Starting The Week

Consider this something of a light breakfast. Not too filling, but at least it puts some media food into you...

SKYFOX HD FLYING: We earlier mentioned some visuals from the Cleveland market's first HDTV-equipped news helicopter, the newly-minted "SkyFOX HD".

Well, we haven't seen it ourselves yet, but the station has begun promoting the new HD helicopter capabilities with the same booming station voice which first trumpeted the station's entry into HDTV news some time ago.

It's not only the first HD-equipped news helicopter in the market, it's also the very first use of mobile outside-the-studio HD camera shots.

FOX 8's own camera mounted to the roof of the station's South Marginal Road building aimed at the East Shoreway, and WKYC/3's use of a turned-around Jacobs Field HD camera don't count for this discussion.

We're talking non-fixed cameras not already in place either because they're at the studios, or in WKYC's case, a part of the existing fiber optic HD feed from Jacobs Field to 12th and Lakeside - for WKYC and SportsTime Ohio's Cleveland Indians coverage.

Other than those cases, all non-studio video for all three local HD-equipped news operations is either in 4x3 SD, 16x9 SD or in some cases, stretched from 4x3 to 16x9, still in SD, both live and taped.

We've been watching HD launches in some other markets, and at least some of them are vowing to go full HD outside of the studio. Pioneer HDTV news operation WRAL-TV in Raleigh NC has been doing it for years.

Wouldn't it be interesting if THAT was the holdup for Raycom Media's WOIO/19-WUAB/43's HD conversion for "19 Action News"? Oh, wait, we have been watching comedy on TV, so we don't need to laugh any more...

WHILE WE'RE AT FOX 8, ELECTRONICALLY: It's yet another job for FOX 8 sports director Tony Rizzo.

No, he's not picking up another radio gig to add to his 10 AM-noon weekday show for Good Karma's WKNR/850 "ESPN 850". This one's in-house.

We spotted a promo on FOX 8 News for "Nothin' But Net", a station-produced webcast which gives "The Rizz" yet another chance to rant about local sports in yet another format. It's said to be interactive, which in this case means E-Mails, online chat and blogging. (No, we're not involved.)

TV, radio and now Internet...is Rizzo aiming to be Cleveland's "King of All Media", with apologies to Sirius Satellite Radio's Howard Stern?

Hmm, come to think of it, WKNR did mention quite a few times that Mr. Rizzo's call of the MAC Tournament Championship Game was also being heard on Sirius, in what we presume was a nod to a certain station owner's father - who happens to run said satellite radio service...

STATEWIDE LOCAL NEWS: We've been aware, of course, of Dispatch Broadcast Group's Ohio News Network, the cable arm of the company's WBNS/10 Columbus.

(And no, Roger Brown, ONN is still not the "state's cable network", though it is still carried on cable systems around Ohio.)

We've also been aware that ONN runs repeats of WEWS/5's "NewsChannel 5" for viewers in Northeast Ohio...i.e. the 6 PM news runs again at 7 PM on ONN, and so forth.

We didn't know the network is apparently making its local news repeats available statewide.

Not until we stumbled onto ONN's listings for not only "NewsChannel 5 at Noon" (aired at 1 PM), but also the company's own Columbus-local "10TV Eyewitness News", and Clear Channel Cincinnati CBS affiliate WKRC/12's "Local 12 News".

Sure enough, you can watch the Columbus and Cincinnati local newscasts even here in Northeast Ohio.

It's not as big a deal as it once was, of course. Just about every local TV news operation in the state offers on-demand video via the Internet. But it's kind of a different feel for those who like to watch the whole thing, including keeping track of newscasts' "look and feel", not to mention anchors and other on-air personnel.

While we're talking about "10TV Eyewitness News", OMW hears that when WBNS-TV debuts its HDTV local newscasts on April 2nd, they'll drop the "Eyewitness" and become "10 News HD".

How many folks here remember "TV 5 Eyewitness News" in Cleveland, and how many remember the booming tones of one Ernie Anderson (formerly "Ghoulardi") delivering that name once used by WEWS/5's local newscasts in Cleveland?

You heard Ernie delivering that open...you SAT UP AND TOOK NOTICE. Or, at least we did...

MORE STREAMERS: Without fanfare, we stumbled onto working streaming audio for Clear Channel's latest two Canton radio additions.

The "Listen Live" links work at the websites for AC WHOF/101.7 "my 101.7", and rock WRQK/106.9 "Rock 106.9".

This leaves, we believe, talk WHLO/640 Akron as the only non-streamer out of Freedom Avenue.

While we're looking at the Clear Channel cluster just down the road from Belden Village Mall, we noticed that liberal talk WARF/1350 Akron "Radio Free Ohio" has been running the Westwood One feed of the NCAA "March Madness" tournament.

Sports events are not an unusual part of the WARF lineup - as 1350 is the home base for the University of Akron Zips' football and basketball teams, and the station will once again be the home of the Akron Aeros AA baseball team this season.

But we're trying to remember the last time 1350 picked up a network sports broadcast...

The Mason Has Landed

With much fanfare, WAKS/96.5 "Kiss FM" programmer Dan Mason left the Clear Channel Cleveland top 40 outlet for the warmth of South Florida.

He left Northeast Ohio to take the program director's chair at sister top 40 station WHYI/100.7 "Y100" in Miami.

It seemed like the perfect match for one of America's fastest rising top 40 PDs, and one of the country's iconic stations in that format.

And it lasted, well, not very long.

Before you could say "Miami Vice", Mason was out at "Y100".

We're not very well tapped into the South Florida radio gossip mill, but whatever floated back up to Ohio gave us the impression that Mason and the station's upper management were not exactly on the same page. In fact, they didn't even appear to be reading the same book.

As we're proud of radio folks with Northeast Ohio ties, we're pleased to announce that Dan Mason has landed.

AllAccess reports that Mason has officially been named program director at Entercom top 40 KDND/107.9 Sacramento "The End".

Yes, THAT station...the one in some major hot, or maybe cold, water for a morning show water drinking contest which ended up in the death of listener Jennifer Strange, a story which gained worldwide attention.

Mason has been interim PD at "The End" since not long after former station manager Steven Weed was bounced, along with 9 other station employees with even the remotest connection to the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest. Strange's family has filed a lawsuit against the station and the company.

So, it's an odd situation for the former "Kiss FM" programmer.

"The End" has been pretty successful. "The Morning Rave", the show now excised from the KDND lineup, was in the top 5 in Sacramento's morning drive race.

So Mason has to craft a way to hang onto success, at a station which has been a flashpoint of worldwide controversy - and all without a large chunk of the people who helped get that success.

The Prevaling Wisdom in radio-online-pundit land has been that KDND would scrub the top 40 format entirely, or move it to another Entercom frequency in that market under another name.

The hiring of Dan Mason signals one thing - Entercom wants to do top 40 in Sacramento in whatever form it takes. You don't hire a Dan Mason to flip to country.

Best of luck to you, Mr. Mason, former Clevelander...and a man with one of the more challenging jobs in radio right now...

Winding Down

Yes, we're still here, for now. So we probably owe you some updates...

MORE WHBC TALKING: As NextMedia oldies WHBC/1480 Canton moves towards what looks like a firm date for the launch of its talk format on April 2nd, we have been pondering who will take the mid-morning time slot - you know, 10 AM-noon, the slot between the morning show with Fred Chenevey and Pam Cook, and Westwood One syndicated talker Dennis "Obscure Cultural References" Miller.

Did you notice? We said "pondering".

And for good reason, as OMW hears that it's all but official - Canton community activist Ron Ponder will be the host in that time slot.

Ron who?

We don't live in Canton, so we don't know much about him. But a quick Google search turns up his current role as chairman of the group "Coming Together Stark County" and a prior stint heading up the Canton branch of the NAACP.

Ponder apparently also does video production out of his own Canton-based firm, and for at least some time, hosted a public affairs program called "Ponder The Issues" on Canton LPTV outlet WIVM-LP/52. We don't know how long the program lasted, but it's not on the station's current schedule...a station which has since added simulcaster WIVN-LP/29 Newcomerstown, aimed at Dover-New Philadelphia.

We also turned up links to black gospel outlet WINW/1520 "Joy 1520", back a few years ago not long after it restarted.

You'd expect with his community group experience, he'd get compared to another African-American community activist - WTAM/1100 Sunday night host Art McKoy. But we're not sure they're all that similar, based on what we've read about Ponder.

We believe he was one of the Sunday night tryout hosts after Brady Russell, who's already launched into talk on his new weekday program.

So, assuming all the I's get dotted and T's crossed with Mr. Ponder, the WHBC weekday talk radio lineup will be complete. We still understand that the station has eyes on either Sporting News Radio or FOX Sports Radio for nights and some weekend fill, though we have no idea what else the station plans to run on weekends...

WHILE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT WHBC: A long-time voice recently departed from the halls at Market Street South has landed across town. Or is that "up I-77"?

Clear Channel AC WHOF/101.7 "my 101.7" has hired Brice Lewis for weekends. Lewis was the veteran afternoon drive host on AM 1480, until he was let go last week to make way for the station's move from oldies to talk.

Brice writes on his brand new WHOF web page:

My wife has been listening to WHOF since it began in January and she kept telling me I should move to 101.7FM. I took her advice.

I'm excited to join the staff of the new My 101.7. I can't wait to get on the air and spend time with you again. I'll be on My 101.7 in just a few days, I can't wait.

Lewis' first appearance on his new station will be Saturday, where he'll take the 10 AM-3 PM shift. He's also scheduled from 12-5 PM on Sundays. And no, we have no idea if he'll be live in studio or voicetracked.

The page reminds us that Brice Lewis has also had history on the FM side of WHBC, aka "Mix 94.1", so it's actually a return to the Canton FM band for him...

