The WKNR Second Day Fallout Item

Yes, this one's so big that we need a second followup.

HELLO, GALLERIA: Yes, in answer to numerous off-blog questions, we're aware that Good Karma Broadcasting intends to consolidate the operations of WKNR/850 and WWGK/1540 into new studios at the Galleria at Erieview.

That's the upscale shopping center/office complex on East 9th Street, or a short shuttle from Cleveland Browns Stadium and not that much farther from Jacobs Field and Quicken Loans Arena.

It's sure a lot closer to all of Cleveland's major professional sports venues than, say, Broadview Road...or Euclid Avenue and East 80th Street for that matter...

HOUSEKEEPING: We understand that the Good Karma LMA of WKNR actually started immediately, with the very next paychecks for WKNR employees being handled by the new operator/incoming owner.

However, the station sounds - at least today - exactly as it did two days ago. We have not heard any changes on the air...aside from perhaps something we may be imagining, a "spring in the step" of on-air personalities. It's almost like they sound, well, happy...even if it's not entirely known how many of them will end up staying.

NOT AROUND: We're also not sure, now, that now-former WKNR program director Michael Luczak is staying with Salem in Cleveland.

Though Luczak has also been programming sister talk outlet WHK/1420, it would seem that being in charge of just one station isn't enough to keep him at the cluster as far as budgets are concerned. Large broadcast companies tend to not keep around people to run only one station these days - just ask anyone at Oak Tree.

Could he be sniffing around elsewhere within Salem?

WE'LL TAKE RIZZO TO BLOCK: More and more, from the large number of sources we have on this item, it appears that WJW FOX 8 sports anchor Tony Rizzo is a key piece of the puzzle for Good Karma's local sports radio operation.

We haven't heard any solid information on where he'd land in the company's lineup, but we suspect "daily on 850" is a good bet. We would assume that Rizzo, Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin, and the folks at WJW are hammering this one out even as we type.

While we're at it, multiple sources (!!) keep talking about Peter Brown as a possible hire in the Good Karma sports pantheon.

Mr. Brown, as we've mentioned before, is the former afternoon driver at the station then known as "SportsRadio 1220 WKNR"...long before Salem bought the station. Out of all of the former WKNR personalities, he's perhaps the most remembered - and controversial.

He's also currently unemployed, since Entercom sports WSSP/1250 Milwaukee let him go from its afternoon drive shift not long ago...where he competed against, you guessed it, Good Karma WAUK/1510 host Steve "The Homer" True. Needless to say, Mr. Karmazin knows Brown's work.

We're told by more than one source not to rule out names like Kendall Lewis, another former 'KNR host currently doing middays for SportsTalkCleveland.com, in some role...and maybe there's even pursuit of a player at a certain broadcast facility on Oak Tree... but probably not who you'd guess.

This is mostly speculation, based on some pretty decent information. We bear no responsibility if any of these names do not end up on the WKNR or WWGK rosters...but assuming FOX 8 is OK with the talk radio moonlighting, we would almost bet money on Rizzo being involved...

COVERAGE: Akron Beacon Journal sportswriter George M. Thomas covers the sale in his Tuesday sports media column, which ever-so-conveniently shows up the day after the sale. (How'd you work out that timing, George? Heh.)

Mr. Thomas gives some unsolicited advice to Mr. Karmazin, most of it involving beefing up the local sports talk presence of the sleeping giant at 850 AM. We wouldn't be surprised if much of it happens, though we're not sure Jim Rome would go away or gets moved...and haven't heard even any rumblings about this as of yet.

Oh, and since we know George is an OMW reader - umm, Good Karma's original Cleveland sports outlet is "WWGK", not "WKKG". (Unlike previous columnists who have covered radio issues for the Beacon, we trust George is putting that into his word processor.)

And technically, 1540 is not "outside Cleveland"...it's well within the city limits, at Euclid Avenue and East 80th Street on the city's East Side.

With a 1000 watt daytime signal, it may sound like it is "outside" Cleveland, tho...

AND FINALLY...: By the way, we're getting none of this information directly from Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin, though we know he's a reader here (and has responded before).

OMW has issued an invitation to him to respond to any of our items, in any way he sees fit.

But as we noted to him, we get the idea that just about anyone who's ever said the word "sports" into a microphone within 100 miles of Cleveland is camped out on his doorstep right now. We understand if he's too busy to respond...but we're here whenever he's able, or wants, to do so...
UPDATE 11:32 PM 12/5/06: We have indeed heard from Mr. Karmazin, who acknowledged our item and helpfully pointed out, umm, a typo on the price of the studios he plans to build at the Galleria complex. That's $10 million for the entire sports radio shooting match, of course, including the costs of buying both WKNR and WWGK, and the studios.

We have a couple of other items related to future programming on at least one of the two stations, which we'll put up soon...

Jerry's Gone

It's sort of anti-climactic at this point.

After Chicago Sun-Times radio/TV guru Robert Feder hinted that Jerry Springer may give up his Air America Radio/Clear Channel syndicated liberal talk radio show, and a day after this very blog noted the near-total absence of Springer from the AAR website, Springer has officially announced the end of "Springer on the Radio".

The last show will be this Friday, Springer tells Cincinnati Enquirer radio/TV columnist John Kiesewetter in an online article that will presumably be in Tuesday's paper. It'll air on what is claimed to be about "two dozen" affiliates, though we think that figure is somewhat charitable. The last original show is expected to be Tuesday on nominal flagship station WSAI/1360 and whatever affiliates are left, with reruns filling out the week.

Springer tells Kiesewetter that it's his busy TV and movie calendar that is prompting him to dump the show - he's apparently a hot quantity after his appearance in "Dancing with the Stars". He's slated, says Kiesewetter, for a regular role on ABC's sitcom "George Lopez", and will play a rabbi in an upcoming feature film.

With the state of the show, and the questionable status of Springer syndicator Air America, this definitely has a "jump before I get pushed" flavor to it. And with the former Cincinnati mayor and trash TV host apparently enjoying a pop culture resurgence (such as it is), that's a rather convenient exit point.

One other note from the Enquirer article: Springer says he's only done one show from the Clear Channel studios in the Kenwood area of Cincinnati since August. The original plan was to do the program there on Monday and Friday, and in Chicago - where he tapes his TV show - the rest of the week.

