Press Release Theatre (Plus), Vol. 2

With two brief non-press release notes…

First, new Clear Channel hot AC WKDD/98.1 personality Shannon Steele, back in Akron and at the station which started her career, won’t be heard in afternoon drive from 2-7 PM.

WKDD has moved her to the morning co-host position mysteriously vacated by Jenn Ryan. She’ll co-host “Keith and Shannon” with WKDD program director/CC regional operations manager/OMW reader Keith Kennedy.

The second item affects mainly an area we don’t really cover anymore, but it closes up an earlier item…and scratches our Canadian Radio itch.

We reported earlier that CBC Radio One shut down CBE/1550 Windsor ONT in favor of a new FM frequency, 97.5 (now CBEW-FM).

1550 got into parts of Northwest Ohio and even parts of the current OMW Coverage Area to the east with a staticky signal.

And it may again down the road…though you may not understand it.

CBC/Radio-Canada filed with industry regulators recently to light up 1550 again, this time as the new home of the French-language Radio-Canada service…currently heard in Windsor on CBEF/540. Apparently, the recently abandoned 1550 site is in much better shape than 540’s site. Oui! (We’re trying out our rusty high school French.)

And now, let the press releases begin, with one from, well, you might be able to guess who…(no, she doesn’t pay for this wording or placement, or her “corner”…):

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Panelists Announced for Live Presentation of NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! in Cleveland at PlayhouseSquare on June 28

Panelists have been announced for a live presentation of NPR’s Peabody Award-winning Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! on Thursday, June 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the State Theatre at Cleveland’s PlayhouseSquare. The popular fast-paced news quiz challenges panelists and listeners with a series of games based on current events. Host Peter Sagal and Official Judge and Scorekeeper Carl Kasell will be joined on stage by Mo Rocca, Kyrie O’Connor and Alonzo Bodden. Along with competing for points, the panel’s role is to assist in making light of the week’s news. Favorite segments include, “Who’s Carl This Time?,” “The Limerick Challenge,” “Not My Job” and the final panelist lightening round.

Tickets are now on sale through the PlayhouseSquare box office – (216) 241-6000 or (866) 546-1353 or online at www.playhousesquare.org.

The live show in Cleveland is co-hosted by 89.7 WKSU and 90.3 WCPN ideastream. The event will be taped and edited for broadcast on NPR stations nationwide the weekend of June 30 and July 1. WKSU airs the program Saturdays at 11 a.m. and it is heard on 90.3 WCPN at 2 p.m. on Sundays.

Now in its 14th season, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! uses headline stories from across the country and around the world as the fodder for questions for an hour of laughter. At home listeners compete as well – anxious to earn the coveted prize of Kasell’s voice on their home answering machine or voicemail. Special treats and games keep the theatre audience laughing as well.

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! is a co-production of NPR and WBEZ-Chicago. With a weekly national audience of 3.2 million people, the show ranks second to only Car Talk on a list of NPR’s most highly rated weekend programming. This is the second time Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! will be live in Northeast Ohio. WKSU presented the program at the Akron Civic Theatre in 2003.

ideastream is a public service, multiple-media organization with a mission to strengthen our communities by providing distinctive, thought-provoking programs and services that enlighten, inspire, educate and entertain.

WKSU broadcasts NPR & Classical Music at 89.7 FM, and is a service of Kent State University. WKSU programming is also heard on 89.3 WKRW in Wooster, 91.5 WKRJ in New Philadelphia, 89.1 WKSV in Thompson, 90.7 WNRK in Norwalk and 95.7 W239AZ in Ashland. The station broadcasts four HD Radio channels: WKSU-1, WKSU-2 Folk Alley, WKSU-3 The Classical Channel and WKSU-4 The News Channel. The WKSU website is www.wksu.org.

PANELIST BIOS:

Alonzo Bodden is an international headliner, having performed comedy shows for audiences worldwide. Since winning season three of Last Comic Standing, Bodden has quickly made a name for himself. He hosted numerous shows on the Speed and Travel Channels – including 101 Cars You Must Drive and America’s Worst Drivers – and produced a one-hour comedy special for Showtime, Who’s Paying Attention? He can also be seen as a host of the new ITV show Inside the Vault. He is single, likes jazz and, of course, long walks on the beach (as long as that doesn’t mean getting in the water). Find a link to his Who’s Paying Attention? podcast at alonzolive.com.

