (It may or may not be repeated later...that, we don't know.)
It's the first cross-pollenization of local programming from the former Adelphia system based in Cleveland, to the existing Akron/Canton-based Time Warner system.
So far, we haven't seen anything more coming back in this direction - we're on the former Adelphia end. And we caution you once again that our earlier posts about this have been primarily speculation - don't blame anyone for them but us.
We'll make that clear again, and wonder (yes, wonder) if Time Warner will eventually launch that "local channel" we guessed about earlier.
There is precedent for it - when the company's Albany NY system launched all-news outlet "Capital News 9", it moved the existing non-news programming on that local channel to cable channel 3, where it became "TW3". (Read about it in this Wikipedia article.)
Again, purely our own speculation here...and not factual. We wouldn't be surprised to see them eventually do it, but we have no indication that it is in the immediate future. And if you have any questions about this speculation, talk to us, not other blogs.
Oh, and we noticed a new "Cleveland Local" heading under Time Warner Cable's "On Demand" channel, free programming section (cable channel 1, former Adelphia system).
So far, the only choices are two recent high school basketball games. No "Akron/Canton News" (yes, we are going to continue to bring this up, TWC folks), no other local programming including Mr. Levine's show, etc.
And while we're talking about the whole topic, we've been asked by readers why WKYC itself doesn't show "Akron/Canton News" on its over-air digital channel.
We can answer that without help from WKYC.
The Cleveland NBC affiliate only runs one subchannel right now on WKYC-DT - "WKYC WeatherPlus", the local version of the NBC-owned weather feed.
As far as we know, there is no provision for WKYC to "break format" and air anything but WeatherPlus on WKYC-DT 3.2.
We've seen other TV stations with home-grown weather channels run actual programming - it's all the rage in Indianapolis, for example. But WeatherPlus would appear to not allow that, either technically or probably contractually.
If WKYC wanted to run "Akron/Canton News" on its digital over-air channel, it would have to open up a second subchannel, then figure out what to surround the channel with. And since WKYC and Time Warner Cable are in a pretty tight situation with the newscast, we doubt they'd do it anyway...it'd be one less "reason" to subscribe to cable...
Again, this is our own information, speculation and educated guesses. Please don't bug the folks at Channel 3 or Time Warner about this...they have nothing to do with this post...
AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT: Please don't associate stuff posted in our comments section (Motto: "On Its Last Legs, Honest!") directly with this report.
A persistent commenter or commenters have added a number of rumors about the employment status of a certain local mid-morning sports talk radio host, and his rumored replacement... a name we've brought up here numerous times. And the station itself, of course, has gone through changes recently.
But let's go on the record.
We've actually been overwhelmed (!) with E-Mail asking about the comments, which were not added by your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) and were posted without identification.
At this point, we have NO information confirming the rumors attached to the comments section on this board. None.
It's not that we believe changes may not happen. After all, the rumored "replacement" host has been mentioned frequently as someone we expect to hear regularly on that certain station in the future.
But...we've got nothing. We just wanted to disassociate ourselves with the rumors, and we'll let you know as soon as we hear anything we can "go to print" with, as it were.
And if you are an "insider" with information that could verify such, feel free to write us privately. Identify yourself, and we will not "give you up"...we hold onto our sources and keep them secret...
Thursday, February 15, 2007
More Les And More Rants
These two items also revolve around local sports personality Les Levine and his two local TV shows, oddly enough.
MORE LES: It's something we thought might happen in one of our earlier items.
Levine announced on his "More Sports and Les Levine" show last night that the Time Warner Cable show will expand to the company's entire Cleveland/Akron/Canton footprint starting with tonight's program.
Well, at least to the original Time Warner areas such as Akron/Canton, which were specifically mentioned. We also believe we heard him mention former Comcast areas like Mentor and Elyria.
We don't know if that means the company's local programming "main" channel will be consolidated, or if that means the WKYC-produced "Akron/Canton News" will start showing up in the former Adelphia service area in Summit County, at least.
Yes, as we've said about three dozen times by now, former Adelphia subscribers living within the Akron area - in the former Northampton Township in Akron or Cuyahoga Falls, along with Bath and Copley - still can't see the newscast ostensibly aimed at them...
MORE KIM: And Les' other television show, FSN Ohio's "Cleveland Rants", will gain another radio personality in addition to new co-host Kendall Lewis.
We didn't know this one until we stumbled onto the new FSN Ohio page for "Rants", but here it is:
New to Rants this season is WNCX morning host, Kim Mihalik. As a roving Rants reporter, Mihalik will frequent some of northeast Ohio's hottest lunchtime spots to get the pulse of Cleveland sports fans for the show. Fans can expect to see Kim and her camera crew at their favorite restaurants beginning next month.
The co-host with "Mud and Mike" on WNCX/98.5's morning drive show, of course, has something of a sports-related radio background...as the former co-host of the sports-heavy WTAM/1100 afternoon drive show with Mike Trivisonno.
Fans might also expect to see a new picture of Lewis on the page. Right now, his bio is next to a picture of WKNR/850's Neil Bender, who was last year's co-host...
MORE LES: It's something we thought might happen in one of our earlier items.
Levine announced on his "More Sports and Les Levine" show last night that the Time Warner Cable show will expand to the company's entire Cleveland/Akron/Canton footprint starting with tonight's program.
Well, at least to the original Time Warner areas such as Akron/Canton, which were specifically mentioned. We also believe we heard him mention former Comcast areas like Mentor and Elyria.
We don't know if that means the company's local programming "main" channel will be consolidated, or if that means the WKYC-produced "Akron/Canton News" will start showing up in the former Adelphia service area in Summit County, at least.
Yes, as we've said about three dozen times by now, former Adelphia subscribers living within the Akron area - in the former Northampton Township in Akron or Cuyahoga Falls, along with Bath and Copley - still can't see the newscast ostensibly aimed at them...
MORE KIM: And Les' other television show, FSN Ohio's "Cleveland Rants", will gain another radio personality in addition to new co-host Kendall Lewis.
We didn't know this one until we stumbled onto the new FSN Ohio page for "Rants", but here it is:
New to Rants this season is WNCX morning host, Kim Mihalik. As a roving Rants reporter, Mihalik will frequent some of northeast Ohio's hottest lunchtime spots to get the pulse of Cleveland sports fans for the show. Fans can expect to see Kim and her camera crew at their favorite restaurants beginning next month.
The co-host with "Mud and Mike" on WNCX/98.5's morning drive show, of course, has something of a sports-related radio background...as the former co-host of the sports-heavy WTAM/1100 afternoon drive show with Mike Trivisonno.
Fans might also expect to see a new picture of Lewis on the page. Right now, his bio is next to a picture of WKNR/850's Neil Bender, who was last year's co-host...
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
It's Lewis With Levine For Rants
As hinted earlier, from even the same source, former WKNR sports talk host Kendall Lewis is "back on the airwaves". Well, the cable lines and satellite waves.
Akron Beacon Journal sports media columnist George M. Thomas reports that Lewis will join FOX Sports Net Ohio's 2007 version of "Cleveland Rants", co-hosting with FSN Ohio's Les Levine. The show's new season starts March 5th.
The show aired last year with Levine and WKNR/850's Neil Bender, but the 2007 version will not be simulcast on the Good Karma sports talk outlet. Thomas reports that this year, it will also only air Monday through Friday, after Indians and Cavaliers' games.
However, Thomas reports that Lewis' voice will be heard on his former radio home soon, at least for a one-time stint. "The BSK" is set for a guest stint on 'KNR on March 3rd. The former WKNR talker has been heard on Paul Belfi's Internet sports outlet SportsTalkCleveland.com, and we haven't heard if that relationship will continue or not.
While we've got WKNR on the mind, we hear that the station ran ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" and "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" in the 9-noon slot normally occupied by local host Greg Brinda.
We're told on-air announcements said Brinda was out due to the inclement weather, and would return tomorrow. We're also told that the ESPN shows were presented as "a special presentation of Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540".
Is this a sign that "Mike and Mike", in particular, are primed for a return to the WKNR airwaves in morning drive? It may be too early to predict it, but the ESPN programming being used as a fill-in vs. whatever FOX Sports Radio airs in that slot might be a positive sign in that direction...
Akron Beacon Journal sports media columnist George M. Thomas reports that Lewis will join FOX Sports Net Ohio's 2007 version of "Cleveland Rants", co-hosting with FSN Ohio's Les Levine. The show's new season starts March 5th.
The show aired last year with Levine and WKNR/850's Neil Bender, but the 2007 version will not be simulcast on the Good Karma sports talk outlet. Thomas reports that this year, it will also only air Monday through Friday, after Indians and Cavaliers' games.
However, Thomas reports that Lewis' voice will be heard on his former radio home soon, at least for a one-time stint. "The BSK" is set for a guest stint on 'KNR on March 3rd. The former WKNR talker has been heard on Paul Belfi's Internet sports outlet SportsTalkCleveland.com, and we haven't heard if that relationship will continue or not.
While we've got WKNR on the mind, we hear that the station ran ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" and "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" in the 9-noon slot normally occupied by local host Greg Brinda.
We're told on-air announcements said Brinda was out due to the inclement weather, and would return tomorrow. We're also told that the ESPN shows were presented as "a special presentation of Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540".
Is this a sign that "Mike and Mike", in particular, are primed for a return to the WKNR airwaves in morning drive? It may be too early to predict it, but the ESPN programming being used as a fill-in vs. whatever FOX Sports Radio airs in that slot might be a positive sign in that direction...
Weather Or Not
The local TV news operations in the Cleveland market rarely need help emphasizing bad weather. Most of 'em pull out all the stops even when moderate storms are forecast anywhere NEAR Cleveland, complete with flashy graphics, hyperactive and excited weather forecasters, and bundled up live reporters all over town.
Give them a real storm, and they're off to the races.
Local stations preempted such important programming as soap operas and popular syndicated talk shows for coverage of this winter storm.
For example, ABC affiliate WEWS/5 pushed talk titan Oprah Winfrey to 2:05 AM early Wednesday morning, right after an airing of ABC's "General Hospital". We didn't see if WKYC/3 did the same to its own talk powerhouse, Dr. Phil, which keeps the "Channel 3 News" folks off the air until 6 PM on most days.
And local stations also kept people in late, and brought them in early. The morning shows got a jump on things this morning with a 4 AM start...some even bringing in weather forecasters from the night before.
Radio-wise, Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 blew out Premiere's "Coast to Coast AM" in favor of live, local programming with weekend morning host Bob Becker, leading up to the station's "Wills and Snyder".
The major winter storm experienced in these parts didn't quite warrant the final move - preemption of prime-time network programming, which continued unabated on all of Cleveland's "Big Four" stations. Oh, with the requisite "Official School Closing Station" graphics at the bottom of your screen, of course.
By the time we hit the late newscasts on Tuesday, we tired of it all. Yes, all the schools are closed. Yes, you're not supposed to be out on the roadways.
So, we hit the national news feed live out of Univision, the Spanish-language outlet seen locally on WQHS/61 in Cleveland.
And we got a strange satisfaction about picking out words like "tormente" while watching the live Reporter In Front Of The Highway Department's Salt Dome shot from "Nueva York". And we know not even a bit of Spanish.
By the way, we hear out of Time Warner Cable that the storm prompted them to cancel their press conference scheduled for Wednesday morning. We suspect the TWC folks would do it, if not for the fact that they wouldn't have anyone show up for it.
We've been told that we'll be kept in the loop about future developments, which may or may not track with some of our speculation in the previous item we posted. As we told them, we reserve the right to be spectacularly wrong in our own clearly labeled speculation...
Give them a real storm, and they're off to the races.
Local stations preempted such important programming as soap operas and popular syndicated talk shows for coverage of this winter storm.
For example, ABC affiliate WEWS/5 pushed talk titan Oprah Winfrey to 2:05 AM early Wednesday morning, right after an airing of ABC's "General Hospital". We didn't see if WKYC/3 did the same to its own talk powerhouse, Dr. Phil, which keeps the "Channel 3 News" folks off the air until 6 PM on most days.
And local stations also kept people in late, and brought them in early. The morning shows got a jump on things this morning with a 4 AM start...some even bringing in weather forecasters from the night before.
Radio-wise, Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 blew out Premiere's "Coast to Coast AM" in favor of live, local programming with weekend morning host Bob Becker, leading up to the station's "Wills and Snyder".
The major winter storm experienced in these parts didn't quite warrant the final move - preemption of prime-time network programming, which continued unabated on all of Cleveland's "Big Four" stations. Oh, with the requisite "Official School Closing Station" graphics at the bottom of your screen, of course.
By the time we hit the late newscasts on Tuesday, we tired of it all. Yes, all the schools are closed. Yes, you're not supposed to be out on the roadways.
So, we hit the national news feed live out of Univision, the Spanish-language outlet seen locally on WQHS/61 in Cleveland.
