Now that Joe Tait has said "have a good life, everybody!" and retired to his southern Medina County farm, let's get to the other items piling up in the OMW Topics List... ...SOON ON FM?: You may be hearing Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 in Cleveland branding itself as "NewsRadio 1100, now on 99.1 FM", and soon. That's because it appears Cleveland is about to become the latest Clear Channel market where a powerhouse AM talk station takes up residence at an additional spot on the FM dial, and a … [Read more...]
TRANSCRIPT: Joe Tait’s Last Cavs Radio Words
Posted on April 13, 2011 · 3 Comments
The following is a transcript of Joe Tait's last moments as the Voice of the Cavaliers...first, his final exchange with Mike Snyder, and then, his sign off - slightly altered from his usual version. We'd like to thank Fox Sports Ohio for replaying the Cavaliers Radio Network call, so we could properly transcribe these segments: ---------- MIKE SNYDER: Joe, we've reached that time, and I'll tell ya, I must say, it's really been a privilege for me to work with you, doing this over the last 20 … [Read more...]
Have A Good Night Everybody
Posted on April 13, 2011 · 2 Comments
A big "thank you" to our Secondary Editorial Voice(tm), for handling things in what ended up being over a one month long hiatus. We'll have a much larger item with other news nuggets a little later today, but this one's for Joe Tait. We've gotten a small taste of what Cleveland Cavaliers basketball on the radio sounds like without Tait, but unfortunately, that'll become a permanent meal after tonight. Yes, Joe Tait...who has been the NBA team's radio voice almost continuously since a few … [Read more...]
WOIO Gets “Me”
Posted on April 13, 2011 · 1 Comment
Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19 pulls out another pronoun in the digital TV subchannel universe, which will make this a very challenging post to write. That's because WOIO recently signed up to air "Me-TV," as in "Memorable Entertainment Television," operated by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting in a joint venture with movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. (You know, the same MGM whose very existence was in total limbo all of last year.) It joins the ranks of other subchannel "retro networks" … [Read more...]
Those “Block”-heads at WUAB Return
Posted on April 4, 2011 · 1 Comment
It's baaaaack. Raycom My Network TV affiliate WUAB/43 Lorain has apparently decided to revive their former "43 The Block" branding - nearly six years after dropping the name the first time. The new "My 43 The Block" logo is not shown on WUAB's website yet - a new www.wuab.com URL redirects to the current my43.net site - but all promos and station IDs have been redone to feature the new-old logo (shown in a screen capture to the right below the original "Block" logo). For those who don't … [Read more...]
Jim Mantel Heads to the Tar Heel State
Posted on April 4, 2011 · 2 Comments
Former Clear Channel country WGAR/99.5 morning fixture Jim Mantel is now waking people up in North Carolina. As of this morning, Mantel took the morning gig for NextMedia country outlet WRNS 96.1/960 Kinston for "Mantel in the Morning" joined by station veteran Heather Davis. (Yes, WRNS AM/FM is owned by the same NextMedia that owns Canton stations talk WHBC/1480 Canton and Hot AC WHBC/94.1.) Interestingly enough, Mantel himself is also replacing a longtime personality in the market - Wayne … [Read more...]
WKYC Cuts A.J. Colby, Jeff Maynor
Posted on April 3, 2011 · 18 Comments
Budget cutbacks have also come once again to another television outlet. This time, Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 announced that they would be parting ways with weekend meterologist A.J. Colby and newscaster Jeff Maynor. The Plain Dealer's Mark Dawidziak elaborates more on Colby's dismissal. Maynor joined the NBC affiliate in the early 90s after lengthy stays as anchor/reporters for both WJW-turned-WJKW/8 (early to late 1970s) and for WEWS/5 (late 1970s to mid 1980s). For most of his stay at … [Read more...]
URGENT: Bill Ward out at WJW
Posted on March 31, 2011 · 6 Comments
CORRECTION (04/01/2001 at 3:08PM): Art Lafredo, in fact, did retire from WJW three years ago... the post below has been amended to reflect the change. My apologies for the oversight. Here's a sample of Bill Ward's work from the late 1970s, when he was at WEWS/5: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4DYX2nCobM] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OMW has learned that Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 is currently making a series of budget-related personnel … [Read more...]
Assorted Monday News Nuggets
Posted on March 28, 2011 · 6 Comments
LAFORCE IS WITH FOX 8: It looks like Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 has brought aboard a new sports reporter after former weeknight sports anchor Tony Rizzo's departure last December. VermilionOhioNews.com posted on their March 28 issue that Vermilion native Allie LaForce has been hired by WJW as a sports reporter. A recent broadcast journalism graduate of Ohio University (where she also played on the Bobcats' girls basketball team), LaForce was the Miss Teen for 2005 and also made a guest … [Read more...]
BREAKING: Joe Tait to Return as Voice of the Cavs this March 27th
Posted on March 26, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Very good news for Cleveland Cavaliers fans that have had to deal with much change and turmoil this season: Joe Tait will be making his return to calling home games for the Cavs this Sunday, March 25, against the Atlanta Hawks - his first official game for the team since being sidelined on October 11 for pneumonia... that eventually resulted in a successful cardiac surgery and rehabilitation which took him out of service for the rest of 2010. Of course, Tait's iconic sign-on of "It's … [Read more...]
