No clever theme, just a Wide Variety of Items this time around. As usual, some have already been seen on Twitter, and others are brand new...or at least, running first in this post... ALLIE'S DEPARTURE: We learned at the end of last week that Local TV LLC Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8 News" was losing another popular personality. This time, it was sports reporter/anchor Allie LaForce heading "to California", to a TV destination that was not revealed last Friday when she said her on-air goodbyes … [Read more...]
Mr. Stark County High School Sports Passes Away
Posted on October 11, 2012 · Leave a Comment
When pretty much everyone agrees that your name is synonymous with your chosen lot in life, you're an icon. That certainly applied to Jim Johnson, who symbolized coverage of high school sports in Stark County for decades. His long-time employer, NextMedia talk WHBC/1480 Canton, reports Johnson's death. Johnson retired from WHBC in 2007 after a 29 year run covering thousands of high school and other sports events. His total career length? 43 years. Quoting WHBC's own news story on Johnson's … [Read more...]
All Over The Map
Posted on October 10, 2012 · 4 Comments
UPDATE 12:10 AM 10/11/12: Jim Davison tells OMW that he will continue as operations manager of WHTX/1570 Warren, which will continue in its current standards format as "The Fabulous 1570" and retain its current staff and features. Jim also confirms that WYCL/1540 Niles has changed from classic country to a Spanish-language format as of Tuesday afternoon... ----- We're catching up again with a wide variety of media items, both in kind and location... DISH DEAL: Viewers to Gannett NBC … [Read more...]
From Sports To TV To New Radio
Posted on October 3, 2012 · 3 Comments
The title says it all. And as usual as of late, some of these are brand new, and some are catching up over the past few days... INDIANS STAYING ON WTAM: So, we hinted about this both on our social media presence and earlier this week right here on the blog, on an item we posted last week: "Before we dive into this item, one note: Don’t print those “92.3 The Fan/Indians” bumper stickers just yet..." We got a little "back patting" flack pointing back to this on Twitter, but really, we were far … [Read more...]
Press Release Theatre, Vol. 7
Posted on October 1, 2012 · 3 Comments
The releases are piling up. But we'll start, as always, with Ann's Corner, from long-time Friend of OMW Ann VerWiebe...promotions and marketing guru for Kent State University's WKSU/89.7-and-its-many-simulcasters. There's even a picture as a bonus! ----- WKSU LAUNCHES STREET-SIDE STUDIO IN ITS AKRON NEWS BUREAU WKSU is pulling back the curtain and putting its news production on view in downtown Akron. The street-side studio in the United Building fronts South Main Street with a view of the … [Read more...]
A Savage Exit
Posted on September 28, 2012 · 2 Comments
As we quipped when liberal talk radio network Air America died, this would have been a much bigger story here a few years ago. But with syndicated talk show host Michael Savage making his "triumphant" exit from syndicator Talk Radio Network now, we believe that only affects a single station in the OMW immediate coverage area. Savage declared victory in his contract battle with the Oregon-based TRN, as he was seeking to be released from his deal to pursue deals with other syndicators. From the … [Read more...]
WCLV Going Non-Commercial
Posted on September 26, 2012 · 1 Comment
Classical WCLV/104.9 Lorain, the Cleveland market's commercial classical music station, is joining its new sister stations in noncommercial land beginning January 1, 2013. The status change is part of the transfer of WCLV to Ideastream, owner of public radio outlet WCPN/90.3 and PBS affiliate WVIZ/25. WCLV moved its studios to the Idea Center before that announcement was made. Cleveland Classical Radio, with management led by WCLV president/co-founder Robert Conrad (an OMW reader, by the way), … [Read more...]
Our Big Catchup Post
Posted on September 25, 2012 · 8 Comments
Yes, we've been gone a while. ("Life Intervenes", you know.) As things settle down a little, we can come up for air and shovel out a lot of items. We'll revisit some items both here and on our social media accounts, and put in some new items as well. A warning...you'll definitely need to bring a lunch for this one... NFL NETWORK, TWC MAKE FRIENDS: Northeast Ohio's Time Warner Cable subscribers didn't have to wait until Thursday to get the long-awaited NFL Network. TWC's Travis Reynolds … [Read more...]
87.7 Cleveland’s Sound Launch
Posted on September 10, 2012 · 10 Comments
Murray Hill Broadcasting's WLFM-LP 87.7/TV audio 6 has launched jockless as rocker "87.7 Cleveland's Sound". We're the worst source for music format definitions, so we'll borrow a reader's description of the music mix as AAA with an alt-rock lean. Feel free to correct us in the comments. As expected, "87.7 Cleveland's Sound" is running promos with previously reported morning drive host Archie Berwick promoting his "Archie Morning Show" starting Monday (Archie: "Two things will make this show … [Read more...]
Major League Catchup
Posted on August 28, 2012 · 5 Comments
No, that's not something the Cleveland Indians are about to try, based on their dismal play as of late. It's something we're going to try now, after an unplanned Life Intervenes(tm) hiatus for about two weeks. (Note: We'll have a planned hiatus for personal reasons, right after the Labor Day holiday. Or, maybe we'll be more active...) Anyway, on with the show... OTHER SHOE DROPS: We already told you that now-former Ohio News Network Cleveland bureau reporter Cristin Severance had found a new … [Read more...]
