It's been rumored for what seems like a year, but is now reality.The new website for Media-Com Akron market talk WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron" is online as of this Friday afternoon, and yes, there is live streaming audio. We're listening to it right now.The station is running a banner on the updated website with this crawl: "From Cleveland to Cancun, from Los Angeles to London, from New York to New Delhi...FROM ANYWHERE TO ANYWHERE...WNIR welcomes our new global audience!"OMW hears that the … [Read more...]
Heading Off
Posted on December 23, 2008 · Leave a Comment
As promised, this is our final regular news update for 2008.We'll do our best to put up any major breaking media news (station sales, major format or personality/anchor changes) during the Christmas holiday period...but we won't be updating regularly until January 5, 2009.We will put up a very brief, non-newsy personal "Year End" message from your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) somewhere around the end of 2008.So, if it's not here in this update, it'll have to wait until...next year. (No, we're … [Read more...]
Assorted Holiday Stuff
Posted on December 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment
As we wind down before Christmas and New Years, an announcement.As we hinted earlier, OMW will indeed be on official "Holiday Hiatus" starting late tomorrow. We'll post a "year-end" message around the end of 2008, but not much more.We'll definitely return on January 5th, 2009. If there are any major, breaking media news items, we'll try to at least mention them here - even during the hiatus.But the level of "major, breaking media news" is very high over this holiday break...i.e. it'll … [Read more...]
WVKO Losing Liberal Talk
Posted on December 21, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Just a couple of weeks after Bernard Radio liberal talk WVKO/1580 Columbus celebrated its first anniversary, the format is about to go away.Those associated with the current format, operated in a local marketing agreement by Gary Richards' Cowtown Communications, are announcing that the liberal talk format's last day will be Monday, December 22nd.From the station's website:WVKO AM will be changing format from “Progressive Talk” to “Religious” before the year is over. The station has been … [Read more...]
Bill Gordon Dies
Posted on December 19, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Long-time Cleveland TV and radio host Bill "Smoochie" Gordon has passed away at the age of 83.The station which carried Gordon's "One O'Clock Club", Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5, confirms his death in a story posted on its NewsNet5 website. The Plain Dealer's Michael Heaton has an obituary which was just posted on Cleveland.com.The Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office says Gordon was found dead in his Euclid apartment Thursday, and that the death is believed to be of natural causes.In addition to … [Read more...]
Beck Back To Old Columbus Home
Posted on December 19, 2008 · Leave a Comment
UPDATE 12/19/08 1:31 PM: OMW hears that displaced WTVN/610 midday host Joel Riley will be designated the "primary fill-in" for the station's two remaining local hosts, Bob Conners and John Corby...duty which should give him at least a few weeks of airtime over the course of a year, since both Conners and Corby have extensive vacation time.We're told Riley will also continue with Corby and Joe Bradley in the Friday "Big Bass Brothers" segment on Corby's show, and that he could have other duties … [Read more...]
BREAKING NEWS: Metheny Lands In Chicago
Posted on December 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Thanks to an AllAccess bulletin tonight, we now know where former Clear Channel Cleveland programming chief Kevin Metheny ended up:TRIBUNE Talk WGN-A/CHICAGO PD BOB SHOMPER is exiting to join crosstown CITADEL Talk WLS-A as PD, and veteran programmer KEVIN METHENY, most recently at CLEAR CHANNEL/CLEVELAND as VP/Programming, is taking his place at WGN. The dots are probably pretty clearly connected - WGN is Tribune's only radio property, and former Clear Channel/Jacor radio head Randy Michaels is … [Read more...]
Gladiators, Arena League Suspend 2009 Season
Posted on December 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment
It's been rumored for a while, but the Arena Football League has made it official... the indoor football circuit will not play in 2009.The league voted late Sunday to suspend operations for the coming year, with an eye on restructuring - the AFL reportedly hopes to resume play in 2010, but that's not a certainty.Since this isn't Ohio Sports Watch, we only note this because it means Good Karma sports WKNR/850 "ESPN 850" will lose one of its play-by-play properties through no fault of its own.The … [Read more...]
CBS Radio Starts Smaller Market Exit
Posted on December 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment
CBS Radio has made its first major move in the effort to vacate its clusters in sub-top-10 markets...by swapping.The company has started what apparently will be a slow exit from non-major markets by entering a multi-market swap with Clear Channel.In a deal made public today, Clear Channel picks up five CBS Radio outlets in four markets: Baltimore, Seattle, Portland (two stations) and Sacramento. In exchange, CBS gets two popular stations in top 10 market Houston. All of the outlets involved … [Read more...]
Heading For The Holidays
Posted on December 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment
The coming week, local media outlets are winding down for the holiday season. You'll see and hear a lot of fill-ins starting today, but it's still early enough in December that some regulars will still be working at least part of this week.We're here, too. Due to the general flow of news, the next three weeks will likely see fewer updates, and we'll probably try to put away the keyboard in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day...but we'll try to keep in touch...TIM WHITE EXITS: Today … [Read more...]