And we got a strange satisfaction about picking out words like "tormente" while watching the live Reporter In Front Of The Highway Department's Salt Dome shot from "Nueva York". And we know not even a bit of Spanish.
By the way, we hear out of Time Warner Cable that the storm prompted them to cancel their press conference scheduled for Wednesday morning. We suspect the TWC folks would do it, if not for the fact that they wouldn't have anyone show up for it.
We've been told that we'll be kept in the loop about future developments, which may or may not track with some of our speculation in the previous item we posted. As we told them, we reserve the right to be spectacularly wrong in our own clearly labeled speculation...
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Weather Claims Northwest Ohio Radio Tower
In extreme weather, like, well, we're experiencing now, broadcast facilities often take hits.
That's just what happened to Findlay's WFIN/1330, which lost its 280 foot tower Tuesday during near-blizzard conditions in the Northwest Ohio city. The tower collapse took the station off the air.
Via its website, the station says it is hesitant to say when it'll be able to reconstruct the tower. But the message from WFIN says it is "in the process" of figuring out a way to return to the air on an interim basis.
Until then, the station is delivering extensive storm news and information not only on the Internet, but on sister classic hits outlet WKXA/100.5...
That's just what happened to Findlay's WFIN/1330, which lost its 280 foot tower Tuesday during near-blizzard conditions in the Northwest Ohio city. The tower collapse took the station off the air.
Via its website, the station says it is hesitant to say when it'll be able to reconstruct the tower. But the message from WFIN says it is "in the process" of figuring out a way to return to the air on an interim basis.
Until then, the station is delivering extensive storm news and information not only on the Internet, but on sister classic hits outlet WKXA/100.5...
Monday, February 12, 2007
Radiothon Hits New Record
The folks at Clear Channel's Akron/Canton Southern Command pass this along:
The 8th Annual "Have a Heart - Do Your Part" Radiothon on hot AC WKDD/98.1 over the weekend broke a record. The total raised for Akron Children's Hospital this time around: $858,376.98.
The money raised includes over $141,000 raised by some 1400 "Change Bandits", who have spent the past few weeks collecting spare change for the effort.
Congratulations for a job well done. And, for the folks who don't believe Clear Channel and other major corporate radio players can "do anything right", we say it's heartening that for at least three days, one of their stations played a major role in bringing in this kind of money for a very worthy recipient...
The 8th Annual "Have a Heart - Do Your Part" Radiothon on hot AC WKDD/98.1 over the weekend broke a record. The total raised for Akron Children's Hospital this time around: $858,376.98.
The money raised includes over $141,000 raised by some 1400 "Change Bandits", who have spent the past few weeks collecting spare change for the effort.
Congratulations for a job well done. And, for the folks who don't believe Clear Channel and other major corporate radio players can "do anything right", we say it's heartening that for at least three days, one of their stations played a major role in bringing in this kind of money for a very worthy recipient...
Starting The Week With TV Stuff
For whatever reason, all the stuff in our "hold file" has to do with local television...so, let's turn on the Virtual OMW Tube:
TWC AKRON/CANTON CHANGES: This one, oddly enough, comes from one of the newest additions to our left-hand side links section...WKYC/3's "Director's Cut" blog, brought to you with care by WKYC News senior producer/director Frank Macek.
Frank tells us that WKYC's "Akron/Canton News" returns to Time Warner Cable's cable channel 23, after being bounced around to channel 17 or 96 due to the full-time presence of the Indians-run sports network SportsTime Ohio on 23.
That means STO is moving to its own dedicated channel - 76, says Mr. Macek - for this reason:
"...in preparation for the launch of a new local Channel on 23, which will include the Akron Canton News in it's daily lineup."
Hmm. Is this a feline creature being let out of its paper sack enclosure a bit early? We ask, because...
TWC PRESSER: OMW's now on the official press release list for the aforementioned Time Warner Cable, and we've been notified of a press conference Wednesday titled "Time Warner: Status in Greater Cleveland". Quoting the invite:
With 180 days as Greater Cleveland’s new cable operator, Time Warner Cable has celebrated success and overcome challenges. For Time Warner Cable customers and employees, the future offers continued opportunity.
Hmm, again.
We doubt they'd go to the trouble of dragging everyone up there on Wednesday if they're just saying "hey, it's cool we've been at this for six months!". But we have no other information than the brief press conference announcement.
So, we enter speculation mode here.
Is this the announcement that TWC is finally going to standardize lineups between the former Adelphia and Comcast systems in the Cleveland area, and the long-incumbent Akron/Canton lineups? (Yes, we know the Akron and Canton lineups are not 100% identical, but they're close.)
And would the aforementioned "local channel 23" be part of this announcement? TWC certainly has enough material to do it. The former Adelphia and Comcast systems offer local programming like "More Sports and Les Levine" and "The Midnight Movie" and could probably fill out a channel with the stuff TWC airs out of Akron/Canton.
We also wonder what other role WKYC plays in this...if, perhaps, repeats of WKYC-based Cleveland newscasts could join the station's "Akron/Canton News" on the new local channel as the system consolidates. And of course, such a move would finally deliver that newscast to the former Adelphia subscribers in Summit County's western and northwestern reaches.
For his part, WKYC's Macek on "Director's Cut" says he hasn't heard of such plans, or plans to put the Akron/Canton Newscast on the ex-Comcast systems, but is "hopeful".
Almost all of this is our own educated guessing/speculation, but we wouldn't be surprised if much of it came true on Wednesday. We can't be at the press conference, but we've requested that the relevant announcements be sent to us...
45/49'S HD: Those looking for PBS in HD in Northeast Ohio are surprisingly limited in their options.
Cleveland's WVIZ/25 has had a long-time battle to get its full-power digital TV transmitter going from the analog site in North Royalton. The site is owned by CBS Radio (WNCX/98.5), and we've heard in the past that there have even been legal issues and a dispute between the two broadcasters.
We haven't heard why that has dragged on into 2007. For now, those looking for PBS HD out of WVIZ either have to use antenna firepower to pick up a small, temporary setup out of the station's former Brookpark Road facility, or tune to Time Warner Cable (ex-Adelphia) 710.
Out of Akron, WNEO/WEAO-45/49 ran PBS HD when the stations' digital signals first went live...but stopped at some point. The station has since been gathering the federal grant money and preparing to return to running the HD feed on WEAO-DT and WNEO-DT.
But...equipment is still getting in the way. PBS 45 & 49's Don Freeman explains on a local forum dedicated to HDTV:
Our first generation automation software, server hardware and digital encoder are incompatible with the upgraded automation software. We can't insert anything into the digital HD stream we receive from PBS, or record any of those programs for later use, until we get the new software.
Without making those insertions, or having the programs air from our servers, we can't broadcast the PBS-HD programs. We'll be shopping at the NAB show in April, money in hand, and fully expect to have our decisions made, equipment ordered and installed by the beginning of our next fiscal year, July 1, 2007.
How's that for "official information"? Hats off to Mr. Freeman and the folks at the Kent-based public TV station...
AND NO INFORMATION: Meanwhile, compare that to the website of local CW affiliate WBNX/55.
You know, the station which said it would try to put up a digital/HD signal to local cable stations and satellite providers "by the end of October 2006", with an over-air signal from WBNX-DT by about April of this year?
The "trends" section of WBNX's website contains...the exact same wording. In February, 2007!
We've never had much success getting any information out of WBNX on this. They've never responded to our queries of any sort, and we've never been able to corner any station officials to answer this "live".
We know WBNX's Lou Spangler told Akron Beacon Journal TV writer R.D. Heldenfels that they were having some technical glitches in trying to ready the HDTV feed for cable. But...that was months ago.
Meanwhile, fans of CW shows like "Veronica Mars", "Everybody Hates Chris" and the like have missed out on their shows in HDTV for the fall season, at least through now...and likely the entire way, unless a WBNX HD cable feed is about to light up soon.
For a market that's advanced enough to have three out of four local TV news operations in HDTV, not having ANY digital signal out of the local CW network affiliate is odd...
AND SPEAKING OF HD NEWS: We don't have anything solid on this, but the local TV rumor mill is piping up on that fourth station converting to HDTV local newscasts.
Rumblings are going around the market that engineers at Raycom Media CBS/MyNet combo WOIO/19-WUAB/43's "19 Action News" are going full-tilt this month, readying the station for conversion of its newscasts to HD format.
We hear they're aiming for the end of this month for a launch.
With that conversion, local news-wise only the WKYC-produced "Akron/Canton News" will not be in HDTV, unless that's in the future as well.
Oh, and there's the local news operation of Mansfield independent WMFD/68, which is technically in the Cleveland TV market...
TWC AKRON/CANTON CHANGES: This one, oddly enough, comes from one of the newest additions to our left-hand side links section...WKYC/3's "Director's Cut" blog, brought to you with care by WKYC News senior producer/director Frank Macek.
Frank tells us that WKYC's "Akron/Canton News" returns to Time Warner Cable's cable channel 23, after being bounced around to channel 17 or 96 due to the full-time presence of the Indians-run sports network SportsTime Ohio on 23.
That means STO is moving to its own dedicated channel - 76, says Mr. Macek - for this reason:
"...in preparation for the launch of a new local Channel on 23, which will include the Akron Canton News in it's daily lineup."
Hmm. Is this a feline creature being let out of its paper sack enclosure a bit early? We ask, because...
TWC PRESSER: OMW's now on the official press release list for the aforementioned Time Warner Cable, and we've been notified of a press conference Wednesday titled "Time Warner: Status in Greater Cleveland". Quoting the invite:
With 180 days as Greater Cleveland’s new cable operator, Time Warner Cable has celebrated success and overcome challenges. For Time Warner Cable customers and employees, the future offers continued opportunity.
Hmm, again.
We doubt they'd go to the trouble of dragging everyone up there on Wednesday if they're just saying "hey, it's cool we've been at this for six months!". But we have no other information than the brief press conference announcement.
So, we enter speculation mode here.
Is this the announcement that TWC is finally going to standardize lineups between the former Adelphia and Comcast systems in the Cleveland area, and the long-incumbent Akron/Canton lineups? (Yes, we know the Akron and Canton lineups are not 100% identical, but they're close.)
And would the aforementioned "local channel 23" be part of this announcement? TWC certainly has enough material to do it. The former Adelphia and Comcast systems offer local programming like "More Sports and Les Levine" and "The Midnight Movie" and could probably fill out a channel with the stuff TWC airs out of Akron/Canton.
We also wonder what other role WKYC plays in this...if, perhaps, repeats of WKYC-based Cleveland newscasts could join the station's "Akron/Canton News" on the new local channel as the system consolidates. And of course, such a move would finally deliver that newscast to the former Adelphia subscribers in Summit County's western and northwestern reaches.
For his part, WKYC's Macek on "Director's Cut" says he hasn't heard of such plans, or plans to put the Akron/Canton Newscast on the ex-Comcast systems, but is "hopeful".
Almost all of this is our own educated guessing/speculation, but we wouldn't be surprised if much of it came true on Wednesday. We can't be at the press conference, but we've requested that the relevant announcements be sent to us...
45/49'S HD: Those looking for PBS in HD in Northeast Ohio are surprisingly limited in their options.
Cleveland's WVIZ/25 has had a long-time battle to get its full-power digital TV transmitter going from the analog site in North Royalton. The site is owned by CBS Radio (WNCX/98.5), and we've heard in the past that there have even been legal issues and a dispute between the two broadcasters.
We haven't heard why that has dragged on into 2007. For now, those looking for PBS HD out of WVIZ either have to use antenna firepower to pick up a small, temporary setup out of the station's former Brookpark Road facility, or tune to Time Warner Cable (ex-Adelphia) 710.
Out of Akron, WNEO/WEAO-45/49 ran PBS HD when the stations' digital signals first went live...but stopped at some point. The station has since been gathering the federal grant money and preparing to return to running the HD feed on WEAO-DT and WNEO-DT.
But...equipment is still getting in the way. PBS 45 & 49's Don Freeman explains on a local forum dedicated to HDTV:
Our first generation automation software, server hardware and digital encoder are incompatible with the upgraded automation software. We can't insert anything into the digital HD stream we receive from PBS, or record any of those programs for later use, until we get the new software.
Without making those insertions, or having the programs air from our servers, we can't broadcast the PBS-HD programs. We'll be shopping at the NAB show in April, money in hand, and fully expect to have our decisions made, equipment ordered and installed by the beginning of our next fiscal year, July 1, 2007.
How's that for "official information"? Hats off to Mr. Freeman and the folks at the Kent-based public TV station...
AND NO INFORMATION: Meanwhile, compare that to the website of local CW affiliate WBNX/55.
You know, the station which said it would try to put up a digital/HD signal to local cable stations and satellite providers "by the end of October 2006", with an over-air signal from WBNX-DT by about April of this year?
The "trends" section of WBNX's website contains...the exact same wording. In February, 2007!