HD SKYFOX: OMW hears that as hinted earlier here, FOX O&O WJW/8 has put its "SkyFOX HD" helicopter on the air.

An Alert OMW Reader tells us the HDTV helicopter pictures made a brief appearance Thursday on "FOX 8 News In The Morning", before the chopper had to land due to the weather.

It's surely the first HD helicopter of what will be many in the Cleveland market, which features more HD newscasts than any market in America. And we couldn't help but notice that NBC affiliate WKYC/3 features a brief shot of its helicopter in the promos for its own HD newscast. If that means anything, we don't know...

NOT HD, BUT CD: That's not "compact disc", but "cat defense".

It's the buzz all around the market, and two OMW readers have sent us a link to video of the event.

Poor Kathleen Cochrane. She looks like someone who wouldn't upset animals. But during a live shot on an animal cruelty sentence, the FOX 8 News reporter was holding a cat...who was clearly not thrilled with being co-opted for a live report.

So much so, the cat - which was meowing rather loudly the entire time, decided to take a swipe at Ms. Cochrane.

Kathleen holds her own - after letting the cat down, she recovered and acquitted herself very well. And though FOX 8's Bill Martin told her that the video would "end up on a reel somewhere" at the end of the live shot, he needs to adjust his cultural references - for it's already on YouTube. (If it's up on WJW's own FOX8Cleveland.com, we can't find it.)

As far as we know, Cochrane suffered no injuries from the close encounter of the feline kind...

AND HOW COULD WE MISS THIS?: We'll repeat that our normal base is in Northeast Ohio - basically, the Cleveland and Youngstown TV markets cover the same territory. But we do venture into other parts of the state from time to time.

And this one? Well, it's huge if you're a Southwest Ohio radio listener.

Gary Burbank, whose afternoon drive program has graced the airwaves of Clear Channel talk WLW/700 - with even some regional syndication - for 27 years, will retire at the end of 2007 when his contract expires.

Cincinnati Enquirer media guru John Kiesewetter has more in this article from a week ago.

Outside the Queen City, listeners may know Burbank for the syndicated comedy bit featuring his best known on-air character - "Earl Pitts, Real Amerikun" - which is still syndicated to over 160 stations.

Clear Channel Cincinnati AM operations chief Darryl Parks calls Burbank "an icon" and a "true entertainer".

So, who do you replace a "true entertainer" with?

Both Kiesewetter and the Cincinnati Post's Rick Bird take on the question. The prevaling thought is that the slot will stay local and stay in the entertainment vein. Bird even has rumblings about a possible replacement: sister rock WEBN/102.7's long-time "Dawn Patrol" host Eddie Fingers, who's filled in for Burbank.

But Mr. Fingers (did we just type that?) is backing off from talking about the speculation, noting that Gary will still be leading the "BBC" for another few months...and claims he has no idea what direction the show will take after Burbank heads off to Retirementland...

New Comment Policy

After much talk, mostly by your Primary Editorial Voice(tm), we've implemented the first change in our comment policy.

As of today, comments will be open for approximately 24 hours, then will be closed without regard to the topic being discussed. It'll be an automatic policy for us, no matter what.

Comments on topics not having to do with the original item or related topics will be also deleted, at our discretion.

We've closed comments on all recent items before this - everything on our front page - except for the most recent item.

As time goes on, we'll continue going back into the old items and closing comments as far back as we can. (If someone posts to them, no one will really see the comment anyway, as it'll be far off the front page...but if the items are commented upon, we'll go in and close that particular comment.)

We remind readers once again that when we started OMW back in mid-2005, we had no intention on becoming a default message board. Your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) has neither the time nor inclination to moderate message boards, and it's not why this report began. As we often say, "the comments came with the blog".

The comment policy is in place until further notice. Any abuse of the policy, and all new items will be posted without any ability to comment. As per usual, we direct you to the various message boards catering to local radio and TV, some of which are linked on the left-hand side of this page.

Thank you for your cooperation, and consideration,

--The Management

Tuesday Madness

Stuff we have to get out of our heads...

JOHNY D LANDS: Just a couple of months after getting bounced from his morning drive gig at Cumulus Toledo top 40 outlet WTWR/98.3 "Tower 98-3", Johny D has landed.

And it's a pretty soft landing, too.

Toledo Blade media columnist Ron Musselman reports that Johny D will launch a new two-hour weekday show on CBS Radio FM talker WKRK/97.1 Detroit, a station which carries both the "Live" and "Free FM" banners.

We were also not aware that Johny's picked up a voicetracking gig, afternoon drive at Clear Channel's Lima top 40/rhythmic outlet, WLWD "Wild 93.9".

Well, we think it's a voicetracking gig, as the Musselman says he does the show "via a remote set-up" in his Toledo area home...and that Mr. D will continue to do the Lima program.

(Oh, by the way, Johny D apparently does have a last name according to the folks at AllAccess - Dimodica. We're not clear if he's going to use it in Detroit.)

And while Musselman says Johny "burned all his bridges" in Toledo - the former "Tower" morning man blasts Cumulus as "the worst group I've ever worked for", for one - the Blade media writer helpfully points out that Toledo is market #87 and that Detroit is market #10.

You do the math...

HD COLUMBUS: OMW hears that next month, Columbus will become the second Ohio TV market with local news in HDTV.

Dispatch CBS affiliate WBNS/10 "10TV" will turn on the switch to HD on its "10TV Eyewitness News" in April.

Here in this part of the state, Cleveland has all but one of its major local TV news operations running in HD - Raycom Media CBS/MyNet affiliate WOIO/19-WUAB/43's "19 Action News". And as we've reported here, that is in the process of changing...though last we heard, it will be a while before the folks at Reserve Square go HD. (OK, we've done enough "it's a wonder they're broadcasting in color" jokes.)

While we're talking about HD news in Cleveland, OMW hears that FOX O&O WJW/8's "FOX 8 News" is doing testing on the market's first HD-equipped helicopter, the newly-retrofitted "SkyFOX". Its official debut date isn't yet known...

Brian Jennings Riding In To Program WGAR

Clear Channel country WGAR/99.5 Cleveland has found its replacement for former program director Meg Stevens, who left the station to program Clear Channel's country outlets in Washington DC and Baltimore.

He's Brian Jennings, who's spent over 8 years in Lincoln NE at another Clear Channel country outlet - KZKX "96KX - the last 6-plus as its program director.

OMW hears Jennings will start at Oak Tree on April 2nd.

With a new PD installed at WGAR, Clear Channel cluster VP/Programming Kevin Metheny will continue day-to-day programming duties for WMJI/105.7 "Majic 105.7" and WMVX/106.5 "Mix 106.5"...

BREAKING NEWS: Akron's WHLO Drops Laura Ingraham

An alert OMW reader called this to our attention, and we've confirmed it: TRN's Laura Ingraham has been dropped by Clear Channel talk WHLO/640 Akron.

She's been replaced in the 9-11 PM slot by another TRN host, Rusty Humphries.

OMW hears that one reason for the Ingraham departure on WHLO is timing.

Originally brought aboard in her live mid-morning time slot (then 10 AM to noon on 640), Ingraham was moved to nights on WHLO after the station grabbed Premiere's Glenn Beck, when sister talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland dumped him.

We hear that a 12-plus hour tape delay for Ingraham's show just wasn't working in the eyes of the folks at Freedom Avenue, as news events can certainly change between 9 AM and 9 PM.

Ingraham continues to air live from 9 AM-noon on Salem talk WHK/1420 Cleveland.

Some folks are wondering if WHLO's move would clear the way for NextMedia's WHBC/1480 to carry Ingraham in their 10-noon slot, with talk on the horizon very soon at the Canton oldies outlet. We haven't heard any word about that, at least so far...

Another Weekend Update

And no, still without Chevy Chase...

MORE WHBC STUFF: Our sources have provided more clarification on the immediate future of NextMedia oldies-to-talk WHBC/1480 Canton, though there are still unanswered questions.

We're told that you may or may not hear Brady Russell doing full-fledged talk radio starting Monday in WHBC's afternoon drive slot, occupied until this past week by 20-year station vet Brice Lewis. And we're not sure he actually starts in the time slot as early as Monday.

We get the impression from more than one source that the "full-on" start of WHBC's new talk direction may happen on April 2nd, when the station starts carrying Westwood One syndicated talker Dennis Miller.

Anyway, what you hear out of 1480 on Monday afternoon...we're not sure what it will be, or if Mr. Russell will be on the air playing music, taking calls or whatever. It sounds to us like April 2nd is the "launch" for talk on WHBC.

OMW has also heard that midday host Tom Jarrett will NOT be doing the 10 AM-noon talk slot. Though we understand it may not be finalized as yet, we're told there could be an "unusual" local talk show host in that time period between the station's morning show with Fred Chenevey and Pam Cook, and the syndicated Dennis Miller show.

We'd give you a name, but we don't know who it is. No, literally...we don't.

It is not, as far as we know, an existing WHBC personality - so that would rule out, for example, a weekday gig for station weekend host Jim Albright, better known for his lengthy stint as the host of WNIR/100.1's popular "Dating Show" before he left radio to run promotions for the Carousel Dinner Theatre.

We hear Mr. Jarrett is not headed for the unemployment line, at least for now, as he'll continue behind the scenes.

We also haven't heard any more about what 1480 will do in evenings - surrounding the various sports events the station runs. We'd put money on a syndicated sports network...but don't know if they've found one. ESPN Radio is out in the market unless they swipe it from WTIG/990 Massillon, for example...

AND ANOTHER REGULAR COUNTRY HEARD FROM: There isn't much more to say about Good Karma sports WKNR/850, but we did catch some of Chuck Booms in the "Saturday Morning Sports Show" rotation.

While it's never been clear if the 9 AM-noon Saturday slot on "ESPN 850 WKNR" has been an audition slot, or just a place the station can run some market names having fun on a Saturday, we're guessing Booms considered it an active audition.

