OK, so now it can be told.Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 Cleveland has come up with its plan for replacing news anchor Tim White, who was unable to reach a contract renewal agreement to remain as co-anchor alongside Romona Robinson. White's last day at WKYC will be one week from Friday, on December 12th.Tim's replacement on "Channel 3 News" at 6 PM and 11 PM weekdays starting Monday, December 15th is pictured here:No, that's not a broken picture link.Co-anchoring WKYC's 6 and 11 PM weekday shows … [Read more...]
More Print Cuts
Posted on December 2, 2008 · Leave a Comment
The Internet rumors we hinted about in Monday's update have, unfortunately, become reality at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.WKYC/3 is reporting today that 50 Plain Dealer staffers are exiting the state's largest daily newspaper, in the latest round of job cuts at the Advance/Newhouse owned paper.WKYC's Tom Beres reports that 27 PD newsroom staffers got the word via phone this morning that they were being laid off, and that another 23 workers have accepted a buyout from the paper.Beres notes that … [Read more...]
Monday In December
Posted on December 1, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Unless you're a big winter weather fan, or happy about the start of a new work week, the phrase "Monday in December" seems rather foreboding. For that matter, so do some of our news items as we start the week...WKYC BUYOUTS: OMW hears that our earlier fears regarding Gannett's continuing effort to reduce staff at Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC/3 are true.We passed along an item earlier from Dave Hughes' DCRTV - that Gannett was actively offering buyouts to help further cut staff at its TV … [Read more...]
Friday Oddities
Posted on November 28, 2008 · Leave a Comment
OK, so we'll squeeze out one more update of odd stuff this Friday after the Thanksgiving Day holiday.There is some more economic bad news for those in local media, but we'll put that on the back burner until our Monday morning update...keeping the meaning of "Black Friday" for holiday shopping crowds for now...ION OF CHANGE: A little change could be coming to the digital signals of the ION Network's owned and operated TV stations, and the ION folks are going about proposing the changes in an … [Read more...]
Maybe Nothing To These – Yet
Posted on November 25, 2008 · Leave a Comment
A couple of rumors, reports and such that may or may not mean anything to Northeast Ohio... yet:CLEAR CHANNEL/CBS SWAP: A note in Monday's "Taylor on Radio-Info" E-Mail newsletter caught our attention.Columnist Tom Taylor reports word that CBS Radio chief Dan Mason spent Monday in Houston, reportedly working out details a rumored swap that would have Clear Channel sending two stations to CBS Radio there.As part of Clear Channel's recent privatization deal, the U.S. Department of Justice … [Read more...]
The New Way To Cover News
Posted on November 20, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Rest assured, given the current economic conditions and the flagging fortunes of media outlets, this'll be here soon enough.But right now, a joint "news coverage sharing" venture between NBC and FOX is being implemented in markets where the two entities actually own stations. This USA Today story from last week has details.Basically, the NBC and FOX-owned stations in those markets will create a shared assignment desk, with some camera crews from each station devoted to staffing it. The goal, … [Read more...]
Out Of The Chute
Posted on November 17, 2008 · Leave a Comment
UPDATE 11/17/08 9:50 PM: Two alert readers with the ability to pick up Youngstown market stations tell us that Clear Channel classic hits WBBG/106.1 Niles "Big 106.1" flipped to holiday tunes late last week. We've confirmed the switch by going to the station's website, and listening online.The station is now positioning for the season as "Youngstown-Warren's Christmas Music Channel"...-----------...for a Monday, with some newsy and some random items. Or maybe the title should be "Down The … [Read more...]
Midweek Visit
Posted on November 5, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Just some followup and stuff floating around...WSTB: We hinted at this in our last item, when we reminded readers that general manager Bob Long and his student crew at Streetsboro's WSTB/88.9 wouldn't be around last night to cover Portage County election returns.OMW hears that moves are actually being made to reconstruct the Streetsboro school district-owned station and return it to the airwaves - at some point.As we pointed out shortly after school officials had station computers removed and … [Read more...]
Election Day
Posted on November 4, 2008 · Leave a Comment
On this perhaps Biggest Ever Election Day, it's as close to the Super Bowl as local newsrooms will ever get.Since the presidential race is the primary race of interest, the various network partners of local TV and radio stations will do the "heavy lifting", with pretty much all of the TV and radio network newsrooms showing up at around 7 PM Eastern time - with coverage available even on broadcast TV networks well past midnight.Local news outlets won't stay on the sidelines all night, though. … [Read more...]
About Keeping That Wire Current
Posted on October 20, 2008 · Leave a Comment
It's a long-running (gallows humor) joke around here when we talk about the continuing job cuts at the Akron Beacon Journal, one of thousands of newspapers nationwide getting squeezed between the current financial crisis and the diminishing number of readers: "We hope they keep their Associated Press wire bill current."As it turns out, a small, but growing number of newspapers are deciding to send the venerable AP wire packing.The most recent to give the wire service the required two-year … [Read more...]
