When there's change or upheaval at a radio station or cluster, it often takes a while to figure out who's still around...and who's not.So, let's try to figure out the situation at CBS Radio alt-rock WKRK/92.3, which just tweaked its music format and dumped its on-air personalities - including syndicated morning drive talk fest "Opie and Anthony" - on Monday.Apparently still in the building, if not on the air, is program director Dom "Nard" Nardella, who describes the new "Radio 92.3" format to … [Read more...]
They Own Lima
Posted on December 2, 2008 · Leave a Comment
The owners of Lima NBC affiliate WLIO/35 are taking over every other TV network affiliate station in the market.The Lima News reports that Toledo-based Block Communications has agreed to pay $2.3 million dollars for Greg Phipps' four area LPTV stations, including the FOX (WOHL-CA 25), CBS (WLMO-LP 38) and ABC (WLQP-LP 18) affiliates in the Lima market. Another $100,000 will go to Greg and Kathleen Phipps for signing a non-compete agreement.The deal also takes in one of Phipps' stations that … [Read more...]
BREAKING NEWS: “K-Rock” Broken
Posted on December 1, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Just a few months after losing its high-profile morning star to a crosstown competitor, it appears major changes are being heard at CBS Radio alt-rock WKRK/92.3, the Cleveland market station known - apparently until today - as "K-Rock".The station is now playing continuous alt-rock music without benefit of any air personalities, and is now using the on-air identifier "radio 92.3" in occasional recorded liners.Radio-Info.com's news page reports that WKRK was one of two stations that dumped CBS/XM … [Read more...]
Radio Daze: The Documentary
Posted on December 1, 2008 · Leave a Comment
A TV documentary based on Mike Olszewski's book "Radio Daze" premieres this week."Radio Daze: Cleveland’s FM Air Wars" debuts Tuesday night at 9:30 PM on Western Reserve PBS, the local PBS affiliate combo known to mere mortals as WNEO/45 Alliance-WEAO/49 Akron.Quoting a release from our good friends over on Campus Center Drive:It presents the dramatic rise of northeast Ohio’s FM rock scene, from its early days on college and ethnic stations manned by hippie disk jockeys to a billion-dollar … [Read more...]
Monday In December
Posted on December 1, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Unless you're a big winter weather fan, or happy about the start of a new work week, the phrase "Monday in December" seems rather foreboding. For that matter, so do some of our news items as we start the week...WKYC BUYOUTS: OMW hears that our earlier fears regarding Gannett's continuing effort to reduce staff at Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC/3 are true.We passed along an item earlier from Dave Hughes' DCRTV - that Gannett was actively offering buyouts to help further cut staff at its TV … [Read more...]
WKRP? Well, Sort Of
Posted on November 30, 2008 · Leave a Comment
A small Cincinnati TV station is getting nationwide attention for a name change - sort of.Though we first picked up on this thanks to an item on the Cincinnati-area based Tri-State Media Watch blog last Monday, the name change of Cincinnati low-power Class A station WBQC-CA/38 to "WKRP" - inspired by the popular TV show about a fictional Cincinnati radio station - made the national news Saturday, via this Associated Press story.That story was presumably inspired by Cincinnati Enquirer TV/radio … [Read more...]
Friday Oddities
Posted on November 28, 2008 · Leave a Comment
OK, so we'll squeeze out one more update of odd stuff this Friday after the Thanksgiving Day holiday.There is some more economic bad news for those in local media, but we'll put that on the back burner until our Monday morning update...keeping the meaning of "Black Friday" for holiday shopping crowds for now...ION OF CHANGE: A little change could be coming to the digital signals of the ION Network's owned and operated TV stations, and the ION folks are going about proposing the changes in an … [Read more...]
Random Midweek Update
Posted on November 26, 2008 · Leave a Comment
We guess the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) is not very organized this holiday week...and this may well be our last update before the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday...CLOSING IN ON A HOME: Though it's technically a service and not a radio station, OMW has occasionally carried items about Akron's WCRS.Those aren't FCC call letters - the acronym "WCRS" stands for "Written Communications Radio Service", otherwise known as the Akron-based radio reading service for the blind. In a previous life, WCRS was … [Read more...]
Random Tuesday Stuff
Posted on November 25, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Some items kicking around the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm)'s storage bin...HSFB IN HD: The good folks at SportsTime Ohio have passed along their coverage plans for this coming weekend's Ohio High School Athletic Association high school football championships.And the schedule of six games includes three that will be broadcast in HD format:11/28 11:00am Div. VI - Delphos St. John's vs Bascom Hopewell-Loudon11/28 3:00pm Div. IV - HD - Steubenville vs. Kettering Archbishop Alter11/28 7:00pm Div. II - … [Read more...]
Maybe Nothing To These – Yet
Posted on November 25, 2008 · Leave a Comment
A couple of rumors, reports and such that may or may not mean anything to Northeast Ohio... yet:CLEAR CHANNEL/CBS SWAP: A note in Monday's "Taylor on Radio-Info" E-Mail newsletter caught our attention.Columnist Tom Taylor reports word that CBS Radio chief Dan Mason spent Monday in Houston, reportedly working out details a rumored swap that would have Clear Channel sending two stations to CBS Radio there.As part of Clear Channel's recent privatization deal, the U.S. Department of Justice … [Read more...]
