This one is all about radio, catching up on a couple of news items…
CATHOLIC EARS: Word came out Friday that a local lay Catholic media group will be the new operators of Cleveland’s WWMK/1260.
The current kid-pop music format will certainly change, and the call letters will likely change as well, as St. Peter the Rock Media takes over AM 1260 from Radio Disney. The reported takeover price, as Disney continues to unload all but one of its RD over-air stations, is $895,000.
Before today, we knew a little about St. Peter the Rock Media’s background…by researching its non-profit incorporation filing, and by doing some Google searches.
We should have just waited a day, as all this information is public on the new website for “AM 1260 The Rock”. (No, not the actor/wrestler.)
Here’s a snippet from the site, which gives an estimated sign-on date of April 2015:
The mission of Cleveland Catholic Radio is to provide quality Catholic programming that is faithful to the teachings of the Church and presented in a way that inspires conversion of heart and a deepening of faith while building up the Local Body of Christ.
No surprise for a radio station aimed at Catholics in 2015: “The Rock” says it’ll be an EWTN affiliate, and provides something else lay Catholic stations pretty much universally offer…a letter of support by Cleveland Catholic Diocese Bishop Richard Lennon.
Parts of the Cleveland area are served (daytime) by the improved signal of EWTN affiliate WILB/1060 “Living Bread Radio” in Canton, though a quick look at the 1260 “coverage map” reminds us that despite WILB’s signal reach to the north, Stark County is actually in the Youngstown Catholic diocese…where the Living Bread Radio folks also operate WILB-FM/89.5 Boardman.
So, who is involved in St. Peter the Rock Media, the buyer of WWMK/1260?
The “Rock” website lists Cleveland attorney Gerald Monroe as president, and Akron attorney Pat D’Andrea as treasurer.
EWTN Director of Marketing Tom Wenzel (listed as a Cleveland resident) is aboard, and look…here’s a name that has certainly appeared here on OMW!
Dick Russ – 30 years of media experience.
Yes, the former WJW/8 and WKYC/3 newsman, an anchor, reporter and managing editor over the years, is involved.
It’s not a surprise for those who have followed Russ’ career after his departure from 13th and Lakeside.
When he left WKYC in 2013, Dick Russ took a job helping people find housing at North Coast Community Homes. He’s still vice president of resource development at the non-profit today.
And then, there’s this blurb from the Plain Dealer’s Mark Dawidziak’s article on Russ’ exit from WKYC:
And he’s not completely giving up on television. He is the co-founder of Eastern Christian Media, a company that produces religious programs and specials.
Dick Russ appears in videos on that site today. (He’s in the one that auto-starts on the main site.)
And no, we don’t know what role he’ll have on air, if any, at the new “AM 1260 the Rock”. Don’t expect him to resume his former career as a newsman.
There’s at least one connection between the new owners at AM 1260 and existing Catholic radio operation WVSG/820 in Columbus…the St. Gabriel Radio folks who started on WVKO/1580. (And, even earlier than that, on Marysville’s WUCO/1270.)
St. Gabriel’s executive director, Bill Messerly, is also on the board of directors of St. Peter the Rock Media. (They list him as an “experienced Catholic Radio operator and entrepreneur”.)
As far as that planned April 2015 start goes, St. Peter the Rock Media is probably planning for about three months for FCC approval of the sale. There will be no LMA of the station from Radio Disney, as far as we know, so enjoy the satellite-fed automated kid-pop music until then.
Those with long radio memories know that 1260 ran a Catholic radio format before Radio Disney bought it, with Cleveland broadcast veteran Bob Tayek aboard at WMIH. There was no 24/7 EWTN satellite feed then, and programming was mainly local…and expensive with a capital E.
Tayek is, today, the chief spokesman for the aforementioned Cleveland Diocese Bishop Richard Lennon…
THE BOB FRANTZ AUTHORITY: Former now-iHeart talk WTAM/1100 host Bob Frantz landed Monday at his new radio home, Salem talk WHK/1420 “The Answer”.