"That's absurd. That's just not fair," Springer says in the article...

The WKNR Fallout Item

Now that we've had a little time to digest the announced sale of Salem sports talk WKNR/850 to Good Karma Broadcasting, some thoughts. The below is primarily our own speculation and educated guessing, and not borne in fact unless we tell you otherwise:

* First, a "victory lap", as it were.

Here at your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), we can't even count the number of times we've written the following sentence - or some variation of it - in connection with Good Karma's purchase of the 1000 watt daytime-only station now known as WWGK/1540: "This can't be Craig Karmazin's end game."

Though much of the speculation surrounded around the rumored nighttime brokering deal with Radio One's WERE/1300, which would have placed WWGK's ESPN Radio programming on that signal after 7 PM, we couldn't help wondering about other possibilities.

Maybe we just couldn't get the very first mention of Mr. Karmazin being connected to local broadcasting out of our minds.

That was in a column long ago by now-former Cleveland Plain Dealer sports/media columnist Roger Brown, who said, at the time, that Karmazin was interested in buying either Radio Disney's WWMK/1260 or...WKNR.

This was long before he ended up purchasing his first station, which now goes by the on-air name "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540".

After paying a couple of million for daytime gospel outlet WABQ, Karmazin has finally ended up getting WKNR - and actually did not pay a lot more, considering the relative strengths of the two stations. He got a deal that was a few million less than even Salem paid to return talk WHK/1420 to the company's fold.

* What happens to the two stations now that they'll be under common ownership?

We don't know.

Again, in the "educated guess" category, we like the comment made to our earlier item. WKNR becomes Good Karma's "mostly local" sports talk outlet, with the assumption (likely correct) that the station keeps mainstay Jim Rome noon-3 PM.

WJW/8 sports anchor Tony Rizzo is likely in the conversation somewhere, judging from his existing association with Good Karma, and his desire to return to doing at least some sports talk radio.

The answer there would appear to belong to his TV bosses at "FOX 8" - whether he does a weekday show, a Saturday midday show or none at all. We haven't heard any new developments on that front since Rizzo did that special OSU/Michigan show on WWGK a few weeks ago.

What of "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540"? Our guess - it stays that way, with a primarily network lineup, carrying sports events and programming overflow from WKNR, as its broadcast hours permit.

The only wild card to us - does Karmazin keep FOX Sports Radio on 850, or swap it to 1540? That would certainly satisfy ESPN's desire to be on a full-time signal...and remember, FSR is only on WKNR because Salem had to replace ESPN, which...of course, ended up on Karmazin's first signal.

And does Good Karma return ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike" to 850, or do a local morning drive show?

If you look at Karmazin's other sports properties, most of them are affiliated with ESPN. The sole non-ESPN sports format outlet in his portfolio, WTLX/100.5 Columbus/Madison WI, is losing FOX Sports Radio to Clear Channel's WXXM/92.1 in the same market.

Karmazin has told local reporters in Madison that he plans to air more local sports talk on the frequency, with the loss of the network feed.

* Don't necessarily assume the current full-time WKNR hosts or staffers will be getting their walking papers, certainly in the short term, at any rate.

We don't know how mid-morning host Greg Brinda or afternoon driver Kenny Roda fit into Good Karma's plans. Heck, at this point, even Craig Karmazin himself may not know that answer.

Ditto with other 'KNR staffers, like the young group of producer/board ops/weekend hosts, or update anchors Jeff Thomas and Daryl Ruiter - who, of course, are actually employed by Metro Networks instead of Salem.

One thing we'd like to do here is *calm* some of the wild, outrageous speculation - by saying, basically, we haven't heard anything to answer any of the above questions yet.

And it would appear likely from this corner that Good Karma is going to take at least the next month or so, if not more, to make some of these decisions.

One thing would appear to be immediate.

With station voice and program director Michael Luczak no longer associated with WKNR, we'll probably start hearing new production on the station - fairly soon. Even that may take some time to put together.

Mr. Luczak would presumably continue in the employ of Salem, overseeing the company's talk WHK/1420 and perhaps performing other duties. We don't know his experience with Christian contemporary music, but of course, WFHM/95.5 "The Fish" is looking for a program director after Sue Wilson's departure to Rubber City country WQMX/94.9 in the Akron market.

But...Luczak won't be voicing WKNR liners and promos anymore.

It'll be fun to watch, at any rate...as Karmazin appears ready to enter "the big leagues" of local sports radio. And he finally is able to compete with WTAM/1100 for the local sports audience.

Will he start going after Clear Channel's pro contracts?

Assuming he keeps the Ohio State rights - and we'd be shocked if he would buy WKNR without that contract being kept - the Browns, Indians and Cavaliers are the big "plums" left.

Our guess? He goes after the rights of one of the three teams.

His problem? All of them would presumably be wrapped up by Clear Channel in multi-year contracts.

But with a full-market full-time signal, and apparently some money behind him ($10 million doesn't grow on trees), he'd appear to be...in the game, at least. OK, so we couldn't resist the pun.

We'll be watching...

BREAKING NEWS: Major Local Radio Station Sale

UPDATE 4:49 PM 12/4/06: The sale's been confirmed by Crain's Cleveland Business, in an article by John Booth. (Thanks to alert OMW reader Nate - "not Nate81" - for the heads up in a comment below.)

The reported selling price - $7 million dollars, or about $3 million south of what Salem paid WCLV to take back WKNR sister talk WHK/1420.

Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin tells Crain's that Good Karma will take over operations of WKNR via an LMA "immediately". He says he has plans to consolidate WKNR and WWGK into a downtown Cleveland studio, and that formats will not change on either station. We'd be surprised if Good Karma didn't swap networks between the two stations, tho... but that's just our own speculation....

Our original report - first anywhere on the topic - is below:

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We have now confirmed from numerous sources that Good Karma Broadcasting, owner of WWGK/1540 Cleveland "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540", is buying its established format competitor, much larger Salem sports talk station WKNR/850.

We have no word on the terms or the conditions, but OMW hears an LMA will begin soon, possibly as soon as later this month, or by January.

We hear Good Karma owner Craig Karmazin is scheduled to meet with WKNR employees as soon as late this afternoon.

More as we hear it...

Small Streamers Going Away?

