UPDATED 6/13/07 10:00 PMThis just in:News Corporation, owner of TV's FOX network, has announced it is selling Cleveland O&O WJW/8 and eight other below-top-10 market stations."FOX 8" is the largest market station on the block. The Cleveland/Akron (Canton) market is still hanging in there as the nation's 17th ranked TV market, after once being in the top 10.Denver, which has grown to be right under Cleveland in market size (18th) is next on the FOX For Sale Block, with long-time FOX O&O … [Read more...]
Condolences
Posted on June 12, 2007 · Leave a Comment
OMW would like to extend our condolences to WJW/8 "FOX 8 News" sports anchor and WKNR/850 "ESPN 850" mid-morning talk show host Tony Rizzo on the loss of his grandmother.The Cleveland Plain Dealer has more on Josephine "Jeffie" Rizzo's life in a news obituary published Monday.Of course, her son, and Tony's father, is long-time Cleveland radio and TV personality Jack Reynolds... … [Read more...]
Tuesday Update
Posted on June 12, 2007 · Leave a Comment
Well, now that we've brought forth a station swap and killed it within two items, let's try something else...AP AWARDS: The list is far too long to mention here, but a number of Northeast Ohio stations have picked up yearly broadcast awards from the Ohio Associated Press.TV-wise, Cleveland's WKYC-TV nabbed top prize for outstanding large market news operation...it was Clear Channel talk WLW/700 Cincinnati on the radio side.Akron's WAKR/1590 (along with Rubber City Radio sisters WQMX/94.9 and … [Read more...]
Friday Wrapup
Posted on June 8, 2007 · Leave a Comment
Now, on to the stuff clogging up our inbox, and our collective mind...MIX TO KISS PD IN Y-TOWN: AllAccess reports that Clear Channel Youngstown hot AC WMXY/98.9 "Mix" middayer Sean Stevens slides across the hall to top 40 WAKZ/95.9 "Kiss FM" to take its program director opening.The move takes Stevens off the air at "Mix", with newly-minted PD Steve Granato going on the air there. Sean has been holding that pesky "acting PD" title at "Kiss FM" since Jerry Mac left the post a few months ago.And … [Read more...]
Wednesday Pick Up
Posted on June 6, 2007 · Leave a Comment
Top of the midweek to you...and here's what's on the agenda for today so far...INCOMING?: Some of our readers noticed this, and so did we.AllAccess notes that a former Ft. Myers FL morning show team is on a "seven city audition tour", and that Cleveland is one of the stops for the team known as "Damage and Gravy" (???).The pair used to be on the "Morning Mess" show on Beasley classic rock WRXK/96.1 "K-Rock" in the western Florida city, and the AllAccess item says they've also auditioned for a … [Read more...]
Assorted Tuesday Stuff
Posted on June 5, 2007 · Leave a Comment
Today's usual collection has four odd items with no relation to each other...WBNX-HD'ING IT: It's official - Winston Broadcasting Cleveland market CW affiliate WBNX/55 Akron is no longer making a secret of its new digital signal, which it started testing two months ago.After literally months of saying "we expect to be on cable in October", the local home of "Gilmore Veronica Girls WWE Smallville Smackdown on Mars" (we think that's actually a show) is now promoting its new digital signal on its … [Read more...]
Welcome To Cavaliers Media Watch
Posted on June 4, 2007 · Leave a Comment
So, there's this basketball game on Thursday...In case you've been under the proverbial rock since Saturday night, you know the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers have made it into the NBA Finals.They'll play San Antonio starting on Thursday night for a shot at giving Northeast Ohio its first major pro sports championship since roughly 1864.(OK, it's 1964, but to much of the area, it feels 100 years longer.)We suspect, at press time this Monday morning, that San Antonio will become roughly a second home … [Read more...]
A Busy Weekend
Posted on June 1, 2007 · Leave a Comment
It'll be a busy weekend not for us here at OMW World Headquarters, but for some local radio folks...CAVS SATURDAY: Your Cleveland Cavaliers are, at this writing late Friday, on the cusp of Something Big...an NBA Finals appearance that the local franchise has never made since entering the league in 1970 or so.And the local sports media atmosphere is starting to resemble the mid-1990s, when the Cleveland Indians made it into two World Series...in 1995 and 1997, if you're new to town and don't … [Read more...]
New Landings
Posted on May 31, 2007 · Leave a Comment
Our title this Thursday is appropriate, at least, for the first two items:A NEW KLEON: WRQK/106.9 nighttime personality Joe Kleon exited the Canton rock station shortly after Clear Channel took over the station's operations from Cumulus.AllAccess reports that Kleon has landed at crosstown D.A. Peterson top 40 WZKL/92.5 "Q92" and sister soft AC WDPN/1310 Alliance as that station's new promotions manager.Yes, that's the same job once given to a Louisville KY radio guy now better known in his home … [Read more...]
An Early Midweek
Posted on May 30, 2007 · Leave a Comment
Thanks to the Memorial Day holiday and a relatively slow local media news pace, this is our first update of the week...THE CAT HAS LANDED: Those who remember the old top 40 format on Cleveland's "Power 108" - known today as Radio One urban WENZ/107.9 "Z107.9" - might remember Cat Thomas.Thomas was PD at then-WPHR, and was originally heard in nights. Though he was apparently nudged into morning drive at one point, most people who remember the station at all remember John "Records" … [Read more...]