Not only has the former FOX Sports Radio host all but moved in with WKNR afternoon drive host Kenny Roda, who joined the Saturday show in advance of his own Ohio State basketball local pre-game show, but he made veiled references to what we interpreted as his desire to do it regularly.

We don't say "all but moved in" lightly.

Roda said on the air that Booms has been a frequent off-air caller to him, not to mention his appearances on Roda's "Happy Hour" show. He joked that Booms had even taken to leaving 10 minute "rants" on Roda's voicemail. It indeed sounds like the former co-host of FSR's "Kiley and Booms" has done everything but camp on Roda's doorstep.

Umm, OK.

(And yes, Mr. Booms sounds to us more like the above mentioned Dennis Miller than we remember from his earlier days doing sports talk radio.)

We unearth a thought we brought up a while ago. At some point, does Good Karma use Booms as part of a two-person show, maybe even pairing him with Roda?

We caution that we have not even heard a faint rumor about such a pairing.

We just bring up our thought that WKNR would like at least one two-person show on the air. ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike" covers some of that, but...well...Booms is not really our cup of tea, radio-listening-wise, but he may be appealing to the station.

Again, there is no news or even rumor about this. It's just a random thought...an educated "prediction", as it were...but some of these musings have turned to reality, even if they're given by us long before they're even rumored...

I LOOOOOVE YA, STO!: The rumblings that SportsTime Ohio and former WKNR morning personality Bruce Drennan are talking about a new TV talk show have turned into shouts.

The Akron Beacon Journal's George M. Thomas has been driving this bus, first reporting a while back that Drennan and STO were talking about a new show - we believe a weekday afternoon show was in the discussion.

Now, STO boss Jim Liberatore is openly talking about the channel's interest in Drennan, and Thomas reports that Liberatore and Drennan met to talk about it this week.

From this, it sounds like Mr. Liberatore is darn near gushing about Drennan:

"It went well. He's got some good ideas and obviously he's a pro,'' Liberatore said. "He shares our passion for connecting with local fans. He understands this is a new opportunity, kind of a new life for him.''

That would be a "new life" after a stint in a West Virginia federal pen, where the sports talker did time on tax fraud charges related to his betting on sports.

Thomas reports that the negotiations are "ongoing" with Drennan, though it would appear from the above quote that the question about Drennan on STO is "when and how" as opposed to "if".

And maybe "where", as Bruce is now serving five months on house arrest as a result of his conviction. It does seem likely that he'd be able to get a permit to work away from home, though.

Though we also have expressed that we're not exactly big Drennan fans, it's easy to see the interest from the SportsTime Ohio folks.

For better or for worse, Drennan is a sports talk "name" in this market, and STO is in desperate need of more local programming to fill out its schedule. You can only run those local wrestling and poker shows, and repeats of old games, so many times.

To that end, Thomas also tells about now-former WKYC/3 sports anchor Andy Baskin and his new "Over the Falls" production company, which will produce - on an independent basis - shows like "Totally Tribe" for STO.

And STO is apparently launching a local version of ESPN's old "Dream Job" show, offering a would-be sportscaster a six month gig...

1480 Moves To More Talk

OMW hears that NextMedia oldies WHBC/1480 Canton, as long rumored in This Space, is finally bringing on the talk.

We hear from many sources this evening that WHBC veteran afternoon drive host Brice Lewis was let go after his Thursday program.

And sure enough, the station has done the "Soviet-style purge" of Mr. Lewis from its website.

Listed on the WHBC schedule 3-7 PM now is "Afternoons on WHBC". Lewis is also off the station's "On-Air Personalities" page as of today.

OMW hears that taking his place in the afternoon drive slot will be a name that's no surprise to anyone who has been reading this missive in recent weeks - Brady Russell, who did something of a talk tryout for WHBC a few weeks ago on a Sunday evening, and who we hear now gets the shot for a 5 day-a-week talk radio gig.

Russell returns to his former radio employer, and even to his old time slot, only on the AM side instead of the FM side. He was the afternoon driver at sister AC WHBC-FM/94.1 "Mix 94.1" until he was let go after a controversial comment in 2005 prompted listener complaints.

In his new role, Brady will likely have somewhat more leeway, as he'll be on an AM station moving more and more towards talk, and somewhat likely with a strong conservative bent. Mr. Russell's comment that got him showed the door at 94.1 involved a colorful response to protesters at President Bush's second inauguration.

To that end, OMW hears that WHBC will become one of the first affiliates of the new Westwood One syndicated talk show hosted by comedian/commentator/former Monday Night Football voice Dennis Miller.

Miller is slated to debut on 1480 in April - we presume April 2nd. His show doesn't start until March 26th.

He'll be Russell's lead-in, from what we're told, in the noon-to-3 PM time slot. The Dennis Miller radio show will be produced live in the 10 AM-1 PM Eastern time slot, if we remember right, so that means a two hour rolling delay on the WHBC side.

We don't know how this affects midday host Tom Jarrett, but we're told he's been mixing talk and music in the hours before 12 noon...mid-morning local talk, anyone?

There isn't much left to do to turn WHBC into a full-fledged talk station.

The morning drive show is already a news/information program with Fred Chenevey and Pam Cook. If Tom Jarrett segues to talk, the addition of Miller's program and local afternoon drive talk with Brady Russell puts the station in the format all day...and no matter what Brian Novak does at night, the time slot is frequently pre-empted by sporting events anyway.

(We're wondering if an old rumor we passed along happens at this point - that WHBC picks up Sporting News Radio for evenings/nights/weekends. We're just guessing at that one, as we've heard nothing recently on that.)

It'll be interesting to watch.

In one of the more important talk time slots, middays, the station is gambling on a comedian known for his high-minded obscure cultural references and with no radio talk experience. Dennis Miller's show will have to climb pretty high to reach even a decent fraction of the audience of one Rush Limbaugh, on both WHLO/640 Akron and WTAM/1100 Cleveland.

But that's been one of WHBC's problems in trying to move to the format - the lack of good syndicated talk programming not already claimed by other stations in or near the Canton market...

Your Weekend WKNR Update

Next up in the rotation on the ever-changing host lineup of Good Karma sports WKNR/850 "ESPN 850"'s "Saturday Morning Sports Show": Chuck Booms.

Well, not just Chuck, as the former FOX Sports Radio host ("Kiley and Booms") and Euclid resident will be joined by Cleveland Plain Dealer Cleveland Cavaliers beat writer Branson Wright from 9-noon Saturday - presumably to talk All Things Hoops, in the midst of the MAC Tournament, the upcoming NCAA "March Madness" and the Cavaliers' own run to the NBA playoffs.

WKNR's website headlines the appearance of "Branson and Booms", despite the fact that, as far as we know, Mr. Wright has no radio hosting experience. Maybe we'll be surprised on Saturday...or maybe they're just playing on the name of Chuck's old radio show by putting him in the second slot in the show name.

Mr. Booms, in whatever role, is the latest Cleveland sports media personality to take the slot. FSN Ohio's Les Levine has done it both alone and with former WKNR personality (and new "Cleveland Rants" co-host) Kendall Lewis. New station mid-morning host Tony Rizzo also did it once, before ascending to the weekday schedule.

We should hold a contest to see who has a shot at the Saturday show in a week's time. Any guesses? We can tell you one thing - it won't be your Primary Editorial Voice(tm).

While we're in a rotation mood, OMW notes that we've heard any number of different voices doing the sports updates on Good Karma's smaller station, WWGK/1540 "KNR2".

Both men originally hired for the job - before Good Karma bought AM 850 - have moved on to other work for the stations.

Original 1540 morning update anchor Aaron Goldhammer is now on the 850 side as producer/sidekick for the aforementioned Mr. Rizzo. Original 1540 afternoon update anchor Bernard Bokenyi is doing a myriad of other work as well.

That's brought some of those pre-Good Karma voices over to "KNR2". We've heard WKNR staffers Josh Sabo and Neil Bender doing the 1540 updates in recent days, among others.

For them, the good news is that it gives them regular airtime.

The bad news? It's on a 1,000 watt daytime station that's the little brother to the station everyone knows about. But "KNR2's" profile is being raised by cross promotion on the 50,000 watt mothership.

Good Karma has launched full-time streaming for WWGK on ESPNCleveland.com. For whatever reason, it's not displayed with a "Listen Live" link - you have to click on the station's logo on the right hand side.

And it still brings up the misspelled underlying URL the station has used for local streaming since, well, Tony Rizzo's first appearance on 1540 doing that Ohio State/Michigan pre-game show. (Clevenlands? Since when did typos have to stick?)

OMW reader and regular tipster Nathan Obral tells us that the "KNR2" streaming audio delivers the straight FOX Sports Radio feed during hours WWGK is not on the air, with no local inserts.

The station has also resurrected the old WKNR audio stream for the MAC Tournament games...though it comes up with "File not found" as of this writing. Consultants charge money for this sort of thing, and we give it to the good folks at Good Karma for free...

Back to Chuck Booms for a second.

When we heard him call into afternoon driver Kenny Roda's show to talk about the Saturday show, we couldn't help but wonder...did Chuck Booms always sound like he was doing a Dennis Miller impersonation?

We know Miller is about to launch a Westwood One syndicated talk show (non-sports). But when we heard Booms call Roda "Kenneth", we started to listen for arcane sports and cultural references.

Maybe it was just a phone line thing...

Escape From Youngstown TV

Just days after WYTV/33 news director Pat Livingston announced his move to Toledo's WNWO/24 - in the wake of pending changes at the Youngstown ABC affiliate that could decimate that station's newsroom - two other bombshells have dropped.

If CBS affiliate WKBN-TV/27 begins producting news content for WYTV in that FCC-tipped "shared services agreement" filed by new WYTV owner Parkin Broadcasting, you won't be seeing "27 First News" mainstays Robb Schmidt and Sarah Eisler on 33.

