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...]
All Over The Map
A Savage Exit
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...]
The Week Ender
The week ender, as we head into the weekend... ALBRIGHT TO MIDDAYS: The death of iconic Akron talk radio host Howie Chizek has left a major hole in the schedule of his 38 year home station, Media-Com talk WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron", which is vowing to continue its all-local talk lineup...while faced with the unenviable task of figuring out who will be heard on WNIR, permanently, from 10 AM to 3 PM weekdays. The unfortunate demise of Akron's talk radio king has also presented an opportunity … [Read more...]
Rolling Through The Month
Things are piling up again here at the Always In Flux OMW World Headquarters, but we also have a couple of separate items to put up later... HEGAN RETIRES: A familiar voice along the Cleveland Indians Radio Network won't be heard next year. That's because veteran broadcaster Mike Hegan, who has spent the past 23 years as a Tribe broadcaster, is stepping away from the booth after this season is over. He's spent most of those 23 years with Indians play-by-play voice Tom Hamilton on the team's … [Read more...]
Air Traffic Control
The comings and goings in Northeast Ohio media are starting to stack up like planes waiting to land or take off at Hopkins Airport, so let's clear some of these jets now... JIM'S BACK, NO, REALLY: Stop us if you're heard this before - Cleveland Browns Radio Network play-by-play voice Jim Donovan will be back in the booth on Sunday, after undergoing successful bone marrow transplant surgery in his 10 year battle with leukemia. No, really, he'll be back...and not just on radio. OMW passed along … [Read more...]
Talk To Me, WABQ
It took a few days later than expected, but Gary Richards’ LMA of Radio Advantage One’s WABQ/1460 Painesville took effect on Thursday, August 4, with the station shedding its’ gospel music format in favor of liberal talk. As of right now, a website for "Talk 1460" is up but still in development. No streaming of the station yet, either, but given Gary R.'s past lease of Bernard Radio's WVKO/1580 Columbus, it should be coming soon. The lineup is pretty much what was outlined in the Scene article … [Read more...]
The Friday Mix
UPDATE 6/26/11 1:30 AM: In sorting through the various awards recently handed out for Kent State University public radio outlet WKSU/89.7-and-its-simulcasters, we missed this individual award from the Ohio Professional Writers, Inc. (OPW), the state affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW). And we feel bad about missing it, as it mentions "one of our own", the woman who is the conduit of all information about WKSU, who happens to have a more important title than just the one … [Read more...]
Not Rumors, For The Most Part
We generally deal in facts here at the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), give or take an occasional rumble. And at this juncture, there are a LOT of rumbles out there, and nearly all of them haven't been confirmed to our satisfaction yet. The item just before this one is just one example...there are more hot-and-heavy rumors out there. So, if you're looking for the answer to "who's about to be fired", after hearing it on a certain morning drive show...not yet. We'll pass along changes as soon as they … [Read more...]
Monday, Monday, February Style
UPDATE 2/7/11 6:15 PM: Our sincere apologies to long-time OMW reader Dr. Phil Hoffman, who may not be so avid a reader after we incorrectly posted his last name. It's probably not the first time his name has been confused with another local media Phil, and we certainly know the difference between the two (it was a temporary brain freeze). But, our apologies to both men! UPDATE 2/7/11 10:53 AM: It looks like "Fox 8" is running one of those "Robin Swoboda Shows" without either a name or Robin, … [Read more...]
The Really Big Fallout
OK, we'll run out of "really big" titles at some point. More on Friday's bombshell at the Galleria, and since we're now getting complaints about our verbosity, we'll save the other stuff for a later update. A reminder: if you don't like our writing or the length of our posts, feel free to file for a refund of every penny you've paid us to read OMW. All of the rumors and speculation this past week, much of it fueled by a Facebook update by Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100's Mike Trivisonno, … [Read more...]