The Five Item Pileup

You walk away from a blog, and items start to pile up like cars on snow and ice covered roadways.

Ah, but a sign of spring is here…

STO OFF DISH: It’s snowy and wind chills are in the negative numbers on this February day in Ohio, but it was 73 degrees in Goodyear AZ, where the Cleveland Indians played their second Spring Training warmup contest this afternoon against the Cincinnati Reds.

Viewers all over the Indians TV territory could get a mental break from winter and watch that game this afternoon…oh, not so fast, Dish Network.

The deal between Dish Network and SportsTime Ohio expired this week, and instead of baseball players, here’s what Dish subscribers are seeing:

Ah, yes, the Retransmission Dispute Days of (Not Yet) Summer. Isn’t it grand?

As per usual in these disputes, each side is staking out familiar territory.

As noticed in the slide (from the Twitter account of a viewer named Steve Eby), Dish has set up a website explaining its side of the story:

Our contract to carry SportsTime Ohio has expired and they have decided to block this channel from DISH’s channel lineup.

SportsTime Ohio is demanding an unreasonable rate increase to carry this channel. We are working around the clock to reach a fair and reasonable agreement with SportsTime Ohio.

The just-expired deal between Dish Network and STO dates back to the network’s previous ownership under the Dolan family, owners of the Indians.

But Fox Sports Ohio runs STO now, and provided this statement to us:

“SportsTime Ohio’s distribution agreement with Dish Network has expired, and we regret that Dish has elected to not continue carrying SportsTime Ohio. The proposals we have offered Dish are fair and in line with the tremendous value our network provides. Fans are encouraged to reach out to alternate video providers in their area that do carry SportsTime Ohio.”

The dispute does not affect the original Fox Sports Ohio channel, which remains on Dish Network.

But you won’t find the Indians on FSO, either during spring training or the regular season.

These disputes typically get settled at the last minute, which in this case would be the regular season opener for the Tribe.

But Dish Network and its CEO, Charlie Ergen, are very much known for holding the hard line on programming cost increases.

Our early prediction will be that a few early regular season Indians games will be missed on Dish Network…but that’s just a prediction…

GMC SHUFFLE: Mike Dunston came to Cleveland in 2011, brought on-board as co-anchor of Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5’s “Good Morning Cleveland”.

He’s now leaving.

On his Facebook page, Dunston told viewers of his exit, effective March 7:

“After more than two years at WEWS, it’s with a heavy heart that I’m sharing with you that my last day at the station will be March 7th. I couldn’t be more proud of this team and the work we’ve done together.

I’ve had the distinction of earning an Emmy Award for news anchoring, pioneering and hosting an adoption segment, and being part of a crew that worked both in front of the camera and behind the scenes to lift our morning show from number 4 to number 2 last year.

I want to thank the Northeast Ohio community for their kind words and support. See ya at the next Cavs game!

Regular readers know that Dunston said “last year” up there for a reason.

With Dunston’s exit, “Good Morning Cleveland” undergoes its 208th reshuffling…OK, so it only seems like the 208th change on WEWS’ morning show.

Part of that change actually started before Dunston’s announcement, when “GMC” brought reporter Josh Boose inside, put him next to co-anchor Macie Jepson, and nudged Dunston to a third position – the “Live Center” off to the side in the show’s studio, next to a big screen monitor.

OMW hears that the following changes will be made on “GMC”:

* Terrence Lee, who’s been reporting along with anchoring the Saturday edition of the show, will take Dunston’s place at the “Live Center” perch.

* Kristin Byrne steps in as a reporter on “GMC” and as the show’s Saturday anchor (with meteorologist Trent Magill).

* Stephanie Ramirez moves from evenings/weekends as MMJ on GMC weekdays.

All of these changes take effect on Monday, March 10th.

(Whew. Is it time to buy a fresh “Good Morning Cleveland” scorecard yet?)

Among other changes at 3001 Euclid: Eric Ristow has been named sports producer, and will produce a new 6 PM “interactive sports cast”.

We don’t know what that means, but perhaps it’s the second such Internet show after “Dawgs On The Run”, the Cleveland Browns-themed online show that runs during the team’s season.

Dunston’s future is unknown at this time, but surely he knew that the handwriting was on the wall on Euclid Avenue when WEWS moved Josh Boose into the studio…

COLBY’S SHOES: The rather big shoes of former Radio One Cleveland operations manager Colby Colb have been filled.

Bill Black comes in from the company’s Atlanta cluster, where he’s been assistant program director/music director for urban WHTA/107.9 “Hot 107.9”.

Colb moved into a corporate VP/programming job at Radio One’s Washington DC-area headquarters.