It appears that small stations are once again running into a roadblock when it comes to streaming audio, this time courtesy of the U.S. Congress, the federal court system and the folks at SoundExchange - the apparatus which determines royalties for web streaming.

And one of the first victims of the new guidelines and rates is right here in OMW Land.

Streetsboro City Schools-owned alt-rock/oldies WSTB/88.9 Streetsboro has announced that the changes will silence the WSTB Internet stream as of December 26th.

Quoting WSTB general manager Bob Long, from a letter posted on the front of the site for the station's "Sunday Oldies Jukebox":

Our decision to end streaming is based upon recent legal developments in the U.S. Congress and the Federal Court system. We will not be the only radio station to stop providing streaming audio to its listeners. By the end the year, many other stations currently streaming will also be going silent.

Bob tells OMW that while large commercial broadcast groups won't be affected, since they've cut their own deals with the SoundExchange folks, many smaller broadcasters - particularly smaller non-commercial outlets like WSTB - will likely join the Streetsboro station in removing streams.

The details behind this problem are rather complex. Bob passed along a virtual boatload of legal and technical documents that address it.

The upshot, though, is that the new guidelines mean the smaller non-comm stations have to not only pay a lot more, but spend many extra hours of staff time (paid or volunteer) to keep track of new reporting requirements. It's too much for many small stations to bear, both financially and in personnel resources, so they're going away on the Internet - again.

And now, we branch into a mini-editorial.

It becomes, by the day, harder to stick up for the music and entertainment industry. Their actions in regard to the Internet seem somewhat draconian, and small outlets like WSTB are often the losers - as are those listeners who use the Internet to catch up with stations like that.

At times, the music and movie industries, in particular, seem downright hostile to potential customers. They seem to perceive them as thieves just waiting to take money out of the pocket of artists. (Don't believe us? Just talk to Universal Music about why they extracted a PER PLAYER fee out of Microsoft for the company's new "Zune" music player.)

It's actions like these that make us want to totally divorce ourselves from the output of the Mega Entertainment Industry...online, offline or otherwise.

Stations like WSTB, a 680 watt class A outlet broadcasting from a Kent tower to nearby Akron and beyond, are just trying to extend their listening range and serve their alt-rock and oldies audiences. But they're also the ones who seem to get the shaft from the entertainment industry...

To The Times-Reporter - Again

Another tree gets killed in Dover as a result of OMW. We're sorry, environmentalists, we didn't do it!

Seriously, your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) has once again been invoked in the Dover/New Philadelphia newspaper, courtesy of an editorial comment in the Times-Reporter.

This time, they're defending their use of this very blog as a primary source for recent items about the impending move of the station now known as WJER-FM, the 101.7 signal which will - soon - be broadcasting from a tower site under construction in Canton. (More on that later.)

Quoting T-R editor Dick Farrell:

Let me answer the apparent concern with a question: Why wouldn’t we?

We’ve monitored the Internet, including Ohio Media Watch, for months for information in connection with WJER-FM signal move to North Canton, not by choice but out of necessity. Neither the station management nor owner Clear Channel Communications has been forthcoming with details.

So, when primary news sources dry up, reporters turn to secondary sources. In a murder case – when the cops aren’t talking – a secondary source might include a neighbor, who heard or saw something. When one of the community’s radio stations is poised to move out of town, one might turn to an industry Internet blog for information. So be it.

Some points here:

We understand what Mr. Farrell is saying here. We do happen to have cultivated some sources in the radio industry that the T-R is unable to duplicate.

Our previous record of accuracy is, well, pretty good. We're not perfect, but we've rarely been wrong.

But...

We were just surprised that a newspaper would use an anonymously-published Internet blog as a primary source, basically reprinting our items verbatim without additional reporting, that's all.

We've said our piece on this, so moving on to the news, which will likely end up in the T-R tomorrow:

OMW hears that the target date for the 101.7 move is now being pushed back to closer to the end of the year.

There's nothing sinister or odd about that. Basically, the logistics of putting together the new tower site for WRQK/106.9 and the incoming 101.7 signal are such that it can't possibly be finished by December 11th.

For one, last we heard from people who drove by the site late last week, they still need to pour the concrete base for the pad which will hold the tower and transmitter building. We're no construction experts, but we know it takes a few days for concrete to set...and December 11th is 8 days away.

So again, it's still in the works, as our photos here have shown...but we've also always said that the timing we've given is "weather permitting". We're not sure, for example, that any construction work could have been done in Thursday's rain or Friday's high winds.

And anyone who's ever watched a construction site, radio or otherwise, knows that other factors can slow down progress to a "target" date.

Now, we've taken some heat from people in the Dover/New Philadelphia area over all of this, including from a WJER staffer who added a comment to our most recent item about the station:

i hope everyone at OMW, the T-R and everyone else who takes pleasure in throwing stones around here knows that there are good people in these wjer hallways who work hard to support their families. and we're going into christmas wondering if we'll have jobs next year. if we'll have health insurance. if we'll be able to make our car payments and afford vacations. THIS IS MY LIFE you are talking about. yet you take great pleasure in batting it around like a cat with a ball of string...just because you're unhappy with someone or something from your past. i really appreciate it. you don't know me. you don't know my co-workers. you don't know what it's like.

Whoa.

Let's make one thing clear here. We do NOT "take pleasure in throwing stones" at WJER or its employees. We've made a couple of humorous comments towards WJER owner Gary Petricola and his response to these items, but...

1) OMW, the blog itself and your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) does NOT take pleasure in talking about potential loss of jobs, benefits or whatnot.

We are, as we've said more than once, "pro-jobs" in radio and TV. We started in this business back when stations had at least twice or three times the staffing most stations currently have. We remember when most stations had a live overnight personality, for crying out loud!

We are also "pro-local full service radio". We think communities like Dover/New Philadelphia are better served by fully staffed, locally-oriented, locally-owned stations which are an intregal part of their community. (WJER competitor WTUZ/99.9 Uhrichsville would also be a good example of this, by the way.)

Please separate this blog from some of the more snarky anonymous comments which are attached to it. When your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) adds comments, we always, always sign them.

2) We were always under the impression that the "do they have jobs after 101.7 moves?" scenario is solely under the domain of one man, current WJER operator/former owner/future WJER(AM) owner Gary Petricola.

The stations have operated basically as one for the past few months, give or take a morning show and occasional periods where sports are run only on AM 1450.