We've never had much success getting any information out of WBNX on this. They've never responded to our queries of any sort, and we've never been able to corner any station officials to answer this "live".
We know WBNX's Lou Spangler told Akron Beacon Journal TV writer R.D. Heldenfels that they were having some technical glitches in trying to ready the HDTV feed for cable. But...that was months ago.
Meanwhile, fans of CW shows like "Veronica Mars", "Everybody Hates Chris" and the like have missed out on their shows in HDTV for the fall season, at least through now...and likely the entire way, unless a WBNX HD cable feed is about to light up soon.
For a market that's advanced enough to have three out of four local TV news operations in HDTV, not having ANY digital signal out of the local CW network affiliate is odd...
AND SPEAKING OF HD NEWS: We don't have anything solid on this, but the local TV rumor mill is piping up on that fourth station converting to HDTV local newscasts.
Rumblings are going around the market that engineers at Raycom Media CBS/MyNet combo WOIO/19-WUAB/43's "19 Action News" are going full-tilt this month, readying the station for conversion of its newscasts to HD format.
We hear they're aiming for the end of this month for a launch.
With that conversion, local news-wise only the WKYC-produced "Akron/Canton News" will not be in HDTV, unless that's in the future as well.
Oh, and there's the local news operation of Mansfield independent WMFD/68, which is technically in the Cleveland TV market...
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Ex-WHBCer Back Doing Talk On 1480
This is an odd one for at least two reasons.
We got a tip that this Sunday night, NextMedia oldies WHBC/1480 Canton is airing a three hour local call-in talk show, from 7-10 PM.
Not only that, the host of this evening's show may surprise you: Brady Russell.
Yes, the same Brady Russell who was let go from sister AC outlet WHBC-FM/94.1 "Mix 94.1"'s afternoon drive show just over two years ago for his on-air comments related to protesters at the second inauguration for President Bush.
Quoting Russell in the 2005 article by Canton Repository entertainment beat writer Dan Kane:
“I suggested humorously that some harm might come to some of the communists and anarchists who were protesting at the president’s inauguration,” he said.
“I fall on the conservative side of the line. It had to be someone left of center who complained.”
Sunday night is not exactly prime radio time for a local talk show. Even Akron market talker WNIR/100.1, which has an extensive local talk schedule, is not live and local on Sunday nights.
We can't help but wonder if this is an audition for a regular weekday program.
For one, we've heard all those nagging rumors we've passed along to you - that WHBC's AM side has been trying to find its way to a post-music future, and has kicked around changing its format to talk.
One obstacle, we keep hearing, is the lack of decent syndicated talk radio product on the market. Nearly all shows even remotely worth considering are tied up, many of them by Clear Channel (WHLO/640 and WARF/1350 both claim Canton rights to syndicated programs) and even by crosstown talk/religious WCER/900.
There isn't much left on the syndicated talk plate for the folks at 1480 to pick up. Perhaps the highest profile talker not cleared here in Northeast Ohio is Jones Radio's Neal Boortz, and the menu offerings look pretty slim after that.
But if they're looking to mount a talk format, presumably conservative, wouldn't bringing back a guy they let go for being too controversial in that very same vein be an interesting move?
We have no idea if there is any plan for Mr. Russell beyond tonight's show.
And so far, from the bit we've heard (WHBC's signal aims nicely north out of its nighttime transmitter location, so at least we can listen to a weak signal), he has been talking about relatively tame topics like plans for downtown Canton, and people finding jobs.
That last one is a topic Brady knows about personally - since leaving WHBC-FM two years ago, he's apparently been working at a staffing agency as his "day job".
We'll be listening, and trying to figure out more...
We got a tip that this Sunday night, NextMedia oldies WHBC/1480 Canton is airing a three hour local call-in talk show, from 7-10 PM.
Not only that, the host of this evening's show may surprise you: Brady Russell.
Yes, the same Brady Russell who was let go from sister AC outlet WHBC-FM/94.1 "Mix 94.1"'s afternoon drive show just over two years ago for his on-air comments related to protesters at the second inauguration for President Bush.
Quoting Russell in the 2005 article by Canton Repository entertainment beat writer Dan Kane:
“I suggested humorously that some harm might come to some of the communists and anarchists who were protesting at the president’s inauguration,” he said.
“I fall on the conservative side of the line. It had to be someone left of center who complained.”
Sunday night is not exactly prime radio time for a local talk show. Even Akron market talker WNIR/100.1, which has an extensive local talk schedule, is not live and local on Sunday nights.
We can't help but wonder if this is an audition for a regular weekday program.
For one, we've heard all those nagging rumors we've passed along to you - that WHBC's AM side has been trying to find its way to a post-music future, and has kicked around changing its format to talk.
One obstacle, we keep hearing, is the lack of decent syndicated talk radio product on the market. Nearly all shows even remotely worth considering are tied up, many of them by Clear Channel (WHLO/640 and WARF/1350 both claim Canton rights to syndicated programs) and even by crosstown talk/religious WCER/900.
There isn't much left on the syndicated talk plate for the folks at 1480 to pick up. Perhaps the highest profile talker not cleared here in Northeast Ohio is Jones Radio's Neal Boortz, and the menu offerings look pretty slim after that.
But if they're looking to mount a talk format, presumably conservative, wouldn't bringing back a guy they let go for being too controversial in that very same vein be an interesting move?
We have no idea if there is any plan for Mr. Russell beyond tonight's show.
And so far, from the bit we've heard (WHBC's signal aims nicely north out of its nighttime transmitter location, so at least we can listen to a weak signal), he has been talking about relatively tame topics like plans for downtown Canton, and people finding jobs.
That last one is a topic Brady knows about personally - since leaving WHBC-FM two years ago, he's apparently been working at a staffing agency as his "day job".
We'll be listening, and trying to figure out more...
Friday, February 09, 2007
Children's Hospital Radiothon
It's that time of year again for the folks at Clear Channel's WKDD/98.1.
The Akron/Canton hot AC outlet undertakes the 8th Annual "Have a Heart - Do Your Part" radiothon for Akron's Children's Hospital, this weekend.
It actually started Friday, and continues with pledge lines open (866-543-0981) this Saturday and Sunday from 7 AM to 9 PM. You can also donate online at the station's website.
We hear that new this year, the radiothon becomes almost a telethon, or maybe you can call it a "streamingmediathon". WKDD has put up a link to live streaming video of the event.
Last year, the station raised $842,098 on behalf of the local hospital, including over $200,000 from change collected in its "Change Bandit" drive.
What we neglected to mention in 2006 was our own history with the radiothon.
In its earliest days, in the mid-1970's, the "Children's Hospital Radiothon" was sponsored by Akron's WHLO/640. Back then, WHLO was, as it is now, a talk radio station...but it was owned by Susquehanna, the company absorbed into today's Cumulus Media.
As far as we know, there's no direct connection between the two efforts, aside from the same beneficiary and radio facility. And of course, WHLO left the talk format for many years, before being returned to it by Clear Channel a few years ago.
But there is the memory of a certain youth spending Sunday afternoon answering the pledge line phones, as the radiothon - WHLO, mid-1970's version - set up at Akron's Summit Mall...
The Akron/Canton hot AC outlet undertakes the 8th Annual "Have a Heart - Do Your Part" radiothon for Akron's Children's Hospital, this weekend.
It actually started Friday, and continues with pledge lines open (866-543-0981) this Saturday and Sunday from 7 AM to 9 PM. You can also donate online at the station's website.We hear that new this year, the radiothon becomes almost a telethon, or maybe you can call it a "streamingmediathon". WKDD has put up a link to live streaming video of the event.
Last year, the station raised $842,098 on behalf of the local hospital, including over $200,000 from change collected in its "Change Bandit" drive.
What we neglected to mention in 2006 was our own history with the radiothon.
In its earliest days, in the mid-1970's, the "Children's Hospital Radiothon" was sponsored by Akron's WHLO/640. Back then, WHLO was, as it is now, a talk radio station...but it was owned by Susquehanna, the company absorbed into today's Cumulus Media.
As far as we know, there's no direct connection between the two efforts, aside from the same beneficiary and radio facility. And of course, WHLO left the talk format for many years, before being returned to it by Clear Channel a few years ago.
But there is the memory of a certain youth spending Sunday afternoon answering the pledge line phones, as the radiothon - WHLO, mid-1970's version - set up at Akron's Summit Mall...
Next On The WKNR List: Les Levine
OMW hears that local sports talk veteran Les Levine is next up in the "Saturday Morning Sports Show" hopper at Good Karma sports WKNR/850, Saturday from 9 AM to noon.
We're not sure if that means anything - if the presence of Levine in that time slot one week after WJW/8 "FOX 8" sports anchor Tony Rizzo means that new WKNR owner Craig Karmazin wants to hear a rotation of possible future WKNR hosts for himself.
Or, it could be nothing more complicated than tapping some local sports media veterans to hang out on the radio on a Saturday morning.
It would appear to mean, for now, that the rotation of young producers/hosts that formerly occupied the time slot is done.
It's not the first time Levine's been heard on WKNR, of course, but all of it was before Karmazin announced his purchase of the station that has been owned by Salem.
The FOX Sports Net Ohio personality, seen weeknights on Time Warner Cable Cleveland channel 15 on his "More Sports and Les Levine", was on WKNR regularly via FSN Ohio's "Cleveland Rants" simulcast with the sports talk station during the Cleveland Indians season.
And we seem to remember that WKNR briefly aired Levine's Internet-based "Sports Club" show, in a delayed time slot - 6-7 PM.
By the way, it would appear that the rumors we've heard are correct, and that "Rants" will return - with Levine - for the upcoming Indians season.
To that end, Akron Beacon Journal sports media writer George M. Thomas reports that former WKNR host Kendall Lewis - now doing middays at SportsTalkCleveland.com - has been talking with FSN Ohio about joining Levine this year on "Cleveland Rants". (Read the rest of the article, too...it's a good one.)
And we've heard in rumorland that if Lewis does join up with Levine, it won't return him to the WKNR airwaves. We've heard since nearly the end of the show's first season that it would likely be TV-only for 2007...
Other WKNR-related items:
COSTAS MOVES: OMW hears that the station's schedule change on Saturday mornings, including the 7-9 AM time slot for "The Golf Show" and the move of the "Saturday Morning Sports Show" to 9-noon, have meant a new time slot for Premiere syndicated host Bob Costas. "Costas on the Radio" will air Sundays from 8-10 AM.
SALE APPROVED: We went into the FCC online database, and found that the sale of WKNR to Good Karma was officially approved by the FCC on January 24th. (For those playing at home, "Caron Broadcasting" is a Salem Communications license subsidiary.)
Of course, the company must close on the station and officially file that closure with the FCC. It's kind of a moot point here, since Good Karma has been operating WKNR in an LMA since the very day the sale was announced.
STUDIOS: An OMW spy in Downtown Cleveland tells us that the future studio space for WKNR and Good Karma sister sports WWGK/1540 is marked by a sign for "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" and a "Coming Soon!" sign.
As reported a while ago, the studios will be on the first floor of the Galleria at Erieview shopping/office complex a short drive away from Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Good Karma space will be at the east end of the complex at East 12th Street.
So far, we're told it appears no construction has begun, at least yet. (And the presence of only the "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" logo tells us that the sign likely went up before Good Karma announced the purchase of WKNR from Salem.)
We're told by our downtown spy that the space appears basically unchanged from what appears to be a previous life as a craft or flower shop...but we're sure that'll change as the year goes on...
We're not sure if that means anything - if the presence of Levine in that time slot one week after WJW/8 "FOX 8" sports anchor Tony Rizzo means that new WKNR owner Craig Karmazin wants to hear a rotation of possible future WKNR hosts for himself.Or, it could be nothing more complicated than tapping some local sports media veterans to hang out on the radio on a Saturday morning.
It would appear to mean, for now, that the rotation of young producers/hosts that formerly occupied the time slot is done.
It's not the first time Levine's been heard on WKNR, of course, but all of it was before Karmazin announced his purchase of the station that has been owned by Salem.
The FOX Sports Net Ohio personality, seen weeknights on Time Warner Cable Cleveland channel 15 on his "More Sports and Les Levine", was on WKNR regularly via FSN Ohio's "Cleveland Rants" simulcast with the sports talk station during the Cleveland Indians season.
And we seem to remember that WKNR briefly aired Levine's Internet-based "Sports Club" show, in a delayed time slot - 6-7 PM.
By the way, it would appear that the rumors we've heard are correct, and that "Rants" will return - with Levine - for the upcoming Indians season.
To that end, Akron Beacon Journal sports media writer George M. Thomas reports that former WKNR host Kendall Lewis - now doing middays at SportsTalkCleveland.com - has been talking with FSN Ohio about joining Levine this year on "Cleveland Rants". (Read the rest of the article, too...it's a good one.)
And we've heard in rumorland that if Lewis does join up with Levine, it won't return him to the WKNR airwaves. We've heard since nearly the end of the show's first season that it would likely be TV-only for 2007...
