OMW has confirmed that WEWS/5 "NewsChannel 5" sports reporter/anchor Sue Ann Robak is working her last week at the Cleveland ABC affiliate.We hear that Robak's contract isn't being renewed, and that Friday will be her last day at Scripps-owned Channel 5. We're also hearing that she won't be replaced, and that the "NewsChannel 5" sports department will shrink to just two people - sports director Andy Baskin and reporter/anchor Terry Brooks.Though WEWS has indeed managed to become the only local … [Read more...]
Odd And Not So Odd Midweek
Posted on February 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment
This midweek post is an odd collection of items...though we'll start with the "not so odd" part...CALL HIM A HALL OF FAMER: After next Tuesday, Clear Channel Cleveland country outlet WGAR/99.5 will officially be able to call one of its staffers a "Hall of Famer".As OMW reported back in October, WGAR afternoon drive star Chuck Collier will be inducted into the Country Music Radio Hall of Fame in Nashville on March 3rd.Quoting a Clear Channel release on next week's induction:After his induction … [Read more...]
New Syndie Hosts
Posted on February 24, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Two new syndicated talk radio hosts are embarking on a new national journey...one, expected, and one, just announced.ALREADY SET: The "expected" host is former Republican presidential candidate, Tennessee senator and star of NBC's "Law & Order", Fred Thompson, who takes the Westwood One 12 noon-2 PM weekday clearance being abandoned by Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly and his "Radio Factor" starting on Monday, March 2nd.One of O'Reilly's two Northeast Ohio affiliates has already announced … [Read more...]
Enough To Run
Posted on February 24, 2009 · Leave a Comment
We're a day late, and hopefully not a dollar short...but to be honest, aside from issues like the news video sharing plan among Cleveland TV newsrooms, not much has been going on.We do have some items this Tuesday morning, though...SPORTS SHUFFLE: Clear Channel sports WARF/1350 and Media-Com sports WJMP/1520 in the Akron market* have shuffled networks and formats quite a few times before, and OMW hears it's in the works again...at least network-wise.It won't be happening right away, but we're … [Read more...]
The End Of The Road
Posted on February 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Neither item below directly impacts this area - but some readers might be interested.THE DEATH OF "FM TALK": The young male-skewing "FM talk" format, primarily seeded by former CBS Radio morning star Howard Stern, can pretty much be pronounced dead.CBS Radio made a go of it with "Free FM", the company's post-Stern FM talk strategy.After Stern went to Sirius Satellite Radio, the CBS outlets featured a trio of regionally syndicated Stern replacements, including Cleveland's own Shane "Rover" … [Read more...]
Tubeless
Posted on February 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment
A Cleveland TV station has ended the longest-running video slide apologizing for missing programming in TV history.When "The Tube Music Network" shut down operations on October 1, 2007, Raycom Media's WUAB/43 in the Cleveland market put up an electronic slide on digital subchannel 43.2 - telling viewers that the network had been pulled off the air, and asking them to refrain from calling either the station or their local cable operator.That slide appeared on WUAB-DT/43.2 for over a year and four … [Read more...]
More On That Pool
Posted on February 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment
We're getting more feedback from around local TV newsrooms about that little bombshell that hit earlier this week...the announcement that two competing Cleveland TV stations, Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 and Raycom CBS affiliate WOIO/19, would share routine video of planned news events...sending only one crew out to cover those stories, when each station would send a crew before.Then, we pointed out a quote from the TV trade site "Broadcasting & Cable", which quoted both WKYC VP/GM Brooke … [Read more...]
Wrapping Up The Early Switch
Posted on February 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment
We've been on the road, and have spent a lot of time talking about what was supposed to be a nationwide event...the end of full-power analog TV...on Tuesday.We'll continue to pass along news about the still-ongoing transition, but this item will wrap up the detailed coverage of "Transition Day One"...and we'll be spending more time on our usual mix of items from now on. Coming up later, either tonight or tomorrow morning, more rumblings about that news video sharing "pool" announced by … [Read more...]
Everybody, In The Pool
Posted on February 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Some more thoughts about the news video sharing arrangement announced Monday in Cleveland.The initial announcement involved two area stations - Gannett's WKYC/3 and Raycom's WOIO/19 - agreeing to pool video of pre-planned events such as news conferences, scheduled events and the like...with one photographer (from whichever station) taking video that will be used by both.In our item Monday afternoon, we called it "the first" video sharing arrangement in the market.Shortly after that, we started … [Read more...]
WKYC/WOIO Announce News Video Sharing Agreement
Posted on February 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Yes, we are aware of some big Cleveland market TV news we haven't been able to post until now.Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 and Raycom CBS affliate WOIO/19 are officially joining forces to share routine news video, according to the announcement posted today on WKYC.com.The deal applies to video that would ordinarily have been shot by each station's separate crews, according to the WKYC story:Videographers from both stations will participate in a pool coverage system to cover basic events of … [Read more...]
