…pieces involving more fallout from Clear Channel’s latest doings, cable TV and more…but we have to get the umbrella first…
MORE LAYOFF FALLOUT: OMW hears that in the wake of the involuntary departure of long-time Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 producer/sidekicks Marty Allen and Paul Rado, the station has officially announced changes in staff involving afternoon host Mike Trivisonno’s show.
Long-time WTAM board operator Kurt McLaughlin (“Dirty Kurt”) has been named full-time technical producer for Triv’s show. And overnight traffic producer Steve Douglas moves into the role of “show producer” for the WTAM afternoon drive talk fest.
Seth Williams takes Douglas’ place on overnights. That job also involves building oversight for the Oak Tree cluster.
And yes, we’re aware of The Rumor circling with fury and force around not only the Internet, but also on the air at Oak Tree – it’s being spread by other hosts in the building (Rover, COME ON DOWN!) on their shows – about the departure of Allen and Rado…and Triv’s alleged role in their exits.
That’s as far as we’re going to go.
We have no facts to report regarding The Rumor.
But one fact is now clear – this has played out on the air, and listeners are now asking us about it after hearing those broadcasts.
On Triv’s show Wednesday, we heard the WTAM afternoon drive mouth tell a caller asking about the rumor that he “didn’t know what he was talking about”, and with Triv saying his “hands were tied” re: replying to the other hosts’ accusations – means this has gotten into public circulation even without our help.
After the call, Trivisonno made it quite clear that he felt there was “one constant” (or did he say “consistent”?) in the success of the WTAM afternoon drive show in recent years…of course, he was talking about the name on the show, the host himself.
We have no solid information about The Rumor, though we’ve heard it from roughly 20 people just in our E-mail box the past two days. And as such, we’re not going to detail it.
If you want to hear more, just listen to the radio, say, to WMMS/100.7 in morning drive…or maybe Rover’s podcasts…
MORE CLEAR CHANNEL CHANGES: OMW is aware that this week’s Clear Channel layoffs have not spared the company’s Ashland/Mansfield cluster, but we don’t have any names to pass along as of yet.
We can tell you that two of the company’s Mid-Ohio cluster stations have installed syndicated morning drive programs.
At top 40 WYHT/105.3 Mansfield “Y105”, WNCI/97.9 Columbus-based morning team “Dave and Jimmy” have gained another affiliate just 70 miles up Interstate 71.
At classic rock trimulcast WFXN/102.3 Galion-WXXR/98.3 Fredericktown-WXXF/107.7 Loudonville (whew!) “The Fox Rock Network”, it’s syndicated morning drive show “Lex and Terry” now joining the station’s lineup.
UPDATE 4/30/09 3:50 PM: We JUST remembered that Dallas-based “Lex and Terry” are syndicated right out of Northeast Ohio, via Beachwood’s Envision Radio Networks…
TIME WARNER CABLE HDTV UPDATE LATER: Yes, we’re aware that Wednesday was the scheduled day for the long-promised latest wave of new HDTV channels in Time Warner Cable’s Northeast Ohio system.
Based on TWC NEO’s channel notices, and our own earlier reports, the HD channels scheduled to be available for viewers “on or after” April 29th are the HD versions of ESPNNews, MLB Network, TLC, Animal Planet, ABC Family, Bravo and CNBC.
Here at the OMW World Headquarters, we don’t have the new channels…and we believe they’re not “live” yet anywhere in the TWC NEO empire – at least as of this writing.
We’ve invoked a local TWC spokesperson, and hope to get an update from the cable company sometime later today or tomorrow.
But remember, the official notices for these channels, as noted above, do say they will appear “on or after” April 29th.
TWC has been pretty close to the promised date for the earlier HD channel additions in this wave, and we don’t expect that to change this time around…but it certainly makes sense to add “or after” to the promised dates…
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