Neither item below directly impacts this area - but some readers might be interested.THE DEATH OF "FM TALK": The young male-skewing "FM talk" format, primarily seeded by former CBS Radio morning star Howard Stern, can pretty much be pronounced dead.CBS Radio made a go of it with "Free FM", the company's post-Stern FM talk strategy.After Stern went to Sirius Satellite Radio, the CBS outlets featured a trio of regionally syndicated Stern replacements, including Cleveland's own Shane "Rover" … [Read more...]
Tubeless
Posted on February 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment
A Cleveland TV station has ended the longest-running video slide apologizing for missing programming in TV history.When "The Tube Music Network" shut down operations on October 1, 2007, Raycom Media's WUAB/43 in the Cleveland market put up an electronic slide on digital subchannel 43.2 - telling viewers that the network had been pulled off the air, and asking them to refrain from calling either the station or their local cable operator.That slide appeared on WUAB-DT/43.2 for over a year and four … [Read more...]
More On That Pool
Posted on February 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment
We're getting more feedback from around local TV newsrooms about that little bombshell that hit earlier this week...the announcement that two competing Cleveland TV stations, Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 and Raycom CBS affiliate WOIO/19, would share routine video of planned news events...sending only one crew out to cover those stories, when each station would send a crew before.Then, we pointed out a quote from the TV trade site "Broadcasting & Cable", which quoted both WKYC VP/GM Brooke … [Read more...]
Wrapping Up The Early Switch
Posted on February 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment
We've been on the road, and have spent a lot of time talking about what was supposed to be a nationwide event...the end of full-power analog TV...on Tuesday.We'll continue to pass along news about the still-ongoing transition, but this item will wrap up the detailed coverage of "Transition Day One"...and we'll be spending more time on our usual mix of items from now on. Coming up later, either tonight or tomorrow morning, more rumblings about that news video sharing "pool" announced by … [Read more...]
Another Analog Bites The Dust
Posted on February 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment
ST. CLAIRSVILLE, OHIO -- We're live from the Wheeling/Steubenville TV market this afternoon.OMW can confirm directly that West Virginia Media CBS affiliate WTRF/7 Wheeling shut down its analog channel 7 transmitter this afternoon. We can further confirm that the station's digital operation has indeed moved into that channel 7 space...the first time WTRF has been at full-power in either analog or digital for some time.Unfortunately, we were still on the road to the Ohio Valley at 12:30 this … [Read more...]
Everybody, In The Pool
Posted on February 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Some more thoughts about the news video sharing arrangement announced Monday in Cleveland.The initial announcement involved two area stations - Gannett's WKYC/3 and Raycom's WOIO/19 - agreeing to pool video of pre-planned events such as news conferences, scheduled events and the like...with one photographer (from whichever station) taking video that will be used by both.In our item Monday afternoon, we called it "the first" video sharing arrangement in the market.Shortly after that, we started … [Read more...]
Launching The First Digital Wave
Posted on February 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment
UPDATE 2/17/09 9:43 AM: The FCC has released a final list (PDF file) of stations ending analog operations today or earlier. The affected stations are highlighted in red.And we learn from that list that Wheeling's WTRF/7 is listed as an "enhanced nightlight" station, contrary to what we reported below. That apparently means the switch from analog channel 7 to digital channel 7 won't happen today, since the analog signal will continue for the next 60 days with DTV transition and emergency … [Read more...]
WKYC/WOIO Announce News Video Sharing Agreement
Posted on February 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Yes, we are aware of some big Cleveland market TV news we haven't been able to post until now.Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 and Raycom CBS affliate WOIO/19 are officially joining forces to share routine news video, according to the announcement posted today on WKYC.com.The deal applies to video that would ordinarily have been shot by each station's separate crews, according to the WKYC story:Videographers from both stations will participate in a pool coverage system to cover basic events of … [Read more...]
One Going Early
Posted on February 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Back to the now-very-confusing world of digital TV...where one station serving Ohio viewers is going to shut off its analog signal a bit early.Like, tonight.All but a handful of Ohio stations have backed away from what would now be an "early" analog TV shutoff on the original deadline, February 17, 2009. For those with no calendars handy, that day is otherwise known as "tomorrow".As a result, as best as we can determine, the following stations will still adhere to the original deadline, and … [Read more...]
The Week That Will Be
Posted on February 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment
So, we're back for our usual Monday morning go-around.Like last week, news about the now-mostly-moved digital TV transition will be hard to avoid this week - at least through the first part of this week, at any rate.For now, we'll start on the radio...with a digital TV update to follow later this morning...PAUL HARVEY...GOODBYE: Clear Channel talk WTVN/610 Columbus is the latest station to part ways with the news commentary nominally hosted by veteran broadcaster Paul Harvey.Echoing earlier … [Read more...]
