OMW hears that local sports talk veteran Les Levine is next up in the “Saturday Morning Sports Show” hopper at Good Karma sports WKNR/850, Saturday from 9 AM to noon.
We’re not sure if that means anything – if the presence of Levine in that time slot one week after WJW/8 “FOX 8” sports anchor Tony Rizzo means that new WKNR owner Craig Karmazin wants to hear a rotation of possible future WKNR hosts for himself.
Or, it could be nothing more complicated than tapping some local sports media veterans to hang out on the radio on a Saturday morning.
It would appear to mean, for now, that the rotation of young producers/hosts that formerly occupied the time slot is done.
It’s not the first time Levine’s been heard on WKNR, of course, but all of it was before Karmazin announced his purchase of the station that has been owned by Salem.
The FOX Sports Net Ohio personality, seen weeknights on Time Warner Cable Cleveland channel 15 on his “More Sports and Les Levine”, was on WKNR regularly via FSN Ohio’s “Cleveland Rants” simulcast with the sports talk station during the Cleveland Indians season.
And we seem to remember that WKNR briefly aired Levine’s Internet-based “Sports Club” show, in a delayed time slot – 6-7 PM.
By the way, it would appear that the rumors we’ve heard are correct, and that “Rants” will return – with Levine – for the upcoming Indians season.
To that end, Akron Beacon Journal sports media writer George M. Thomas reports that former WKNR host Kendall Lewis – now doing middays at SportsTalkCleveland.com – has been talking with FSN Ohio about joining Levine this year on “Cleveland Rants”. (Read the rest of the article, too…it’s a good one.)
And we’ve heard in rumorland that if Lewis does join up with Levine, it won’t return him to the WKNR airwaves. We’ve heard since nearly the end of the show’s first season that it would likely be TV-only for 2007…
Other WKNR-related items:
COSTAS MOVES: OMW hears that the station’s schedule change on Saturday mornings, including the 7-9 AM time slot for “The Golf Show” and the move of the “Saturday Morning Sports Show” to 9-noon, have meant a new time slot for Premiere syndicated host Bob Costas. “Costas on the Radio” will air Sundays from 8-10 AM.
SALE APPROVED: We went into the FCC online database, and found that the sale of WKNR to Good Karma was officially approved by the FCC on January 24th. (For those playing at home, “Caron Broadcasting” is a Salem Communications license subsidiary.)
Of course, the company must close on the station and officially file that closure with the FCC. It’s kind of a moot point here, since Good Karma has been operating WKNR in an LMA since the very day the sale was announced.
STUDIOS: An OMW spy in Downtown Cleveland tells us that the future studio space for WKNR and Good Karma sister sports WWGK/1540 is marked by a sign for “Cleveland’s ESPN Radio 1540” and a “Coming Soon!” sign.
As reported a while ago, the studios will be on the first floor of the Galleria at Erieview shopping/office complex a short drive away from Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Good Karma space will be at the east end of the complex at East 12th Street.
So far, we’re told it appears no construction has begun, at least yet. (And the presence of only the “Cleveland’s ESPN Radio 1540” logo tells us that the sign likely went up before Good Karma announced the purchase of WKNR from Salem.)
We’re told by our downtown spy that the space appears basically unchanged from what appears to be a previous life as a craft or flower shop…but we’re sure that’ll change as the year goes on…
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