A Lot To Catch Up On

As Life is Intervening(tm) a little less here at the OMW World Headquarters, we have some time to catch up…

WKNR MIXES IT UP AGAIN: The rumored lineup change at Good Karma sports WKNR/850 “ESPN Cleveland” came to fruition, but not quite as rumored.

Still, the big pieces are as expected, and the biggest move affects the station’s signature program, “The Really Big Show” in middays.

The changes take effect August 25th.

The 9 AM-1 PM show keeps its lead host, long-time local sports radio personality Tony Rizzo.

But he’s no longer alongside long-time co-host foil Aaron Goldhammer (more on him in a bit).

Former NFLer and now-former afternoon co-host Jerod Cherry heads to the midday world to become Rizzo’s new co-host.

That leads us to afternoon, where the other part of the swap lands Goldhammer in afternoon drive…after the Cleveland Browns-produced “Cleveland Browns Daily”, which remains in its 1-3 PM time slot.

Goldhammer is paired with Emmett Golden for the 3-5 PM show.

So, with Jerod Cherry with Tony Rizzo on “The Really Big Show”, what happens to Bruce Hooley?

He’s hosting a solo 5-7 PM show. It had been rumored that he was moving back to Columbus, and would contribute remotely. We don’t know if that took place.

And we’ve had people ask about Mark “Munch” Bishop. He’s sliding one hour later, hosting “ESPN Cleveland Tonight” from 7-9 PM.

The station’s release on the lineup changes note that various speciality and ESPN Radio programming, along with local post-game shows hosted by WKNR’s Greg Brinda, will remain…and that Rizzo and Goldhammer will pair up after Cleveland Browns games for the WKNR-only “Really Big Post Game Show”.
(Browns Radio co-flagship CBS Radio sports WKRK/92.3 “The Fan” handles the network post-game show…WKNR does pre-game for the network…)

AND SPEAKING OF THE BROWNS RADIO NETWORK: WKNR, WKRK and CBS Radio brother classic rocker WNCX/98.5 provide Browns play-by-play in both preseason and in the regular season.

But has another football team thrown a monkey wrench into radio coverage for the Browns third preseason tilt on August 23rd?

That’s when the Browns play the St. Louis Rams at FirstEnergy Stadium.

But that same night, Cleveland’s other football team will be playing for the Arena Football League title…it’s the Cleveland Gladiators hosting the Arizona Rattlers at Quicken Loans Arena in ArenaBowl XXVII.

“92.3 The Fan” is the Gladiators’ radio outlet.

No problem, you say. The Gladiators can be heard on 92.3, and the Browns on 98.5 (and WKNR).

Bzzt!

OMW hears that the contract between the Browns and CBS Radio requires CBS to air the Browns games on two FM signals, even in the preseason.

CBS has two other FM stations in the Cleveland market…AC WDOK/102.1 “New 102” and hot AC WQAL/104.1 “Q104”.

As of yet, we hear that no decision has been made.

The Cleveland Indians will also be hosting the Houston Astros that night at Progressive Field…so add traffic headaches to the radio headaches in the Halle Building nearby…

ANOTHER SATELLITE DISPUTE?: You can see the evidence of TV retransmission problems ahead right on the website of Raycom CBS affiliate WOIO/19’s “19 Action News”:

Raycom Media our parent company is currently negotiating in good faith with Direct TV. We will keep you updated here, on air and on our 19 Action News Facebook page as to our progress.

It’s the kind of battle no one wants, particularly those who subscribe to the affected provider, satellite leader DirecTV in this case.

On its “DirecTV Promise” site, the company has this statement:

DIRECTV can keep providing all of Raycom’s local channels as long as Raycom is willing to make them available to you. We are working hard behind the scenes to avoid your being bothered or having to experience any unnecessary interruption of service, however brief.

The only further information that we can find is on the TVPredictions.com website…which mentions an August 31st deadline…

THAT AKRON WEEKEND RADIO BATTLE: There will actually be weekend evening competition in live, local talk radio in the Akron market starting this weekend.

Bob Earley started it out, when the then-WNIR/100.1 “The Talk of Akron” fill-in host launched “Earley in the Evening” on Saturday and Sunday evenings from 7-10 PM.

Earley left Broadcast Park after a dispute over one of his sponsors, an adult novelty store that’s been a staple of Valentine’s Day reports all over local TV.

