The markets ringing Lake Erie seemingly merged for a day, at least.Northeast Ohio commuters heading home in the afternoon on Friday were hearing traffic reports talking about tieups on "the Fisher", "the Lodge" and accidents on 8 Mile Road.No, their cars weren't magically transported to Detroit. Cleveland's Metro Traffic affiliates weren't accidentally getting Detroit-centric feeds from the company's new hub in suburban Detroit.And no, Canada's CBC Radio generally does not target listeners in … [Read more...]
The Cleveland/Akron/Canton/Toledo/Detroit/Windsor Market
Posted on August 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment
The Coveted Third Hour
Posted on August 14, 2009 · Leave a Comment
It had become a running joke on Good Karma sports WKNR/850 "ESPN 850"'s mid-morning show, hosted by WJW/8 "Fox 8" sportscaster Tony Rizzo.Whenever a new "announcement" was being touted, Rizz and the gang joked around that it didn't involve adding a "coveted third hour" to the two hour program, which has aired weekdays from 10 AM to noon.Well, this time, it apparently does involve that "coveted third hour".We'd heard from readers that such an announcement was made at the end of Friday's "Really … [Read more...]
All Sorts Of Followup
Posted on August 6, 2009 · Leave a Comment
It's Followup Thursday, where we provide new information (and speculation!) on items featured here earlier this week...WITHER 100.3 LORAIN?: After getting word that Radio One is buying translator W262BN/100.3 Lorain for $100,000, we had to learn more.The first thing we had to do is verify that Edgewater Broadcasting had the translator on the air (it's been licensed since 2007), and if Edgewater was using it to rebroadcast Akron Public Schools AAA non-comm outlet WAPS/91.3 "The Summit" out of … [Read more...]
Exits, Upgrades and Changes
Posted on August 5, 2009 · Leave a Comment
It's a rather odd combination for our first Wednesday update, a mix of personnel changes, facility changes and other signal news...KIM JOHNSON EXITS: Trade sites have widely reported the exit of cluster programmer Kim Johnson from Radio One's Cleveland cluster.As far as we know, Johnson was directly responsible for programming the company's two powerhouse FMs - urban AC WZAK/93.1 and hip hop WENZ/107.9, both regular fixtures near the top of the Cleveland ratings.Radio One also operates gospel … [Read more...]
Triv’s Return
Posted on August 4, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland afternoon drive host Mike Trivisonno had a difficult task today.Just five days after he lost his wife, Linda, to cancer, Triv took to the WTAM airwaves, and admitted that he "is not good at grieving" in a subdued...but very real...show.Occasionally noting that he's not sure he's going to "stay in radio", he took calls from listeners offering condolences, or perhaps more importantly at this point, offering small diversions to get the host's mind off of the … [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...]
All Over The Media Map
Posted on August 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment
As usually happens when we don't update for a few days, items are piling up in the OMW Warehouse. That's odd, since we didn't know we actually owned a warehouse...CHOPPER DOWN: No, that's not a literal use of the phrase, thank goodness.But in the Cleveland TV news wars, OMW hears that yet another station has decided to abandon its aerial news firepower...leaving the sighting of a TV news helicopter as a rare event in Northeast Ohio.The latest grounding is of Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8's … [Read more...]
Triv’s Horrible Loss
Posted on July 30, 2009 · Leave a Comment
UPDATE 3:57 PM 7/30/09: From the Triv Page at WTAM.com:It is with heavy hearts that Newsradio WTAM 1100 reports the death of Mike Trivisonno's beloved wife Linda.Linda died early Thursday morning at their home. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mike and his children, Michelle, Michael and Anthony, as well as their extended families. Triv thanks the staff at University Hospital's Ireland Cancer Center for the wonderful care Linda received.Donations can be sent to the Ireland Cancer Center at … [Read more...]
The Tony Bruno Empire
Posted on July 29, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Various trade reports say that Premiere's Fox Sports Radio is about to add another separately syndicated show to the FSR lineup.Reportedly next on the shopping list for FSR is late night host Tony Bruno, in a deal which would add his program to the FSR lineup as the network did with the other host syndicated by the Chicago-based Content Factory, former ESPN host Dan Patrick.The move - first noted on sports blogger and former Columbus sports radio staffer Brooks Melchior's "Sports by Brooks" - … [Read more...]
Midweek Potpourri
Posted on July 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Here we go, again...as our list of items continues to grow...C-BUS TO DETROIT: OMW hears that Clear Channel Columbus top 40 WNCI/97.9-AC WLZT/93.3 program director Michael McCoy is heading to Michigan, and not to watch the Buckeyes play the Wolverines.McCoy is heading for a new job at Clear Channel sister top 40 outlet WKQI/95.5 "Channel 95-5" in Detroit. We hear his last day will be this Friday.Back in Columbus, OMW hears about the temporary shuffle to fill-in for the exiting McCoy, which … [Read more...]
