No, we're not bragging...it's just that baseball is on our mind, after Friday's big Opening Day at Progressive Field. This update is very TV heavy, though those looking for an important update on an earlier radio story should immediately scroll down to our last item... DISH AND STO CONNECT: And since these things usually come down to the last minute, the Indians home opener probably nudged SportsTime Ohio and Dish Network into an agreement. Just hours before the rain-delayed first … [Read more...]
The Clear Channel Aftermath
Posted on December 7, 2012 · 6 Comments
We should be used to this by now, but you never get used to hundreds of broadcast professionals getting tossed out of their radio studios for Christmas. Or any other time, really. In what's become a very sad tradition around this time of year, broadcast giant Clear Channel Media+Entertainment+Pork Rinds looked at its staffing levels in markets across the nation and said, "oh, we can do without these people" as the year comes to a close. (And really, anymore, we're only half kidding about the … [Read more...]
Clear Channel Layoffs Post
Posted on October 26, 2011 · 7 Comments
Those watching the trade sites aren't surprised: An estimated 150 to "many hundreds" of Clear Channel employees nationwide are being told today that their services aren't necessary. This post, affecting Northeast Ohio's Clear Channel stations, will be a running list as we update it. All Access and other sites have been tracking those laid off in some other Ohio markets, like Dayton. The so-called "Reduction in Force" is affecting mainly Clear Channel's medium and smaller … [Read more...]
Weekend Special
Posted on October 1, 2011 · 3 Comments
A few items hanging around for the weekend, hiding from all the rain and chilly temperatures... WEST MARKET CHANGES: Two staffers are no longer at the Akron Radio Center, as the AkronNewsNow newsroom faces an economic-driven "retooling" of some of its operations. But one other staffer is returning. The layoffs are of two key on-air names at the Rubber City Radio Group newsroom on West Market Street in Akron, which serves oldies/news/sports WAKR/1590, rock WONE/97.5 and country WQMX/94.9: … [Read more...]
Busy News Cycle
Posted on January 14, 2011 · 2 Comments
UPDATE 10:30 AM 1/15/11: We have corrected now-former WTAM/1100 evening anchor Dean Leyland's name below. Sorry about that! And we hear that now-former WTAM weekend evening anchor Cliff Baechle is not leaving the building - his voice will be heard elsewhere, moving to a weekday gig feeding news to Clear Channel hub stations WPGB/104.7 Pittsburgh and WKBN/570 Youngstown from Oak Tree... ------------ Though your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) clearly has his own schedule when it comes to updating … [Read more...]
Closing Out The Week And Year
Posted on December 17, 2010 · 3 Comments
After this, OMW will go on official Holiday Hiatus, with a return scheduled for January 3, 2011. As per usual, we'll try to get any major media news mentioned here, either on the blog itself or via our Twitter feed. You can see our Twitter feed on the right hand side of the blog, even if you don't "do" Twitter...and the items will also appear on our Facebook page... 4:30 NEWS: The trend of early TV news getting earlier isn't going away with the new year. Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 enters … [Read more...]
TV People Changes
Posted on December 15, 2010 · 1 Comment
Some exits at local TV operations... END OF HIS ERA: OMW has confirmed a tip we received Tuesday about Time Warner Cable's management locally. Vin Zachariah has resigned as head of Time Warner Cable's Northeast Ohio division for "personal reasons". He took over the local arm of the cable giant in September 2009, taking over for long-time TWC NEO boss Steven Fry. We're told that Doug Whiting, the company's Midwest Regional Vice President for Customer Operations, will step in on an interim … [Read more...]
Disjointed, But Here
Posted on October 1, 2009 · Leave a Comment
You may notice that we're trying out some new things, and new ways of updating the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm).Just bear with us...as we're testing how these new methods work in practice. For the nonce, you could well see Twitter-style mini-updates in the main OMW stream for a while...like below...HAILING COLUMBUS: OMW hears that the new Central Ohio 102.5 signal, licensed to Baltimore OH, has apparently made its move to the new facility intended on serving the Columbus market.An OMW reader on … [Read more...]
Brian And Joe Back – Sort Of – And So’s Marty
Posted on September 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Some local radio veterans now on "the beach" are plotting their next move.Local morning drive radio mainstays Brian Fowler and Joe Cronauer were unceremoniously dumped from their long-time spot on Clear Channel Cleveland hot AC WMVX/106.5 "Mix 106.5" in late April, part of a nationwide job purge by the San Antonio-based radio giant.The duo had to ride out a Clear Channel non-compete, which expired September 1st."Brian and Joe" aren't back on the radio just yet, but they've found a microphone. … [Read more...]
A Couple With Julie
Posted on August 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Of course, we're talking about Julie Washington, the Cleveland Plain Dealer media writer who is basically the only other person in this area writing about local media outlets...and the only one getting paid to do so.One week ago, OMW provided extensive details about economic hard times at Cleveland's PBS/NPR combo, WVIZ/25 and WCPN/90.3, which are under the corporate umbrella of Ideastream. (Sorry, we refuse to use the lower case "i".)The changes at Playhouse Square ended up with 9 employees … [Read more...]