A station release quotes Cleveland market VP/GM Eddie Harrell:

“I’m excited to welcome Bill Black back home to Cleveland. We have no doubt that Bill’s vast experience and understanding of our market will help secure and expand our reach as the #1 multimedia company in the Greater Cleveland area.”

Though Radio One’s release calls Black a native of Montgomery AL, we hear that there’s a good reason they say he’s “coming back” to Cleveland.

Bill Black was born in Cleveland, and moved to Montgomery at the age of 11.

And Black himself says:

“I’m excited to raise my family in my hometown as well as expand my radio family as Operations Manager of Radio One Cleveland.”

There’s no word yet if Black will take over Colb’s former afternoon drive air shift on hip hop WENZ/107.9 here…

HD UPDATE: As we tipped here earlier, the simulcast of Radio One’s brokered/talk WERE/1490 Cleveland Heights has appeared on the HD sidechannel of one of the company’s big Cleveland FM signals.

But it is the aforementioned WENZ/107.9 that’s now carrying the simulcast of “NewsTalk Cleveland” on its HD2 channel.

OMW hears that there’s still some work needed to put Radio One’s AM stations (including gospel WJMO/1300 “Praise 1300”) on the sidechannels of urban AC WZAK/93.1, but that’s indeed in the works…

NEW MAHONING VALLEY STATION: We’ve covered some of the pieces of this one, but the facts are now filled in thanks to a newspaper article today.

We reported earlier that former Bernard Radio general manager Skip Bednarcyzk and his wife Helen bought Bernard’s remaining AM stations, WGFT/1330 Campbell and WGFT/1500 Youngstown, to pair them with W232AI/93.7 Niles…a translator with a construction permit for 200 watts owned by Helen.

The Vindicator reports that 93.7, powered by WGFT, plans to start broadcasting by an estimated start date of March 24th.

Skip Bednarczyk pulls back on the curtains on some of the plans, telling the Vindicator’s Guy D’Astolfo that Bernard Radio originally wanted to mount the AM-to-FM translator simulcast, restoring “urban contemporary music” to the Valley’s FM airwaves after the company sold WRBP/101.9 Hubbard “Jamz 101.9” to EMF Broadcasting:

After Bednarczyk finally located a translator and was ready to finalize the purchase, his company abandoned the idea. So he decided to take the leap and buy it himself, as well as WASN and WGFT. Both low-power stations have been dark since last February, when JAMZ was sold.

Bednarczyk tells the Vindicator that 1330 will be the required AM primary for 93.7. The article says WASN/1500 “will likely remain dark”.

What he won’t reveal is the new format, though he says it won’t be the younger skewing urban format once heard on “Jamz”.

OMW content partner RadioInsight has an idea…domain super snooper Lance Venta connected the online dots:

…it appears the new 1330/93.7 combo will instead program an Urban AC format. 937Star.com was registered by the Bednarczyk’s in November 2013 and a Facebook page created earlier this month simply describes the station as “Urban Adult Contemporary”.

First order of business for the Family Bednarczyk: restoring WGFT/1330 to on-air status.

While the FCC does allow FM translators to run alongside non-full-time AM stations, and gives some leeway with technical problems, it’s quite unlikely the Commission would allow 93.7 to launch first, originating programming ahead of 1330’s return…

THE WRONG KIND OF SURGE: Electrical problems have forced Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting classic hits WLKR/1510 Norwalk off the air.

From an FCC filing for a silent STA (warning, all caps ahead!):

THE STATION TOOK AN OFF-PREMISE ELECTRICAL SURGE AND THE AM TRANSMITTER WAS DAMAGED. LICENSEE MUST TEMPORARILY TAKE THE STATION SILENT AND IS IN THE PROCESS OF PURCHASING ANOTHER TRANSMITTER TO REPLACE IT. OUT OF AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION, THE LICENSEE RESPECTFULLY REQUESTS SIXTY DAYS IN WHICH TO REMAIN SILENT WHILE THE NEW TRANSMITTER IS PURCHASED AND INSTALLED.

Though the surge did not affect the signals of “Kool Good 1510″‘s area sister stations, variety hits WLKR-FM/95.3 Norwalk and country WKFM/96.1 Huron “K96”, it did knock off the streaming audio feed of both stations.

The station, in a news item on its website this week, says:

Station Manager Bill Forthofer also said Kool Gold 1510, and online streaming of WLKR and K96 will be up and running again as soon as possible.

WLKR/1510, a 500 watt daytimer, was the “Vacationland” area’s ESPN Radio affiliate until adopting classic hits in 2010…