The Lost Item

We were researching something we had just written here, and…couldn’t find it.

As it turned out, the post below was written early in the morning Thursday.

On our computer. All ready to post here, but…we never got (all together now!) “a RoundTuit”…and your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) was the only one who could read it.

Until now. Here it is! Take a long breakfast or lunch, it’s a long one…

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PETE’S BACK, SORT OF: A week after Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 parted ways with “Good Morning Cleveland” co-anchors Pete Kenworthy and Kimberly Gill, you may notice that Kenworthy is back on the air.

No, not in the morning chair.

Anchor/reporter Curtis Jackson and the remaining “GMC” cast are keeping the chairs warm for whatever WEWS does next in the early morning hours.

But Kenworthy is back in the building – on a short-term basis.

OMW hears that he has signed up for a three month period doing reporting for the station. We actually didn’t see him on the air reporting a story from Canton, but noticed his byline on NewsNet5.com (more specifically, on the NewsNet5 Android app).

Gill is still out of the building at 3001 Euclid, though we hope both anchors land soon, permanently, somewhere…

LIVE WELL, NOT YET: Those looking to find WEWS’ new “Live Well” subchannel, scheduled to debut this month on the station’s 5.1 subchannel, will have to wait a while.

OMW hears that the lifestyle/home channel was scheduled to start this week, on July 11th. But now we’re told that the channel is more likely to start in September, delaying the planned launch.

We don’t know the reason for the delay, though it probably needs more setup time.

After all, the folks over at Local TV’s WJW/8 have only recently managed to insert local commercials on the 8.2 “Antenna TV” feed, months after its January launch, but haven’t done a legal ID on it to save their lives. (Well, at least that we’ve ever seen.)

In a brief subchannel note, someone edited a Wikipedia page to indicate that Univision O&O WQHS/61 would add the company’s second network, TeleFutura, on 61.2.

But we can’t find any evidence that such a move is planned…

WHILE WE’RE IN SUBCHANNEL LAND: “Bounce TV”, a new subchannel aimed at African-American viewers, has set a launch date.

The new channel, which will show up on either local Raycom outlet (WOIO 19.3 or WUAB 43.3), starts September 26th.

By the time it does start, “Bounce TV” will join Weigel/MGM classic TV subchannel “Me-TV” on the Raycom stations. “Me” could start on WOIO’s 19.2, replacing “WeatherNow”, as soon as later this month…if Time Warner Cable’s legal notices are to be believed…

PAT’S RETURN: We don’t generally cover either print media or other Internet sites, but we’ve tracked him before.

Former Akron Beacon Journal sportswriter Pat McManamon, who has been a sports columnist for the AOL Fanhouse site, returns home to covering Ohio sports via the FoxSportsOhio.com website, according to a release from the regional sports network:

McManamon brings more than 25 years of journalism experience to FOX Sports Ohio, where he will serve as a sports reporter, analyst and commentator on www.FOXSportsOhio.com.

McManamon will provide fans with comprehensive analysis of Ohio’s major sports teams as he writes news, features and columns about sports news surrounding the state. In addition, he will bring his “Beside the Point” blog back to readers and fans of Ohio teams. FOXSportsOhio.com plans to revive the “Beside the Point” community of devoted followers as well.

Readers can expect to see his first post on July 19.

The release mentions nothing about McManamon being on the FSOhio TV network, though they’ll certainly tap his knowledge, reporting and expertise when needed on the TV side of things…

MARCONIS: Maybe they’re actually the “Macaroni Awards”, and he gets nominated because he eats on the air?

OK, so the NAB’s Marconi Awards nomination list is out, and sure enough, Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 afternoon drive carnivore…er…host Mike Trivisonno gets another nomination for Large Market Personality of the Year.

That’s actually no surprise, because Triv is no stranger to the Marconi Awards nomination list.

But just down the list, Radio One urban WENZ/107.9 “Z107.9” afternoon driver/program director Colby “Colb” Tyner is nominated for “Medium Market Personality of the Year”.

We’re not sure how Cleveland can be both a “large market” and a “medium market”…but at any rate, both are nominated…

BRIEF STOP IN TOLEDO: We don’t spend a lot of time these days with Toledo, or Columbus, or areas outside of our core service area of Northeast Ohio.

But we have occasionally covered moves involving “Andrew Z”, Clear Channel top 40 WVKS/92.5 “Kiss FM” former morning co-host Andrew Zepeda, mostly involving his exit from that station.

While his former crew continued on as “The Morning Rush”, Zepeda – exiting some legal problems involving his non-radio business – is about to take his old crew on.

The Toledo Blade has more:

Beginning 6 a.m. Monday, Zepeda will take to the airwaves with a crew of familiar names to his listeners on the recently launched WXKR-HD2-FM 100.7, The Vibe, a top-40 station owned by Cumulus Media. Andrew Z in the Morning, The People’s Show, will broadcast from 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays for four hours of entertainment, current events, and popular culture talk — the same format as his former show, which continued on without him and was later renamed The Morning Rush.