The future employment status of current WJER employees would seem to depend on how Mr. Petricola continues to operate AM 1450 after the FM moves north. If you're worried about if you're going to have a job, please ask your boss.

The FM move has been in the works for years, when your boss, the aforementioned Mr. Petricola, voluntarily decided to sell it to one of the largest broadcast conglomerates in the world. We're pretty sure Clear Channel didn't hold a gun to his head to force him to sell the stations.

As we've stated here before, it did not take the proverbial rocket scientist to find out that Clear Channel has a long-established pattern of moving signals into larger nearby markets when it is feasible to do so.

If Mr. Petricola had been paying attention or doing due diligence, he would have uncovered Clear Channel's moves of other small city FMs to larger markets all over the country, including in Ohio. It isn't exactly a secret - it's been in every radio trade publication that's out there.

Simply put, if Gary Petricola wanted to ensure that WJER-FM would stay in Dover, he should have sold the station to another company - no matter what impression or even assurances he claims he was given.

We are not at all going after the employees of WJER here. They are fine, hard working folks that deserve to continue serving the people of Dover/New Philadelphia on whatever frequency they can do so.

But the transaction has been known for some time, and it has been known for some time that 101.7's uprooting was not likely to take jobs north with it...due to the mere nature of the FM station's new incarnation.

Anything else would appear to be up to Mr. Petricola.

As for our part?

We didn't sell the WJER stations to Clear Channel.

We didn't plan to move 101.7 to the Canton market.

And we don't hold the future of the current WJER staff in our hands.

We're just the messenger.

BREAKING NEWS: Springer Out Soon?

We touched on this in an earlier item, where we reprinted a line from Chicago Sun-Times radio/TV guru Robert Feder about Cincinnati-based syndicated talk host Jerry Springer and his radio show:

Jerry Springer, whose talk show has been airing from 8 to 11 a.m., exits the Newsweb Corp. station for now -- and could be stepping down from radio entirely.

Could it be sooner rather than later?

Less than one week after Chicago rimshot liberal talker WCPT/850 announced it was dropping Springer for Jones Radio's Stephanie Miller, it is now virtually impossible to find Springer's radio show web presence.

The web URL www.springerontheradio.com used to redirect to Springer's radio show page, with his blog and all sorts of information about the program.

That address now redirects to the main Air America Radio home page, as does the former sub-site URL, www.airamerica.com/springer.

Springer's own "main" page at jerryspringer.com still has its link to the "Springer on the Radio" site that now does not work.

If you try to find Springer under the "Shows" drop-down menu, he's not there. At all. And it's not because of his move to the company's "AAR Syndication" arm...fellow host Thom Hartmann is still there.

The ONLY place we can find Springer on the AAR site this Saturday evening is on the "Schedule" page, where his picture and name are still listed, along with a link to SpringerOnTheRadio.com. Which, as we've already said, now bounces back to the main AAR page.

It sure looks like "Springer on the Radio" is getting a purge from AAR's web presence, if not from the radio (yet). The move seems to be rather deliberate, particularly with the direct removal of Springer from the "Shows" menu.

Springer's radio website has always had a list of about 30 stations that carry his show. We have no idea how many of these stations haven't switched to Miller, AAR's Sam Seder or something else.

The only one we can find so far with Springer's show on its web schedule is Clear Channel's WDTW/1310 Dearborn MI, the Detroit market's liberal talk outlet. We have no confidence that he's still airing there, though.

In fact, the only affiliate we have any confidence about is his home outlet, WSAI/1360 Cincinnati "The Revolution of Talk Radio". And if he's stepping down from radio, as rumored above, one wonders what happens next...as the station has promoted him as a local host, due to his long-time ties to the Queen City.

(Air America's situation would presumably not get in the way of WSAI still carrying the Springer show, as that's where it originates, and they hired him before AAR ever got involved.)

Again, this is just some online smoke, as we have not heard anything about Springer's radio future beyond the comment from Mr. Feder's column. But radio station and network moves have been foretold by web site changes before...

A Radio Check For Us

UPDATE 12/2/06 3:07 PM: Well, so much for that. The station literally signed off in mid-song just a short time ago.

Have we nabbed the second pirate your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) has ever heard? The first was the "WCUE Pirate", who camped out on 91.9 FM with a distorted voice and a few jingles from the old top 40 format at WCUE/1150 Cuyahoga Falls a few months back.

Though we can't link the two from what we heard, the "WCUE Pirate" was running at roughly the same time of day on a Saturday afternoon...

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Just a quickie:

We're asking our readers to tune to 103.7 FM at this hour and tell us if you hear what we're hearing - an oldies/classic hits mix with few identifiers. Actually, only one, a guy who just came on and said "103.7 FM".

The frequency has been occupied, depending on atmospheric conditions, by WRTS/103.7 "Star 104" out of Erie PA, but this is very clearly not them.

The signal may or may not be stronger in the Akron area, though it's a bit weak to be that close to the OMW World Headquarters...

Cleaning Up the Leftovers

There aren't just leftovers from Thanksgiving. We left a few as we head into Saturday:

THAT OTHER CC AKRON/CANTON CHANGE: With all the attention about the item involving the replacement of Al Franken with Ed Schultz on Clear Channel Akron liberal talker WARF/1350 "Radio Free Ohio", we forgot word on another change in the cluster.

OMW hears that WARF sister talker WHLO/640 is picking up Premiere's new weekend show with Bob Costas. WHLO will air the Costas show Sunday evenings between 8 and 10 PM, starting this Sunday.

It feeds as early as Saturday morning at 6 AM, where Salem sportstalk WKNR/850 airs it in Cleveland. Or, according to their website, maybe they air "award-winning broadcaster Bob Castas"...whoever HE is.

But we like the Sunday night placement. Not only are we generally not awake at 6 AM on a Saturday - who is? - but that's where Costas' old show "Costas Coast-to-Coast" aired. It seems to us to be the perfect time, though we suspect some sports fans are watching "NBC's Sunday Night Football" at that hour instead.

SPEAKING OF FOOTBALL: OMW gives a nod to Wooster's WQKT/104.5 "SportsCountry" for an annual tradition.

The Dix Communications country/sports outlet is airing every single game in the state High School Football Championships, starting today and ending with tomorrow's Division I championship contest between Mentor and Hilliard Davidson.

