One of our readers commented the other day that they wished “we’d post more often”…but of course, life continues to intervene, and off-blog business is keeping us very busy…dealing with both extreme highs and lows.
But…we’re around this afternoon, so here goes…
THE R WORD WATCH: When you’re 80 years old and have been doing weather on TV for 50 years, it’s no surprise that there’s speculation on your eventual retirement.
But for now, we have no information on when Local TV LLC Fox affilate WJW/8 “Fox 8 News” icon Dick Goddard will walk away from the green screen.
That speculation is ramping up because OMW hears that Goddard is reducing his on-air schedule, only working on the 6 PM edition of “Fox 8 News”. (One of his co-anchors, news veteran Wilma Smith, also only appears at 6. And of course, Andre Bernier has been alongside Dick on the evening newscasts of “Fox 8 News” for some time.)
There are rumors and rumblings that Goddard may exit around the time of the next Woollybear Festival – which would certainly be an appropriate time to announce his retirement, at the event in Vermilion that is synonymous with the iconic weatherman. Calendar markers can circle (or note on their smartphones) the date of September 30th for this year’s festival.
But for now, the only confirmed information we have is his schedule change. As noted, Wilma Smith has only been doing the 6 PM show for years…
NEW FOX NEWSIE: OMW hears that a long-time Youngstown TV reporter will be the next news type from the Mahoning Valley to head up the Ohio Turnpike.
We hear that WKBN-TV/27-WYTV/33-WYFX-LD/19 Trumbull County bureau chief Peggy Sinkovich is headed for “Fox 8 News” in Cleveland. We don’t know what role she will take, though we’re making the assumption she’ll be a reporter.
Sinkovich joined then-separate ABC affiliate WYTV/33 as its Trumbull County reporter in 2005, and started work for all the New Vision stations in the 2007 merger of the CBS, ABC and Fox affiliates’ news operations.
(As we reported earlier, New Vision is selling WKBN and WYFX to LIN, which will also assume the Shared Services Agreement to operate PBC’s WYTV. As a part of the LIN deal, WYTV and the other stations New Vision operates, but does not own, will be sold to a new owner as well.)
Before coming to WYTV, Sinkovich was a reporter for the Youngstown Vindicator…
RADIO 2012: Hats off to the Plain Dealer’s Chuck Yarborough, for an excellent (and accurate) article on the state of Northeast Ohio radio in 2012, in a world where Pandora is rising and the economy is flagging.
Yarborough talked with CBS Radio’s Cleveland market manager Tom Herschel, and Rubber City Radio country WQMX/94.9 program director Sue Wilson and her morning co-host Scott Wynn in Akron, about the importance of locally originated radio in the face of new media competition.
Not present in the article was perspective from Clear Channel, as local operations manager Keith Abrams declined to comment, as did representatives of the company’s corporate office in San Antonio.
And radio consultant John Gorman, best known for his long stint as program director of WMMS/100.7 in its world-famous days as “The Buzzard”, also chimed in…
SPEAKING OF RADIO PIECES IN PRINT: Even if you’re an avid fan of “Kiley and Booms”, the morning show at CBS Radio Cleveland sports talker WKRK/92.3 “92.3 The Fan”, you’ll probably learn things about co-host and Euclid native Chuck Booms in a recent Cleveland Magazine article.
“Almost Famous” recounts Booms’ comedy career, including a friendship with Jerry Seinfeld, and Booms’ Comedy Central show, “Comics On Delivery”.
We did not know, however, that Booms was very much a finalist to replace CBS-bound David Letterman at NBC…so much so, that he was surprised when Conan O’Brien was announced as Letterman’s replacement at the Peacock Network, as he had thought he won the job.
The article by Andy Netzel also notes that Booms fell into radio by getting a woman appearing on his Comedy Central show a tryout at Washington DC’s WTEM/980…but WTEM liked Chuck instead of her.
That station is where Booms paired with co-host Kevin Kiley to start “Kiley and Booms”, before the pair landed at Fox Sports Radio, and today, they’re in Cleveland on “92.3 The Fan”…
SPEAKING OF JOHN GORMAN: Our thoughts go out to Gorman, an OMW reader (as are many mentioned in this item), who is recovering from a recent stroke.
He wrote the following on his Facebook account, a status update that was then picked up by radio trade sites:
It was a minor, unexpected detour on the boulevard of life. That’s all. Yes, it’s true. I had a stroke this past week. I lost neither consciousness nor my faculties (though some believe I lost the latter years ago). My doctors feel my fortunate outcome was related to a preventive lifestyle of good diet & exercise.
AND MORE MEDICAL BEST RECOVERY WISHES: Local sportscaster Bill Castrovince (SportsTime Ohio’s “High School Sports Insider”, former WYTV/33 sports director) is an avid OMW reader, and let us know that he’s on the road to recovery as well.
I found out I had a brain tumor. It was cancerous and very aggressive, but they got it out by surgery and it’s been a long road since then.
I haven’t anchored for the show since then, but I’ve slowly worked my way back to work, and now I’m voicing stories and highlights. And of course, I’m still shooting and covering games.
Yep, it’s been a long road, but I might get back on camera at the end of the season. We’ll see!
The “High School Sports Insider” show on STO is produced by Twinsburg’s Classic Teleproductions. Our best wishes to Bill as well!
FLASHBACK TO (JEFF AND) FLASH: Speaking of the station Gorman programmed, “Jeff and Flash” owned the morning airwaves at WMMS for some 18 years, until some guy named Howard Stern syndicated his New York morning show to classic rock WNCX/98.5.
With that event, and ownership changes, the long run of Jeff Kinzbach and Ed “Flash” Ferenc eventually came to an end in 1994, and a local TV news website recently shared video of the pair’s last day on “The Buzzard Morning Zoo.”
It’s Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 “NewsChannel 5″‘s excellent “Video Vault” segment, which dips back into historic video in a section on the station’s NewsNet5.com. (We’ve been unsuccessful at embedding the video…follow the link above.)
Photojournalist Tom Livingston is your video vault curator.
The story shows Jeff, Flash and Laura Ferrell in-studio at WMMS’ then-current location, easily recognizable through the windows as being located in the upper floors of the Tower City shopping complex at Terminal Tower.
Livingston notes the recent one-day “reunion” of Jeff and Flash on the station that helped vanquish their 18 year run in 1994 – WNCX.
Kinzbach is now doing fill-in work at WNCX, now owned by CBS Radio, and Ferenc continues his work as a public information officer for the Cleveland Municipal Court. As far as we know, Ferenc also continues to host the labor show “America’s Work Force”, weekdays 4-5 PM on Radio One talk/brokered WERE/1490…
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