We've been accumulating a Supersized Pile of Items here at your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), and it's time to reduce the pile. The holiday weekend is as "good a time as any" to do so.And on behalf of the entire editorial staff of Ohio Media Watch, we mark the holiday to honor those who served and gave their lives for us...WHO'S #1?: Regular OMW readers know that we don't spend a lot of time in ratings land, for either TV or radio stations.The reason is simple: We don't have the unvarnished data, … [Read more...]
WEEKEND SPECIAL: Ted Henry’s Goodbye
Posted on May 23, 2009 · Leave a Comment
UPDATE 5/23/09 2:21 PM: OMW reader "Brad" notes that WEWS has posted a much better quality version on its YouTube page, which we've embedded below. (We didn't even realize Channel 5 HAD a YouTube page.)Despite the availability of an "HD" version, the video appears to be 4:3 SD with its own online "sidebars". Still, it's much more viewable than the tiny, low-bandwidth version on NewsNet5.The "Related Video" page shows a number of user-submitted video of various parts of Ted Henry's last … [Read more...]
Our Apologies To Leon Bibb
Posted on May 20, 2009 · Leave a Comment
In one of our earlier items surrounding the retirement of Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 "NewsChannel 5" anchor Ted Henry, which starts after tonight's 11 PM newscast, we said Henry was one of the last iconic Cleveland TV news names left.We mentioned his former co-anchor at WEWS, Wilma Smith, who is now doing a single nightly newscast over at Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8", and long-time WJW meteorologist Dick Goddard.We mentioned, as an aside, "Fox 8"'s Robin Swoboda, back on the airwaves … [Read more...]
WKYC/WVIZ Tower Nearly Done
Posted on May 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment
It's now three weeks from what appears to be the final digital TV transition date, June 12th, when all full-power analog signals in the United States will sign off for good.And work on one new local digital TV transmission tower appears to be up to speed.Check out the pictures, and more, here on our Ohio Digital TV sister site... … [Read more...]
Changing World Of TV News
Posted on May 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment
A day before Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5's "NewsChannel 5" says goodbye to its most visible face, this is a good time to talk about the changing environment in local TV news "after Ted Henry".By our reckoning, after Mr. Henry says his final words on Wednesday night's 11 PM newscast, there will be just two of his generation of Cleveland TV news left: his former co-anchor Wilma Smith, now down to a single nightly newscast at Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8", and Wilma's WJW co-hort Dick … [Read more...]
Hey, Is Someone Retiring This Week
Posted on May 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment
In case you're reading OMW from underneath a rock, a reminder...Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 is saying goodbye this week to one of the few remaining news anchor icons in the Cleveland market.You can be forgiven if you get a sense of "deja vu" this week while watching the station pay tribute to long-time "NewsChannel 5" anchor Ted Henry...who exits the anchor chair after the 11 PM newscast on Tuesday.After all, the station celebrated his 35th anniversary a few years ago with various clips and … [Read more...]
Three Quick Hits
Posted on May 12, 2009 · Leave a Comment
We have been working on some things that aren't confirmed - or can't be printed, yet - so here's what we CAN bring you...THE DECLINE OF WOAC: OK, so most of our readers would say that Canton-licensed WOAC/67's decline began when the station dumped its Canton-focused secular independent programming for infomercials, home shopping and then, more infomercials.But we're getting an insight into the financial problems faced by the TV division of brokered ethnic radio king Arthur Liu's Multicultural … [Read more...]
Odder Mix Than Usual
Posted on May 8, 2009 · Leave a Comment
And mostly items on the fringe of our usual OMW coverage area wrap up this Friday.But we'll start in Cleveland, and to our friends on South Marginal Road...thank you for the Twitter Shout-Out! Quoting:-----A special Fox 8 Twitter shout-out to Ohio Media Watch. Glad you're enjoying our tweets! Stay tuned, more to come-----We don't know who handles the Twitter account at Cleveland Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8". We suspect it's one of those Additional Duties added to a newscast producer's already … [Read more...]
Thursday’s Mixed Bag
Posted on May 7, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Try as we might, we can't get our daily updates to always fit into a neat, tidy little bag...THIS IS A TEST, OR WILL BE: Say, what are you doing on May 21st, at 7:30 AM, 12:30 PM or 7:30 PM?If you're watching over-air analog TV that day, anywhere in the nation, you could be watching a national DTV test.The Wall Street Journal reports this week that the FCC is working on a plan that would ask TV stations across the United States to, quoting the article, "suspend regular programming and instead … [Read more...]
Embargoed Until Wednesday Morning
Posted on May 6, 2009 · Leave a Comment
We're just picking up random items here in midweek, with mostly a TV theme...THE CLEVELAND (NON-)EMBARGO: As it turned out, in the end, nothing apparently happened.But there was a lot of behind the scenes intrigue in the past couple of days about a story "you saw first on 19 Action News at 10 on My43 WUAB" on Monday night's show.We hear that the 10 PM show that night on the MyNetwork TV outlet told viewers that the Cleveland Clinic's face transplant patient would make an appearance in front of … [Read more...]
