Our sporadic publishing schedule means that we occasionally have to clear out the "To Do" box, and that's what we're doing today...NEWSNIGHT "HIATUS": Western Reserve PBS is shelving the long-running, popular public affairs talk show "NewsNight Akron" after this week...for now.A release from our friends at Campus Center Drive says that the public TV outlet (known to the FCC as WNEO/45 Alliance-WEAO/49 Akron) will put the Friday evening show hosted by WKYC/3's Eric Mansfield "on hiatus" starting … [Read more...]
The Big One
Posted on April 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Our two items are both about "The Big One", the colloquial name for Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland (a name borrowed under common ownership from sister Clear Channel talk WLW/700 Cincinnati)...TRIV SHOW EXIT: OMW has confirmed that "Mike Trivisonno Show" technical producer "Dirty Kurt" McLaughlin is no longer with the station.We hear that Kurt resigned from his position on the afternoon drive show Friday evening, due to what is being called "personal reasons".And no, not only do we not … [Read more...]
Ohio’s Mobile TV Future
Posted on April 15, 2010 · Leave a Comment
A host of TV station owner groups are banding together to create a much broader future for mobile digital television, and nearly all groups in the Cleveland market are involved.From the first article about the joint venture of 12 ownership groups, courtesy of TVNewsCheck's Harry Jessell:The groups: Belo Corp., Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Fox, Gannett Broadcasting, Hearst Television Inc., Ion Television, Media General Inc., Meredith Corp., NBC, Post-Newsweek Stations Inc. and Raycom … [Read more...]
The Ohio Connection
Posted on April 13, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Here are a couple of very unrelated items about Northeast Ohioans in or near the national media spotlight...CONVENTION TIME: Those in local radio and TV are noticing that many people have left Ohio for Las Vegas this week, site of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) annual convention.Long-time OMW readers are aware that a regular reader of the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), Rubber City Radio Group VP/information media Ed Esposito, has been involved with what is now the Radio-Television … [Read more...]
From Cleveland To Youngstown to Canada
Posted on April 9, 2010 · Leave a Comment
...and beyond, as this is quite a geographically-broad update...KEN COURTRIGHT: Services were held Thursday for long-time Cleveland and Northeast Ohio radio newsman Ken Courtright, who died Saturday at the age of 74.A complete obituary is available at the Linn-Hert-Geib Funeral Home website, and in our earlier item, someone posted a comment with a link to video of the service, which is now archived and available for viewing. (It appears to be password protected, so we're not sure we should … [Read more...]
Notable Events
Posted on April 5, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Clearing out the "Already Posted On Twitter" file, and other things...CLEVELAND RADIO NEWS LEGEND PASSES: For decades in the Cleveland market and beyond, Ken Courtright was synonymous with the phrase "radio news".Courtright passed away Saturday in New Philadelphia.Though he spent a lot of time in his native Tuscarawas County, including two decades as news director of Tuscarawas Broadcasting talk WBTC/1540 Uhrichsville, Courtright spent a lot of time at major Cleveland stations.From our own item … [Read more...]
Channel 5 General Manager Out
Posted on March 30, 2010 · Leave a Comment
It's official. OMW hears that Scripps Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS/5 general manager Viki Regan is no longer in the building.Well, maybe we should say "she's no longer the general manager" as of Monday, because we hear she actually hasn't been in the building for some time, as her status at Channel 5 was being negotiated with upper Scripps management over the past week or so.We're told that she couldn't see eye to eye with her Scripps bosses over the direction of the station, which led to her … [Read more...]
Two Passings
Posted on March 27, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Two local media fixtures from two very different parts of Northeast Ohio's media landscape have passed away in just the past few days...THE PROFESSOR: Sports talk radio fans from the 1980s and 1990s know what the phrase "The Professor has died" means.Geoff Sindelar actually started his run on local sports talk radio in a familiar place - as a caller to "Pete Franklin's Sportsline" on the old WWWE/1100 "3WE" in Cleveland. (Of course, another regular Franklin caller became Clear Channel talk … [Read more...]
In No Particular Order
Posted on March 24, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Since we've been sporadic lately, here are some items that have taken place in recent days... in no particular order...and there are still more items we haven't touched yet..."MISS BARBARA" PASSES ON: If you grew up on Northeast Ohio television into the early 1970s, you need no further explanation.Barbara Plummer, known as "Miss Barbara" on Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5's local edition of "Romper Room", has died.From her online obituary (we have the text, but don't have a link):From 1958 to 1972 … [Read more...]
Unloading The Pile
Posted on March 16, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Our stack of unfinished items has gotten so large, we're not sure we can fit it in one update. But... we'll try, working backwards from the present...and we could have another update soon, as we're not sure we have everything out of the backlog file yet...ROMIGH IN: As previously posted on our Twitter account, Clear Channel talk WKBN/570 Youngstown has made fill-in Mike Romigh, the former CBS Radio talk KDKA/1020 Pittsburgh host, its new permanent morning drive host.Quoting Clear Channel … [Read more...]
