And some more stuff floating around the OMW Pool – yes, we’re heated, so come on and dive in! You’ll find some familiar things in the water…
WRQK’S TRANSFER: OMW is hearing from numerous sources that the official transfer of Cumulus rock WRQK/106.9 has been “set in stone”, after a number of false starts and guesses.
At 12:01 a.m. next Tuesday, January 16th, “Rock 107” goes under the control of Clear Channel in an LMA. The LMA will be in effect until the reported sale of WRQK to Clear Channel, part of a swap involving two Clear Channel clusters in Michigan, is finalized.
OMW hears that the move doesn’t necessarily mean an immediate studio transfer to the Clear Channel World Domination Headquarters/Southern Command on Freedom Avenue in Jackson Township. That move may not take place until early-to-mid-February, which means WRQK will still broadcast from its current studios on Martindale Road for a few weeks.
We’re also hearing some rumors about changes that may happen at WRQK as a result of the Clear Channel takeover – changes NOT including any format change for “Rock 107”.
But the information comes to us totally anonymously, from someone who does not wish to identify himself or herself privately to us. So, we’re not going with it.
If you do have direct information that you’d like to share, please send it to us and tell us who you are. We have a long, storied history of keeping our sources confidential. As we often say, we’d give you examples, but that’d break our streak of not revealing sources…
101.7 REDUX: While we’re at 22nd and Whipple NW in Canton, virtually, OMW hears that two new antennas are officially up on that World Famous New Tower – the antennas for both WRQK/106.9 and WHOF/101.7.
We hear if you’re looking for them, the WRQK antenna is the higher of the two, and that other smaller antennas – for purposes we don’t know – need to be moved as well.
Considering the possibility of upcoming wintry weather, the timing couldn’t have been better.
We still have no word on WHOF’s debut, though. We’ll keep checking our radios…
WKNR’S CHANGES: We haven’t had any update on possible changes at Good Karma sports talk WKNR/850 in a while, though we’ve heard some interesting on-air pairings we believe are intended as auditions for future programming.
On this list is former NFL offensive lineman and Browns draft pick Jim Pyne, who teamed up with WKNR promotions director Jason Gibbs earlier this week…when Gibbs was substituting for afternoon drive host Kenny “Flying Back from Arizona” Roda.
Other listeners concur with us – perhaps the pairing was a way to see how the two clicked for something like a new weekend or evening show. But…that’s just speculation on our part.
Our WKNR-connected sources will only say at this point that major changes at the sports talk outlet could happen “sometime in the next couple or three weeks”…
WEWS HD GLITCHES: We’ve nailed down what could be causing those graphics glitches on the HDTV broadcasts of WEWS/5’s “NewsChannel 5”.
A source on Euclid Avenue tells us that it’s a piece of equipment that interfaces locally-generated HD content, like the newscasts and like the recordings of the HD versions of “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” – to the station’s HD output to its digital transmitter. As such, the glitches are not seen at all on WEWS’ SD feeds of NewsChannel 5.
Our source tells us that the WEWS engineering folks “are on it”, and hoping to squash the bug soon. It’s popped up and has been noticed, because the equipment in question wasn’t getting a lot of use until the newscasts went HD…
WNPQ LINEUP SHIFT: Canton market CCM outlet WNPQ/95.9 “The Light” is shuffling its schedule.
Grant Holmes joins the station for morning drive, and is being paired with Katie Carr for “Breakfast with Grant and Katie”.
The move shifts WNPQ program director (and OMW reader) Ed Franklin back to his regular afternoon drive perch…
UPDATE 1:07 AM 1/13/07: Our apologies to both Eds, Mssrs. Richards and Franklin, for our misidentification earlier. We’d just read a comment from Ed Richards, and his name came off the keyboard when we meant to properly identify WNPQ PD/afternoon driver Ed Franklin.
Maybe one day, when we’re able to afford proofreaders…
Speak Your Mind