We're putting away the parka for a few days, and warming up with some news items... CANCER: The word "cancer" is a bombshell when connected to a local media personality. But sometimes it can be treated, and that's what happened to Tribune Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8 News" anchor/reporter and OMW reader Mark Zinni. A routine physical uncovered signs of what turned out to be thyroid cancer, and after talking to his doctor, Zinni opted to remove his thyroid to prevent any future problems. Yes, … [Read more...]
Robin’s Exit, Again
Posted on February 12, 2014 · 5 Comments
We had an item ready to post on Tuesday, but THIS JUST IN, as the saying goes...it's time to scrap the Digital Front Page. The other items are still here, and will follow... ROBIN LEAVING: There's been a lot of talk over the past few years in Cleveland about Robin Swoboda's career moves, exits and returns. Looks like she's exiting again. Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 has announced that Swoboda, co-anchor of the station's 7 PM newscast with sports director/anchor Jim Donovan, is heading … [Read more...]
Yet Another Exits Broadcast Park
Posted on February 7, 2014 · 6 Comments
We'd been hearing the rumors Friday afternoon...that talk WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron" weekend and fill-in host Bob Earley had left Broadcast Park. The rumors have been confirmed, first by Earley himself on Facebook, then by Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com pop culture writer Rich Heldenfels. Get ready...you're not gonna believe this one. (And a warning, we'll veer into musings and opinion here, as it's almost mandated.) Bill Klaus, WNIR CEO and station manager, said, “We had a … [Read more...]
Sorting Through The Week
Posted on February 7, 2014 · 3 Comments
Here are some items we'd been working on, but put on the back burner after the passing of WKYC legend Del Donahoo... NORM GONE: A long-time radio personality known for oldies music is out at SiriusXM. The departure of Cleveland's Norm N. Nite wasn't specific to him, though, as numerous reports say the satellite radio service dumped all air personalities from two channels, "50s on 5" and "90s on 9". Norm did Saturday and Sunday shows live from the Alan Freed studio at Cleveland's Rock … [Read more...]
Clearing Out The Year
Posted on December 26, 2013 · 2 Comments
There's a lot of media news to wrap up 2013, and not all of it is good, unfortunately... HEGAN PASSES ON: Long-time Cleveland Indians broadcaster Mike Hegan passed away Christmas Day in South Carolina. MLB.com Indians beat writer Jordan Bastian has the story: Mike Hegan spent most of his life around the Cleveland Indians. He shagged fly balls in the outfield of Cleveland Municipal Stadium as a boy, played in the ballpark as a visiting big leaguer and went on to call some of the … [Read more...]
Broadcast Park Follies
Posted on December 19, 2013 · 3 Comments
Two items about MediaCom talk WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron", courtesy of our friends at the Akron Beacon Journal... MAGGIE'S WIN: Former WNIR morning drive co-host Maggie Fuller has scored a big victory with a state agency. Beacon Journal pop culture writer Rich Heldenfels reports that Fuller won an appeal of her unemployment case with the Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission. The agency's Kevin Thornton said Fuller had "just cause" to quit the station September 17th, the … [Read more...]
Weekend Roundup
Posted on December 13, 2013 · 2 Comments
With some updates, and a brand new item... THE 20 YEAR AFFILIATION ITCH: Since about 1994, Rubber City Radio Group oldies/news WAKR/1590 Akron has carried some form of ABC News Radio...most recently, the "Entertainment" news network feed, not to mention some historic carriage of ABC and its predecessor, the NBC Blue Network, dating back to the station's early days. That's changing, and soon. Starting at the stroke of midnight Saturday night into Sunday morning, WAKR picks up CBS Radio … [Read more...]
Unloading Before The Holidays
Posted on December 4, 2013 · 5 Comments
This doesn't necessarily mean that we're going on The H Word through the end of 2013. But, a lot of items have piled up, so here we go! MORE 5 CHANGES: In TV news, the phrase "nothing is more constant than change" is certainly true. But at 3001 Euclid, the folks at Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5's "NewsChannel 5" could adopt the phrase as a motto. The station's low-rated "Good Morning Cleveland" has undergone a host of changes since this blog debuted in 2005. Now, the "NewsChannel … [Read more...]
Ohio’s LPFM Application Invasion
Posted on November 24, 2013 · 7 Comments
OK, so it's not an invasion yet, as many of the nearly 2,800 LPFM applications that recently landed at the FCC won't breathe a bit of (electronic) air. Thanks to our new content partnership with NorthEast Radio Watch and RadioInsight, with heavy data lifting by Lance Venta, Scott Fybush, and long-time friend Garrett Wollman at The Archives @ BostonRadio.org, we have a list of 56 applicants for new LPFM stations in Ohio. We'll break out the applicants in the OMW Coverage Area (basically, … [Read more...]
A Busy First Post
Posted on November 22, 2013 · 9 Comments
Now that we've resolved all our technical issues with the new blog, let's stock it with some content. And yes, we have a long, long list of items coming up here. A note: E-mail subscribers, who signed up for notification, should not have to resubmit at the new site. We are requesting that the E-mail subscriber lists be moved over. Until then, we'll post a link to the new content on our old WordPress.com site, so E-mail subscribers can still be notified... HO HO HO HOLIDAY: We knew that … [Read more...]
