And here it is...with the exception of our special "Breaking News" over the weekend - more on that later - our first regular update for 2009.Since we've been mostly gone since just before Christmas, it'll be a long one...SUNDAY NEWS: With TV groups looking to save money, the latest focus is on Sunday mornings.As we hinted earlier, Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 in Cleveland has indeed scrapped its Sunday morning edition of "FOX 8 News", which had been airing from 8 to 9 AM.We hear from our … [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...]
WNEO’s Continuing Transition Work
Posted on December 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment
UPDATE 12/22/08 10:08 AM: OMW hears from Western Reserve PBS that Time Warner Cable is indeed now using the station's digital feed to feed the station to its analog cable subscribers.It's not known yet, however, when (or if) TWC's former Adelphia systems in the Cleveland area will add the HD version of WEAO/49.TWC systems in other parts of Northeast Ohio already carry the HD feed of Western Reserve PBS. When Time Warner took over the Adelphia systems, it added the HD feed of WEAO to the paper … [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...]
Digital TV Hiccup
Posted on December 18, 2008 · Leave a Comment
The two Cleveland TV stations with the biggest over-air digital TV problems may - or may not - see those problems resolved before the February 17 digital transition date.Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 and ideastream PBS affiliate WVIZ/25 will transmit their post-transition signals from a new tower at the WKYC facility, but it's an open question if the construction - which was reportedly set to begin this week - will now be complete in time for the transition date.In an FCC filing, WKYC says that … [Read more...]
A Couple From Julie, And One More
Posted on December 18, 2008 · Leave a Comment
After checking our TV sets, we're sure we're ready for the digital TV conversion in February. (Well, we were actually sure of that long ago.) More on that, later.We're still not ready for the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Cleveland.com, though we did happen to find a couple of local TV-related stories from PD media writer Julie Washington under - oddly enough! - the "Entertainment > TV" tab.We're not sure if either of these stories has made print, yet, since that's become virtually impossible to … [Read more...]
DTV Test Day
Posted on December 17, 2008 · Leave a Comment
As we reported earlier, Ohio TV stations will take part in a statewide "analog shutoff soft test" tonight for five minutes, tonight starting at 7:31 PM.During the five minutes, the stations' analog signals will display a message telling viewers that their TV set is not ready for the coming national digital TV transition, which officially takes place just two months from now...late at night on February 17, 2009.Full-power analog stations are required to shut off those signals at 11:59:59 PM on … [Read more...]
Liverani Moves On
Posted on December 16, 2008 · Leave a Comment
This isn't quite breaking news...it was announced earlier this month, but we just found out now courtesy of an Alert OMW Reader.Long-time FOX Sports Ohio senior vice president/general manager Steve Liverani is leaving the Northeast Ohio regional sports network, and will take the same post running FOX Sports Florida and sister network Sun Sports.Quoting an FS Ohio press release:Under Liverani’s leadership, FOX Sports Ohio has enjoyed tremendous success, expanding its local and regional … [Read more...]
Tim White’s Farewell, And Our Take
Posted on December 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment
As promised, here's our transcript of now-former WKYC/3 anchor Tim White's farewell message, which aired on the 11 PM newscast on his last day at the Gannett NBC affiliate in Cleveland.And also as promised, we'll have some of our own comments...after the transcript:----------ROMONA: Well, throughout the day, we've been saying goodbye to Tim White, my co-anchor and friend. It was his last day here at Channel 3. Now, Tim did have some final thoughts he wanted to share with all of you, and he … [Read more...]