Regular readers know that “100.7 The Vibe”, until recently alt-rock “The Zone”, is actually an FM translator (W264AK) being fed by an HD2 channel attached to sister classic rocker WXKR/94.5.

Cumulus has started these outlets in markets from Atlanta to Kansas City. In that city, a comedy formatted station known as “Funny 102.5” has put up some respectable numbers…and Cumulus translators in Atlanta host the former-full power alt-rocker “99X” and a new 80s/90s format station called “Journey 97-9”.

Not only is Zepeda trying his comeback with fewer watts (82 vs. 50,000), says The Blade:

Zepeda’s deal with Cumulus is a “substantial pay cut” over what he made at WVKS, he said. It’s also a day-to-day contract, meaning Zepeda is an at-will employee for the first time in a decade. But the radio host said he considers the deal “an investment in my career and my future” with “a company that’s growing.”

But despite all that, Andrew Z has a competitive fire:

“If I have to destroy that show, it’s only business,” he said. “There’s only room in the market for one No. 1 show. May the best man win and I’m very confident that it will be us.”

His new boss, Cumulus’ Scott Meier, has perhaps the most interesting quote, referring to Zepeda’s legal problems stemming from a former business:

“I think anybody who lives in any kind of life these days has baggage,” he said. “I think people have learned that he’s a much better radio host than a pizza store operator.”

ANN’S CORNER: Here are two items of note from public radio WKSU/89.7’s Ann VerWiebe…a Good Friend of OMW and the station’s OMW Handler. (No, she doesn’t get paid extra for that, as far as we know!)

The first one is about a statewide public media news effort reporting on Ohio issues, involving WKSU and two other big Ohio public radio stations:

90.3 WCPN ideastream®, WKSU and WOSU Public Media are collaborating with NPR to pilot StateImpact, an ambitious local-national journalism initiative to report on government actions and their impact on citizens and communities. Eight state-based projects were selected to pilot with NPR on the StateImpact launch and will participate in a two-year pilot phase.

Two journalists have been hired – one for the radio side of the project, one concentrating on the project’s website.

And, with Ann just back from a trip in the FolkAlley.com RV from a music festival in Northern Michigan – yes, we understand she drove at least part of the way – there’s a reminder that a big folk music event locally has moved on the calendar:

The Kent State Folk Festival has always been a moveable feast. This year, the event takes that charge literally as it shifts to mid-September with yet another stellar line-up of the best in roots and folk music. From Sept. 21 through 25, Kent will be the epicenter of a musical celebration that crosses generations and cultures. Highlights include dozens of free performances throughout the city for Folk Alley ‘Round Town on Friday, Sept. 23 and the beloved workshops at the Kent State University Student Center on Sept. 24.

Much more information is available at KentStateFolkFestival.org.

And the Festival is not at all off-topic for a media blog, as WKSU and owner Kent State University have been intimately involved in the Folk Festival for many years. And WKSU airs the Folk Alley feed not only online, but on its HD3 subchannels, and in the WKSU iOS and Android apps…

JIM MIDOCK BACK IN THE NEWS GAME: Well, at least online, at any rate.

Jim Midock recently retired as news director of Media-Com talk WNIR/100.1 Kent “The Talk of Akron” as a result of personal health battles.

But the veteran radio journalist is keeping a toe in the waters with a new blog called NewsPleasure.com.

From the name, and the “About me” blurb Midock has written, it appears the blog is mostly up to give Midock an outlet to have a little fun with the news…now that he’s not kicking it around weekday mornings on WNIR with Stan, Maggie and Steve:

This Blog is meant to make you smile. It’s not meant to be taken too seriously. One laugh makes my day.

So no, Midock isn’t going after AkronNewsNow.com or Ohio.com with his effort, he’s just having a little fun…and his WNIR listeners are probably quite happy to learn that he’s doing so…

BALD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Matt Haze, who Northeast Ohio listeners may remember (under the name Jake Reynolds) from his stint at Clear Channel Akron/Canton’s stations, dropped us a note about his latest project:

Not long ago, I launched a new podcast called THE BALD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. I co-host it with Tracy Pendergast, who is a former contributor to the former Maxim channel on Sirius/XM.

We do the show 3 times a week and episodes are no more than 15 minutes to match the busy, quick lifestyle of online listeners. We interview interesting people (so far including a Playboy playmate and even VO pro Joe Cipriano) as well as have fun with important life topics.

It’s like a mini quick morning show for listeners that want to be entertained, but don’t want to spend all day listening.

We’re over 2,000 Facebook fans already after just 3 months doing it!

Best of luck to you, Matt!