Aside from our breaking news a little earlier (see item below), Thursday's list is just as mixed up as our last entry on Wednesday...ARE YOU READY FOR SOME HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL?: As we've noted, Northeast Ohio's high school football season kicks off this week...and in fact, tonight.(Back in the Dark Ages, when your Primary Editorial Voice[tm] was in high school, teams didn't play on Thursday nights...but now, they do.)We've kept track of the TV side of high school football coverage, but haven't … [Read more...]
Very Random Tuesday
Posted on August 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Clearing out our inbox on a Tuesday makes for a very, very random collection of items...DIGITAL TRANSLATORS: Unique among major Cleveland market TV stations, Ideastream PBS affiliate WVIZ/25 has maintained low-power translators in locations on the edge of the market for years.OMW reader Trip Ericson (proprietor of TV information site RabbitEars) gives us the heads up that the pubcaster intends on converting these small transmitters to digital format.W63CT is licensed to Eastlake, but the 34 kW … [Read more...]
CC’s New Akron/Canton Market Manager
Posted on August 20, 2009 · Leave a Comment
We now have the name of the new market manager who will take oversight at Clear Channel's Akron/Canton cluster.And though he comes to Freedom Avenue from out of state, he's no stranger to Ohio.Bill Clark comes to the local group from the Clear Channel cluster in Macon GA. But we hear that he's also a "20-plus year veteran" of the Toledo market.And sure enough, we found this Clear Channel press release from 2004, when he was appointed to the Macon market manager post:For the last 25 years, Bill … [Read more...]
Thursday’s Post
Posted on August 20, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Some more things coming down the OMW Pipeline...MANAGE THE MARKET: A day after OMW reported the exit of long-time Clear Channel Akron/Canton market manager Dan Lankford to Pennsylvania, we hear his replacement is heading for Freedom Avenue.For the moment, we don't know the name of this mystery person, but expect the Akron/Canton cluster to have a new hand at the management wheel very soon.The job presumably continues to include oversight of Clear Channel's Ashland/Mansfield cluster in the … [Read more...]
THIS JUST IN: CC Akron/Canton Market Manager To PA
Posted on August 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment
OMW hears that long-time Clear Channel Akron/Canton market manager Dan Lankford has left the building at Freedom Avenue, bound for a new job in Pennsylvania.Lankford is heading for a new job as market manager of Clear Channel's Harrisburg/Allentown PA stations. And by heading, we mean he's expected to start today.At Freedom Avenue, Lankford has been in charge of five stations - hot AC WKDD/98.1, rock WRQK/106.9, AC WHOF/101.7, talk WHLO/640 and sports WARF/1350.In addition to those stations, … [Read more...]
The Cleveland/Akron/Canton/Toledo/Detroit/Windsor Market
Posted on August 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment
The markets ringing Lake Erie seemingly merged for a day, at least.Northeast Ohio commuters heading home in the afternoon on Friday were hearing traffic reports talking about tieups on "the Fisher", "the Lodge" and accidents on 8 Mile Road.No, their cars weren't magically transported to Detroit. Cleveland's Metro Traffic affiliates weren't accidentally getting Detroit-centric feeds from the company's new hub in suburban Detroit.And no, Canada's CBC Radio generally does not target listeners in … [Read more...]
A Couple With Julie
Posted on August 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Of course, we're talking about Julie Washington, the Cleveland Plain Dealer media writer who is basically the only other person in this area writing about local media outlets...and the only one getting paid to do so.One week ago, OMW provided extensive details about economic hard times at Cleveland's PBS/NPR combo, WVIZ/25 and WCPN/90.3, which are under the corporate umbrella of Ideastream. (Sorry, we refuse to use the lower case "i".)The changes at Playhouse Square ended up with 9 employees … [Read more...]
The Tony Bruno Empire
Posted on July 29, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Various trade reports say that Premiere's Fox Sports Radio is about to add another separately syndicated show to the FSR lineup.Reportedly next on the shopping list for FSR is late night host Tony Bruno, in a deal which would add his program to the FSR lineup as the network did with the other host syndicated by the Chicago-based Content Factory, former ESPN host Dan Patrick.The move - first noted on sports blogger and former Columbus sports radio staffer Brooks Melchior's "Sports by Brooks" - … [Read more...]
Tom’s Bad Day
Posted on July 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Those following the news in Northeast Ohio on Tuesday learned that over 100 animals were removed from a private Akron animal rescue shelter.The shelter known as "Heaven Can Wait" is run by a woman named Heather Nagel, who is listed in various media reports as a candidate for an Akron City Council at-large seat.It's not difficult to find coverage of Tuesday's events at the home on Vesper Street, in Akron's North Hill neighborhood.Just as a sampling, here are links to articles by NBC affiliate … [Read more...]
Monday Followup, Mid-July Edition
Posted on July 13, 2009 · Leave a Comment
For whatever reason, everything at the top of our pile this Monday morning is a followup to earlier items...except our first, and even that's the "next step" of an earlier report...THIS JUST IN: An OMW reader passes word via Trip Ericson's RabbitEars.info - TBN O&O WDLI/17-1-2-3-4-5 will get their RF channel change.This FCC decision (PDF file) means that the Canton-licensed station can move from RF channel 39 to RF channel 49.We just noticed that the decision's release date was late this … [Read more...]
