UPDATE 10/6/07 10:55 AM: OMW hears from a listener in the Ashtabula area...who tells us 102.5 there is already playing oldies, but promoting the official launch of "Magic Oldies 102.5" on Monday.The station is running a promo promising "the best music of the 60's and 70's" with current WFUN/WREO news voice Kathy Davis promoting her own new show on 102.5. We don't know when Ms. Davis' show will be heard on the new "Magic Oldies", aside from sometime in the morning.We're pretty sure of the … [Read more...]
Thursday Update
Posted on October 4, 2007 · Leave a Comment
Yep, we're still around.We haven't had much to say since our last update, but we've cobbled together enough items - including some news, some revisits and some other stuff...COLLINS NAMED OPERATIONS MANAGER: A local radio veteran has increased his role at his employer's cluster.Rubber City Radio has named Chuck Collins as operations manager for the company's three Akron stations - standards WAKR/1590, country WQMX/94.9 and rock WONE/97.5.Chuck has been program director of WAKR, leading its move … [Read more...]
CBS Kills Off Two More Nearby FM Talkers
Posted on October 1, 2007 · Leave a Comment
The FM Talk Watch isn't looking good at this hour, and the carnage is not far from Ohio's borders. In fact, the stations are close enough that both can claim at least some Ohio listeners.This time, it's the death of two CBS Radio-owned FM talk stations, one which had been in the format long before the whole "Free FM" thing (think David Lee "Awful Radio Show" Roth).That's Detroit's WKRK/97.1, which did eventually adopt the "Free FM" name, but continued with a mostly local lineup until recently - … [Read more...]
Monday Big Update
Posted on October 1, 2007 · Leave a Comment
A lot has happened since our Friday night update, for whatever reason. So, let's try to start strong this week...FROM THE BONDS OF CLEAR CHANNEL: Two weeks ago, Tom Embrescia's Sweet Home Ashtabula, LLC took control of the now-former Clear Channel cluster in Ashtabula, a group that once only consisted of talk WFUN/970 and AC WREO/97.1.Since that era, the cluster added now-top 40 WZOO/102.5, classic rock WFXJ/107.5, and the most recent entry, country WYBL/98.3 - which means a total of five … [Read more...]
A Tight Squeeze Play
Posted on September 28, 2007 · Leave a Comment
And no, we aren't talking about a play we'd like to see the Cleveland Indians pull off in the upcoming playoff run.We've let some items accumulate here, and we're going to put them in one big item to close out the week.BIG TEN NETWORK GETS, UH, CABLE PRESENCE: The folks at the Big Ten Network have a cable signing to crow about.But unfortunately for the conference-owned TV network, BTN's new signup is not Time Warner Cable, the region's largest cable provider by far.Instead, the new sports … [Read more...]
BREAKING NEWS: Ex-ESPN Host Patrick Picks Up Local Affiliate
Posted on September 26, 2007 · Leave a Comment
UPDATE 9/26/07 3:35 PM: AllAccess points out that Dan Patrick's new show, which will debut on WARF and other early affiliates on Tuesday, October 1st, will actually air live 9 AM-noon Eastern Time.Any affiliate that carries the show in Patrick's former ESPN Radio time slot (1-4 PM) will be carrying it on delay.We're curious if this "changes the game" for former affiliates of that show, who could presumably carry the show before Jim Rome. For WWGK/1540, Good Karma's "KNR2", that'd mean … [Read more...]
The Radio No Factor
Posted on September 19, 2007 · Leave a Comment
UPDATE 9/20/07 2:35 PM: Mr. Maloney backs off just a little in an update to the below post.The "Radio Equalizer" blog editor says that O'Reilly may sign a "short-term" extension to the "Radio Factor" contract into early next year. But he believes the FNC host is still destined to dump radio, to concentrate on his popular evening TV talk show.Our original take on his report is below...----------This word comes from a blog just across the Blogger-sphere:According to "Radio Equalizer" blogger … [Read more...]
Speaking of Sports Again
Posted on September 19, 2007 · Leave a Comment
This update will be mostly related to sports and local media, since that's where the news is...BIG STO PICKUP: In its continuing drive to have programming other than Cleveland Indians games and assorted Cleveland Browns shows, pre-season game repeats and low-rent wrestling and poker shows, SportsTime Ohio has landed a big one.The Cleveland-based sports network has officially announced a one-year deal for the statewide rights to the Ohio High School Athletic Association's playoffs and … [Read more...]
Keeping Busy Tuesday
Posted on September 18, 2007 · Leave a Comment
We hadn't planned on an update Tuesday, but some stuff to sweep up after...IT'S OFFICIAL: The day it happened, and two days after OMW reported it would happen, the takeover of the former Clear Channel Ashtabula stations was reported in the national radio trade press.The announcement, which we saw on AllAccess's Monday Net News scroll, says Tom and Matt Embrescia's Sweet Home Ashtabula spent $3.5 million on the WFUN/WREO/WZOO/WFXJ/WYBL combo in Northeast Ohio's most northeastern-most small … [Read more...]
Monday Stuff
Posted on September 17, 2007 · Leave a Comment
We start off this week with an update or two, a musing or two, and other stuff...SANDY'S OUT: Here's an item that showed up on AllAccess late last week, but we didn't get to it yet...SAGA COMMUNICATIONS AC WSNY (SUNNY 95)/COLUMBUS, OH midday jock SANDY BENNETT exits. She is replaced by sister station Smooth Jazz WJZA midday talent TRISHA MOORE.Of course, Sandy also has history in the Cleveland market, at stations like WMJI/105.7 and the old "Jammin' 92" (then-WZJM/92.3, now CBS Radio alt-rocker … [Read more...]