Other WKNR-related items:
COSTAS MOVES: OMW hears that the station's schedule change on Saturday mornings, including the 7-9 AM time slot for "The Golf Show" and the move of the "Saturday Morning Sports Show" to 9-noon, have meant a new time slot for Premiere syndicated host Bob Costas. "Costas on the Radio" will air Sundays from 8-10 AM.
SALE APPROVED: We went into the FCC online database, and found that the sale of WKNR to Good Karma was officially approved by the FCC on January 24th. (For those playing at home, "Caron Broadcasting" is a Salem Communications license subsidiary.)
Of course, the company must close on the station and officially file that closure with the FCC. It's kind of a moot point here, since Good Karma has been operating WKNR in an LMA since the very day the sale was announced.
STUDIOS: An OMW spy in Downtown Cleveland tells us that the future studio space for WKNR and Good Karma sister sports WWGK/1540 is marked by a sign for "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" and a "Coming Soon!" sign.
As reported a while ago, the studios will be on the first floor of the Galleria at Erieview shopping/office complex a short drive away from Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Good Karma space will be at the east end of the complex at East 12th Street.
So far, we're told it appears no construction has begun, at least yet. (And the presence of only the "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" logo tells us that the sign likely went up before Good Karma announced the purchase of WKNR from Salem.)
We're told by our downtown spy that the space appears basically unchanged from what appears to be a previous life as a craft or flower shop...but we're sure that'll change as the year goes on...
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Three Thursday Things
Some stuff that's been hanging around and really, really needs to be freed:
DIRECTOR'S CUT: As an OMW reader, you're probably used to a look "inside" various local radio and TV operations, usually involving talent moves or other station changes.
You can't get any more "inside" one local TV station without showing up on their doorstep, thanks to a relatively new blog.
WKYC/3 senior producer/director Frank Macek's "Director's Cut" is must reading for those who want to know all the details of why things happen at the local NBC affiliate.
Among recent items: The actual workings of what it takes for the station's recent graphics package upgrade to work, questions and answers about the technical and behind-the-scenes workings at "Channel 3 News" and even a news item about the upcoming switch of NBC Nightly News' studio to HDTV.
It's well worth a visit, and we'll find a place for it as a permanent link sometime in the very near future!
And reading Frank's bio on his profile page, we know why his name sounds familiar. He's had past stints in Cleveland radio, including on-air stints at the WDOK, WNWV and the old WRMR.
At WKYC, Frank is responsible for directing all of the stations' evening newscasts (6, 7 and 11 PM), as well as the 6:30 and 10 PM editions of the WKYC-produced "Akron/Canton News" on Time Warner Cable 23...
STOP 26 STOPPED: The takeover of the former Stop 26 Riverbend Productions stations in Columbus and Youngstown by Bernard Radio LLC has been approved by the FCC, as of late last month.
In the Youngstown market, that includes gospel WGFT/1330, urban talk WGFT/1500 and urban AC WRBP/101.9. And in Columbus, that includes Spanish language WVKO-FM/103.1 and the currently silent WVKO/1580.
It's the latter station getting our attention...for now that Bernard Radio has taken it over, the company has restarted the process of trying to land a new transmitter site for 1580 AM. The bankruptcy trustee operating the station in the transition took it off the air last May, due to finances and the station's impending loss of its then-current site.
An OMW reader passes along an article a week ago in "ThisWeek", a suburban Columbus newspaper.
After getting approval last fall by Columbus City Council for a new facility on Morse Road, and securing that site from a local redevelopment agency, WVKO must now get a building permit approved for the towers planned for that site.
Bradley Scher, the aforementioned trustee, tells the newspaper that the station hopes to be on the air sometime this year, but gives no indication of the format for 1580's return.
Before all this happened, the station aired a mix of gospel music and urban talk and information, along with being the home station for the Columbus Clippers AAA baseball team...
WHILE WE'RE IN COLUMBUS: Electronically, that is, local radio watchers there have been buzzing about the 80's music format that's camped out on new non-comm station WHKC/91.5, which first lit up its construction permit back in December.
Is the 80's music format the permanent choice for WHKC owner Robb Case, a former local TV helicopter reporter?
He plays coy with Tim Feran at the Columbus Dispatch, in an article in Wednesday's newspaper.
New format-wise, Case hints at anything from an NPR-affiliated news/talk outlet with local drivetime shows, to a new place for Christian contemporary music now heard on WCVO/104.9 "The River". It would appear the 80's music is just a filler.
And like any good promoter, he asks listeners for suggestions on the station's new format, via E-Mail...
Feran's article also touches on an item we had here a while back, the proposed move of WJZK/104.3 Richwood to a new community of license of Grandview Heights...and Saga's proposed donation of WQEL/92.7 Bucyrus to the Bible Broadcasting Network, if FCC regulations do not allow Saga to keep it after the WJZK move...
DIRECTOR'S CUT: As an OMW reader, you're probably used to a look "inside" various local radio and TV operations, usually involving talent moves or other station changes.
You can't get any more "inside" one local TV station without showing up on their doorstep, thanks to a relatively new blog.
WKYC/3 senior producer/director Frank Macek's "Director's Cut" is must reading for those who want to know all the details of why things happen at the local NBC affiliate.
Among recent items: The actual workings of what it takes for the station's recent graphics package upgrade to work, questions and answers about the technical and behind-the-scenes workings at "Channel 3 News" and even a news item about the upcoming switch of NBC Nightly News' studio to HDTV.
It's well worth a visit, and we'll find a place for it as a permanent link sometime in the very near future!
And reading Frank's bio on his profile page, we know why his name sounds familiar. He's had past stints in Cleveland radio, including on-air stints at the WDOK, WNWV and the old WRMR.
At WKYC, Frank is responsible for directing all of the stations' evening newscasts (6, 7 and 11 PM), as well as the 6:30 and 10 PM editions of the WKYC-produced "Akron/Canton News" on Time Warner Cable 23...
STOP 26 STOPPED: The takeover of the former Stop 26 Riverbend Productions stations in Columbus and Youngstown by Bernard Radio LLC has been approved by the FCC, as of late last month.
In the Youngstown market, that includes gospel WGFT/1330, urban talk WGFT/1500 and urban AC WRBP/101.9. And in Columbus, that includes Spanish language WVKO-FM/103.1 and the currently silent WVKO/1580.
It's the latter station getting our attention...for now that Bernard Radio has taken it over, the company has restarted the process of trying to land a new transmitter site for 1580 AM. The bankruptcy trustee operating the station in the transition took it off the air last May, due to finances and the station's impending loss of its then-current site.
An OMW reader passes along an article a week ago in "ThisWeek", a suburban Columbus newspaper.
After getting approval last fall by Columbus City Council for a new facility on Morse Road, and securing that site from a local redevelopment agency, WVKO must now get a building permit approved for the towers planned for that site.
Bradley Scher, the aforementioned trustee, tells the newspaper that the station hopes to be on the air sometime this year, but gives no indication of the format for 1580's return.
Before all this happened, the station aired a mix of gospel music and urban talk and information, along with being the home station for the Columbus Clippers AAA baseball team...
WHILE WE'RE IN COLUMBUS: Electronically, that is, local radio watchers there have been buzzing about the 80's music format that's camped out on new non-comm station WHKC/91.5, which first lit up its construction permit back in December.
Is the 80's music format the permanent choice for WHKC owner Robb Case, a former local TV helicopter reporter?
He plays coy with Tim Feran at the Columbus Dispatch, in an article in Wednesday's newspaper.
New format-wise, Case hints at anything from an NPR-affiliated news/talk outlet with local drivetime shows, to a new place for Christian contemporary music now heard on WCVO/104.9 "The River". It would appear the 80's music is just a filler.
And like any good promoter, he asks listeners for suggestions on the station's new format, via E-Mail...
Feran's article also touches on an item we had here a while back, the proposed move of WJZK/104.3 Richwood to a new community of license of Grandview Heights...and Saga's proposed donation of WQEL/92.7 Bucyrus to the Bible Broadcasting Network, if FCC regulations do not allow Saga to keep it after the WJZK move...
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
The REAL Story Behind WYTV's Acquisition
Kudos to one of the most dogged reporters in the entire Youngstown market, Andrea Wood at the Business Journal, for uncovering THIS little gem.
As it turns out, the announced sale of Chelsey Broadcasting ABC affiliate WYTV/33 in the Valley to Parkin Broadcasting has more to it than meets the eye.
Wood and The Business Journal dug into FCC records for the proposed sale, and found this gem...we'll quote the last part of it, since the FCC's all-upper case style in the online database is hurting our eyes:
PARKIN BROADCASTING OF YOUNGSTOWN, LLC AND NVT YOUNGSTOWN ALSO MAY ENTER INTO A SHARED SERVICES AGREEMENT. THE PARTIES HAVE NOT YET NEGOTIATED THE THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR AN SSA . HOWEVER, ANY SUCH SSA WILL COMPLY WITH COMMISSION RULES AND POLICIES FOR SUCH AGREEMENTS.
NVT Youngstown, as explained in the document, is the proposed licensee of Youngstown CBS affiliate WKBN/27 and FOX affiliate LPTV combo WYFX-LP/62-WFXI-CA/17 ("FOX 17/62"). It's better known to readers here as New Vision Television, the Atlanta-based company that announced it was buying WKBN and WYFX from Piedmont Television.
The "Shared Services Agreement", as Wood hints in the Business Journal, would likely involve a sole news operation between the two (three) stations. It is hard to imagine the scenario which would result in the WYTV newsroom surviving intact.
It's a story that's played out in many other markets similar to Youngstown, including nearby Erie PA, where multiple stations are operated by single companies. And the mere economics in a market like Youngstown, with a fast dwindling population, work against three entirely separate news operations.
Our favorite part of this "story behind the story"? Apparently, the folks at Parkin Television put out a press release announcing the purchase of WYTV...with the very same phone number put on the release announcing New Vision's purchase of WKBN/WYFX.
It'll be very interesting to watch how this plays out...but if we were on Shady Run Road, our tapes and resumes would be out before we could finish this sentence...
As it turns out, the announced sale of Chelsey Broadcasting ABC affiliate WYTV/33 in the Valley to Parkin Broadcasting has more to it than meets the eye.
Wood and The Business Journal dug into FCC records for the proposed sale, and found this gem...we'll quote the last part of it, since the FCC's all-upper case style in the online database is hurting our eyes:
PARKIN BROADCASTING OF YOUNGSTOWN, LLC AND NVT YOUNGSTOWN ALSO MAY ENTER INTO A SHARED SERVICES AGREEMENT. THE PARTIES HAVE NOT YET NEGOTIATED THE THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR AN SSA . HOWEVER, ANY SUCH SSA WILL COMPLY WITH COMMISSION RULES AND POLICIES FOR SUCH AGREEMENTS.
NVT Youngstown, as explained in the document, is the proposed licensee of Youngstown CBS affiliate WKBN/27 and FOX affiliate LPTV combo WYFX-LP/62-WFXI-CA/17 ("FOX 17/62"). It's better known to readers here as New Vision Television, the Atlanta-based company that announced it was buying WKBN and WYFX from Piedmont Television.
The "Shared Services Agreement", as Wood hints in the Business Journal, would likely involve a sole news operation between the two (three) stations. It is hard to imagine the scenario which would result in the WYTV newsroom surviving intact.
It's a story that's played out in many other markets similar to Youngstown, including nearby Erie PA, where multiple stations are operated by single companies. And the mere economics in a market like Youngstown, with a fast dwindling population, work against three entirely separate news operations.
Our favorite part of this "story behind the story"? Apparently, the folks at Parkin Television put out a press release announcing the purchase of WYTV...with the very same phone number put on the release announcing New Vision's purchase of WKBN/WYFX.
It'll be very interesting to watch how this plays out...but if we were on Shady Run Road, our tapes and resumes would be out before we could finish this sentence...
Up From The Minors
The long-time play-by-play voice of the AAA Buffalo Bisons is following a number of players for that Indians minor league team, and is moving up to the major leagues.
Bisons' radio voice Jim Rosenhaus has been named as radio pre-game host, and producer/engineer, for the Cleveland Indians Radio Network broadcasts - which originate at flagship station Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100.
The position had been advertised as an opening for some time.
OMW believes that it's a new hybrid position, and doesn't affect current Indians Radio Network staffers like WTAM Indians beat reporter Mark Schwab. Former Indians radio voice Matt Underwood, who did the network pre-game last year, is in the TV booth at SportsTime Ohio this upcoming season.
We don't know if Rosenhaus will play a role in WTAM's "Tribe Insider" pre-pre-game show, which was long hosted by sportscaster Casey Coleman...who passed away last year.
Rosenhaus tells the Buffalo News:
"If this job wasn't with the Indians, I don't know if I would have had as good a chance. No question, over the years I've developed relationships with people in their organization who came through Buffalo and helped me a lot."