You won't even see them on WKBN or sister FOX outlet WYFX, either, because the anchors are both on their way out the door, period.

The Youngstown Business Journal's Andrea Wood reports that Schmidt announced his resignation late Wednesday, and will anchor his final newscasts on April 6th. Eisler put in her own resignation earlier, and will leave the "First News" main anchor team on March 30th.

One almost pictures the two anchors running out the door with their hair on fire.

We're talking two unusual operators here, after all.

New Vision Television, the new owners of WKBN-TV and sister FOX outlet WYFX "FOX 17/62", has owned stations in other markets, and our impression is that they didn't exactly spend money. And Parkin will not likely be running its own newsroom when it takes over WYTV.

If you're expecting a large newsroom with "the best of WKBN and WYTV" when all this is done, you're probably an optimist.

Careful...if you walk by either WKBN/WYFX or WYTV, you're likely to be hit by dozens of flying resumes and videotapes...

Q104's John Conner Out

Though it's pretty much a "long tradition" here that we're away when news breaks - it just happens that way - we apologize for this one.

AllAccess reports that CBS Radio hot AC WQAL/104.1 Cleveland "Q104" middayer John Conner is exiting the station, as Q isn't renewing his contract when it expires on March 31st. Evening host Tim Richards moves into the daylight hours to replace him, starting April 1st.

Richards joined the station last year after a stint as morning co-host at D.A. Peterson top 40 outlet WZKL/92.5 Canton, otherwise known as "Q92".

And Conner himself was once heard in the evening time slot, before then-middayer Jen Toohey took over afternoon drive after Brian "Fig" Figula departed for a PD gig in Michigan.

The move of Richards to middays will leave the "Q104" evening slot vacant.

So, WQAL is launching a contest - "Cleveland's Next Top Jock" - where "listeners will have input" on the next evening personality at the station.

The guy going through all those tapes and resumes for the evening slot, WQAL programmer Dave Popovich, also takes the music director duties from the departing Mr. Conner...

More Comings, Goings And Other Stuff

As it turns out, Tuesday was a very busy day...

JOY BENEDICT JUMPS TWO CHANNELS: And exclusive, as far as we know...

OMW hears that WKYC/3 Akron Bureau reporter Joy Benedict is leaving to join ABC affiliate WEWS/5.

We hear she'll take the morning reporting position on the station's "Good Morning Cleveland", presumably as a direct replacement for now-former "NewsChannel 5" reporter Michelle Relerford. Benedict starts March 16th at Channel 5.

While she was at WKYC, Benedict not only reported Akron/Canton news for the local NBC affiliate, but was also the fill-in anchor for Eric Mansfield on the station's "Akron/Canton News", which airs weeknights on Time Warner Cable.

You know, the local news show on cable channel 23 in Akron/Canton, and some day, maybe if we're good and beg and scream loud enough, on the Summit County part of former Adelphia system now run by Time Warner.

(Sorry, old habits. But really, TWC and WKYC folks, we could have built our own TV news studio by hand, in the time it's taken you guys to get together on this...)

TWO SIGHTINGS OUT OF CANTON: Well, one far away and one near, of personalities who used to air in the Hall of Fame City.

AllAccess reports that former AC WHBC-FM/94.1 Canton "Mix 94.1" afternoon personality Steve Rockford has landed at 106.9.

No, not Clear Channel rock WRQK "Rock 106.9" in Canton, but as program director of hot AC outlet WKZA/106.9 in Lakewood NY, near Jamestown.

We could have also spooked you out another way and said "at "Kiss FM", because the station carries that slogan also used by many Clear Channel top 40 outlets, including Cleveland-based WAKS/96.5.

But alas, it's owned by a company called Cross Country Communications. We'll assume that's a locally-owned outfit, despite the "outsized" name.

In case you're not sure where WKZA is, it serves extreme southern New York State, and the station's signal also covers a chunk of northwestern Pennsylvania. Not a heavily populated chunk, but a chunk nonetheless. If you head up to the Peak n' Peak ski resort, you'll hear the station there.

And closer to home, a denizen of Freedom Avenue lands on Smyth Avenue, as former WKDD/98.1 swing/weekend/traffic guy Rob Mackenzie lands at D.A. Peterson top 40 WZKL/92.5 Alliance for overnights and weekends...

WHK'S 85TH ANNIVERSARY: Salem Cleveland talk outlet WHK/1420 has begun trumpeting the station's 85th anniversary on the air.

We're not all that surprised, as we gave you the heads up a while ago of the upcoming production of an 85th Anniversary on-air special, which we assume will air sometime this month.

But along with frequent on-air mentions, we're told that WHK now has an anniversary timeline up on the station's website.

The folks at Salem don't even shy away from some of the more controversial history of the station, with a mention of the one and only Gary Dee (and a newspaper wedding announcement picture with Dee and former wife Liz Richards) gracing the 70's entry.

Of course, it's kind of hard to produce anything even remotely resembling a WHK timeline without a nod to one of its signature personalities of the past.

And they also nod to the popular "Voice of the Fan" sports format of the mid-90's.

We're told that former WHK sports talk host Les Levine, who hosts FOX Sports Net Ohio's "Cleveland Rants" and has done occasional fill-in for Good Karma sports WKNR/850, has voiced a liner or two to mark WHK's anniversary...

WHILE WE'RE SEGUEING: ...between WHK and WKNR, we're told by an OMW reader that WHK is running promos for the "Inside the Great Outdoors" weekend outdoor sports show, which has run for some time on the station once known as "SportsTalk 850".

The reader suspects the outdoors show is paying its way onto WHK, which sells block time on weekends for local programming...and WHK, of course, is no longer co-owned with WKNR. The time given, at least to us, is Saturdays from 2-4 PM.

"Inside the Great Outdoors" disappeared from WKNR a while back, round about the time that Premiere's "Costas on the Radio" got nudged into a Sunday morning time slot...in the station's recent schedule shuffle...

JOHN TESH CROSSES THE STREET IN LIMA: OK, even programmer Dan Baisden would have to admit that syndicated host John Tesh has probably never visited Lima, Ohio, let alone actually "crossed the street" there.

But Baisden tells OMW that Tesh's radio show is moving - from Clear Channel AC outlet WMLX/103.3 St. Mary's OH to Maverick Media's WDOH/107.1 Delphos OH, which he programs. (For those not Western Ohio Conversant, both cities are near Lima and serve the Lima market.)

Tesh's release says he's "privileged" to join WDOH, and touts the radio station's "great playlist".

What, he's gonna say anything bad about a new affiliate?

Just once, we'd like a syndicated host's boilerplate quote about a new affiliate to say something like "You know, this station really stinks, but they paid us enough money, so what the heck! It beats not being on at all in, umm, what market is this again?"

Our guess is if you put "Lima" in front of Tesh and he wasn't aware the text was about a new affiliate, he'd pronounce it like the city in Peru.

(This is just a general comment about network/syndicated show press releases, and not the station in question...)

WDOH starts Tesh next Monday, from 7 PM-12 midnight...

In No Particular Order

We're not sure what to call this one, so let's plow into it!

CATCHING UP WITH JULIE: We don't get the Dead Trees edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer here at OMW World Headquarters, so we only see the PD via its online presence at Cleveland.com.

While we're quite grateful for that ability, there's one thing the site doesn't do - provide an easily accesssible page with all the media-related articles written by Julie Washington. Her articles on local film industry issues have an index, for some reason, but not her regular media writing.

So, we missed the one which came out Saturday.

Aside from that, the radio/TV stuff was buried under a visit with a local native who acts in a cell phone commercial, so...let's close our eyes and pretend it's Saturday, no?

The big news - after the cell phone thing - is the departure of WEWS/5 reporter and anchor Michelle Relerford. "NewsChannel 5" GM John Butte tells the PD that Relerford left the station to look for anchor gigs elsewhere.

Julie also catches up with something noted here a while back, the fill-in done by former Channel 5 mainstay Lorna Barrett. We saw her sitting in the weekend anchor chair just this past weekend. She's in for anchor Tracy Carloss, who's on maternity leave.

And Ms. Washington elicites a chuckle from former WKYC/3 morning anchor Carole Chandler, er, Sullivan. Carole left the local NBC affiliate to rejoin her husband, who was a coach for Western Michigan University.

We say "was", of course, since husband Mike Sullivan was recently added to the assistant coaching staff of your Cleveland Browns, which brings Carole back to Cleveland, and brings us back to her chuckle at Julie Washington's wondering about her return to the local TV airwaves.

But this time, it'll have to fit with Mother Hours, as Carole has a new son...born just four months ago. (Congratulations, if the new mom is reading this!)

Julie also mentions else something seen here - the addition of syndicated weekend talk show "Dawson McAllister Live" to the lineup at Clear Channel's Cleveland top 40 outlet, WAKS/96.5.

(We're guessing the mention of the show in our comments section prompted Clear Channel's PR folks to send out a general release about it, which we got a couple of days after those comments were put here.)

Mr. McAllister's show is an interesting mix, and an interesting story.

It's aired on a number of religious stations, and at some point along the way, it became a more secular offering to major top 40 outlets. It's a staple on many of them, and still airs on the religious stations to this day in addition to the top 40 outlets...

HD OFFERINGS: Speaking of the folks at Oak Tree, they pass along word of the Cleveland market's first format change ever - involving an HD2 subchannel.

The HD2 subchannel of the aforementioned WAKS/96.5 "Kiss FM" now airs "KiWi Radio", which the station says is aimed at...young teens and pre-teens 11 to 15 years old. It's a market also known as the "Tweens".

The idea, presumably, is to get those young people involved in listening to radio. Well, we'll let the press release say it:

KiWi fills a void in the radio landscape by focusing solely on the teen lifestyle. This unique format features today's hit music teen songs that contemporary radio isn’t airing, such as High School Musical and Hanna Montana. The content is young teen focused and as with anything new, the channel will be refined as time moves on.

