As promised, this is our final regular news update for 2008.We'll do our best to put up any major breaking media news (station sales, major format or personality/anchor changes) during the Christmas holiday period...but we won't be updating regularly until January 5, 2009.We will put up a very brief, non-newsy personal "Year End" message from your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) somewhere around the end of 2008.So, if it's not here in this update, it'll have to wait until...next year. (No, we're … [Read more...]
Assorted Holiday Stuff
Posted on December 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment
As we wind down before Christmas and New Years, an announcement.As we hinted earlier, OMW will indeed be on official "Holiday Hiatus" starting late tomorrow. We'll post a "year-end" message around the end of 2008, but not much more.We'll definitely return on January 5th, 2009. If there are any major, breaking media news items, we'll try to at least mention them here - even during the hiatus.But the level of "major, breaking media news" is very high over this holiday break...i.e. it'll … [Read more...]
WNEO’s Continuing Transition Work
Posted on December 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment
UPDATE 12/22/08 10:08 AM: OMW hears from Western Reserve PBS that Time Warner Cable is indeed now using the station's digital feed to feed the station to its analog cable subscribers.It's not known yet, however, when (or if) TWC's former Adelphia systems in the Cleveland area will add the HD version of WEAO/49.TWC systems in other parts of Northeast Ohio already carry the HD feed of Western Reserve PBS. When Time Warner took over the Adelphia systems, it added the HD feed of WEAO to the paper … [Read more...]
Bill Gordon Dies
Posted on December 19, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Long-time Cleveland TV and radio host Bill "Smoochie" Gordon has passed away at the age of 83.The station which carried Gordon's "One O'Clock Club", Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5, confirms his death in a story posted on its NewsNet5 website. The Plain Dealer's Michael Heaton has an obituary which was just posted on Cleveland.com.The Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office says Gordon was found dead in his Euclid apartment Thursday, and that the death is believed to be of natural causes.In addition to … [Read more...]
Digital TV Hiccup
Posted on December 18, 2008 · Leave a Comment
The two Cleveland TV stations with the biggest over-air digital TV problems may - or may not - see those problems resolved before the February 17 digital transition date.Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 and ideastream PBS affiliate WVIZ/25 will transmit their post-transition signals from a new tower at the WKYC facility, but it's an open question if the construction - which was reportedly set to begin this week - will now be complete in time for the transition date.In an FCC filing, WKYC says that … [Read more...]
A Couple From Julie, And One More
Posted on December 18, 2008 · Leave a Comment
After checking our TV sets, we're sure we're ready for the digital TV conversion in February. (Well, we were actually sure of that long ago.) More on that, later.We're still not ready for the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Cleveland.com, though we did happen to find a couple of local TV-related stories from PD media writer Julie Washington under - oddly enough! - the "Entertainment > TV" tab.We're not sure if either of these stories has made print, yet, since that's become virtually impossible to … [Read more...]
Liverani Moves On
Posted on December 16, 2008 · Leave a Comment
This isn't quite breaking news...it was announced earlier this month, but we just found out now courtesy of an Alert OMW Reader.Long-time FOX Sports Ohio senior vice president/general manager Steve Liverani is leaving the Northeast Ohio regional sports network, and will take the same post running FOX Sports Florida and sister network Sun Sports.Quoting an FS Ohio press release:Under Liverani’s leadership, FOX Sports Ohio has enjoyed tremendous success, expanding its local and regional … [Read more...]
BREAKING NEWS: Metheny Lands In Chicago
Posted on December 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Thanks to an AllAccess bulletin tonight, we now know where former Clear Channel Cleveland programming chief Kevin Metheny ended up:TRIBUNE Talk WGN-A/CHICAGO PD BOB SHOMPER is exiting to join crosstown CITADEL Talk WLS-A as PD, and veteran programmer KEVIN METHENY, most recently at CLEAR CHANNEL/CLEVELAND as VP/Programming, is taking his place at WGN. The dots are probably pretty clearly connected - WGN is Tribune's only radio property, and former Clear Channel/Jacor radio head Randy Michaels is … [Read more...]
Gladiators, Arena League Suspend 2009 Season
Posted on December 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment
It's been rumored for a while, but the Arena Football League has made it official... the indoor football circuit will not play in 2009.The league voted late Sunday to suspend operations for the coming year, with an eye on restructuring - the AFL reportedly hopes to resume play in 2010, but that's not a certainty.Since this isn't Ohio Sports Watch, we only note this because it means Good Karma sports WKNR/850 "ESPN 850" will lose one of its play-by-play properties through no fault of its own.The … [Read more...]
Tim White’s Farewell, And Our Take
Posted on December 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment
As promised, here's our transcript of now-former WKYC/3 anchor Tim White's farewell message, which aired on the 11 PM newscast on his last day at the Gannett NBC affiliate in Cleveland.And also as promised, we'll have some of our own comments...after the transcript:----------ROMONA: Well, throughout the day, we've been saying goodbye to Tim White, my co-anchor and friend. It was his last day here at Channel 3. Now, Tim did have some final thoughts he wanted to share with all of you, and he … [Read more...]