WQKT has been doing this for many, many years, and they air all of the games no matter who is playing...even if there are no Wayne or Holmes County teams in the contest.

By the way, that Division I game tomorrow night will be carried on the radio in Cleveland by Salem. No, not on sportstalk WKNR/850, but on sister talker WHK/1420.

WKNR's website is still promoting the game, though, with the station's Mike Catan and Josh Sabo doing the honors of calling the game, along with Casey Kulas and Chris Fedor.

UPDATE 12/2/06 10:05 AM: We're told that the game is airing on WHK because of a Cleveland State Vikings game on WKNR. We keep forgetting that WKNR actually has the Vikings...

SHE'S ABOARD: Since our last item about the appearance of former WYTV/33 meteorologist Melissa Mack on Cleveland FOX O&O WJW/8, it appears she's been permanently announced as part of the "FOX 8" news team.

OMW readers saw her being introduced on the station's "FOX 8 News in the Morning" as a new second meteorologist to Andre Bernier on that show, and it was also announced that she'll be seen on the station's noon newscast.

That information is confirmed by her brand new FOX 8 bio page, which - according to the time stamp - was put on the MyFoxCleveland.com site just this morning.

And in case you missed her introduction, you can watch one of her first appearances on Thursday morning via video on this page...

BYE, BYE, JERRY, JERRY?: It's almost anti-climactic considering the downward trajectory of Jerry Springer's radio career path, so we'll not even give it a full item.

But it appears the TV Talkmeister may be stepping down from his midday radio talk show, which started as a Clear Channel project, and eventually was picked up by Air America Radio.

That's a nugget in this column by Chicago Sun-Times radio/TV guru Robert Feder. Feder reports that Springer's just lost his Chicago affiliate, with Jones Radio's Stephanie Miller picking up an 8-11 AM live clearance on Windy City rimshot liberal talk outlet WCPT/850.

From Feder's column:

Jerry Springer, whose talk show has been airing from 8 to 11 a.m., exits the Newsweb Corp. station for now -- and could be stepping down from radio entirely.

We don't know if Feder knows something, but Springer is partially based in Chicago, where he tapes his TV show, and splits his radio time with Cincinnati's Clear Channel facility.

But we do know that Springer is talking to not a lot of people on the radio lately. We'd be hard pressed to come up with an affiliate list for him outside of his Cincinnati flagship, WSAI/1360.

Stations have dumped him right and left (or left and left), and Chicago was his only major market affiliate outside of the Queen City. The move of his show from the main Air America Radio schedule to its syndication arm screamed of "we're parking it here while he's still doing it"...

BREAKING NEWS: Schultz Replaces Franken on WARF

As expected, Clear Channel liberal talk WARF/1350 Akron "Radio Free Ohio" has officially announced that it's boarding the Big Eddie Train to its earlier time slot.

WARF will move along with Jones Radio's Ed Schultz, and start airing him in his new noon-3 PM time slot on December 11th - replacing Air America Radio's Al Franken.

The move also gives a long-awaited live afternoon drive clearance to Franken's AAR counterpart, Randi Rhodes...she'll air live 3-6 PM weekdays on "Radio Free Ohio".

The station also picks up AAR's Rachel Maddow for her new-ish live show from 6-8 PM, making the entire WARF lineup live from 6 AM until 8 PM weekdays...live via satellite, that is.

A station memo that flew out with the gusty winds from the Clear Channel World Domination HQ/Southern Command on Freedom Avenue notes that Franken - "as soon as Sunday" - is rumored to be announcing his run for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota.

It also hints at possible future lineup changes in the evening, which we presume would be triggered to whatever happens to Air America itself. AAR is, according to AllAccess, in last minute extended negotiations with a possible buyer...

Much Ado About A Few Things

Random potpourri to propel you into the weekend:

MELISSA MACK TO FOX 8?: Several alert OMW readers pointed out the presence of a new weather person on the airwaves of FOX O&O WJW/8 Cleveland.

She's Melissa Mack, who apparently is now the former morning weather anchor at Youngstown ABC affiliate WYTV/33. We say "former" because WYTV has pulled the Vienna Township native's link from the station's staff bio page, much like FOX 8 did with, say, now-former weathercaster Heather Weber.

We don't know what Mack's status is at WJW. We suspect she's auditioning or doing fill-in for the role, and we are guessing that former WEWS/5 weatherman Brad Sussman went through the same process a while back on FOX 8.

Neither forecaster has been added to the FOX 8 online roster as of yet...

TWC DUMPING FOX 8?: Speaking of the local FOX O&O...readers also pointed us to this ad in Thursday's Akron Beacon Journal.

In it, Time Warner Cable tells local viewers that the
expiration of the agreement to carry WJW, and the HD signal for the Cleveland station, is "due to expire soon".

But as you can see from the wording here, they're trying to temper the news, by saying "we are usually able to obtain renewals or extensions" and that programming is only discontinued "in rare circumstances".

(Well, rare, unless you're the NFL Network. But we digress.)

We haven't run this one by Bill Jasso, TWC's local media relations guy, but we haven't heard any rumblings that there's anything to this aside from legal requirements - yet.

We've also heard of no major difficulty between FOX Broadcasting and Time Warner Cable on a national level, as far as local station carriage is concerned.

And we don't know if this is only applicable to TWC's original Northeast Ohio (Akron/Canton) system, or if it applies to the systems recently acquired from Adelphia and Comcast. We'll bounce this one off Mr. Jasso and see if there's anything more to it...

AND SPEAKING OF THE NFL NETWORK: We've been going through various news items from various places, and the Time Warner folks seem to have the upper hand when it comes to the impass with the NFL's TV network.

There's apparently no massive outcry from folks who missed the Thanksgiving Night NFL Network contest, who also missed last night's game.

If anyone's gonna blink on this, it would appear to be the NFL Network. There's word that they are moving to offer the TV games via broadband Internet, though we don't know the details about that yet.

The NFL Network's biggest problem using these games as a bargaining chip? Simple. The league's own rules require it to broadcast cable/satellite games on local over-air stations in the two home markets of the teams which are playing.

Here in Northeast Ohio, that means FOX's WJW/8 will carry the December 7th contest between the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and no one in the Cleveland TV market will go without the game. (Of course, as bad as the Browns are playing lately, they may WANT to go without the game.)