The format comes out of the Clear Channel "Format Lab" for new HD Radio formats, and if we're reading the release correctly, was created by WAKS/WMMS programmer Bo Matthews.

The WAKS HD2 channel was, until now, airing an "underground dance" format (thanks to an alert OMW reader for that correction), and the main HD channel for 96.5 continues to air the digital version of the main "Kiss FM" feed unabated...

HELLO, STEEL CITY: Our chronicling of the recent changes at Good Karma sports WKNR/850 "ESPN 850" and WWGK/1540 "KNR2" has had a few interested readers in Pittsburgh and environs.

Among them is long-time Friend of OMW Pat Cloonan, who writes a media column for the suburban McKeesport Daily News.

This week, Pat namechecks OMW in his item about the changes, linking WKNR/WWGK owner Craig Karmazin with his father, former Infinity Radio boss and current Sirius Satellite Radio boss Mel Karmazin, and the Pittsburgh-area holdings of the company now known as CBS Radio.

But our favorite line?

Also, thanks again to OMW, WKNR afternoon drive host Kenny Roda is a long-time Steeler fan “who gets a LOT of grief about that up here.”

Heh.

We'd direct you to Pat's column online, but it's behind the newspaper's subscriber wall...

HELLO, REEGE: And a regular OMW reader has a followup to the item about the retirement of WSOM/600 hosts and Youngstown radio market icons Dick Thompson and Johnny Kay.

Before Dick Thompson became a fixture in the Mahoning Valley, we're told he was program director of World War II-era KSON/1240 in San Diego.

While there, the story goes, a persistent young would-be newsman bugged Thompson for a job. A lot.

Thompson hired the kid.

You might recognize the young man's name: Regis Philbin...

Youngstown Radio Mainstays Retire

Our knowledge of Youngstown radio history is sketchy, but one thing is for sure: Dick Thompson and Johnny Kay are basically right next to each other in our knowledge of the market's past.

The long-time air personalities, who worked together at iconic top 40 outlet WHOT - in its original days at AM 1330 - have been paired at Cumulus standards WSOM/600 Salem for the past few years...until Friday, when both men retired after doing a final show together on Friday afternoon.

Throughout their careers, Thompson and Kay seemed inseparable. Even after coming out of their first retirements to work at WNIO/1390 in the 1990's, they did so together, as they also moved to WSOM as a pair later on.

Thompson tells the Youngstown Vindicator's Guy D'Astolfo that the two have been "like brothers" in their 50-plus year careers working at the same radio stations. He jokes that they've "done this retirement thing before...we hope to get it right this time."

They're certainly up there in the pantheon of local radio history in the Mahoning Valley, along with fellow WHOT "Good Guy" Boots Bell, and WKBN/570 talk show host Dan Ryan - both no longer with us.

WSOM apparently will fill the openings locally. Gary Rhamy takes over mornings, and "Jolly Roger" does afternoons...

OMW Policy Statement

While we're working on other items, and for the record...

OMW has an official policy regarding our oft-threatened-to-be-canned comments section, which was thisclose to being closed today. (OK, so maybe we were a bit miffed that we had to take time out of our personal, non-media related activities today to take care of this.)

Comments unearthing private information not intended for public consumption, in an attempt to attack someone, will be deleted.

This includes, but is not limited to, the reproduction of E-Mail, private blogs, MySpace sites and the like, particularly if the site is not intended as a part of the radio or TV personality or employee's public online presence.

For example, the blogs on a radio station's site - fair game. They're public, and meant to be seen by listeners.

A blog which is linked on the employer's site and meant for the public - fair game.

A personal site, private or otherwise, not connected with the personality's public work - posting the link and/or any information from the site - instant deletion.

A strong word of advice that a number of people have taken to heart...if you write it on the Internet, even if you think "only your friends" are reading it, even if you have your section set to "private", even if you think no one outside your circle knows about it, can be copied and posted here by people reading our comments section.

That doesn't mean that we have to allow it, of course...thus, this policy.

Today marked the third time in the site's recent history where the policy was violated (connected with three different people), and that particular comment was deleted shortly after we were notified.

Your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) is sent comments via E-Mail as soon as they are posted, and any objectionable comment usually doesn't stay up long.

As long as we do have a comments section, fair, tough, even brutal criticism of radio and TV stations and personalities, and their professional performance, is welcome. Personal criticism, and anything that goes over the above "line" is not welcome.

Thank you.

--The Management

Welcome To March

On the heels of items mentioned before, and sometimes more so...

WRQK INVADES AKRON?: Clear Channel's new rocker WRQK/106.9 Canton has surely had at least some Akron listeners over the years, even with the presence of competing Rubber City rock WONE/97.5 and the station's general focus on Canton itself in the Cumulus years - give or take throwaway Akron mentions, like in the station's legal ID.

And with the WRQK signal recently juiced back up to normal with its new tower site, we've wondered if the dual-city-aware folks at Clear Channel's Freedom Avenue compound would start adding Akron to their domain at the newly-acquired "Rock 107".

Wonder no more.

WRQK, which has redubbed itself "Rock 106.9" and changed its on-air imaging, is now much more conversant with that five letter "A word".

The first clue comes by visiting the newly-relaunched website at WRQK.com.

That address, for now, redirects to a second website: AkronCantonRocks.com.

We believe that is likely temporary, as even with the new imaging, the station is still promoting WRQK.com on the air. But it's an interesting choice of a URL, no?

Our second clue comes on the actual website itself, which proclaims at the top: "Rock 106.9 Canton and Akron's place to Rock".

No, we don't believe the Clear Channel-run WRQK is abandoning the Hall of Fame City for greater treasures up north. Even with a class B signal covering most of greater Akron, it's still basically a Canton station.

But we wouldn't be surprised if the station widened its vision north of the Akron/Canton Airport, and not just on its website. And given the dual-city operation of its new owner, it would make sense to do so.

By the way, like sister AC WHOF/101.7 "My 101.7"'s website had at launch, the new "Rock 106.9" site also has a "Listen Live" link - which is not functional at this time. One would assume that streaming will eventually come to both stations...

WHILE WE'RE IN CANTON: Electronically, that is...

There's nothing official yet, but could NextMedia oldies WHBC/1480 be about ready to hire its first regular local talk show host?

We haven't heard if anyone else has auditioned, but of course, former WHBC-FM/94.1 "Mix 94.1" afternoon host Brady Russell warmed up the talk radio pipes a while back in an unusual Sunday night shift on the AM side of the WHBC ledger.

Maybe we better listen this weekend - to hear if Brady, or anyone else, does more weekend talk that may or may not be an audition for regular work. We don't know when that regular work would be on the schedule, or how it would affect anyone else currently on the air at 1480 - or even if it would. (Feel free to attach the "speculation" tag to this post.)

While we're talking about the WHBC Stations, we can't help but be moved by all the comments about engineer Bill Glasser, who retired from his post there earlier this week. To a person, our commenters and E-Mailers have painted a picture of Glasser as a professional, a mentor and teacher.

Hope retirement treats you well, Mr. Glasser...

ANOTHER REGULAR TOPIC: We don't have much more to say about it, since we actually mentioned this weeks ago, but former WKNR/850 Cleveland host Kendall "The Big Sports Kahuna" Lewis is next up in the 9 AM-noon "Saturday Morning Sports Show" this week at the Good Karma sports station now known as "ESPN 850".

But since we're talking about 'KNR, a question. Is anyone else hearing very annoying electrical "pulsing" on the station, particularly when no audio is heard from host or caller for a couple of seconds?

Turn up the radio, and wait for a pause, and see if you hear it...we've heard it on a car radio, on every radio here in the OMW World Headquarters, and more, even within close range of the station's nighttime signal.

UPDATE 3/3/07 10:57 AM: We thought it might be a nighttime-only problem, but we just heard it this Saturday morning.

Oh, and Good Karma has officially consolidated the websites of its two sports stations, merging WKNR content into WWGK/1540's site at ESPNCleveland.com.

It's clearly a stopgap until the station's promised new site is completed "in a few months", but WKNR.com now redirects to the other site...officially killing the former Salem-run site for the station once known as "SportsTalk 850"...

MORE ON WYTV: A tip of the OMW hat to the Youngstown Business Journal's Andrea Wood, who recognizes witty writing when she reads it.

OK, so she recognizes what passes for it here, pointing out our "life boats" headline on the item directly below this one - the news that WYTV/33 news director Pat Livingston is out before the "33 News" ship sinks, heading to Toledo NBC affiliate WNWO/24 "NBC 24".

But Livingston tells the Business Journal that his move was in the works "long before" a new company named Parkin Broadcasting announced its planned takeover of the Youngstown ABC affiliate, which is set to happen later this year.

Already happening is the takeover of WKBN/27-WYFX "FOX 17/62" by New Vision Television, which took the keys of the CBS/FOX combo at midnight, March 1st.

And how's this for inspiring confidence in your future? Wood reports that the company basically told employees that if they showed up for work on March 1st, they were accepting the new company's employment terms. It's "like what we are doing or don't show up", we guess.

The Business Journal reports no changes to existing wages or benefits at WKBN/WYFX, but no seniority, either.

That plays into what will likely happen with WYTV, when Parkin takes over and likely implements a shared newsroom with WKBN/WYFX.

If this plays out like it has in other markets, expect the new operation to be mostly comprised of WKBN "27 First News" folks, with any WYTV newscasts done out of the WKBN/WYFX facilities.

But we wouldn't be surprised if New Vision takes over the contracts of at least some higher profile WYTV personalities, like the market's iconic weatherman Stan Boney.

The only problem with that?

We don't know if New Vision wants to spend money. And Stan's got to be making a decent chunk of change by this point in his lengthy career, even if it's by Youngstown market standards...