And Frantz’s 9-11 AM weekday show on WHK is not just “The Bob Frantz Show”…it takes the name “The Bob Frantz Authority”.
We reached out to Bob, and asked him…why?
We wanted a show title that lets listeners know this is more than just “a show.” A lot of talk hosts take to the air every day with nothing but a bag full of opinions grounded in no semblance of fact whatsoever. Their lack of effort makes them authorities on nothing. No research, no knowledge of history, no preparation. Nothing but top-of-the-mind opinions. I do things a little differently, by putting that work in every single day, so that I can indeed speak with some “authority” on the issues we discuss. They will still be my opinions, but I want my listeners to know that there will always be solid reasoning behind what they hear.
Frantz has a history doing both issues-oriented talk and sports talk, and even had that dual role in his time as WTAM evening host…acting as the station’s post-game host when a game took place in his evening time slot.
This perhaps is the best time, with the Ohio State Buckeyes football team claiming the national championship on Monday night, to ask…how much of a role will sports play on his new WHK show?
My program on WHK will focus almost entirely on current news events, and that means I’ll spend time discussing the issues that are most important to the vast majority of people in NE Ohio on any given day. If those issues happen to be sports-related, such as the Buckeyes playing for the national title, for example, that’s what we’ll do. But sports will be just one small part of many areas of conversation we’ll get into, along with local and national news, politics, family, entertainment, and popular culture.
Indeed, Frantz’s first show on Monday featured a radio reunion…former fellow WTAM sports host/anchor Mark Schwab, now a sports anchor/reporter for WOIO/19’s Still Currently 19 Action News, did a Buckeyes preview segment with Bob.
And as you might expect, Frantz opened Tuesday’s show with a rousing salute to the Buckeyes’ victory.
With even Salem’s Bill Bennett briefly touching on the first ever College Football Playoff Championship Game, and the Monday night defeat of the Oregon Ducks in Dallas being topic one, two and three in Ohio…yes, you can’t open the next day’s show talking about Obamacare or a discussion of President Obama’s foreign policy, even on an ideologically-pure conservative talk station.
And that brings us to the third question we had for new WHK host Bob Frantz.
It is not exactly a secret that even if Salem’s talk stations hire high-profile local talk hosts (and Frantz certainly qualifies here, losing his previous position only because bean counters in San Antonio got to Oak Tree), they are at a competitive disadvantage to the big iHeart talkers like Frantz’s former home of WTAM.
Salem is no stranger to hiring hosts no longer heard on larger stations, or other “name” hosts. They’ve done it in major markets like New York City (former “Saturday Night Live” star Joe Piscopo) and Chicago (“Big John” Howell until recently), and Cleveland-sized markets like Sacramento (former FM morning co-host Paul Cowan, and now-former Fox News Radio and San Francisco host Spencer Hughes once worked there).
But powerful names don’t necessarily mean automatic ratings, and we can’t come up with a single example of, well, as Salem might put it, “David beats Goliath”, radio version.
Bob?
We’re not competing against any one company or station, small or large. We’re competing only to raise the level of discourse in our community, by bringing responsible, intelligent, meaningful radio to the listeners who crave it. And I believe there are more of them any a lot of people realize.
Bob Frantz certainly has a fan base, and many went looking for him when he was shown through the Budget Cut Door at Oak Tree.
His presence may not lift WHK to the top of the Cleveland talk radio race, but he won’t be talking to himself by far…
Nooooo! We have enough religious media in the Cleveland area! We don’t need another one!
1260 The Rock?! Upon first glance, one might think that the station will become a hard rock/alternate format. I fail to see how a rock is a religious symbol. Visiting their site shows some interesting things, like a coverage map that very few stations (especially AM) offer without the help of 3rd party sites. Upon closer inspection, the coverage area is the “local” day and night patterns from the radio-locator.com maps. Also interesting is the history page that states the station was bought from Radio Disney on 12/24/2014. I wonder if they’ll add more history about the station in the future.