Kyrie O’Connor is deputy managing editor/features at the Houston Chronicle and writer of the daily blog MeMo on the Houston Chronicle Web site. Before becoming a Texan by choice in 2003, she was assistant managing editor/features at The Hartford Courant in Connecticut. Her articles and book reviews have appeared in newspapers nationwide, and in Commonweal magazine. She devotes her time to tending an epileptic 120-lb. chocolate Lab, supporting a bad soy latte jones, and downloading transgressive ringtones onto her celly. She is aesthetically but not morally opposed to the inside-out Reese‘s peanut butter cup.

Mo Rocca is a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood and the host of The Tomorrow Show with Mo Rocca on CBSNews.com. He has appeared on most every cable network, including Telemundo, where he wowed audiences in a small but pivotal role in the hit telenovela Amor Descarado. He appeared on Broadway in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His book, All The Presidents’ Pets, blows the lid off the White House’s deepest, darkest secrets.

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TIME WARNER CABLE BRINGS YOU AN EXCITING WAY TO “ENJOY HBO® BETTER”
Enter The “Enjoy HBO Better” Sweepstakes For A Chance To Win A VIP Trip To Comic-Con 2012 in San Diego

Time Warner Cable is bringing its customers closer to the HBO shows they love with the launch of the “Enjoy HBO Better Sweepstakes,” beginning today. Coinciding with the season 5 kickoff of HBO’s critically-acclaimed vampire series, True Blood®, Time Warner Cable and HBO have teamed up to give Time Warner Cable’s Facebook fans a chance to win a VIP trip to Comic-Con 2012, where the Grand Prize winner and a guest will be given all-access passes to the event, including VIP access to panels for True Blood and Game of Thrones®.

The Grand Prize winner will receive a six-day, five-night trip for two to attend Comic-Con 2012 in San Diego, CA, from July 11- 16, which includes air transportation and accommodations. In addition to all-access tickets to the convention, the Grand Prize winner will receive reserved VIP seating at HBO’s True Blood and Game of Thrones panels, $1,000 in spending money, a Tablet PC and an HBO True Blood Prize Pack.

Three First Prize winners will each receive a Tablet PC and an HBO True Blood Prize Pack. Five Second Prize winners will each receive an HBO True Blood Prize Pack.

Entrants must reside in a Time Warner Cable service area and be a fan of the Time Warner Cable or Mi Cultura Facebook pages in order to complete and submit the online registration form by June 24, 2012. The Sweepstakes winners will be selected in a random drawing on or about June 25, 2012.

The sweepstakes is part of a broader six-month Enjoy HBO Better advertising campaign that will include social media content related to Strike Back, Boardwalk Empire and other HBO shows. Customers can also “Enjoy HBO Better” by calling Time Warner Cable today to take advantage of great offers on HBO and Cinemax, just in time to catch the newest season of True Blood.

For the official rules and complete details, visit facebook.com/twc or facebook.com/micultura.

No Purchase Necessary. Void where prohibited. The Enjoy HBO Better Sweepstakes presented by Time Warner Cable is open to legal U.S. residents who reside in a serviceable area of Time Warner Cable and those living in the same household in the following states/areas: AL, AZ, CA, CO (only in Gunnison), GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MO, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, PA, SC, TX, VA, WA, WV, or WI, and 18 years of age or older. Starts 10:01 a.m. ET 6/10/12 & ends 11:59 p.m. ET 6/24/12. Sponsored by Time Warner Cable Inc.

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Time Warner Cable Partners with Local United Way Chapters

AKRON, OH (JUNE 12, 2012) – More than 500 employees from Time Warner Cable will partner with United Way offices to canvas Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania and devote some 2,000 hours in support of local communities during a companywide “Day of Action” on Friday, June 15, 2012.

In a united show of force, TWC employees will fan out across 13 counties and partner with area non-profits to paint, restore, garden and clean, among other things.

“Community and teamwork are two of our company’s core values,” said John H. Higgins Jr., Area Vice President of Operations, Time Warner Cable, Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. “When it comes to these two values we don’t just pay them lip service. We put our money where our mouth is and give back to the communities that support us.”