BREAKING NEWS: Channel 33 Life Boats Begin Newsroom Evacuation

And the first one out the door at Youngstown ABC affiliate WYTV/33 is...news director Pat Livingston.

OMW hears via the folks at NewsBlues that Livingston stays in the state, taking the open ND post at Barrington Broadcasting NBC affiliate WNWO/24 "NBC 24" Toledo.

Our headline, of course, refers to the fact that Livingston is exiting WYTV before he, and likely the entire station newsroom staff, will be pushed out the door.

Most market observers expect that a planned "shared services" agreement between the incoming owner of WYTV, and the new owner of CBS/FOX combo WKBN/27-WYFX "FOX 17/62", will mean the end of the separate news operation at WYTV's Shady Run Road headquarters.

WYTV has pretty much been the third-rated TV newsroom in Youngstown for as long as we can remember, even after Vindicator's WFMJ/21 supplanted "27 First News" as the most popular news operation in the market.

And though we have a limited grasp on the Toledo market, we're pretty sure WNWO is a perennial third-place newsroom behind Raycom CBS affiliate WTOL/11 and ABC O&O WTVG/13. Of course, Raycom once owned WNWO, before it had to spin the station to Barrington after the deal to acquire WTOL.

At "NBC 24", Livingston will replace Jonathan Mitchell, who moved to KHQ/Spokane...

They Have Left The Building

Two departures, and one return of someone who "left the building" a lot. Well, at least a return in recorded form...

CHRIS MILLER'S EXIT: Today is WEWS/5 sports director Chris Miller's last day at the Cleveland ABC affiliate.

And the "NewsChannel 5" sports anchor is doing a farewell tour of sorts, if you count his appearance this morning on WKNR/850 "ESPN 850"'s mid-morning talk show with competitor-until-now Tony Rizzo.

Miller, who joins Washington DC-based Comcast SportsNet as its main sports news anchor next month, sounded comfortable on "Rizzo on the Radio", which makes us wonder if he'd ever considered taking a similar path to the FOX 8 sports anchor - doing sports talk radio as a sideline.

If we were running a DC-based sports talk station, we'd at least give him a call. He did, after all, name check Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder. Snyder also owns Red Zebra Broadcasting, parent company of the new Washington-area sports talk outlet "Triple X ESPN Radio", a three signal operation on AM 730, FM 92.7 and FM 94.3 in the DC area.

OMW hears that "NewsChannel 5" honchos are in no hurry to replace Miller, with sports anchor John Chandler filling in as primary anchor on a temporary basis - perhaps through June, with Sue Ann Robak moving into the second slot.

The two-person sports department could get to be a rather tricky proposition if, say, the Cleveland Cavaliers drive deep into the NBA playoffs...

LEAVING WHBC: A veteran of NextMedia oldies WHBC/1480 and AC WHBC-FM/94.1 "Mix 94.1" is stepping down after some 40 years on the job.

We don't blame you if you don't recognize the name. Bill Glasser has been doing engineering for the Canton stations for at least that long. He retires from his post as WHBC's chief engineer today.

We invite you to our friend and colleague Scott Fybush's "Tower Site of the Week" entries that focused on WHBC's facilities, including the site which is the home of WHBC-FM and half of the two site AM 1480 operation, and the as-if-frozen-in-time studio complex on Market Street South.

A tip of the OMW hat to Mr. Glasser, a local engineering mainstay...

THANK YOU, THANK YOU VERY MUCH: And concertgoers back in the day certainly remember the phrase "Elvis has left the building". But the King of Rock and Roll - or at least, a program based on Elvis Presley's music - has returned to the building...the building on Oak Tree Blvd. in Independence that houses Clear Channel's Cleveland cluster.

AllAccess reports that the syndicated show "Elvis Only" returns to the weekend airwaves at the company's oldies outlet, WMJI/105.7.

We hear that the show was quite popular in its time slot, but may have been taken off WMJI due to the station's ongoing effort to reach younger listeners...a battle oldies stations are facing nationwide.

But we also hear that "Elvis Only" is still popular in younger demos, at least among the usual oldies listener age groups...

WKNR Folo: No Brainer

But first, this breaking news...a computer virus has found its way into the computers at Good Karma sports WKNR/850 in Cleveland!

It has apparently infected the computer automation system at WKNR, re-populating the on-air system with items voiced by former WKNR program director Michael Luczak.

"W32.Luczak.KNR"'s first damage was heard Tuesday night, during the opening of WKNR's pre-game broadcast for the Cleveland State Vikings basketball contest. OMW hears that Good Karma Virus Removal technicians are frantically applying anti-virus updates to stem the infection.

OK, enough joking here.

After all those changes to Cleveland's once-lagging sports talk radio station this week, we kept thinking of two words: "no brainer".

By this point in time, one Mr. Craig Karmazin - the "young guy" in charge of the Good Karma sports radio empire - has had enough ownership experience to know What Needed To Be Done(tm).

And just about everything he's done fits a pattern that pretty much anyone with a certain amount of radio experience could have done:

THE IMAGING CHANGE: Just the mere use of iconic sports radio voice Paul Turner makes WKNR sound ten times more professional. It's something that should have been done years ago, but we suppose Mr. Luczak had to do something to keep himself busy...

RIZZO ON THE RADIO: That is, the addition of FOX 8 sports anchor and experienced sports talk radio host Tony Rizzo to the daily lineup. It fits an established and successful sports radio pattern - TV sports anchors host local radio talk shows all over the country, including on Good Karma's own sister station in Milwaukee. And in this case, Rizzo is no radio novice, and comes with a built-in following...

LOCAL SPORTS TALK AT NIGHT: The move of Greg Brinda into the 6-9 PM time slot provides the station with another shot at a ready sports audience, though it's a tough climb against actual sports play-by-play - and an established local sports talk show - on Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100.

But as a whole, it "extends" WKNR's hours into the awareness of sports fans who follow games at night, and provides a smooth platform to go into the station's locally-produced post-game shows for the Indians and Cavaliers, not to mention sports events like Ohio State and Cleveland State basketball that actually air on the station.

Those, and other changes, were very basic.

Mr. Karmazin has hinted at this on the air, saying the changes were "the first step" in the revamping of a long-dormant sports talk radio station, and that if future changes are needed, he'll make them.

Our sense: He'll see how the revamped lineup and sound, and other changes, affect listenership.

But he's not afraid to change "mid-stream".

After he got settled in at WKNR sister station WAUK/1510 "ESPN Milwaukee", Karmazin almost literally jumped at the chance to lure Milwaukee's biggest sports radio name - Steve "The Homer" True - from Clear Channel talk WISN/1130, after that station basically exiled him to late nights to add Sean Hannity's nationally syndicated talk show.

He managed to bring True over, despite the fact that his primary Milwaukee signal is a daytime outlet - and the nighttime clearance provided by leased time on WMCS/1290 doesn't cover hours before 6 PM, which means the afternoon drive show goes off the air (at least in Milwaukee) early in the winter hours.

We're not suggesting that Karmazin is making a shopping list with anyone from, say, WTAM on the list. The station doesn't have an equivalent to Milwaukee's "Homer", in our opinion. But... he's clearly on the lookout for talent improvement.

The true test of Mr. Karmazin's WKNR ownership will come when he is prompted to make decisions that aren't "no brainers"...

Semi-related: OMW has heard from Paul Belfi, who runs formerly-WKNR-connected sports talk website SportsTalkCleveland.com. He weighs in on the changes...

I am ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED to see what is happening with WKNR. There are many people that work there that I consider friends - obviously Kenny Roda and I are best friends to this day. And in all honesty, I was nervous about what was going to happen there.

I know Kenny is excited about the changes, and the move downtown.

I've always been a Tony Rizzo fan as well - he's priceless and cracks me up. He is a fan first, and I respect that.

I am very pleased that some of the rumors of Greg's 'demise' were just that - rumors. He's a friend as well, and I think 6-9 will be great for him.

Even though I own STC - I am a different media platform than radio, obviously. And at the end of the day, I am a sports fan and a sports talk junkie. As such, what WKNR is doing is nothing but a positive for the Cleveland sports fans, and I wish them nothing but the best.

Belfi tells us that former WKNR host Kendall Lewis is staying aboard as midday host at SportsTalkCleveland.com, along with his new gig as co-host of FSN Ohio's "Cleveland Rants" with WKNR fill-in Les Levine.

He also tells us he's "happy" for ex-WKNR host Bruce Drennan's apparently in-the-works deal to host a show on SportsTime Ohio.

But will Drennan return to STC? Says Belfi:

I look to Bruce as a mentor, and I have nothing but respect and a high regard for him as a broadcaster - and more importantly, as a friend. I am not sure if he will be able to continue with us at STC when he is back. He is welcome to, and I would love to have him here, but the decision will be his. Either way, I am fine with it. He's gone through a lot, and deserves some peace of mind.

One other thought came to mind when we were talking about Karmazin's Milwaukee signal situation.

The Good Karma boss has solved his signal problem in Cleveland by buying powerful 24 hour outlet WKNR. Or has he?

We wonder if he's satisfied with his second signal, daytimer WWGK/1540, now called "KNR2". If the station will act as an overflow for WKNR programming, how useful can that be with a daytime signal - particularly with a lot of sporting events taking place at night?

We have gone into the "Why 1540 Can't Go 24 Hours" discussion many times. But we wonder if Karmazin is STILL interested in other options for that WKNR sister station.

We've heard nothing. It's just a thought...

Sliding Into Tuesday

A mixed bag of items. Is Tuesday worth anything, except for the fact that it's not Monday?

"ESPN 850's" FIRST DAY: There isn't much more to be said about the debut of the new lineup and on-air remodeling of Good Karma sports talk WKNR/850 as "ESPN 850". We think we've said just about everything.

