Rounding out our week...NO 58: With the digital side of Western Reserve PBS' WNEO/45 Alliance off the air this week in preparation for the station's early digital switchover, one of our readers noticed that the public TV outlet's Youngstown-based low-power translator is also off the air.OMW has confirmed that the translator, known legally as W58AM and serving low-lying areas of the Mahoning Valley that may be shadowed from WNEO, is indeed off the air due to transmitter problems...and has been … [Read more...]
The Job Loss Storm
Posted on November 3, 2008 · Leave a Comment
We wish we had better news for our return.In our last full item, we talked about the continuing reports of job losses at Ohio media outlets. We had no idea that the following week would be one of the worst such weeks for local media workers...ever.The news is so bad, and so widespread, that we abandoned plans for a single, large update covering everything we've missed in the past week. Instead, we decided to split this bad news into a large update of its own. We'll have other news not related … [Read more...]
Mid-October Closeout
Posted on October 24, 2008 · Leave a Comment
This will likely be the final item for the week, and could be our final update for the rest of the month.We will try to post major, breaking events...like format changes, major personality or anchor changes, broadcast station sales, and, well, returning radio stations.But in case we don't get a Round Tuit(tm), this might be up for some time...and here's a grab bag of items to close out our agenda for a while...NO MORE RADIO BILL: It was posted as a rumor some time back, but it seems to be … [Read more...]
Toledo and Tampa
Posted on October 9, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Two TV-related items, both involving cities with names starting with the letter "T". (Hey, it's what passes for creativity around here!)TOLEDO TV RADIO NEWS: Toledo ABC O&O WTVG/13 and the Cumulus cluster in the Glass City are crowing about their new alliance.The Toledo Blade reports that seven Cumulus radio stations in Toledo will be getting weather, news and sports updates from the "13ABC" folks.The deal apparently doesn't include, at least according to the Blade article, top 40 … [Read more...]
NBC Weather Plus Shutting Down
Posted on October 7, 2008 · Leave a Comment
It's a national media news item that affects us locally - as NBC Universal has announced it's shutting down the "NBC Weather Plus" network.TVWeek reports that the weather service operating on NBC affiliates' digital subchannels, including that of Gannett's WKYC/3 in Cleveland, Media General's WCMH/4 in Columbus and Barrington's WNWO/24 in Toledo, will be "phased out in stages" between now and the end of the year.NBC News division head Steve Capus tells the trade magazine that it wasn't just the … [Read more...]
Some TV Items
Posted on October 3, 2008 · Leave a Comment
News from the TV side of the OMW ledger...with another bigger item to be added later today...THREE OHIO TV STATIONS OFF CABLE: Yet another one of those "retransmission consent" disputes has pulled three Ohio TV stations off local cable TV systems in each of their markets.The inability of LIN TV and Time Warner Cable to reach a new deal by this morning's midnight deadline has forced LIN's three Ohio stations off TWC: Dayton NBC affiliate WDTN/2, Columbus CW affiliate WWHO/53, and Toledo FOX … [Read more...]
Midweek Random Stuff
Posted on October 1, 2008 · Leave a Comment
We've had a lot of items that have needed their own space, but this one's just a grab bag...much of it with the help of the good folks at AllAccess...WATCHING IT HERE: AllAccess passes along a release about ABC News Radio's coverage of Thursday's vice-presidential debate, where Democrat Sen. Joe Biden and Republican Gov. Sarah Palin will face off at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.And though St. Louis is nowhere near Northeast Ohio, this area will be a part of ABC News Radio's … [Read more...]
OMW’s First Digital TV Q&A
Posted on September 26, 2008 · Leave a Comment
We went back to read our item about the early analog switchoff of Youngstown market PBS affiliate WNEO/45 Alliance, and...well, we figured some of our readers may have some questions about the digital TV transition.Late on the night of February 17, 2009, just before the clock strikes midnight into the 18th, TV transmitter facilities around America will be very busy places...as every full-power TV station in the nation shuts off its analog transmitter for good. (For the record, as far as we … [Read more...]
No Particular Place To Go
Posted on September 8, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Just some stuff to refresh the Mighty Blog for a Monday...and as it turns out, another sports-related theme has emerged, without us even trying...ONE QUESTION ANSWERED: It didn't take long for Youngstown TV Supergroup New Vision Television to name a replacement for veteran WYTV/33 sports director Bob Hannon, who left the station to head up the Youngstown branch of the United Way.He's the station's assistant sports director, Bill Castrovince, who's been in that role and doing the ABC affiliate's … [Read more...]
Opening September
Posted on September 2, 2008 · Leave a Comment
We do have a pretty decent selection of items from across Ohio for our first update in September. Some of this we missed, some is new, and some of the items are updates of previous news items.This is a long one, so get that scroll bar ready...ANOTHER 33'ER EXITS: Just as we were marveling that Parkin Broadcasting ABC affiliate WYTV/33 Youngstown has kept much of its "look and feel" despite being swallowed into the New Vision/WKBN/WYFX universe, another key staffer has left.And it's a big … [Read more...]
