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On And Off

In 2010, most radio stations stay on the air full-time, or hold to the terms of their license (daytime stations only).

Some exceptions are below…and there’s one more item related to a new “on” coming soon for one local personality…

BACK UP WITH PEOPLE: No, not the musical group.

We’re talking about Streetsboro’s WSTB/88.9, the school district station which had to go off the air after a recent fire at the gymnasium of Streetsboro High School – very near to the station’s studios.

Thankfully, though it appears the fire was pretty much “all around” the WSTB studios, there was only very little damage – some water and smoke, we were told – and the station returned to the airwaves last Monday, June 7th.

Long-time WSTB general manager, broadcast instructor and OMW reader Bob Long tells us that the station broadcast automated alt-rock music without on-air people all last week, but that changed this weekend.

The station’s “Sunday Oldies Jukebox” and its adult volunteers returned to the studios this Sunday, and Long tells us that the students who run the “AlterNation” Monday-Saturday alt-rock format will be back behind the microphone on Monday – though we don’t know when they operate the station live during summer break.

Bob also tells us that “the membership drive which was scheduled for June has now been moved to July 18-25.”

WSTB is, of course, no recent stranger to disrupted operation. We aren’t going to rehash that here, so feel free to put “WSTB” in our search box (at right on the desktop, and use the down arrow icon at the top of our mobile version)…

BACK UP WITH PROGRAMMING: If a tree falls between Kent and Ravenna across the street from a Wal-Mart, and no one is there to hear it, did it fall?

Well, we heard that falling tree – otherwise known as Media-Com talk WJMP/1520 Kent/Akron/Cleveland/Chicago/Denver/Honolulu (yes, we’re joking) – with uh, compelling weekend programming on Saturday – dead air, occasionally punctuated by CBS Radio News and non-legal ID liners.

WJMP was back on the air Sunday, with its usual WOR Radio Network programming (we heard “The Pet Show with Warren Eckstein”).

But Saturday, as far north as Brimfield, we heard the gospel sounds of co-channel WINW/1520 Canton underneath a weak WJMP carrier with no audio transmitted.

We’ll blame satellite switching problems that presumably kept WJMP’s Scott Studios computer tuned to the CBS News satellite channel.

But we wonder – is Bob Brinker (indirectly) to blame?

He’s the long-time host of Citadel Media’s “Moneytalk”, which airs on WJMP, and starting last Saturday, Mr. Brinker decided to stop doing the Saturday version of his program. He still does Sundays, 4-7 PM.

Could WJMP have not “gotten the memo” and not changed the satellite channel programming on June 5th?

Probably not, as Citadel Media has brought aboard CNBC’s Larry Kudlow (a Brinker fill-in) for the Saturday slot…and we presume he’d be fed on the same satellite channel as “Moneytalk” has been…though Citadel lists Kudlow’s live time slot as 10 AM-1 PM (Eastern), we assume they’re refeeding him in place 4-7 PM during the old Brinker time slot.

If they aren’t, that could explain some of the dead air on WJMP, though it continued past 7 PM on Saturday.

Meanwhile, WJMP’s Much More Important Sister Station, talk WNIR/100.1 “The Talk of Akron”, was unaffected by the action in a closet at Broadcast Park on Saturday…

BACK TO THE SOUTH: Could one local talk radio host with some Radio Beachfront business be adding some Riverfront work to his portfolio?

The answer is coming soon…

Comments

  1. That tree could have fallen on the WNIR computer that runs its online stream as it’s been down since Saturday night. And, as of 8:30am EST, the stream is still not working. This is fairly close to the end of the world as The Howie Chizek Show will soon be on and we cant’ hear it. Oh, the humanity!!

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