As it turns out, it appears not many care about "Other NFL Matchups"...otherwise known as Games They Wouldn't Have Seen Anyway on Sunday because they'd have been on CBS/FOX regional telecasts.

We're still trying to find out if FOX 8 will carry the HDTV feed of the NFL Network clash with the Steelers. We know it's available to local stations, and has been carried elsewhere. We'd ask the station, but they're not exactly thrilled with us after a certain recent story...

AND ONE INVOLVING AN EX-CLEVELANDER: AllAccess reports that afternoon sports talk host Peter Brown is out at Entercom's Milwaukee sports talk station, WSSP/1250.

Yes, that's the same Peter Brown who hosted a controversial afternoon drive show on Cleveland's WKNR, back when it was on 1220 and back when it wasn't owned by Salem.

No, we haven't heard yet if WKNR's new competitor in the market, Good Karma Broadcasting's WWGK/1540 "Cleveland's ESPN Radio 1540", is talking to Peter.

We'd tend to guess "no", and don't know if Mr. Brown is up for a return to Cleveland, but we've been surprised before.

And Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin certainly knows of Brown, as his Milwaukee sports talk outlet has competed with him - in recent times with afternoon drive host Steve "The Homer" True holding down the slot on Good Karma's "ESPN Milwaukee" (the day/night combo of WAUK/1510 Waukesha WI-WMCS/1290 Greenfield WI)...

Al Franken Taking A Flyer?

Are the long-standing rumors about Air America Radio host Al Franken leaving his noon-3 slot on the liberal talk network true?

That's what our first thought was, upon hearing the news that Jones Radio/P1 afternoon drive talk host Ed Schultz will move his syndicated program.

Effective December 11th, a week from next Monday, "Big Eddie" will air live in that very same noon-3 (Eastern) slot. The show will still be refed in its current live time slot, 3-6 PM.

P1 president Stu Krane positions the move to the folks at Radio & Records as putting Ed in "prime real estate", radio-wise. It'll also pit Schultz head-to-head with Premiere conservative talk titan Rush Limbaugh, of course.

But AllAccess notes that the move was announced one day before a hearing on Air America Radio's bankruptcy, tomorrow. Would Jones/P1 move Schultz to noon-3 if Al Franken were still in the way?

Either if the former "Saturday Night Live" star is leaving AAR to mount that expected run for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota, or if AAR itself falls apart at the seams after Friday's hearing, it would seem that Jones/P1 has enough commitments from progressive talk outlets to make the move.

We haven't heard yet what local liberal talk outlet WARF/1350 "Radio Free Ohio" plans to do.

The decision could be made academic for them, and for other liberal talk outlets, if Franken is leaving or AAR is folding...take Ed Schultz live at noon, then Randi Rhodes live from 3-6 PM. Randi would finally get her cherished live afternoon drive clearance on many stations which delay her into early evenings in the Eastern United States.

Of course, if AAR is shutting down, that means Randi's affected as well.

If Randi lost her radio syndication home, we're wondering if Jones Radio would pick her show up as part of this move. That would certainly give them a very solid liberal talk block from 6 AM until 6 PM weekdays. As it turns out, Jones would then become the, well, defacto "liberal talk network" that AAR has tried to be all along!

We're just speculating about that last part, here, because we haven't heard any updated word about AAR's financial status. We do know that Franken is about to head out for a U.S.O. tour soon, we believe starting at around the same time - after his December 8th show.

But either way, it appears Ed Schultz - and Jones Radio - is looking to fill a void, and quickly...

Clear Channel Axe Chops in Cincinnati - And Columbus

UPDATE 11/30/06 4:35 PM - We have learned of more people being let go from Clear Channel's Columbus cluster. Scroll down for more...

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It had to happen eventually, with Clear Channel cluster after cluster dumping people to save money.

AllAccess reports that the company's axe has now swung in Cincinnati and Columbus.

In Cincinnati, the trade site reports "at least" 15 people were let go in the downsizing yesterday, including from various stations:

* Hot AC WVMX/94.1 "Mix 94.1" - local morning host/producer for Whoopi Goldberg's show, Mike Stevens (who used to host the shift live and local until Whoopi showed up), and afternoon host "Madison".

* Top 40 WKFS/107.1 "Kiss FM" - midday personality Storm Bennett, and promotions assistant/part-time talent Mark Stone.

* Rock WEBN/102.7 - midday personality Wendy Walker, and promotions coordinator Steve Dent.

* And commercial production staffer Shaun Schaefer and engineer Andrew Costa are reported to be out of work as well.

Up I-71 in Columbus, AllAccess also notes that Danny Wright is out of a job at the Clear Channel cluster there, also due to budget considerations.

No, not THAT Danny Wright, the former WGAR/WGCL/etc. personality (and OMW reader) who now hosts the Jones Radio overnight country show "Wright All Night".

The Columbus Danny was, until now, APD and creative services director at CC's top 40 powerhouse, WNCI/97.9.

UPDATE: We have some more names out of Columbus thanks to an OMW source there, fine folks who are hitting the unemployment lines at a rather unfortunate time of year:

* News/talk WTVN/610 lost a bunch of people, including evening news anchor Stuart Osborne and news editor George Zonders.

Both names should be familiar to Northern Ohioans. Osborne used to do news anchoring via WAN for CC sister news/talk outlet WSPD/1370 Toledo, and both Zonders and Osborne have been heard doing reports from Columbus for CC sister talker WTAM/1100 in Cleveland.

We're told that WTVN also let go production director Scott Kahler, and midday producer Lindsay Guhl.

UPDATE 12/2/06 10:09 AM: In the interests of accuracy, one name has been removed from this item for the moment. We're checking it out.

As per usual, this is a good list for those looking for talented staff who are only out of work because their company is cutting budgets to the bone, in preparation for a buyout.

With all the other recent changes in the Cincinnati market, maybe these folks can land somewhere within new stations run by Entercom and Cumulus...

Casey's Services

We'll put the reminder up here, though we suspect that due to the nature of our readership, many of you are already planning to be there.

The wake for late Cleveland sportscaster Casey Coleman is scheduled for this afternoon, from 4 to 8 PM, at Berry and Martens Funeral Home - 26691 Detroit Road in Westlake.