Since they mentioned that the estimated launch would be April 2015, I would have to guess that an audio loop will be played 2-3 weeks prior to the launch (or when the new owners take over) to inform listeners about the new station. The loop would also give the new owners some time to move and install equipment from the current Broadview Heights studio to the new Independence studio. I’d estimate that Radio Disney will probably continue to air until mid to late February. Obviously the call letters will be changed, though it may take a few months for the change to take effect. When Radio Disney took over in May 1998, the WMIH calls were held until December of that year when they were changed to WWMK. (MicKey) https://web.archive.org/web/19980704015159/http://www2.disney.com/RadioDisney/Press/releases/980429.html I also wonder if the new owners will utilize the station’s HD carrier.
I wonder what ABC/Disney paid for 1260 back in 1998. It had to be more then what it was sold for. Disney probably wanted at least 1 million for the station but had to settle for less. I guess Disney just wants to get rid of their stations and will accept any reasonable offer. The sales are the result of today’s technology. Spoiled kids with their smart phones and mobile apps… They don’t care about the data compression that plagues internet streams, yet they complain about a little bit of static on AM. The songs Radio Disney plays nowadays isn’t anything to brag about either. It’s mostly a bunch of untalented teens who can’t sing and require some sort of voice enhancer to make them sound like a “pop star” while singing along to noisy, repetitive music.
Well, goodbye Radio Disney. You were awesome when I first started listening back in 2000. You started going downhill in 2002 and became a train wreck in 2008. I’m surprised that WWMK lasted as long as it did with its poor coverage towards Akron and its poor audio while broadcasting the HD carrier. I would have liked a Rock ‘N’ Roll oldies/news format similar to what WAKR 1590 once had, but I knew that wasn’t gonna happen. Oh well, I guess that’s what iPods are for.
In the Bible, Peter was the “rock” that the Church would stand on.
Truly glad to hear that Bob Frantz has landed on his feet back in NE Ohio (I realize that he is doing Toledo area sports too, but I have no interest in that market). I always found him to be entertaining, thought-provoking, knowledgeable, and well prepared to discuss a variety of topics while on “The Big One.” I was stunned when he was let go, I always assumed he would get the AD slot after the 3-6 schmuck retired. I know it all comes down to advertising dollars, but it’s a crime that a true talent like Frantz gets the axe while Triv continues to get by with his beyond-tiring shtick. I truly listen very little nowadays to 1100, but his show pretty much sounds the same every time I do decide to tune in…make fun of his sidekicks, share something about being at a casino or a “focus group,” and just take a bunch of calls with random topics to fill up his time slot (plus ad after ad after ad…). What a hack! I get the guy has a big heart and has a very public charity event once a year, but he hasn’t been entertaining on-air for years. But I digress! Welcome back to NE Ohio radio Bob! I look forward to reconnecting.
1260 was off the air today (1/14/15). I noticed this just before 4:00 PM, I stayed tuned to hear if the carrier might be on, they would have had to give a legal I.D. if it was.
Back in the early 70’s WIXY & WDOK simulcast overnight. On Monday mornings they would be off the air. I was delivering the PD in a hi-rise apartment that had WDOK in the elevator. At legal ID time the silence was broken by “WDOK – WIXY, Cleveland” .
No such ID happened at 4 PM today.
It is great to hear Bob is back on the air in NE Ohio. I always found him to be entertaining and thought-provoking, with well-informed topics to engage his listeners. Unlike the worn out schtick that plagues “The Big One” from 3-6, Bob’s work ethic and passion comes through when he is on the air. I always hoped/assumed he would get the AD time slot when Triv retired…guess the bean counters in San Antonio thought otherwise. Welcome back to Cleveland radio Bob!