Bisons' radio voice Jim Rosenhaus has been named as radio pre-game host, and producer/engineer, for the Cleveland Indians Radio Network broadcasts - which originate at flagship station Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100.
The position had been advertised as an opening for some time.
OMW believes that it's a new hybrid position, and doesn't affect current Indians Radio Network staffers like WTAM Indians beat reporter Mark Schwab. Former Indians radio voice Matt Underwood, who did the network pre-game last year, is in the TV booth at SportsTime Ohio this upcoming season.
We don't know if Rosenhaus will play a role in WTAM's "Tribe Insider" pre-pre-game show, which was long hosted by sportscaster Casey Coleman...who passed away last year.
Rosenhaus tells the Buffalo News:
"If this job wasn't with the Indians, I don't know if I would have had as good a chance. No question, over the years I've developed relationships with people in their organization who came through Buffalo and helped me a lot."
Master Of Our Own Domain
Effective immediately, we now have ownership and control over the domain OhioMediaWatch.com.
As it has in the past, the domain still points to the original OMW URL - ohiomedia.blogspot.com.
We're not sure what will happen in the future, but for now, you can use the address in case there are problems with Blogger. We'll put up status notifications and be able to publish news items in the case of Blogger outages.
There are other changes in the works, soon, as we've been hinting. For one, we've managed to move the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) over to the "new" side of Blogger, which should expand our options.
For one, we can now "tag" or label posts so we can group them by topic. You'll see that at the bottom of this post, which we've labeled "housekeeping".
We'd like to thank Charlie Profit of CABRadio.com, who originally registered the OhioMediaWatch domain for us and has hosted the redirection to the main OMW address. We appreciate his help!
As it has in the past, the domain still points to the original OMW URL - ohiomedia.blogspot.com.
We're not sure what will happen in the future, but for now, you can use the address in case there are problems with Blogger. We'll put up status notifications and be able to publish news items in the case of Blogger outages.
There are other changes in the works, soon, as we've been hinting. For one, we've managed to move the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) over to the "new" side of Blogger, which should expand our options.
For one, we can now "tag" or label posts so we can group them by topic. You'll see that at the bottom of this post, which we've labeled "housekeeping".
We'd like to thank Charlie Profit of CABRadio.com, who originally registered the OhioMediaWatch domain for us and has hosted the redirection to the main OMW address. We appreciate his help!
WYTV Sold To New Company
Youngstown market ABC affiliate WYTV/33 is being sold to a company that is just starting out in the world of TV.
The sale is to Los Angeles-based Parkin Broadcasting. Despite the name, it has no other broadcast interests.
The Youngstown Vindicator has more on the sale by Chelsey Broadcasting to a company that has focused on Internet ventures:
The Youngstown-based station will become the platform for "ideas to marry new media, such as the Internet, with television," Todd Parkin, chairman and chief executive of Parkin Broadcasting, said in a news release.
The Vindicator reports the new WYTV owners have spent the past four years, according to their press release, "focusing on streaming media and mobile content".
We'll see if they can focus on the old-fashioned business of running a TV station in Ohio...
The sale is to Los Angeles-based Parkin Broadcasting. Despite the name, it has no other broadcast interests.
The Youngstown Vindicator has more on the sale by Chelsey Broadcasting to a company that has focused on Internet ventures:
The Youngstown-based station will become the platform for "ideas to marry new media, such as the Internet, with television," Todd Parkin, chairman and chief executive of Parkin Broadcasting, said in a news release.
The Vindicator reports the new WYTV owners have spent the past four years, according to their press release, "focusing on streaming media and mobile content".
We'll see if they can focus on the old-fashioned business of running a TV station in Ohio...
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Garrett Hart Lands
Former Cumulus rock WRQK/106.9 Canton "Rock 107" program director Garrett Hart, who was one of those leaving the station after Clear Channel took over operations last month, has a new gig.
AllAccess reports that Hart has been named Format Manager of two Sirius Satellite Radio channels, "SIRIUS Gold" and "'60's Vibrations". He'll also be in charge of Sirius programming produced out of Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and will remain in Ohio...
AllAccess reports that Hart has been named Format Manager of two Sirius Satellite Radio channels, "SIRIUS Gold" and "'60's Vibrations". He'll also be in charge of Sirius programming produced out of Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and will remain in Ohio...
Chris Miller Leaving WEWS For DC
OMW hears from a reliable source that WEWS/5 sports director Chris Miller is leaving the Cleveland ABC affiliate at the end of this month.
We hear Miller is leaving the station for a new gig at Comcast SportsNet, a regional sports network in Washington DC.
Like Cleveland-based FOX Sports Net Ohio, Comcast SportsNet is in a very heated battle with a new competitor. In the Washington/Baltimore area, that competitor is the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network - the new network started by the owners of the Baltimore Orioles after the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington as the Nationals.
One other WEWS note - we've been told that former "NewsChannel 5" staffer Lorna Barrett, who OMW readers spotted back on the air recently after two years, is filling in for another WEWS newsie. Tracy Carloss is on maternity leave, and just had a child.
Until Carloss' return, Barrett will anchor the station's weekend newscasts and report two days a week...
We hear Miller is leaving the station for a new gig at Comcast SportsNet, a regional sports network in Washington DC.
Like Cleveland-based FOX Sports Net Ohio, Comcast SportsNet is in a very heated battle with a new competitor. In the Washington/Baltimore area, that competitor is the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network - the new network started by the owners of the Baltimore Orioles after the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington as the Nationals.
One other WEWS note - we've been told that former "NewsChannel 5" staffer Lorna Barrett, who OMW readers spotted back on the air recently after two years, is filling in for another WEWS newsie. Tracy Carloss is on maternity leave, and just had a child.
Until Carloss' return, Barrett will anchor the station's weekend newscasts and report two days a week...
Monday, February 05, 2007
OMW On HD Radio
Regular readers may have caught on that we picked up one of those Radio Shack Accurian HD Radio receivers recently. Total cost "after rebate": $99, otherwise known as The Price Point We Wouldn't Have Bought This Above.(It's now listed at RadioShack.com at $199. Our pricing was during the Christmas shopping season.)
We've always been technology freaks here at OMW, so here we go again!
And we've picked up two new HD Radio signals on the air in Northeast Ohio. One was expected, and one was a surprise.
From the OMW World Headquarters, we were able to string up the Accurian's "long" dipole antenna into just the right position on our second floor window to get the brand new HD Radio signal out of Clear Channel's new Canton market rock addition, WRQK/106.9 "Rock 107", which just went live with HD on Saturday afternoon.No, the "ROC" isn't a format indication, it's a digital signal equalizer setting meant for rock music that we selected manually.
Unfortunately, we haven't been able to squeeze an IBOC carrier out of sister AC station WHOF/101.7.
But that's not a surprise to us.
The full-market Cleveland FMs out of the Parma/Brecksville antenna farm light up the HD side of things with no problem here, and we have only slightly more difficulty picking up Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting smooth jazz WNWV/107.3 Lorain. (The same antenna positioning which gets us WRQK in HD also picks up WNWV.)
But slightly more distant or less powerful signals, that come in fine in analog, don't decode in HD.
For example, we can easily pick up Youngstown market Cumulus country blowtorch WQXK/105.1 Salem in analog, but don't get an HD signal from it - and we know from people in the market that Cumulus has at least K105 and sister classic rock WYFM/102.9 "Y103" in HD Radio now.
And Cleveland Heights-licensed WXRK/92.3, CBS radio's alt-rock/talk outlet for the Cleveland market, is also not putting out enough digital power to decode in HD on our radio. Some of that may be the proximity of Alliance-based top 40 outlet WZKL/92.5 "Q92" on the radio spectrum.
We'll list all the HD stations we know about in the area at the end of this item.
The "surprise" is on the AM dial, where until now we've only picked up Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 doing HD Radio.
The relative newcomer would be ABC-owned WWMK/1260 "Radio Disney". Like WRQK's picture above, "POP" doesn't indicate an automatic format detection, but a processing setting we manually set.The 1260 signal is not nearly the equivalent of WTAM's 50,000 watts, so we have to move the AM loop around to pick up WWMK in HD Radio...but here it is.
Is it worth the $99 we spent? Or, the $199 the radio is being sold for now?
Well, it's not a bad table radio, at least at the price we paid.
It's bit pricey compared to a similar analog unit (especially at $199!), but it served a need for us, and we can treat the HD as a "bonus". The analog performance is pretty good, and the FM signal separation, especially, is excellent. It has no trouble, for example, separating several stations squeezed close together in the non-commercial band from various parts of Northeast Ohio.
HD Radio itself is not quite ready for prime time.
AM stations are not able to use the IBOC/digital carrier after dark, due to interference issues involving AM's notorious skywave...the same thing that carries stations like WTAM after dark into far away places like North Carolina.
The AM HD Radio signal really punches up music, making it an amazing switch for the Radio Disney folks.
But on talk, as we've heard on WTAM, the codec involved has a noticeable "S" hiss sound (it's called "sibilence") that makes it sound like most of the announcers have a very small hole in their teeth when they say "S" sounds. We fiddle with the digital signal processing on the Accurian to try to alleviate this, and the "ROCK" setting seems to help the most.
On the FM side, it sounds better than analog FM, but not nearly as markedly as music sounds better on the AM side.
And of course, there are the HD "subchannels" a number of local stations have put on the digital radio dial. (HD Radio on the AM dial does not have enough room for subchannels.) Several of the Cleveland FM HD Radio outlets have subchannels, which we'll include on our list below.
The biggest beneficiary of the sound quality is the classical music format.
With the HD signal dropping the noise floor to almost imperceptible levels, local classical/NPR outlet WKSU/89.7 Kent sounds amazing in HD Radio. We also believe they are using the entire bandwidth allocated to the signal, as the station doesn't have any subchannels.
Speech also sounds better on WKSU, though satellite-delivered programs have their own built-in limitations...including the "cascading codec" syndrome caused by using compressed audio delivery systems to satellite uplinks.
The biggest problems we see with HD Radio right now? There are too many caveats.
There's the "no AM HD in the dark" thing. There's the fact that a perfectly serviceable analog signal won't convert in HD on the edge of a station's fully expected listening area - at least indoors, at any rate.
There's the fact that HD subchannels (HD-2, and even HD-3 in some markets) are directly linked to their host stations.
That technical reason means tuning directly to an HD-2 or HD-3 station requires about 3 seconds of "linking" (think Internet radio "buffering") before the station airs. On the main channel, the analog audio is heard first and the HD audio mixes in to replace analog, but of course, there's no "analog" backup to the HD-2/3 stations' audio.
Is it something someone other than radio enthusiasts and gadget freaks would buy at $200-300? Probably not. HD Radio may only catch on when all decent radios have it built in, like, say, stereo. If that ever happens.
But...we're having fun playing with it.
Here's your list of Northeast Ohio HD Radio stations.
If we're missing any, please let us know!
Some of this came from the official list of HD Radio outlets in Ohio by Ibiquity, the company behind HD Radio, and some came from our own listening. Some of the FMs without subchannels plan to add them in the near future...
--------------
FM
89.7 - WKSU Kent (classical/NPR, no subchannel)
92.3 - WXRK Cleveland Heights (alt-rock/talk, HD2: rock/rap hybrid)
93.3 - WNCD Youngstown (rock, no subchannel)
96.5 - WAKS Akron (top 40, HD2: new hits)
98.5 - WNCX Cleveland (classic rock, HD2: Spanish CHR)
99.5 - WGAR Cleveland (country, HD2: classic country)
100.7 - WMMS Cleveland (rock, HD2: classic alternative)
101.1 - WHOT Youngstown (top 40, no subchannel)
101.7 - WHOF North Canton (AC, no subchannel)
102.9 - WYFM Sharon PA (classic rock, no subchannel)
104.1 - WQAL Cleveland (hot AC, HD2: "My HD")
104.9 - WCLV Lorain (classical, no subchannel)
105.1 - WQXK Salem (country, no subchannel)
105.7 - WMJI Cleveland (oldies, HD2: 50s/60s oldies)
106.5 - WMVX Cleveland (hot AC, HD2: adult alternative "The Lake")
106.9 - WRQK Canton (rock, no subchannel)
107.3 - WNWV Elyria (smooth jazz, no subchannel)
AM
1100 - WTAM Cleveland
1260 - WWMK Cleveland
Saturday, February 03, 2007
The "Scoop" On WHBC-FM's New Morning Man
We don't know if he'll debut as soon as Monday, and it may be a week from Monday, but it looks like WHBC-FM/94.1 Canton "Mix 94.1" has a new morning host.
He's "Scoop". (Hence, the pun in our heading.)
"Scoop" is most recently a casualty of the massive downsizing at Clear Channel's Cincinnati cluster, where he was a sidekick on the "Dawn Patrol" morning show and did weekend airshifts on rock WEBN/102.7.