OMW hears that Westlake Police are expecting a large crowd to show up, and have already advised drivers to not use Detroit Road in the area of the funeral home this afternoon due to the expected heavy volume of traffic.

The funeral service for Casey will be Friday at 10:30 AM, at St. Angela's Church, 20970 Lorain Road in Fairview Park...

Some Stuff We've Put Off

The ol' Mighty Blog kind of went into a state of suspended animation the past few days.

First, there was the passing of Casey Coleman. When a well-loved local broadcaster finally loses his battle with a very real, and very deadly, disease, not much else seems to matter. So, we put other items on hold.

Then, we put out our item related to the upcoming move of the 101.7 signal to North Canton, which put up the Bat Signal in Dover, which got us quoted in the paper, again.

So, let's catch up:

HO-HO-HO PARADE: As promised, stations we've noticed doing holiday music.

That list would include at least some holiday tunes out of Rubber City standards/news WAKR/1590 Akron, though we've also heard non-Christmas music in the past day or so.

NextMedia AC outlet WHBC-FM/94.1 Canton has also turned on the All Rudolph Machine.

A number of satellite-driven stations have also made the flip, but we won't mention them since they don't have any control over the music. We already mentioned the two big Cleveland outlets doing the Holiday Dance - CBS Radio AC WDOK/102.1 and Salem CCM WFHM/95.5...

MANSFIELD SHUFFLE: In the "we're not sure what it means" department...

AllAccess reports that Mansfield broadcaster Gunther Meisse is buying out his partners in AC WVNO/106.1 licensee Johnny Appleseed Broadcasting. That's a list of about five people who held an interest in the station, and a 20 percent interest in Meisse's sports WRGM/1440.

Meisse also owns the area's only TV stations, independent WMFD/68-DT12, and LPTV outlet WOHZ-LP 41...which, last time we were there and near a TV, was running a full-time automated weather channel...

ANSWERING ONE UNANSWERED QUESTION: It's a question we've posed for months, ever since Time Warner Cable swallowed the local Adelphia system as part of that multi-billion dollar merger earlier this year.

Why can't new TWC subscribers in Summit County watch the WKYC/3-produced, TWC-sponsored "Akron/Canton News" with Eric Mansfield?

We asked the question directly to TWC's local spokesman, Bill Jasso, and here's his response:

We hope to make our "Akron/Canton News" available to a wider audience in the future. Right now are faced with three separate cable systems (Time Warner, Adelphia, Comcast) that need to become one network. Once that happens (hopefully by Spring) we can begin to explore advantages like that.

We'd have more of a response to that, but we don't know some of the technical specifics. We're wondering, for example, why TWC can't make the newscast available now on the "OnDemand" local channel on the former Adelphia systems...but there's probably a technical reason it can't be done right now.

We'll be waiting...at least if we're still here by then!

Our Latest Newspaper Article

At this rate, we ought to call up Copley Newspapers and ask what the health benefits are like.

The Dover/New Philadelphia Times-Reporter doesn't have us on staff, but it would sure seem like it after the latest article about the move of the station currently known as WJER-FM.

The article is based entirely upon our most recent entry, just below, which linked pictures of the construction going on at the site that will house the tower, equipment and antennas for both Cumulus rock WRQK/106.9 Canton (your guess as to when it'll be taken over by Clear Channel is as good as ours at this point), and incoming Clear Channel station 101.7 FM, that aforementioned current WJER-FM.

OK, so we're still flattered by the attention. But after this, we have to make one thing clear.

We have not initiated either of the recent articles on the WJER-FM move, or for that matter, anything the T-R has published off of items originally posted on this site.

In fact, to this date, we've had NO direct contact with anyone at the newspaper, including via telephone, fax, E-Mail, in person or any other way we're forgetting to mention. They're readers here, just like you, and apparently feel we're a "solid" enough source...well, despite the fact that they have no idea who "we" are.

We're proud to say that we are generally considered a reputable online publication by most of the Northeast Ohio broadcast industry, and beyond.

However, we are...well...just a blog. And the newspapers which quote us extensively...well, we've never talked to them.

And it kind of puzzles us that we - such as we are - have become a respected enough "first source" for a local daily newspaper to use without any further reporting on its own part. It's not something we're used to seeing in journalism.

But overall, we don't mind. If the folks at the Times-Reporter wish to continue using our material here, that's fine with us. But we just thought we'd clear the air a little...

Mr. Petricola, Close Your Eyes

Today brings us to our latest update on now-WJER-FM/101.7's planned move north into the Canton market

And it's time for pictures of the construction at the site of a new tower that will soon hold both it and Cumulus (for now) (eventually Clear Channel) (honest!) (really!) rock WRQK/106.9 on 22nd St. NW off of Whipple Ave. NW in Canton.

But this time, it wasn't your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) piling into the OMW Mobile for a drive down to Canton.

These pictures are supplied by not one, but TWO readers who happened to be near the site.

(Who'da thunk it? Maybe the 22nd and Whipple tower site construction can become a tourist attraction! People have to see SOMETHING after visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame, no?)

Progress is moving ahead by the day. Our first reader snapped the picture above on Friday afternoon.

But by Monday afternoon, gravel had already been laid down for the road leading to what will presumably be the actual site for the tower, which could start going up soon at this rate.

There still is much that needs to be done, though.

They do, of course, have to construct even a rudimentary transmitter building, move in and hook up the equipment and such, and well, put up the steel that will become the transmitting tower for WRQK/106.9, and which will hold the new antenna for (insert-call-letters-here)/101.7 North Canton.

Then, that equipment has to be tested and the like.

It would seem, to this non-engineer, a daunting task to get that all of that done between now and December 11th - particularly with winter-like weather in the forecast for the end of this week.

But progress does march on. And we stand by our earlier item that December 11 is indeed the target date for Clear Channel to take over operation of 101.7 FM, weather permitting.

