The week ender, as we head into the weekend... ALBRIGHT TO MIDDAYS: The death of iconic Akron talk radio host Howie Chizek has left a major hole in the schedule of his 38 year home station, Media-Com talk WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron", which is vowing to continue its all-local talk lineup...while faced with the unenviable task of figuring out who will be heard on WNIR, permanently, from 10 AM to 3 PM weekdays. The unfortunate demise of Akron's talk radio king has also presented an opportunity … [Read more...]
Job Board, June Edition
Posted on June 29, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Long time OMW readers know that we eagerly accept employment related posts...both from job seekers, and those with actual employment opportunities..and post them free of charge. Here's a good one for the right, up and coming radio engineer. Radio One's Cleveland cluster is looking for an assistant chief engineer. The cluster's chief engineer, Gary Zocolo, tells us: I have a great position for an aspiring engineer who has the fundamental knowledge accumulated. It would probably be one of the … [Read more...]
Press Release Theatre, Vol. 4 (The Drew Carey Edition)
Posted on June 27, 2012 · 1 Comment
It's not often we get two press releases within a day about the same person, with wholly unrelated topics behind them...but that's what's happened with Cleveland native Drew Carey ("The Price is Right", "The Drew Carey Show"). As per usual, Friend of OMW Ann VerWiebe, marketing and public relations guru for Kent State University's WKSU/89.7-and-its-many-simulcasters, goes first...with help from Cleveland's Ideastream (WCPN/90.3)... --------------- Drew Carey on Stage for Live Presentation of … [Read more...]
The 87.7 Bombshell
Posted on June 26, 2012 · 6 Comments
So, we were right to be skeptical of talk (and even some rumors, not connected to us) that Venture Technologies could LMA WLFM-LP/87.7 to local sports radio operator Good Karma Broadcasting (WKNR/850-WWGK/1540) to simulcast their operation on the FM band. No, as it turns out, we should have paid attention to these curious, anonymous comments on our own item about the so-called "Franken FM" radio station, posted the night of June 14th by an OMW reader named "Kate": Interesting new FM Cleveland. … [Read more...]
Viral TV News Video, Round 2
Posted on June 22, 2012 · 2 Comments
UPDATE 6/22/12 6:53 PM: "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" featured a portion of this video in tonight's newscast, though Sawyer called Johnson "Mark Jackson"... - - - - - - - Just about everyone in Northeast Ohio knows by now that Akron native and former Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James finally got his "ring"...as an NBA champion, his Miami Heat closing out the NBA Finals series with the Oklahoma City Thunder last night. Note, of course, that both teams have weather related … [Read more...]
Much Ado About Sports Radio
Posted on June 21, 2012 · 4 Comments
We actually predicted this before local CBS Radio sports outlet WKRK/92.3 "92.3 The Fan" debuted last August. We'd been hearing rumors that CBS was going to launch its own national sports talk radio network, though at the time we believed it would be limited to the night/weekend hours to fill time on its full-fledged sports talkers. The comparison we made was with CBS' initial efforts to air KMOX/1120 St. Louis-based overnight host Jon Grayson ("Overnight America") on other large market CBS … [Read more...]
Press Release Theatre, Vol. 3
Posted on June 21, 2012 · Leave a Comment
We're not even going to explain these items anymore...but first, "Ann's Mini Corner"! With at least one day left in "this week" (sorry, Ann!)... ----------- VIVIAN GOODMAN REPORTS FROM EUROPE ON THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA YOUTH ORCHESTRA TOUR (Press release from Ann VerWiebe, WKSU) This week, WKSU Reporter/Producer Vivian Goodman is on the road with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in Europe as they travel to Vienna and Salzburg, Austria. She is capturing audio during the day and … [Read more...]
The Howie Followup
Posted on June 19, 2012 · 6 Comments
The death of a popular and well-regarded media personality, particularly when it comes in such a sudden way, often feels like a body blow to the rest of the broadcast community. So it has been after Saturday's untimely death of WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron" midday talk show host Howie Chizek of a massive heart attack at the age of 65. Chizek had another range of admirers - those who had no idea he had an Akron talk radio show (let alone for 38 years running, most of those years dominant in … [Read more...]
WLFM-LP…Let There Be Video
Posted on June 13, 2012 · 8 Comments
The most talked about radio station in Cleveland this week is, of course, actually a TV station. And now, Venture Technologies' WLFM-LP 6/"87.7" has turned on the video that comes with, well, having an LPTV station as your base. And thanks to OMW reader Scott Chumley's upload to YouTube, you, too, can watch what's going out over TV channel 6 while the loop of sports theme songs and the Michael Stanley Band hit "My Town" is airing over the audio portion of the signal. [youtube … [Read more...]
Fallout And More
Posted on June 13, 2012 · 2 Comments
UPDATE 6/13/12 7:06 PM: The Asset Purchase Agreement (PDF) for Bernard Radio's WRBP/101.9 Hubbard says that Educational Media Foundation will pay $500,000 for the Youngstown market station... ---------- We had planned this as a "fallout" item after the testing of Venture Technologies' WLFM-LP/6 "87.7" FM Cleveland, but as they say in the news business..."This Just In". WRBP TO EMF: Just under a month ago, Bernard Radio urban WRBP/101.9 Hubbard "JAMZ 101.9" was presented a resolution by the … [Read more...]