He went to Cincinnati from a 7 year stint at North American Broadcasting rocker WBZX/99.7 "The Blitz" in Columbus, and he also has drive-time experience in Detroit on his resume.
But there are also Northeast Ohio ties for "Scoop".
He's listed production experience at WMMS/WMJI/WHK in Cleveland, when those three stations were co-owned in the OmniAmerica days (Carl Hirsch), as well as stints at Akron's WONE/97.5 and...yes, Canton's WRQK/106.9.
We don't know for sure, but believe that he'll join incumbent "Mix 94.1" morning show member Madison Woods, who's been doing the shift solo since WHBC-FM canned long-time program director/morning co-host Terry Simmons.
We also don't know what name he'll use on the air at his new Canton radio home. We wouldn't go to the betting window on him using "Scoop", though.
The choice is interesting, because his resume basically screams "rock radio", and WHBC-FM is in the process of basically figuring out which end of the AC universe it will live in.
Whispers in our comments section have said he's due to start at "Mix" on February 12th, though we're wondering if he'll hit the air before that - with new competitor WHOF/101.7 "My 101.7" set to launch morning host Gary Rivers this coming Monday...
He's "Scoop". (Hence, the pun in our heading.)
"Scoop" is most recently a casualty of the massive downsizing at Clear Channel's Cincinnati cluster, where he was a sidekick on the "Dawn Patrol" morning show and did weekend airshifts on rock WEBN/102.7.
He went to Cincinnati from a 7 year stint at North American Broadcasting rocker WBZX/99.7 "The Blitz" in Columbus, and he also has drive-time experience in Detroit on his resume.
But there are also Northeast Ohio ties for "Scoop".
He's listed production experience at WMMS/WMJI/WHK in Cleveland, when those three stations were co-owned in the OmniAmerica days (Carl Hirsch), as well as stints at Akron's WONE/97.5 and...yes, Canton's WRQK/106.9.
We don't know for sure, but believe that he'll join incumbent "Mix 94.1" morning show member Madison Woods, who's been doing the shift solo since WHBC-FM canned long-time program director/morning co-host Terry Simmons.
We also don't know what name he'll use on the air at his new Canton radio home. We wouldn't go to the betting window on him using "Scoop", though.
The choice is interesting, because his resume basically screams "rock radio", and WHBC-FM is in the process of basically figuring out which end of the AC universe it will live in.
Whispers in our comments section have said he's due to start at "Mix" on February 12th, though we're wondering if he'll hit the air before that - with new competitor WHOF/101.7 "My 101.7" set to launch morning host Gary Rivers this coming Monday...
One More WKNR Item
That "trickle" of changes coming out of Good Karma Broadcasting's local sports operations doesn't stop for a weekend.
Long-time WKNR/850 staple "The High School Sports Show" is moving to sister WWGK/1540 starting next weekend, according to an announcement on the show this morning by host Jim Isabella.
And the callers, at least, were not happy - particularly those outside of the immediate Cleveland area, where "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" is but a rumor signal-wise. For that matter, you could say the same in places like Westlake and Bay Village.
Isabella informed callers who weren't happy with the move to contact station boss Craig Karmazin via the contact page on WKNR.com. He also reminded them that the show would be heard on ESPNCleveland.com.
Next week, the "Saturday Morning Sports Show" moves to 9 AM to noon, following the "WKNR Golf Show" with mid-morning host Greg Brinda and Jim Hanlon (which will air 7-9 AM).
And what of "Rizzo on the Radio", as it's being called this morning on WKNR?
Don't expect it every Saturday, according to FOX 8 sports anchor and "fill-in" host Tony Rizzo.
He notes that if WKNR's Karmazin asked him to fill in next week, he'd "probably say no", as he considers Saturday to be his "day off".
And for those (like us, and apparently like other local media beat writers) wondering of his permanent role in the Good Karma sports radio empire?
Rizzo said he had "nothing to say" about any greater role on WKNR other than an occasional fill-in, and that "they've only asked me to be here today". He spent a good minute talking about this.
Surrounding that minute, Rizzo relived his time on the former "Large One", then-sports talk WHK/1420, and clearly he missed doing it. He said so, again and again.
What he didn't do, at least as far as we can figure, is deny that he'll have a regular presence (weekday or otherwise) on WKNR.
He said he wasn't talking about anything in that regard, and said he was "only a fill-in", but he didn't, as far as we can tell, say "I won't be doing (fill in possible WKNR role here)"...his only "won't", that we heard, concerned doing a regular Saturday show.
And Rizzo very, very much misses doing radio. He has said so every time he's done fill-in for Good Karma, including that Ohio State Buckeyes-themed show he first did on 1540 the day of the Michigan game.
Our thoughts?
We still expect him to be on WKNR in some regular capacity, at some point in the future.
One thing that might be a wrench in the works: his time issues.
We're reminded by more than one OMW reader that Rizzo gave up radio regularly, back in the days when he was doing sports for WMJI/105.7 morning icon John Lanigan, because it was becoming a time sink with his duties on WJW/8.
To us, this could only indicate that he wouldn't do a morning drive show. Stretching the work clock from 6 AM until 11 PM (the end of FOX 8's 10 PM show) is not a good thing for one's health.
But would he do something in mid-to-late mornings? That, we don't know.
Rizzo wants to be on the radio. We heard that on the WWGK OSU-Michigan show, where he said it repeatedly, and indicated that only his bosses at FOX 8 would presumably stand in the way of a regular radio gig.
He very much enjoys being on the radio, and in the end, we figure that Rizzo, Good Karma and FOX 8 will figure out a way for him to do more than just an occasional "fill-in" for WKNR.
One other note if you're around this Saturday: Rizzo has been promoting the very first airing of Good Karma's "Steve and Craig Show" in Cleveland, a special Live From Super Bowl Radio Row edition from Miami...1 to 3 PM today on WKNR. The "Craig", of course, is Good Karma kingpin Craig Karmazin himself.
Whenever WWGK/1540's daytime schedule allows, "Steve and Craig" will be heard on that station from 7-8 PM weekdays...
Long-time WKNR/850 staple "The High School Sports Show" is moving to sister WWGK/1540 starting next weekend, according to an announcement on the show this morning by host Jim Isabella.
And the callers, at least, were not happy - particularly those outside of the immediate Cleveland area, where "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" is but a rumor signal-wise. For that matter, you could say the same in places like Westlake and Bay Village.
Isabella informed callers who weren't happy with the move to contact station boss Craig Karmazin via the contact page on WKNR.com. He also reminded them that the show would be heard on ESPNCleveland.com.
Next week, the "Saturday Morning Sports Show" moves to 9 AM to noon, following the "WKNR Golf Show" with mid-morning host Greg Brinda and Jim Hanlon (which will air 7-9 AM).
And what of "Rizzo on the Radio", as it's being called this morning on WKNR?
Don't expect it every Saturday, according to FOX 8 sports anchor and "fill-in" host Tony Rizzo.
He notes that if WKNR's Karmazin asked him to fill in next week, he'd "probably say no", as he considers Saturday to be his "day off".
And for those (like us, and apparently like other local media beat writers) wondering of his permanent role in the Good Karma sports radio empire?
Rizzo said he had "nothing to say" about any greater role on WKNR other than an occasional fill-in, and that "they've only asked me to be here today". He spent a good minute talking about this.
Surrounding that minute, Rizzo relived his time on the former "Large One", then-sports talk WHK/1420, and clearly he missed doing it. He said so, again and again.
What he didn't do, at least as far as we can figure, is deny that he'll have a regular presence (weekday or otherwise) on WKNR.
He said he wasn't talking about anything in that regard, and said he was "only a fill-in", but he didn't, as far as we can tell, say "I won't be doing (fill in possible WKNR role here)"...his only "won't", that we heard, concerned doing a regular Saturday show.
And Rizzo very, very much misses doing radio. He has said so every time he's done fill-in for Good Karma, including that Ohio State Buckeyes-themed show he first did on 1540 the day of the Michigan game.
Our thoughts?
We still expect him to be on WKNR in some regular capacity, at some point in the future.
One thing that might be a wrench in the works: his time issues.
We're reminded by more than one OMW reader that Rizzo gave up radio regularly, back in the days when he was doing sports for WMJI/105.7 morning icon John Lanigan, because it was becoming a time sink with his duties on WJW/8.
To us, this could only indicate that he wouldn't do a morning drive show. Stretching the work clock from 6 AM until 11 PM (the end of FOX 8's 10 PM show) is not a good thing for one's health.
But would he do something in mid-to-late mornings? That, we don't know.
Rizzo wants to be on the radio. We heard that on the WWGK OSU-Michigan show, where he said it repeatedly, and indicated that only his bosses at FOX 8 would presumably stand in the way of a regular radio gig.
He very much enjoys being on the radio, and in the end, we figure that Rizzo, Good Karma and FOX 8 will figure out a way for him to do more than just an occasional "fill-in" for WKNR.
One other note if you're around this Saturday: Rizzo has been promoting the very first airing of Good Karma's "Steve and Craig Show" in Cleveland, a special Live From Super Bowl Radio Row edition from Miami...1 to 3 PM today on WKNR. The "Craig", of course, is Good Karma kingpin Craig Karmazin himself.
Whenever WWGK/1540's daytime schedule allows, "Steve and Craig" will be heard on that station from 7-8 PM weekdays...
Friday, February 02, 2007
Closing Out The Weekend
And a short item wrapping up the week, before we endure a Northeast Ohio weekend with weather that could compare to Minnesota's...
MOVING DAY: Clear Channel-operated rock WRQK/106.9 Canton's sales offices had already moved to the company's World Domination HQ/Southern Command on Freedom Avenue in greater North Canton...now the on-air side has done so as well.
A mole at Freedom Avenue tells us that "Rock 107" made the studio move at just after 2 PM on Friday afternoon.
And because of that move, or perhaps the other way around, WRQK is now pumping out full power from its new tower and transmitter - just across the way from its old facility at 22nd and Whipple NW in Canton, sharing the tower with new clustermate AC WHOF/101.7 North Canton.
We haven't "driven the signal" yet, but WRQK seemed somewhat more powerful in limited use late this afternoon. The station was operating on under half of its licensed power after a recent transmitter outage...which took 106.9 off the air for all but the immediate Canton area for a few days.
OMW hears that the new transmitter facility for "Rock 107" may be sending out an HD Radio signal sometime this weekend. Sister WHOF went live on day one with HD Radio...
5.1 SOUND: A gaggle of home theater enthusiasts who are also OMW readers are letting us in on some news: that a "sound barrier" has been broken at local CBS affiliate WOIO/19.
The station is now sending out its digital sound in the "Dolby Digital 5.1" format. Until now, digital viewers of WOIO were only getting a stereo signal on network programming that has been sent by CBS in the broader sound format.
The timing is probably no coincidence. After all, we hear a couple of "teams" will throw around a football on Sunday afternoon on CBS...in a little game that might have more than a few home theater owners watching...
WWOW FORMAT CHANGE: And as expected, Conneaut station WWOW/1360 has changed its format upon the takeover by local businessman John Marra Jr.'s Cause Plus Marketing.
But there's a twist in the announcement we received directly at this hour from radio broker Ray Rosenblum.
He tells us that WWOW will continue airing "local talk" in the morning, presumably its existing local morning drive shows. The Catholic-oriented programming by Eternal Word Television Network expected to join the station's lineup will air in afternoons on AM 1360, says Rosenblum.
Cause Plus took over the station on Thursday...
MOVING DAY: Clear Channel-operated rock WRQK/106.9 Canton's sales offices had already moved to the company's World Domination HQ/Southern Command on Freedom Avenue in greater North Canton...now the on-air side has done so as well.
A mole at Freedom Avenue tells us that "Rock 107" made the studio move at just after 2 PM on Friday afternoon.
And because of that move, or perhaps the other way around, WRQK is now pumping out full power from its new tower and transmitter - just across the way from its old facility at 22nd and Whipple NW in Canton, sharing the tower with new clustermate AC WHOF/101.7 North Canton.
We haven't "driven the signal" yet, but WRQK seemed somewhat more powerful in limited use late this afternoon. The station was operating on under half of its licensed power after a recent transmitter outage...which took 106.9 off the air for all but the immediate Canton area for a few days.
OMW hears that the new transmitter facility for "Rock 107" may be sending out an HD Radio signal sometime this weekend. Sister WHOF went live on day one with HD Radio...
5.1 SOUND: A gaggle of home theater enthusiasts who are also OMW readers are letting us in on some news: that a "sound barrier" has been broken at local CBS affiliate WOIO/19.
The station is now sending out its digital sound in the "Dolby Digital 5.1" format. Until now, digital viewers of WOIO were only getting a stereo signal on network programming that has been sent by CBS in the broader sound format.
The timing is probably no coincidence. After all, we hear a couple of "teams" will throw around a football on Sunday afternoon on CBS...in a little game that might have more than a few home theater owners watching...