To that end, another alert OMW reader pointed us to this "We're staffing a new station!" ad which appeared on the AllAccess website "Job Market"...with wording by Clear Channel Akron/Canton operations guru Keith Kennedy that the Canton/Stark County Chamber of Commerce may want to borrow:

Openings in the Hall of Fame City

The Hall of Fame City of Canton, Ohio is ready to give birth to a new radio station. Northeast Ohio is a great place to live and work. Just minutes from Akron and Cleveland, Canton provides a well rounded, family-friendly environment. The abundance of shopping, restaurants and recreational opportunities in the Canton/Stark County area, offer big-city amenities, with beautiful, rolling countryside just minutes outside of the city, and our murder rate went down this year too. We are looking for candidates in on-air positions and in programming. Selector experience is a plus, but not required. All format experience considered. Please send all materials to: 101.7fm, 7755 Freedom Ave, NW, North Canton, Ohio 44720. Attn: Keith Kennedy. Please no MP3’s. Clear Channel is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Oh, Gary Petricola hasn't heard about this, either.

(Sorry, we couldn't resist...)

BREAKING NEWS: Casey Coleman Dies

It's not like it was unexpected, but it's still no easier to take.

WTAM/1100 sportscaster and morning co-host Casey Coleman died this morning after a long bout with pancreatic cancer, at the age of 55.

While still dealing with the disease, Casey worked whenever his body allowed him to do so, up until nearly the very end.

Casey's morning co-host, Bill Wills, tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he was "an integral part" of the station's "Wills and Coleman in the Morning". He called Coleman "a pro's pro, and a very good friend", and said he gave the morning broadcast "credibility".

In addition to his duties as morning co-host and sports anchor, Casey was the long-time sideline reporter for the Cleveland Browns Radio Network.

WTAM hosts and anchors have been spending the morning looking back at the life of their co-worker and friend. In addition to Wills' tribute this morning, WTAM mid-morning host Bob Frantz is also devoting his show to the late WTAM sportscaster.

RIP, Casey...you were indeed "The Luckiest Guy in the World". And we hope your journey "rounding third and heading for home" was a peaceful one...

Roger's Exit

You heard about it first here on your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm). OK, so maybe you heard it first on WTAM/1100 afternoon drive host Mike Trivisonno's show, when Triv brought long-simmering rumors about his print-based nemesis to light.

Roger Brown has written his final column for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which appears in Sunday's paper. Brown took a buyout from the newspaper, which has been offering them to dozens of employees in an effort to cut costs.

And it's about as typical a Roger Brown column as you'd expect out of the PD's sports columnist who rolled out a weekly column dedicated to local sports media and personalities on Mondays...plus an extra item or two the other days of the week.

His parting shots aren't limited to media in this final column.

No, he's now officially on record with his laundry list of mostly complaints and predictions about the local professional sports teams, even going so far as to predict an early exit in Round 1 of the NBA playoffs by your Cleveland Cavaliers...though he says he likes the "early swagger" of Indians GM Mark Shapiro.

Since we're media-related here, we'll note that Roger has an item about Cavaliers GM Danny Ferry being unhappy with a recent news item out of WOIO/WUAB's "19 Action News", though it doesn't appear to have the same heft as the whole Browns/WOIO tiff which cost the CBS affiliate the team's pre-season contract.

(And WUAB is mostly "along for the ride" with FOX Sports Net Ohio in regards to the Cavs these days, only carrying five simulcast games this year.)

The Artful Roger also reports that SportsTime Ohio will carry a new presumably Cavaliers-themed talk show with PD Cavs beat writer Branson Wright, Larry Durstin and...ta da!...local media personality Chuck Booms, the Euclid native recently bounced out of his national gig at FOX Sports Radio.

And from our "How's This for Bad Timing?" department:

Booms' departure from FSR came before he could be heard in his hometown again, now that Salem sports WKNR/850 has become an FSR affiliate.

Booms had been heard in parts of the area on another FSR affiliate, Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting's WEOL/930 Elyria. FSR's third Northeast Ohio outlet, Media-Com daytimer WJMP/1520 Kent-Akron-Cleveland-Mars-Jupiter-Pluto, signed off each day long before Booms' weekend nighttime show.

Back to Roger: his final column fulfilled our Minimum Daily Quota of real estate news, with word of the sale of former Cleveland Browns player Jason Fisk's Strongsville home for $355,000.

No word on if the Akron Beacon Journal's George M. Thomas will take up the baton and report Sports Personality Real Estate news in his new Tuesday sports media column...

Anyway, Roger got a lot of attention in this area, among both sports personalities and media personalities, and not all of it favorable.

Though saying it achieved "such popularity and influence" in the Northeast Ohio sports world may be a bit of extended self back-patting by Mr. Brown, there's no question that everyone in town read his column...

"SOJ" Turns Nine

Like many broadcast ventures, the start of "Sunday Oldies Jukebox" on WSTB/88.9 was rather modest in its debut some nine years ago.

"It’s been almost twenty years since Portage County radio listeners enjoyed commercial free oldies. In 1978 what was then WSTB 'Golden 91' dropped the oldies format and never looked back, until now," "SOJ" program director "Uncle" Bill Weisinger wrote in November 1997, as a group of volunteers prepared to launch a weekly one-day format change on the otherwise rock station - operated during the week by students at Streetsboro High School.

Fast forward to 2006, and "Sunday Oldies Jukebox" is actively targeting the entire Akron market, which otherwise has no station devoted to pre-1970 rock oldies...aside from whatever older songs are still in Cleveland Clear Channel powerhouse WMJI/105.7's playlist.

(We haven't checked lately, but as "Majic 105.7" continues to try to update its playlist like most commercial "oldies" stations, we'd guess that's a small number to count.)

That full-market focus from the school district-owned station became somewhat easier in 2003, when WSTB started transmitting from a tower on the campus of Kent State University - ironically, the same one abandoned by WKSU/89.7 after its own move to a tower near Akron's Rolling Acres Mall.

The move dramatically improved the WSTB signal in the Akron area, and like Kenston High School standards outlet WKHR/91.5 Bainbridge, the station started filling an unmet need in a larger, nearby market... in a format rapidly abandoned by commercial outlets, in the case of WKHR's standards and the "Sunday Oldies Jukebox" on WSTB.

And though the WSTB signal means it can, like all other broadcast outlets in Portage County, focus primarily on greater Akron, the station hasn't forgotten its roots entirely - as noted by the station's recent full-steam-ahead Portage County election coverage.

"Uncle Bill" tells us that listeners in six Northeast Ohio counties check in with "SOJ", including some who are so hungry for 50's and 60's oldies that they drive closer to the broadcast signal on their Sunday drives.

Among the list of all-volunteer "SOJ" air personalities are at least three regular readers of OMW, so congratulations to them directly!