TWC will work to support a variety of organizations across the region, such as Goodwill Industries, the American Red Cross, Stark County Parks, the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, the Council on Aging, Catholic Charities and Fairhill Partners, to name a few.

The 13 counties include Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie (Pa.), Huron, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Portage, Richland, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Tuscarawas.

For more information on Time Warner Cable please log onto TWC.com.

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WKYC Rolls Out Social TV Experience In Cleveland
Courtesy: Frank Macek’s WKYC Director’s Cut Blog

ConnecTV today announces the largest-ever rollout of a social media platform for television with backing by the leading U.S. broadcast companies.

The platform synchronizes social engagement, complementary content and program promotions with television programming from any source, in any market across national cable networks, regional sports networks and local stations affiliated with ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CW and MyNetworkTV. The coast-to-coast rollout establishes ConnecTV as the most dynamic and engaging social network for television viewers in the U.S.

How ConnecTV works:

ConnecTV is the only social network that works across all channels and all shows for both real-time and time-shifted television viewing.
ConnecTV delivers a rich content experience that syncs instantly with the show you’re watching and delivers complementary play‐by‐play stats, news, information and quotes that can be shared with friends and followers—all with a single touch.
Viewers can also invite specific friends to join them for “viewing parties” and chat about their favorite shows and sporting events. o Seamless integration with Twitter and Facebook allows users to connect and organize their friends, favorite shows and social engagement all focused on TV.
ConnecTV uses a combination of content recognition algorithms, closed caption and a diverse mix of more than 100 data sources to drive the accuracy, relevancy and speed of synchronization with television programming.
ConnecTV is available as a free download for the iPad from the Apple App Store, or for any PC browser at www.connectv.com. ConnecTV will be introducing versions for the iPhone and Android smartphone and tablets in the next 45 days.

“Local engagement is at the heart of all social media, from Twitter to Facebook to Groupon,” said ConnecTV Co-Founder Ian Aaron. “ConnecTV is the only social TV network with a true investment in the local viewing experience and an unparalleled strategic partnership with the leading media companies in America.”

Viewers of ConnecTV on partner stations beginning with the top 40 markets will immediately receive additional social television benefits that include synchronization of local news, weather, sports and entertainment programming along with social polls. A total of 85 local ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW and MyNetworkTV stations will be integrated into the ConnecTV experience at launch with plans in place to grow to 215 stations in communities across America.

“Television programming is driving the social media conversation, but those conversations continue to be fragmented across myriad platforms and provide little local context,” said Alan Frank, President and CEO of Post Newsweek Stations on behalf of Pearl.

“We see ConnecTV as a way for our communities to come together in a single, standardized digital extension of our broadcast platforms, and engage in dialogue around the information and entertainment most relevant to them.”

ConnecTV partners include a consortium of nine leading U.S. television broadcast groups known as Pearl. The companies include: Belo Corp., Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Gannett Broadcasting, Hearst Television Inc., Media General Inc., Meredith Corp., Post-Newsweek Stations Inc. and Raycom Media. Together, Pearl broadcast partners represent more than 200 local ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW and MyNetworkTV affiliate stations in 45 of the top 50 markets reaching 76 million households. As part of their ConnecTV partnership, Pearl will expand and coordinate the affiliate base of participating local broadcasters, integrate local content, deliver on-air, on-screen and on-line promotions and sell complementary second screen advertising that synchronizes with the broadcast.

The combined technical capabilities of the ConnecTV platform provide a unique social and content user experience designed to transform television into a highly interactive second screen experience, in tandem with a live or time-shifted program. While all ConnecTV users will enjoy an extraordinary viewing experience, TV fans who watch along with ConnecTV’s local partner stations will have the advantage of heightened benefits, including:

Social conversations sparked locally by on-air personalities and station production staff surrounding news, sports and entertainment topics of the day.
Special companion content that is synced to local broadcast news, sports and entertainment programming.
ConnecTV instant “TalkBack” social polls mirroring those on the air to increase communication with local audiences.
Relevant local marketing that is synched to television advertising spots, or engages the “viewser” in new ways that activate both national and local marketing campaigns.
Simultaneous promotions of upcoming news stories, local specials and national programming on both the main and second screens.