We do have a pretty decent selection of items from across Ohio for our first update in September. Some of this we missed, some is new, and some of the items are updates of previous news items.
This is a long one, so get that scroll bar ready…
ANOTHER 33’ER EXITS: Just as we were marveling that Parkin Broadcasting ABC affiliate WYTV/33 Youngstown has kept much of its “look and feel” despite being swallowed into the New Vision/WKBN/WYFX universe, another key staffer has left.
And it’s a big departure, as veteran sports director Bob Hannon puts away his sports hat to become president of the United Way of Youngstown. Hannon’s on-air swan song was on Friday’s 11 PM edition of the newscast still known as “33 News”.
Hannon was a long-time fixture at WYTV. We don’t have a length on his tenure there, but we know for sure his stint at 33 was at least two decades. He spent a large chunk of that time alongside “33 News” meteorologist Stan Boney – who now also doubles as news anchor.
Last time we looked, the WYTV newscast was still marketed and promoted separately from “27 First News”, with the slogan “We Believe In This Valley”.
And of course, WYTV’s “MyYTV” MyNetwork TV sister channel (WYTV-DT 33.2 and on cable) is being promoted as “Your New Home For Sports”, picking up many sports broadcasts that used to air on all three of the now-New Vision-operated stations.
One side effect of that new reality – we saw a Youngstown Vindicator ad for the MyYTV sports packages, which also noted that the “Player of the Week” would be featured on both “27 First News” and “First News on Fox”.
And despite maintaining a separate identity and anchor team, it’s almost a game to bounce back and forth between WKBN and WYTV, seeing local news packages filed by the same reporter run back to back between the stations (if you saw this report on WKBN just now, here it is again on WYTV!), or for that matter, seeing generic live shots airing live on both stations at the same time.
With all that, we wonder if New Vision will even name a new sports anchor solely for the 33 side of the house…
YET ANOTHER SPORTS FORMAT: OMW hears that locally-owned WFOB/1430 Fostoria has flipped formats, and is now running sports as a full-time ESPN Radio affiliate.
At this point, we’re not altogether sure that WFOB even maintains a local morning drive show.
From what we’re told, it would appear the last local morning show aired on 1430 last Friday, and we don’t know what happened to the local news and other information components the station once aired (for both Fostoria and nearby Bowling Green)…if they’ve been folded into local breaks or such.
We tried to confirm this by dipping into WFOB’s streaming audio, but we can’t get it to play. If WFOB is now pretty much 24/7 ESPN Radio, the station likely had to take down the audio feed.
Outside morning drive, WFOB had been airing ABC/Citadel’s “Timeless” 24/7 format, which emerged when the old “Stardust”/”Unforgettable Favorites” format was combined with the company’s “Timeless Classics”/”Timeless Favorites” format. The resulting music mix could well be described as “standards/soft AC”.
And that format still airs not that far away from Fostoria, now that BAS Broadcasting’s WLEC/1450 Sandusky airs it…replacing the “SportsRadio Sandusky” format implemented by former owner Clear Channel…
NIGHTTIME IN ALLIANCE: The evening shift at D.A. Peterson top 40 WDJQ/92.5 “Q92” in the Canton market has now been filled by “Mo”, who takes over as former nighttime personality Liz Custer exits for a job outside the area.
“Mo” lists Cumulus rock WWIZ/103.9 Mercer PA “Rock 104” (a Youngstown market rimshot) on his resume, along with a gig in Oklahoma City.
This information comes from the AllAccess folks, who also add to an earlier item we had…morning drive co-host Charlotte has also signed a contract extension to sit next to DeLuca through 2012, and aforementioned Mo has also inked a 3 year deal to stay on Smyth Avenue in Alliance.
(Someone get these people full names, and stat!)
ONE CONFIRMED DEPARTURE: Speaking of AllAccess, we noted their report that “several part-time and full-time staffers” are out at Cleveland’s Radio One cluster, but we didn’t have any confirmations or names here at the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm).
AA says they’ve confirmed one exit – Dan Zullo, who was production director for the company’s urban AC WZAK/93.1 and gospel WJMO/1300.
If the name doesn’t ring a bell, the AllAccess item reminds us that Zullo is perhaps better known by the air name “Tony Havana” – in a stint doing production and part-time on-air work at Clear Channel classic hits WMJI/105.7 and country WGAR/99.5.
Reach out to Dan via his voiceover business website, VoiceGalaxy…
TALK CHANGES IN TOLEDO: Matrix Media talk WNWT/1520 in the Toledo market is adding another name to its lineup of nationally syndicated talk hosts.
This time, it’s Content Factory sports talker Dan Patrick who was set to debut Monday on the WNWT lineup.
Well, two hours of him. The Dan Patrick Show airs on 1520 from 5-7 PM, slicing one hour each out of shows hosted by United Stations’ Lou Dobbs (now 3-5 PM) and Take On The Day’s Dr. Laura Schlessinger (now 7-9 PM).
Over in this part of the state, former ESPN host Patrick airs in his live time slot, 9 AM-noon, on Clear Channel sports WARF/1350 “SportsRadio 1530” in Akron…
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