But yes, on-air changes at WKNR and sister WWGK/1540 "KNR2" did take place as scheduled Monday, including the debut of the 10 AM-noon show hosted by WJW FOX 8 sports anchor Tony Rizzo. (Long-time caller "SportsBoy Tony"'s CursedCleveland.com blog weighs in here.)

And though we weren't there for what we presume was a celebration, former WKNR program director Michael Luczak's voice was finally excised from the AM 850 airwaves, replaced by new production voiced by legendary sports radio imaging voice Paul Turner.

Turner has been serving as the imaging voice for WWGK, in its first incarnation as "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540"...and will continue to be heard on the newly-minted "KNR2".

Former WKNR mid-morning host Greg Brinda debuted his nighttime show, referring to the show's listeners and callers as "Night Crawlers". Umm, OK.

And as Brinda moved to the 6-9 PM slot, he actually got a break.

His primary sports talk competitor, WTAM/1100 "Sportsline" host Kevin Keane, wasn't even on the air in the time slot.

No, not due to a Cavaliers game, but due to the Clear Channel talk station's coverage of the Barack Obama presidential campaign rally in Cleveland...which lasted during the entire 6-9 PM time frame, including post-rally talk by WTAM host Bob Frantz. Keane picked up at 9, though he continued talking about the rally - and politics instead of sports.

So, Brinda had the entire potential Cleveland sports radio audience to himself, at least for one night - assuming enough people thought to tune the dial to 850 AM, which hasn't featured regular local sports talk in that time slot until, well, Monday night...

ALLACCESSING IT: There were two items from AllAccess involving Northeast Ohio radio.

The trade website reports that Cumulus/Youngstown market manager Clyde Bass has left the building(s) after four years. Cumulus' Youngstown cluster covers eight stations, including powerhouse FMs like country WQXK/105.1 "K-105", top 40 WHOT/101.1 and classic rock WYFM/102.9 "Y103", along with five other AM and FM stations on both sides of the Ohio/Pennsylvania border.

AllAccess reports that Bass' replacement will apparently be named at a morning staff meeting on Tuesday.

The site also reports that Salem talk WHK/1420 Cleveland is adding an hour-long daily program, a weekday version of the Cleveland-based syndicated talk show "Family Matters Radio".

UPDATE: But it's been pointed out to OMW that it's actually sister Christian talk outlet WHKW/1220 "The Word" which is carrying the show from 3:30-4:30 PM weekdays. WHK - and sister CCM outlet WFHM/95.5 - also carry the weekend version of "Family Matters Radio", which may have contributed to AllAccess' confusion.

WHKW simulcaster WHKZ/1440 Warren/Youngstown will also carry the show, but the WHKW program schedule indicates that some local programming will pre-empt it in that market at least partially, for part of the week.

"Family Matters Radio" also airs in its weekend version on Cumulus talk WTOD/1560 Toledo...

LOCAL SYNDICATION TIES: While we're talking about Northeast Ohio ties to syndicated radio, we note the launch of a new syndicated talk show hosted by talk radio veteran Leslie Marshall.

No, Marshall - last heard on liberal talk WWKB/1520 Buffalo - won't be doing her show here. Heck, when she was on in Buffalo, she did her program via ISDN from her Los Angeles home.

And her show won't be based here, either, as new programmer TalkUSA will produce it. That's the new company owned by former Air America Radio and Democracy Radio principal Tom Athans. Democracy Radio launched shows hosted by Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller, both still represented by Jones Radio.

No, the Cleveland Connection for Ms. Marshall's new show is locally-based Envision Radio Networks, which will handle syndication for the program.

OMW hears that Envision will not just be selling the show to "liberal talk" stations.

Much like Stephanie Miller, Marshall has a long history on "general market" talk radio stations (in markets like Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco), and her radio career predates the recent establishment of left-leaning talk radio as a full-fledged format by many years.

It may be TalkUSA and Envision's best move.

With the upheaval in the format and changes at iconic network Air America Radio, it's anyone's guess how long "liberal talk radio" lasts as a full format.

With various stations dropping out of the format, including in Columbus and Cincinnati, the path to success may be in whatever "crossover" appeal Marshall can muster on talk radio stations of all kinds...

NOTE TO CLEVELAND'S NEWS ASSIGNMENT DESKS: It's no secret that OMW is widely read at just about every local TV and radio operation, so it's no surprise that we've been tapped to "spread the word" to local TV newsies about a "post-sweeps" gathering called a "February Ratings Survival Celebration:

Announcing a February Ratings Survival Celebration. Let's start a new tradition and toast the end of the February book. Celebrate either after the early or late evening news at Becky's, 1762 East 18th, anytime after 7pm until closing. Everyone, from every station, is invited to join your fellow broadcasters in raising a glass to mark the end of sweeps. We'll have our next "meeting" after the May book.

In our past, we've attended similar gatherings elsewhere, and we're surprised local TV news types in Cleveland don't make this a more regular event...

February Can't Leave Soon Enough

As we look forward to March, and the eventual return of Spring to Northeast Ohio - which is usually closer to mid-to-late April in actuality...

SOME PRE-WKNR FLIP ITEMS: As Good Karma sports talk WKNR/850 becomes "ESPN 850", and sister WWGK/1540 becomes "KNR2", we have some related and semi-related items.

First up is a directly related item: Akron Beacon Journal sports/media columnist George M. Thomas' take on the situation, in an article in Saturday's ABJ.

The article is a pretty comprehensive take on the changes, which you've all read about right here. But unlike some other media writers in the past, Mr. Thomas actually reported this story first-hand...OMW hears he was in the WKNR studios Friday afternoon during owner Craig Karmazin's appearance on afternoon drive host Kenny Roda's show.

Karmazin tells Thomas in the article, like he told listeners on the "Saturday Morning Sports Show", that he is looking to increase the diversity of the station's on-air lineup. The question usually got posed by callers Saturday attached to the name of former WKNR host Kendall Lewis, who will appear in that very time slot next weekend.

Questions about Lewis, and about occasional WKNR fill-in Les Levine, usually elicited a positive response from the station's owner. But Mr. Karmazin pointed quickly to not-so-good research results when asked about another former 'KNR staple, Bruce Drennan.

Don't expect to hear Mr. "I Lovvvvvve Ya, Cleveland!" on AM 850 (or AM 1540) anytime soon.

But it's not like that many were clamoring for him...in our time checking in with most of the "Saturday Morning Sports Show", we only heard Drennan mentioned about two or three times. Even former 'KNR host Geoff Sindelar, who swore off full-time radio work years ago due to his business interests, got mentioned more...

SPEAKING OF BRUCE: Mr. Drennan gets name-checked by the Beacon Journal's Sheldon Ocker in Sunday's paper.

And though we'd nearly bet the farm against him returning to his former radio home, it looks like Indians-owned TV outlet SportsTime Ohio may pick up Drennan when he's available to work.

Ocker writes:

Ever since last fall, there have been indications that the Indians would hire Bruce Drennan to host a talk show on the team's television network, probably in the afternoon.

Of course, we're not just pulling stuff out of the air when we say "available to work".

Ocker says that Drennan reportedly will be released Friday from a five-month prison sentence in West Virginia for that tax evasion case related to the host's admitted gambling on sports.

The fact that his prison time is linked to tax charges, and not sports gambling charges, apparently removes the stigma from his potential employment by, umm, the network run by the city's Major League Baseball team.

And though he's still going to be under house arrest for another five months, Ocker says Drennan "might be" allowed to leave home for work.

Ocker stands up for Drennan's chances, saying he's "served his time" and should be able to make a living in his chosen profession.

We have no problem with that, personally. If someone wants to hire him, who are we to stop them in righteous indignation?

The tax/gambling case was never our problem with Mr. Drennan. We, too, believe in "second chances".

We're just not huge fans of his style, to be honest. But we'll still tune in from time to time if he shows up on STO - though we'll hit the remote instantly if he starts singing show tunes...

BARACK-O-MANIA: The Monday evening rally in Cleveland for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama is apparently a big enough deal for Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 to cover it...live.

The station has run promos all weekend for their "live, team coverage" of the Obama rally at Cuyahoga Community College's eastern campus. WTAM's promos say morning drive host Bill Wills will co-anchor the coverage with mid-morning talk show host Bob Frantz.

Hmmm. Now that's a combination!

We haven't heard Frantz's take on Sen. Obama, though as a pretty straight-ahead conservative, it's hard to believe Frantz would be in Obama's corner.

It'll be interesting to hear how Mr. Frantz handles his role Monday night...

FUNERAL COVERAGE: Cumulus talk WTOD/1560 "SuperTalk 1560" Toledo program director Chuck Matthews passes along word that the station will carry live coverage of the funeral of slain Toledo police officer Keith Dressel.

WTOD starts its coverage at 10 AM Monday.

We don't know if WTOD's competition, Clear Channel talk WSPD/1370, is also carrying the funeral live. But, a number of items about the story are on morning host Fred LeFebvre's website, so we're sure they're talking about it...

Weekend Grab Bag

Just some stuff to occupy our weekend:

DR. LAURA'S RETURN: We don't know how we missed this, but former Premiere syndicated host Dr. Laura Schlessinger has been making her way back onto major market stations as of late.

Dr. Laura's show disappeared from the dial a year or two ago in virtually all major Ohio markets, mostly a result of lesser interest in the show by Premiere - the syndicator owned by Clear Channel.

The show left a number of Clear Channel stations, in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati - first in favor of Premiere's own Glenn Beck, then other programs. Premiere then sold its interest in the show to Dr. Laura's own company, "Take On The Day Productions", though Premiere still handles sales representation for the show.

She's back, as it were, at least in two major Ohio markets.

We already knew Dr. Laura had returned to Cincinnati via Clear Channel's "1360TheSource.com", known to mere mortals as WSAI/1360 - the former liberal talk outlet turned into an advice talker.