WWOW FORMAT CHANGE: And as expected, Conneaut station WWOW/1360 has changed its format upon the takeover by local businessman John Marra Jr.'s Cause Plus Marketing.
But there's a twist in the announcement we received directly at this hour from radio broker Ray Rosenblum.
He tells us that WWOW will continue airing "local talk" in the morning, presumably its existing local morning drive shows. The Catholic-oriented programming by Eternal Word Television Network expected to join the station's lineup will air in afternoons on AM 1360, says Rosenblum.
Cause Plus took over the station on Thursday...
Comings and Goings
Some new, some we missed, and we'll start off with the big one...
MONDAY JUMPS: Veteran investigative reporter Carl Monday has jumped from NBC affiliate WKYC/3 to CBS affiliate WOIO/19, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Julie Washington this afternoon on the PD's Entertainment blog.
Monday has spent the past few years at WKYC, after an over-two decade long stint at WJW/8 - which was the local CBS affiliate for the bulk of his time on South Marginal Road.
Washington reports that Monday has signed a "multi-year contract" with "19 Action News", and that current investigative reporter Tom Meyer remains aboard at Reserve Square.
And, yes, Monday did gain national fame for his expose of a prohibited activity one man was participating in at a local library. The Internet fueled that fire, which eventually burst into white hot heat on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart".
And our priceless Quote of the Month in Washington's piece comes from the mouth of WOIO/WUAB news director Dan Salamone:
Salamone said he looked forward to returning Monday to meaningful investigations, “as opposed to some of the rubbish he’s been asked to do the last few years.”
Oh, boy. You can't INVENT quotes like that!
Actually, when we heard about Monday's now-infamous Library Pervert Expose, we openly wondered if WKYC stole the idea from a mole at Reserve Square.
Monday won't be on "Action News" for a while. Salamone tells Washington that his new hire's start date is "flexible", and he'll have to wait out a WKYC non-compete...which will keep him off the air through roughly mid-summer.
And here's the funny thing.
We just saw a promo that proclaimed "Carl Monday is back!", but it didn't register to us that we were watching WOIO, and not WKYC. The folks at Reserve Square are gonna have to work on that. We bet some folks our age or older still remember him being at Channel 8...
BASKIN'S EXIT: In the article we linked earlier from the Akron Beacon Journal's George M. Thomas, we grabbed it solely because it had news on WJW/8 sports anchor Tony Rizzo's latest show on Good Karma sports WKNR/850 tomorrow.
We did not note Thomas' report that WKYC/3 weekend sports anchor/reporter Andy Baskin is leaving the station at the end of his contract, which is not being renewed by the local NBC affiliate.
Baskin came to WKYC from FOX Sports Net Ohio, and since showing up at Channel 3, he has also done some duty on FSN Ohio's chief competitor - WKYC-linked SportsTime Ohio...
AND ANOTHER THOMAS TIDBIT: The Beacon Journal sports/media writer notes that the new Cleveland AHL hockey team - the Lake Erie Monsters - should have a pretty easy time finding its way to local TV and radio.
Unlike the team's local predecessor, the Cleveland Barons, the Monsters are owned by the owner of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers. And as such, cable networks FSN Ohio and SportsTime Ohio are reportedly eager to join in.
FSN Ohio is already the exclusive home of the Cavaliers, and would appear to have the "inside track", and the team's chief operating officer is quoted by Thomas as saying they'd talk to "family members first".
Radio-wise, the Barons - if we recall correctly - logged some radio time on WKNR/850 in its days as a Salem-owned station.
Speculation alert: It wouldn't be a shock to see new WKNR owner Craig Karmazin pick up the radio rights for the team in some fashion. Sister WWGK/1540 "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" may help relieve scheduling for day and weekend games.
The Cavaliers "family" on the radio side would be Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100, the Cavaliers' radio flagship, but it's hard to see WTAM making room for minor league hockey - even for a team owned by the Cavaliers' owner. The station's "all the balls" schedule is already stacked up...
MONDAY JUMPS: Veteran investigative reporter Carl Monday has jumped from NBC affiliate WKYC/3 to CBS affiliate WOIO/19, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Julie Washington this afternoon on the PD's Entertainment blog.
Monday has spent the past few years at WKYC, after an over-two decade long stint at WJW/8 - which was the local CBS affiliate for the bulk of his time on South Marginal Road.
Washington reports that Monday has signed a "multi-year contract" with "19 Action News", and that current investigative reporter Tom Meyer remains aboard at Reserve Square.
And, yes, Monday did gain national fame for his expose of a prohibited activity one man was participating in at a local library. The Internet fueled that fire, which eventually burst into white hot heat on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart".
And our priceless Quote of the Month in Washington's piece comes from the mouth of WOIO/WUAB news director Dan Salamone:
Salamone said he looked forward to returning Monday to meaningful investigations, “as opposed to some of the rubbish he’s been asked to do the last few years.”
Oh, boy. You can't INVENT quotes like that!
Actually, when we heard about Monday's now-infamous Library Pervert Expose, we openly wondered if WKYC stole the idea from a mole at Reserve Square.
Monday won't be on "Action News" for a while. Salamone tells Washington that his new hire's start date is "flexible", and he'll have to wait out a WKYC non-compete...which will keep him off the air through roughly mid-summer.
And here's the funny thing.
We just saw a promo that proclaimed "Carl Monday is back!", but it didn't register to us that we were watching WOIO, and not WKYC. The folks at Reserve Square are gonna have to work on that. We bet some folks our age or older still remember him being at Channel 8...
BASKIN'S EXIT: In the article we linked earlier from the Akron Beacon Journal's George M. Thomas, we grabbed it solely because it had news on WJW/8 sports anchor Tony Rizzo's latest show on Good Karma sports WKNR/850 tomorrow.
We did not note Thomas' report that WKYC/3 weekend sports anchor/reporter Andy Baskin is leaving the station at the end of his contract, which is not being renewed by the local NBC affiliate.
Baskin came to WKYC from FOX Sports Net Ohio, and since showing up at Channel 3, he has also done some duty on FSN Ohio's chief competitor - WKYC-linked SportsTime Ohio...
AND ANOTHER THOMAS TIDBIT: The Beacon Journal sports/media writer notes that the new Cleveland AHL hockey team - the Lake Erie Monsters - should have a pretty easy time finding its way to local TV and radio.
Unlike the team's local predecessor, the Cleveland Barons, the Monsters are owned by the owner of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers. And as such, cable networks FSN Ohio and SportsTime Ohio are reportedly eager to join in.
FSN Ohio is already the exclusive home of the Cavaliers, and would appear to have the "inside track", and the team's chief operating officer is quoted by Thomas as saying they'd talk to "family members first".
Radio-wise, the Barons - if we recall correctly - logged some radio time on WKNR/850 in its days as a Salem-owned station.
Speculation alert: It wouldn't be a shock to see new WKNR owner Craig Karmazin pick up the radio rights for the team in some fashion. Sister WWGK/1540 "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" may help relieve scheduling for day and weekend games.
The Cavaliers "family" on the radio side would be Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100, the Cavaliers' radio flagship, but it's hard to see WTAM making room for minor league hockey - even for a team owned by the Cavaliers' owner. The station's "all the balls" schedule is already stacked up...
Hammy And Hegan Re-Upped
We've neglected to mention some big broadcast news out of Jacobs Field this week.
Long-time Cleveland Indians radio voice Tom Hamilton has been given a contract extension by the team through the 2011 season, and color commentator Mike Hegan gets an extension through 2009.
Hamilton will call his 18th season of Indians games in the 2007 campaign. Hegan's been connected to the Indians broadcasting for even longer, 19 years, but has been a part of the Tribe radio crew for 10 years.
The Indians' radio booth is a two-person booth this year, with ex-radio voice Matt Underwood moved over to SportsTime Ohio's TV broadcasts starting in 2007...
Long-time Cleveland Indians radio voice Tom Hamilton has been given a contract extension by the team through the 2011 season, and color commentator Mike Hegan gets an extension through 2009.
Hamilton will call his 18th season of Indians games in the 2007 campaign. Hegan's been connected to the Indians broadcasting for even longer, 19 years, but has been a part of the Tribe radio crew for 10 years.
The Indians' radio booth is a two-person booth this year, with ex-radio voice Matt Underwood moved over to SportsTime Ohio's TV broadcasts starting in 2007...
Two More WKNR Items And An Update
Is this a "trickle" of changes with the Good Karma sports talk radio empire in Cleveland?
The latest comes to us courtesy of E-Mails from a bunch of OMW readers, and comments on our earlier item.
OMW readers have told us that Good Karma's WKNR/850 is advertising the start of a new Saturday midday local sports talk show hosted by...drumroll, please...WJW FOX 8 sports anchor Tony Rizzo - Saturdays 10 AM to 1 PM.
As it turns out, according to the Akron Beacon Journal's George M. Thomas, the Saturday show will be a special tied to Sunday's Super Bowl. Thomas reports that Rizzo's appearance will be one of "several guests" in a rotation hosting the Saturday show in the coming weeks...and quotes the FOX 8 sports anchor: "I've been out of radio so long I'm kind of knocking the rust off."
No word on what happens to the usual occupants of the WKNR Saturday midday slot, the group of station producers, board ops and other part-timers who've been holding down the fort for the past few months.
We also don't know if Rizzo is still in consideration for a full-time gig on 'KNR. Maybe he intends on "knocking the rust off" on a Saturday or two in the interim...to ready for a weekday slot.
In another WKNR-WWGK Cross-Pollenization Move...
We're told the morning update anchor for "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540", Aaron Goldhammer, was heard Thursday afternoon on Kenny Roda's WKNR show, broadcasting live from Super Bowl XLXLIEIEIO - OK, 41 for us non-Romans - in Miami. We presume Aaron was also providing reports for Good Karma's other sports stations.
And an update on that question about the Super Bowl broadcast itself.
RadioInsight's Lance Venta points us to a Westwood One website - superbowlstations.com - which clearly lists both WKNR and Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 as affiliates for Sunday's showdown between the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts.
It also lists other Northeast Ohio stations, including Canton's WCER/900, Wooster's WQKT/104.5, and Youngstown's WBBW/1240.
So, it apparently is possible for two stations in the same market to carry the Super Bowl, as Lance tells us the same situation is also happening in Philadelphia (WIP/610 and WFIL/560)... and we see it's also the same in Pittsburgh, where ESPN-owned sports talk WEAE/1250 and all-news outlet KQV/1410 are both listed as carrying the game.
WKNR itself has little history with Westwood One's NFL package, but new sister station WWGK signed up and carried a Sunday afternoon Westwood One contest when the Browns were not playing on Sunday...
The latest comes to us courtesy of E-Mails from a bunch of OMW readers, and comments on our earlier item.
OMW readers have told us that Good Karma's WKNR/850 is advertising the start of a new Saturday midday local sports talk show hosted by...drumroll, please...WJW FOX 8 sports anchor Tony Rizzo - Saturdays 10 AM to 1 PM.
As it turns out, according to the Akron Beacon Journal's George M. Thomas, the Saturday show will be a special tied to Sunday's Super Bowl. Thomas reports that Rizzo's appearance will be one of "several guests" in a rotation hosting the Saturday show in the coming weeks...and quotes the FOX 8 sports anchor: "I've been out of radio so long I'm kind of knocking the rust off."
No word on what happens to the usual occupants of the WKNR Saturday midday slot, the group of station producers, board ops and other part-timers who've been holding down the fort for the past few months.
We also don't know if Rizzo is still in consideration for a full-time gig on 'KNR. Maybe he intends on "knocking the rust off" on a Saturday or two in the interim...to ready for a weekday slot.
In another WKNR-WWGK Cross-Pollenization Move...
We're told the morning update anchor for "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540", Aaron Goldhammer, was heard Thursday afternoon on Kenny Roda's WKNR show, broadcasting live from Super Bowl XLXLIEIEIO - OK, 41 for us non-Romans - in Miami. We presume Aaron was also providing reports for Good Karma's other sports stations.
And an update on that question about the Super Bowl broadcast itself.
RadioInsight's Lance Venta points us to a Westwood One website - superbowlstations.com - which clearly lists both WKNR and Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 as affiliates for Sunday's showdown between the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts.
It also lists other Northeast Ohio stations, including Canton's WCER/900, Wooster's WQKT/104.5, and Youngstown's WBBW/1240.
So, it apparently is possible for two stations in the same market to carry the Super Bowl, as Lance tells us the same situation is also happening in Philadelphia (WIP/610 and WFIL/560)... and we see it's also the same in Pittsburgh, where ESPN-owned sports talk WEAE/1250 and all-news outlet KQV/1410 are both listed as carrying the game.
WKNR itself has little history with Westwood One's NFL package, but new sister station WWGK signed up and carried a Sunday afternoon Westwood One contest when the Browns were not playing on Sunday...
