Clear Channel hot AC WKDD/98.1 has won FCC approval to change its city of license from Canton to the Akron suburb of Munroe Falls.The change was part of a construction permit the FCC granted on October 29th - last Wednesday.For the near term, at least, it means nothing other than a different city being heard on WKDD's legal ID.The construction permit specifies WKDD's existing facilities - a 50,000 watt class B outlet located in Hartville. It's the same transmitter site the station built shortly … [Read more...]
Mid-October Closeout
Posted on October 24, 2008 · Leave a Comment
This will likely be the final item for the week, and could be our final update for the rest of the month.We will try to post major, breaking events...like format changes, major personality or anchor changes, broadcast station sales, and, well, returning radio stations.But in case we don't get a Round Tuit(tm), this might be up for some time...and here's a grab bag of items to close out our agenda for a while...NO MORE RADIO BILL: It was posted as a rumor some time back, but it seems to be … [Read more...]
First HD Radio Talk Simulcast
Posted on October 21, 2008 · Leave a Comment
As we suspected would happen one day, Northeast Ohio's first HD Radio simulcast of an AM talk station is now up.Clear Channel talk WHLO/640 Akron can now be heard on the HD2 channel of sister* rock WRQK/106.9 Canton.The move was made possible by the HD Radio Alliance's recent decision to allow commercial radio formats on HD2 side channels. The group, which counts Clear Channel as a member, had previously agreed not to run commercial feeds on those side channels.The policy change by the group is … [Read more...]
Still Not Theirs
Posted on October 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Here's one from our Technicality Department.A brief item in AllAccess today confirms what we'd wondered about while looking at FCC records online - rock WRQK/106.9 Canton is still technically owned by Cumulus, not Clear Channel.Of course, WRQK was involved in a multi-station swap, where Cumulus sent it to Clear Channel, and received a number of stations in Michigan in return.The deal was filed in December 2006, and approved by the FCC in December 2007.The proposed swap was extensively reported … [Read more...]
Ready For Its Name Change
Posted on September 30, 2008 · Leave a Comment
As reported earlier here on OMW, Kent-based public TV stations WNEO/45 Alliance-WEAO/49 Akron are about to take on a new identity.Starting Wednesday, the stations now known as "PBS 45 & 49" on the air will become "Western Reserve PBS"...under the umbrella name of "Western Reserve Public Media".Both are just branding changes for 45/49 - the call letters will remain the same for both stations, and the stations' owner continues to be known legally as Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio, … [Read more...]
WNEO’s Early Change
Posted on September 23, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Northeast Ohio has already seen one full-power analog TV station go dark months before the federally mandated digital transition, though the change has affected only a small part of the Cleveland/Akron (Canton) market. Mansfield local independent station WMFD/68 won approval to go digital-only due to various issues regarding the replacement of its analog facility/antenna. WMFD-DT (RF 12) no longer has an analog 68 sister.In what's no surprise to regular OMW readers, we're not long from the … [Read more...]
Cluttered Wednesday
Posted on September 17, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Like the various tree limbs, leaves and such still left behind in Ohio after the "remnants" of Hurricane Ike hit us on Sunday, this one's a bit cluttered, too. More on that storm and its effects in a bit...ON THE LIST AGAIN: A brief foray out of our electronic media world, to the print media world.We stumbled upon this item literally by accident, but it appears the latest round of cuts at the Akron Beacon Journal has put the job of sports columnist Patrick McManamon in the crosshairs - again.On … [Read more...]
Opening September
Posted on September 2, 2008 · Leave a Comment
We do have a pretty decent selection of items from across Ohio for our first update in September. Some of this we missed, some is new, and some of the items are updates of previous news items.This is a long one, so get that scroll bar ready...ANOTHER 33'ER EXITS: Just as we were marveling that Parkin Broadcasting ABC affiliate WYTV/33 Youngstown has kept much of its "look and feel" despite being swallowed into the New Vision/WKBN/WYFX universe, another key staffer has left.And it's a big … [Read more...]
Zips Add FM Voice
Posted on August 28, 2008 · Leave a Comment
The University of Akron Zips football team will not only be on TV this weekend.In their last season at the Rubber Bowl, the Zips gain a regular FM radio home.The university and Clear Channel Akron/Canton announced today that in addition to carriage on sports WARF/1350 Akron, the team's games will also air on Clear Channel rock WRQK/106.9 Canton, starting with this weekend's Zips contest with Wisconsin.Though "Rock 106.9" has long been a Canton station, it has made efforts to expand its reach and … [Read more...]
A Newsy Thursday
Posted on August 28, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Items are popping up all over...CC CLEVELAND'S NEW OM: Clear Channel's Cleveland cluster has found a new operations manager.He's Keith Abrams, who comes to Oak Tree from the VP/Programming slot at CBS Radio's Denver cluster. Though the title is slightly different, he'll replace former cluster programming fixture Kevin Metheny...who parted ways with Clear Channel late last month.Abrams also has Salt Lake City, Seattle, Charlotte, Memphis and Pittsburgh on his programming resume. We hear that … [Read more...]