What we just found out is that North American Broadcasting talk WTDA/103.9 in the Columbus market also picked up Dr. Laura for its weekday lineup. The show airs after a show that's been a nemesis for her - Mr. Beck's program, which moved from Clear Channel talk WTVN/610.

Dr. Laura replaced FOX Sports Radio in "Talk FM's" 1-4 PM time slot...FSR still runs nights and weekends on the Westerville-licensed class A outlet.

In Northeast Ohio, Dr. Laura is still only heard in Canton, on Melodynamic talk/religious WCER/900.

LINEUP CHANGES: Speaking of that Canton outlet, WCER operations manager and OMW reader John Amrhein tells us of pending lineup changes at AM 900, beginning March 1st.

The station adds a live hour of self-syndicated advice guru Dave Ramsey - another host who used to have larger Northeast Ohio clearance, until his fallout with Salem took Ramsey's show off of 50,000 watt Christian talk/teaching outlet WHKW/1220 Cleveland and sister WHKW/1440 Warren.

Ramsey's second hour puts him on WCER from 1-3 PM, leading into Dr. Laura, also airing live from 3-6 PM.

WCER also adds a live hour of conspiracy talker Alex Jones from noon to 1 PM weekdays. Jones is also heard on the station in morning drive via delay, from 5-8:30 AM...

HEADED FOR F-L-A: Sometimes, OMW picks up news items by reading the various message boards dedicated to local radio, where even some on-air types hang out. That's where we found this one.

Adam Kirk, who does traffic and news for Cleveland's Metro Networks operation, tells message board readers that he's leaving Northeast Ohio for Florida - as a "morning producer and team anchor" for Cox news/talk WOKV/690-106.5 in Jacksonville.

Kirk has been heard doing traffic on Salem talk WHK/1420 Cleveland, along with the usual "other stations".

Adam is the latest local radio type to find refuge in the Sunshine State or somewhere in the Southeast. OMW hears that in the same building, Metro sports reporter/fill-in anchor Zack Stein is headed for Brunswick GA, where he'll be news director of a six-station cluster owned by Qantum Communications.

And we did not, for whatever reason, get to the Florida move of one Ryan Gohmann, who we have heard is leaving (or has left) his job as producer of Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland's Bob Frantz Show for sister talk WFLA/970 Tampa - to work under the direction of former WTAM news director R.C. Bauer...

LOCAL SALES TYPE HONORED: We don't normally cover the comings and goings of sales account executives, but this one got some national attention for a local AE.

Brandon Tidd gets the "2007 Horizon Award" from the folks at the John Bayliss Broadcast Foundation.

The AE for Clear Channel Akron talkers WHLO/640 and WARF/1350, according to an AllAccess item on this, is called "an individual who sets a solid example for today's radio broadcaster. Tidd exemplifies the young talent in the radio industry and, as the sixth recipient of this award, he is tangible evidence of the FOUNDATION's effort."

The Bayliss Foundation gives the award to young folks who have received its radio scholarship award in the past.

Tidd will be presented the award at the Bayliss Radio Roast, in New York City on March 22nd.

The "Roast", by the way, pokes at CBS Radio chairman/CEO Joel Hollander...

Jim Somich

His name has been associated with engineering in both New York and Los Angeles, at huge, legendary stations like top 40 WHTZ "Z100", KFI/640 and rocker KMET.

But for Northeast Ohioans with any engineering background or interest, Jim Somich is known for his stints at WMMS/100.7, WHK/1420 and the old WJW/850. OMW hears that Somich has died at the age of 65.

Somich's career did not just include tending to transmitters and tower sites.

He also worked in television, designing a number of stations for Cleveland-based Malrite, where he was also Director of Radio Engineering. (We don't have the timing, so we don't know for sure, but we could guess that he played a role in Malrite's launch of Cleveland's WOIO/19 - which was Cleveland's first FOX affiliate.)

And Jim Somich was also involved in developing new products, and reviewed products right up the present...this review of Sangean's HDT-1 HD Radio unit appeared in Radio World just a few days ago.

There was more about Mr. Somich that many radio folks may not have known.

In addition to his own engineering consultancy, Somich founded Broadview Heights-based MicroCon Systems. A quick Google search shows a much different goal for this company:

Jim Somich is the President and CEO of MicroCon Systems, Inc., a company he created in 1996 to perform basic research into age reversal.

Wow. From radio and TV engineering to age reversal!

Our condolences to Jim's family and friends on his passing...

WKNR Part 2

The other shoe has dropped in the "WKNR Makeover Sweepstakes".

As expected, as rumored, WJW/8 "FOX 8" lead sports anchor Tony Rizzo will make his return to regular sports talk radio Monday, as host of "Rizzo on the Radio" on the newly-rechristened "ESPN 850 WKNR".

Rizzo guested at 4 PM with the sports station's afternoon drive host, Kenny Roda. He told Roda that he and producer Aaron Goldhammer will "let the show evolve" in the weeks after it starts airing, and see what kind of features and such work for the new audience.

We say "new audience", since Rizzo was last heard doing regular sports talk radio in the old WHK/1420 sports talk format in the 1990's. He acknowledged enjoying that run, but says the new show won't necessarily be a repeat of those days.

He called new WKNR owner Craig Karmazin "a young guy, who works hard, loves sports, and loves sports radio".

Rizzo thanked his WJW bosses, saying the FOX O&O's local management "were very kind" in letting him do a two-hour daily radio show. Of course, Rizzo will continue to be the local FOX affiliate's lead sports anchor, and promoted a FOX 8 story on his new radio show tonight.

Oh, and he apologized for leading local newspaper columnists - like George M. Thomas at the Akron Beacon Journal, Lake County News-Herald/Lorain Morning Journal and ex-Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Roger Brown, and "that lady at the Plain Dealer" - astray. (We'll assume that's PD media columnist Julie Washington.)

The other part of this equation:

Current mid-morning host Greg Brinda, who will be displaced by Rizzo's show and the last hour of ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike", lands in weekday evenings from 6 to 9 PM. That means Roda's "Happy Hour" will take a 3 hour slot, from 3 to 6 PM.

Over at the new "Cleveland's AM 1540 - KNR2" (there's definitely a missing W in the branding), FOX Sports Radio's Steve Czaban takes over mornings, followed by an hour of FSR's James Washington and Craig Sheman from 9-10 AM, then the existing ESPN Radio shows: Colin Cowherd 10 AM-1 PM, and Dan Patrick 1-4 PM.

But WWGK/1540 won't be staying with ESPN's "Sports Bash" at 4 PM, taking FSR's afternoon drive show with Chris Myers instead.

Karmazin also confirmed what we posted here earlier, as WKNR's "Boxing Show" with Antonio Castro moves to 1540, after the High School Sports Show with Jim Isabella on Saturdays...

WKNR Part One

Yes, we've heard.

And not just on the air...OMW has received an official press release from Good Karma sports talk WKNR/850 on the first announcement in a series of two, about upcoming changes at the station.

850's branding changes on Monday, as WKNR becomes "ESPN 850 WKNR". And for good reason, for the station's schedule changes include the return Monday of ESPN Radio morning team "Mike and Mike", featuring Cleveland native Mike Golic and co-host Mike Greenberg.

The WKNR press release quotes Golic:

“I am very happy with this. Growing up on the Eastside of Cleveland and Willowick, my alma-mater, St.Joe’s…I am very happy we are back on where we belong, and certainly look forward to it.”

The ESPN morning show ran on WKNR until last fall, when then-owner Salem was forced to move to FOX Sports Radio by...current WKNR owner Good Karma, which swiped the ESPN Radio affiliation for what was then its only Cleveland outlet, WWGK/1540.

"Mike and Mike" will air weekdays from 6 AM to 10 AM, which includes the show's third hour that was not carried in the past on WKNR.

OMW hears that WKNR sister WWGK, which has been known as "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540", will become "Cleveland's AM 1540, KNR-2".

And regular OMW reader/tipster Nathan Obral tells us that another WKNR speciality show moves over to 1540 - as Antonio Castro's "The Boxing Show" will follow former WKNR staple "The High School Football Show with Jim Isabella" on 1540's Saturday lineup.

Other announcements will be made at 4 PM this afternoon on WKNR's Kenny Roda afternoon drive show. We believe more lineup changes are in the works at the new "ESPN 850", including the announcement of at least one new regular weekday host.

But...we hear that Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin is not only putting himself on Roda's show to make those announcements.

The station owner will also be the latest host of the station's "Cleveland Sports Saturday", tomorrow morning from 9 AM to noon at a local car dealership. Karmazin, of course, is the regular co-host of Good Karma evening syndicated show "Steve and Craig", which we presume will still air starting next month on what's becoming "AM 1540, KNR-2".

You can't say the guy is hiding from public input.

And in fact, from that same press release, a quote from the station's boss:

“We’re excited to have Mike & Mike back... this is all based on everything I have heard from the people in the area. So, I am going to be excited to find out if - once all the moves are said and done - I am going to get some thumbs up or some thumbs down on the changes.”

It could be one of the more interesting Saturday morning radio remotes...

A 'KNR Preview

As reported here earlier, WKNR/850 owner Craig Karmazin is expected to take to the airwaves of his Cleveland sports station today to announce a new on-air lineup - scheduled to begin Monday.

We have a little more information. A little.

OMW hears that there are "at least two major lineup changes" starting Monday on WKNR. We also hear that there is no expected job loss as a result of such changes.

And further, the moving of the chess pieces on 850 may also have an impact on Good Karma sister sports talk outlet WWGK/1540 "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540"...and we hear that there may well be much-anticipated changes in the on-air sound and imaging of WKNR itself.

We also hear that at least one long-rumored local sports media name may become a permanent, daily addition to the WKNR lineup.

Mr. Karmazin is expected to make the announcement today on the station's afternoon drive show with host Kenny Roda...