Thursday, February 01, 2007
The Good Karma Crossover
Some of our speculation regarding Good Karma Broadcasting's pair of Cleveland sports radio stations is already coming true. Well, at least a part of it.
In an earlier item, we'd noted that we'd expected Good Karma to operate WWGK/1540 "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" "with a primarily network lineup, carrying sports events and programming overflow from WKNR, as its broadcast hours permit."
Some of that "spillover" from 850 to 1540 is happening as soon as this weekend.
Long-time OMW reader/tipster Nathan Obral tells us that WWGK is carrying an Ohio State University basketball game against Michigan State on Saturday, starting at 3:30 PM. The swap of the OSU game to WWGK was made necessary by WKNR's obligation to the Cleveland State University Vikings basketball team - they're playing Wisconsin-Green Bay that same afternoon.
WWGK will carry the Buckeyes basketball game until signoff, though they should be able to fit it right under the wire - since college basketball games usually don't last much more than a couple of hours. If WKNR carried the OSU contest, it would have to break off early due to the CSU pre-game show likely starting at 5.
We heard some of the other evidence of this ourselves today on "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540". The station is promoting the "ESPN Super Bowl Party" at Fox and Hound in Mayfield Heights. You know, the same party being promoted on WKNR under its own name.
But there's one WWGK-only oddity here, noted on ESPNCleveland.com:
Stop by and meet ESPN Radio's Neil Bender as he hosts the Wine and Gold post game show from 5 until 6.
That's right...the Cavaliers post-game show that usually airs on WKNR immediately following the game will air on WWGK instead on Sunday. You know, there's the little matter of that football game, which WKNR will air, preventing it from airing on Good Karma's more powerful station.
(For what it's worth, we believe we've heard Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 also promoting radio coverage of the NFL's biggest game on Sunday. Could both stations be airing the game?)
Anyway, it's the first Good Karma Cleveland sports radio crossover that we know about, at any rate, aside from Tony Rizzo appearing on both stations - but both times, not yet a full-time employee of either station...
In an earlier item, we'd noted that we'd expected Good Karma to operate WWGK/1540 "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540" "with a primarily network lineup, carrying sports events and programming overflow from WKNR, as its broadcast hours permit."Some of that "spillover" from 850 to 1540 is happening as soon as this weekend.
Long-time OMW reader/tipster Nathan Obral tells us that WWGK is carrying an Ohio State University basketball game against Michigan State on Saturday, starting at 3:30 PM. The swap of the OSU game to WWGK was made necessary by WKNR's obligation to the Cleveland State University Vikings basketball team - they're playing Wisconsin-Green Bay that same afternoon.
WWGK will carry the Buckeyes basketball game until signoff, though they should be able to fit it right under the wire - since college basketball games usually don't last much more than a couple of hours. If WKNR carried the OSU contest, it would have to break off early due to the CSU pre-game show likely starting at 5.
We heard some of the other evidence of this ourselves today on "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540". The station is promoting the "ESPN Super Bowl Party" at Fox and Hound in Mayfield Heights. You know, the same party being promoted on WKNR under its own name.
But there's one WWGK-only oddity here, noted on ESPNCleveland.com:
Stop by and meet ESPN Radio's Neil Bender as he hosts the Wine and Gold post game show from 5 until 6.
That's right...the Cavaliers post-game show that usually airs on WKNR immediately following the game will air on WWGK instead on Sunday. You know, there's the little matter of that football game, which WKNR will air, preventing it from airing on Good Karma's more powerful station.
(For what it's worth, we believe we've heard Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 also promoting radio coverage of the NFL's biggest game on Sunday. Could both stations be airing the game?)
Anyway, it's the first Good Karma Cleveland sports radio crossover that we know about, at any rate, aside from Tony Rizzo appearing on both stations - but both times, not yet a full-time employee of either station...
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Just Some Random Stuff
...with no connection, that we know of:
MORE OHIO MOVES: You invoke Scott Fybush, he's bound to check in.
The NorthEast Radio Watch and 100000watts.com editor, and long-time friend, who could recite station moves and allocations off the top of his head, checks in with another Ohio FM move we forgot about...and it's linked to the recent FCC rules changes talked about in an earlier item.
This one is Saga Broadcasting's application to move Columbus market smooth jazz outlet WJZK/104.3 Richwood much closer to Columbus, with a new community of license of Grandview Heights.
WJZK is currently rimshotting the state capital from the northwest, from a site near Marysville - paired in the smooth jazz format with another rimshot from the east, WJZA/103.5 Pickerington.
The moves which allow this are pretty complex, and involve:
* The move of Saga's WQEL/92.7 Bucyrus to a COL of Richwood, to replace the "lost service" caused by the WJZK move. Bucyrus needs no COL replacement facility, due to the presence of WQEL sister nostalgia outlet WBCO/1540. In a deal already announced, WQEL will also be flipped to the folks at the Bible Broadcasting Network, due to ownership concentration concerns caused by WQEL's relocation into the Columbus market.
* The downgrading of WPAY/104.1 Portsmouth from a class C station to a class C1 station. WPAY can operate at 100,000 watts for one very specific reason, as far as we can tell - its transmitter location is on the Kentucky side of the Ohio/Kentucky line, just across the river from Portsmouth. The application drops it to 35,000 watts.
We hear there are other Ohio moves prompted by this relaxing of FCC guidelines, but so far, we haven't heard any that affect our primary coverage area of Northeast Ohio. We'll keep you posted...
A BUSY MAN: He moved from being morning host at then-WJER-FM/101.7 Dover-New Philadelphia to being sports director of the station which is now solely WJER(AM) 1450, with the move of its former sister station north as Clear Channel AC WHOF/101.7 North Canton.
Somewhere along the way, Bill Morgan added the Zips Sports Network to his resume, announcing University of Akron Zips women's basketball games and hosting pre/post-game and studio shows on ZSN flagship WARF/1350 in Akron.
Now, we're told Bill has added yet another job to his list - television voice of the indoor football team the "Canton Legends".
(That shows you how much we don't know. We had no idea Canton HAD an indoor football team, let alone that they're in the American Indoor Football Association! Or, for that matter, that there is an American Indoor Football Association.)
We're told Morgan is hosting the weekly "Inside Legends Football" program, which the team says airs Wednesdays at 7 PM on "various Stark and Tuscarawas County cable television outlets".
But it would appear that along with local origination channels, local low-power outlet WIVM-LP/52 Canton-WIVN-LP/29 Newcomerstown is also carrying the show, as the station's cable channel numbers are given on the team's page about the show (Time Warner Canton digital 585, and TWC-formerly-Adelphia Tuscarawas County channel 99), and the show is on the WIVM/WIVN online schedule.
We don't know if Bill's calls of TV games will be seen on cable or the WIVM/WIVN combo. The team's site promotes streaming video of games starting with a game on Friday...
MORE OHIO MOVES: You invoke Scott Fybush, he's bound to check in.
The NorthEast Radio Watch and 100000watts.com editor, and long-time friend, who could recite station moves and allocations off the top of his head, checks in with another Ohio FM move we forgot about...and it's linked to the recent FCC rules changes talked about in an earlier item.
This one is Saga Broadcasting's application to move Columbus market smooth jazz outlet WJZK/104.3 Richwood much closer to Columbus, with a new community of license of Grandview Heights.WJZK is currently rimshotting the state capital from the northwest, from a site near Marysville - paired in the smooth jazz format with another rimshot from the east, WJZA/103.5 Pickerington.
The moves which allow this are pretty complex, and involve:
* The move of Saga's WQEL/92.7 Bucyrus to a COL of Richwood, to replace the "lost service" caused by the WJZK move. Bucyrus needs no COL replacement facility, due to the presence of WQEL sister nostalgia outlet WBCO/1540. In a deal already announced, WQEL will also be flipped to the folks at the Bible Broadcasting Network, due to ownership concentration concerns caused by WQEL's relocation into the Columbus market.
* The downgrading of WPAY/104.1 Portsmouth from a class C station to a class C1 station. WPAY can operate at 100,000 watts for one very specific reason, as far as we can tell - its transmitter location is on the Kentucky side of the Ohio/Kentucky line, just across the river from Portsmouth. The application drops it to 35,000 watts.
We hear there are other Ohio moves prompted by this relaxing of FCC guidelines, but so far, we haven't heard any that affect our primary coverage area of Northeast Ohio. We'll keep you posted...
A BUSY MAN: He moved from being morning host at then-WJER-FM/101.7 Dover-New Philadelphia to being sports director of the station which is now solely WJER(AM) 1450, with the move of its former sister station north as Clear Channel AC WHOF/101.7 North Canton.
Somewhere along the way, Bill Morgan added the Zips Sports Network to his resume, announcing University of Akron Zips women's basketball games and hosting pre/post-game and studio shows on ZSN flagship WARF/1350 in Akron.
Now, we're told Bill has added yet another job to his list - television voice of the indoor football team the "Canton Legends".
(That shows you how much we don't know. We had no idea Canton HAD an indoor football team, let alone that they're in the American Indoor Football Association! Or, for that matter, that there is an American Indoor Football Association.)We're told Morgan is hosting the weekly "Inside Legends Football" program, which the team says airs Wednesdays at 7 PM on "various Stark and Tuscarawas County cable television outlets".
But it would appear that along with local origination channels, local low-power outlet WIVM-LP/52 Canton-WIVN-LP/29 Newcomerstown is also carrying the show, as the station's cable channel numbers are given on the team's page about the show (Time Warner Canton digital 585, and TWC-formerly-Adelphia Tuscarawas County channel 99), and the show is on the WIVM/WIVN online schedule.
We don't know if Bill's calls of TV games will be seen on cable or the WIVM/WIVN combo. The team's site promotes streaming video of games starting with a game on Friday...
"My 101.7"'s Lineup
OMW hinted a while back about the new local morning show on Clear Channel's new Canton market AC outlet, WHOF/101.7 "My 101.7". We now have the entire lineup.
Mornings will be "live and local" with AC veteran Gary Rivers handling wakeup duties.
Though we're told Rivers had a brief stint in the 1990's at WHOF's main competitor, now NextMedia-owned AC outlet WHBC-FM/94.1 "Mix 94.1", he's recently been doing radio in the Central Ohio city of Marion.
After holding down mornings at Clear Channel AC WDIF/94.3 "Mix 94.3" there (hey, it's only one channel off from his new competitor!), Rivers has been heard in the same time slot on a rather interesting low-power FM outlet that's competing with WDIF - WDCM-LP 97.5, where he's also been the station's program director.
WDCM promotes itself as "Marion's Community Radio Station", and is owned by the U.S. Open Drum and Bugle Corps organization.
From its website, it looks like it operates much like its commercial competitor, with many of the usual features you'd expect from a commercial outlet. And Marion is small enough in area that the WDCM-LP signal has no trouble covering the city itself.
Here's the rest of the "My 101.7" on-air lineup:
10 AM-2 PM - Daune Robinson (voicetracking in from the Clear Channel World Domination HQ on Oak Tree, where she is heard on country WGAR/99.5 and oldies WMJI/105.7)
2-7 PM - Jon Marochino (long-time swing/weekend guy for hot AC sister station WKDD/98.1)
7 PM-midnight - Sean Stevens (midday personality at Clear Channel Youngstown sister AC outlet WMXY/98.9 "Mix 98.9")
OMW hears whispers from Freedom Avenue that this new on-air lineup will begin on Monday, February 5th...
Mornings will be "live and local" with AC veteran Gary Rivers handling wakeup duties.
Though we're told Rivers had a brief stint in the 1990's at WHOF's main competitor, now NextMedia-owned AC outlet WHBC-FM/94.1 "Mix 94.1", he's recently been doing radio in the Central Ohio city of Marion.
After holding down mornings at Clear Channel AC WDIF/94.3 "Mix 94.3" there (hey, it's only one channel off from his new competitor!), Rivers has been heard in the same time slot on a rather interesting low-power FM outlet that's competing with WDIF - WDCM-LP 97.5, where he's also been the station's program director.
WDCM promotes itself as "Marion's Community Radio Station", and is owned by the U.S. Open Drum and Bugle Corps organization.
From its website, it looks like it operates much like its commercial competitor, with many of the usual features you'd expect from a commercial outlet. And Marion is small enough in area that the WDCM-LP signal has no trouble covering the city itself.
Here's the rest of the "My 101.7" on-air lineup:
10 AM-2 PM - Daune Robinson (voicetracking in from the Clear Channel World Domination HQ on Oak Tree, where she is heard on country WGAR/99.5 and oldies WMJI/105.7)
2-7 PM - Jon Marochino (long-time swing/weekend guy for hot AC sister station WKDD/98.1)
7 PM-midnight - Sean Stevens (midday personality at Clear Channel Youngstown sister AC outlet WMXY/98.9 "Mix 98.9")
OMW hears whispers from Freedom Avenue that this new on-air lineup will begin on Monday, February 5th...
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