WNIR moved to replace Earley on Saturday evenings with Facebook-popular Brimfield Police Chief David Oliver’s “Breaking Good”.

That has you caught up to the most recent news. WNIR has expanded Chief Oliver’s show to Sundays, filling Earley’s former complete schedule.

But the veteran promoter of the “Rockin’ On The River” summer concert series in Cuyahoga Falls (more on that later) isn’t sitting still.

His radio non-compete over, Bob Earley has hooked up with Clear Channel talk WHLO/640, where he’ll have his own show on Sunday nights from 6-10 PM – against his replacement, Brimfield’s Chief Oliver, now on Earley’s old station both weekend evenings.

Now, for those who don’t know radio…Sunday nights are generally the least-listened to pre-midnight time slot all week. It’s rather unusual to have not just one, but two, local talk radio programs in the time slot.

We won’t go into much detail here, but Earley’s “Rockin’ on the River” will be “rockin” somewhere else in 2015.

After this year’s series ends along Cuyahoga Falls’ Riverfront Mall later this month, Earley will move it to another city, as Cuyahoga Falls’ new mayor Don Walters has indicated that the city wants to make changes.

We won’t even get into the politics surrounding this…

SO LONG, FRIEND OF OMW: Yes, Tribune Fox affiliate WJW/8 “Fox 8 News” weekend morning anchor/reporter Mark Zinni is leaving Cleveland…heading for a new job in New England next onth.

He talks to the Plain Dealer’s Mark Dawidziak, and will only tell Dawidziak that his new gig will be a “Monday-Friday anchor job”.

Since Mark is what we call an “admitted OMW reader”, we asked him on Twitter where he’s heading.

Mark Zinni ✔ @MarkZinni
@ohiomediawatch haha! I would if I could, trust me! 😉

No, he won’t tell us, either.

We can offer that Mark has worked in New England before…at WPRI/12, the CBS affiliate in Providence RI. But that’s all we know…yet…

ESCAPE TO CLEVELAND: Another digital TV subchannel is about to start.

“Escape”, a female-targeted network, started a screensaver on its Cleveland TV home, Univision O&O WQHS/61.4, last week. At last check, the network is running a promo loop… presumably until it starts officially on Monday at noon.

“Escape” (we can’t get the “P” to rise halfway up) has a male-targeted, er, brother network… “Grit”, which will air in Cleveland on Raycom’s WUAB/43.3.

No, we don’t know why WQHS has that 61.2 sized hole between its primary Univision feed on 61.1 and its two English-language subchannels. Some are speculating that the company’s “UniMas” subchannel will go there…

SOLD, BUT NOT IN SPANISH: The excellent “Tom Taylor Now” E-mail newsletter reports, and we’ve confirmed in FCC records, that Spanish Cultural’s Spanish-language WNZN/89.1 Lorain is being sold for $280,000.

Tom writes, riffing off the FCC filing:

…it appears that buyer Pace Foundation will swing the format from its current Spanish-language variety approach to a Christian format. Pace principals Clarence and Mark Ballard say “our focus is Bible teaching directed to day-to-day relationships within families and our local community. Of particular concern is abuse of alcohol and drugs, child and spousal abuse, divorce and teen pregnancy.”

Regulars here know that we consider WNZN a rimshot signal into its Lorain city of license, with a Class A signal out in Berlin Heights.

We also have to wonder how WNZN was affected by TSJ Media’s “La Mega 87.7”, which is LMAing the audio signal of Murray Hill Broadcasting’s WLFM-LP (TV 6) for now… unless it can find a new home before the FCC ends analog LPTV signals next September…

ROBIN WILLIAMS: As we said on social media earlier, there must be many Northeast Ohio broadcasters who have met or interviewed Robin Williams, the ultra talented comedian/actor who died Monday night a very troubled man.

But one Cleveland broadcaster has worked with him.

“19 Action News'” reporter Lydia Esparra noted that Williams had heart surgery at Cleveland Clinic in 2009.

But she also catches up with “92.3 The Fan” morning co-host Chuck Booms (video link), who worked with Robin Williams in Los Angeles comedy clubs in the 1990s. Booms says that “all heads turned” when Williams took the stage at the Improv.

“I just would not think he would do this,” the “Kiley and Booms” co-host tells Esparra. “It’s a huge loss, and we’ll never see a talent like this again.”

That may be an understatement. From “Mork and Mindy” to “Mrs. Doubtfire” to “Good Morning, Vietnam”, Williams was a singular talent…