As we officially exit from our latest hiatus (is there a ceremony we have to do or something?), news from every corner of our media world is breaking out. And if there's breaking media news, we're here to fix it...RATINGS CURRENCY: We've heard for a few weeks now that Arbitron's Portable People Meters, the electronic future of radio audience measurement, were filtering into the Cleveland market.And we've heard for months that the PPMs will basically "change everything" when it comes to radio … [Read more...]
The Weekend Cleanup Post
Posted on October 11, 2009 · Leave a Comment
As usually happens when we go "on hiatus" here at your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), media news happens. It's an indisputable Law of OMW...if we push away the keyboard, the flood comes in, and that's already the case this time around.So, though we're still trying to "stay away", let's briefly expand on the two items that we've popped onto our Twitter feed.And again, you don't even have to access our page directly...they show up over there to the left of the main scroll here. Just keep watching that … [Read more...]
Turning Blue, Folks
Posted on October 6, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Especially if you're an adult, there are a few cultural touchstones that are universal in Northeast Ohio...and many of them revolve around local television.At some point, just about everyone in this region has been touched by what you could call the "Ghoulardi Franchise".If you weren't old enough to remember Ernie Anderson's iconic 1960's "Ghoulardi" character on WJW/8 (then the market's CBS affiliate), you certainly knew, and probably watched, his direct successors with late night comedy … [Read more...]
Monday Followup
Posted on October 5, 2009 · Leave a Comment
We're back, and there's not really any earth-shattering news about media in our coverage area...Yet.While we throw that out there, let's pick up the pieces on this Monday...MORE ON THE HD SIDE: We sifted through Time Warner Cable Northeast Ohio's "Programming Notices" page last month, informing you of new additions the company has to publicize as part of legal notices it runs in area newspapers.There's another wave there now, listed for next month:The following changes are planned on or after … [Read more...]
Time Warner Northeast Ohio “Starts Over”
Posted on October 1, 2009 · Leave a Comment
No, our subject header isn't meant to imply that Northeast Ohio's cable TV giant is tearing out the cable and rewiring.The local Time Warner systems are getting ready to mount "Start Over", a new feature for digital cable users that lets them join already started programs "in progress", returning to the beginning of the show they caught in the middle.From a TWC press release:Start Over is enabled by a software upgrade to the existing video on demand (VOD) platform and to the installed base of … [Read more...]
We’re Still Here
Posted on September 30, 2009 · Leave a Comment
A combination of Other Stuff and Life Intervening, along with some Unscheduled Turbulence, has kept us away from the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) for longer than we'd expected.Not all of that has gone away, but for now, we're back...THE ALL HD CAVALIERS: It wasn't that long ago that viewers hoping to see HDTV broadcasts of local sports teams had to sift through a small list of selected games.And the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers were showing as few as 7 games in HD format via Fox Sports Ohio as recently as … [Read more...]
Si, V-me
Posted on September 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment
No, you're not imagining it if you're an over-air digital TV viewer...the folks at Kent-based public TV outlet Western Reserve PBS have grown another digital subchannel. For now, at least.Now airing on WEAO/49.4 Akron (and we assume WNEO/45.4 Alliance) is "V-me", a Spanish-language channel. We'll let the "V-me" folks explain it in English:V-me (pronounced veh-meh), is the first national Spanish-language television network presented by public television stations. V-me, a 24-hour digital … [Read more...]
Thursday’s Oddities
Posted on August 27, 2009 · Leave a Comment
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...]
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...]
