By now, the news that Cleveland radio icon John Lanigan has decided to retire has reverberated around all of Northeast Ohio and beyond. It's not exactly a surprise. After all, Lanigan has contemplated retirement numerous times over the past few years on his Clear Channel classic hits WMJI/105.7 "Majic 105.7" morning show. But it wasn't just talk on "Lanigan and Malone" on Friday morning...the long-time local radio personality had a plan, and a date. That date is March 29th, where … [Read more...]
Controversy On Tap
Posted on January 15, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Our first two items are definitely of a controversial nature... and the first one has spread like wildfire all over Northeast Ohio media... SALES BOMBSHELL: We don't normally spend a lot of time with off-air items in local TV and radio, but this one is too...interesting. When we first heard that a lawsuit had been filed claiming salacious working conditions in a local TV station's sales department, we joked, "oh, it's probably at Reserve Square"...the home of Raycom Media duo CBS affiliate … [Read more...]
Bo Knows Cincy
Posted on January 8, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Or at least a long-time Cleveland radio programmer will get to know Ohio's Queen City at any rate. Clear Channel Cleveland program director Bo Matthews, who has had rock/talk WMMS/100.7 and top 40 WAKS/96.5 "Kiss FM" on his plate, is heading for the company's cluster in Cincinnati. Along the Ohio River, Matthews will take programming oversight of the entire Clear Channel cluster in Cincinnati. Tom Taylor, in his excellent "Tom Taylor Now" daily E-mail report today, notes that Matthews … [Read more...]
La Mega 87.7 Debuts (Includes Sound)
Posted on January 1, 2014 · 5 Comments
Cleveland's first full-market Spanish-language station made its debut on schedule on this January 1st, as Murray Hill Broadcasting's WLFM-LP 87.7 went from English-language alt-rock "87.7 Cleveland's Sound" to Spanish-language "La Mega 87.7, Latino and Proud" exactly at 12 midnight. Below is a scoped aircheck of the first few minutes of "La Mega 87.7". [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/127369998" params="color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%" … [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...]
Save Our Sound? Not Quite
Posted on December 18, 2013 · 11 Comments
The past few days, what started as a social media campaign to save the "Cleveland's Sound" alt-rock format at Murray Hill Broadcasting's WLFM-LP 87.7 made it to the station's website. Crain's Cleveland Business writer Michelle Park Lazette caught the "message from ownership" on the 87.7 website before it disappeared: “We've listened and appreciate the overwhelming passion that has been shown this past week,” it stated. “The bottom line is the advertiser passion and commitment for 87.7 … [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...]
BREAKING NEWS: 87.7 To Spanish Language In January
Posted on December 11, 2013 · 13 Comments
It looks like the question of "how long can alt-rock music stay on 87.7 'Cleveland's Sound'?" can be answered "'through 2013'." Cleveland Scene's Vince Grzegorek reports that Murray Hill Broadcasting alt-rock/AAA WLFM-LP 87.7 will be flipping to a Spanish-language format on January 1st. Employees heard about the change in a staff meeting on Tuesday. But the station is not being sold. A tweet from the "Cleveland's Sound" Twitter account clarifies that 87.7, or rather, LPTV channel 6, … [Read more...]
Stocking Full Of News
Posted on December 11, 2013 · 2 Comments
No, no Holiday Hiatus yet, as too much is going on... COLBY DC: OMW hears that Radio One Cleveland operations manager Colby Colb is headed for our Nation's Capital. Colb will take the VP/Programming post at Radio One in Washington DC, a huge promotion for the programming vet...who also helms the afternoon drive shift on hip hop WENZ/107.9 "Z107.9". (At this point, it's not clear if Colb is headed for DC for Radio One's local cluster programming gig or for the company nationwide. Radio One … [Read more...]
Rizzo On The Hot Seat
Posted on December 10, 2013 · 4 Comments
Unless you've been under a rock (not a rock format) the past day, you likely already know that local sports radio/TV personality Tony Rizzo is in trouble with the law. The plight of the Good Karma sports WKNR/850 "ESPN 850" midday host was first reported by his home TV station, Local TV-to-be-Tribune Fox affiliate WJW/8's "Fox 8 News": Longtime Cleveland sports personality and talk show host Tony Rizzo was arrested Friday night on a charge of domestic violence. According to a Medina … [Read more...]
