Sometime in the next few days, or sooner, Good Karma Broadcasting debuts Cleveland's second all-sports radio station, WABQ/1540 "ESPN Cleveland". As far as we know, it'll only debut on the 1,000 watt 1540 daytime frequency, despite reports that Good Karma president Craig Karmazin had been talking with Radio One about leasing nighttime hours on talk WERE/1300.Here at OMW, we have no idea if Mr. Karmazin has found your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm).We know he's apparently been in contact with outgoing … [Read more...]

Just some semi-non-connected items:NEW STAR TOLEDO PD: The open program director's chair at Cumulus Toledo hot AC WWWM/105.5 "Star 105" has now been filled.It's Kirk Patrick inbound from his post as OM of the Clear Channel cluster in Missoula MT, a cluster of six stations.He'll take over the PD/afternoon drive slot once held by Steve Marshall...who ended up taking the same role at Cumulus Toledo sister top 40 station WTWR/98.3 "Tower 98-3"...WHILE WE'RE IN THE GLASS CITY: Cumulus talk … [Read more...]

In the latest change at the Clear Channel World Domination HQ on Oak Tree:Country WGAR/99.5 programmer Meg Stevens is headed east.She's been hired as the new program director for a pair of sister Clear Channel country outlets, WMZQ in Washington DC, and WPOC in Baltimore. She replaces the stations' current programmers, George King at WMZQ, and Ken Boesen at WPOC, as the stations fall under the same Clear Channel umbrella thanks to recent changes.OMW hears Meg's last day at Oak Tree is November … [Read more...]

Regular OMW readers know that we've kept an eye on a growing trend - talk radio stations moving to, or starting up, on the FM dial. Ohio has not had one of these stations...but it looks like that's about to change.Cumulus Media in Cincinnati is apparently close to putting a talk format on the 96.5 signal being abandoned by country WYGY "The Star", which is moving to the former home of the "Mojo" format on 94.9.How close?So close that Talk Radio Network apparently couldn't hold it in, and … [Read more...]

In no particular order:WKNR'S ESPN RADIO: Thought Salem sports talk WKNR/850 Cleveland was totally out of the ESPN Radio stable of stations? Think again.Though the talk radio version of ESPN Radio is set to debut soon on Good Karma Broadcasting daytimer WABQ/1540 in the Cleveland market, former ESPN Radio outlet WKNR ran ESPN Radio's World Series play-by-play over the weekend.It's not really a surprise.For one, unless Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin is ready to pull a nighttime signal out of … [Read more...]

And exclusive as far as we know, at least as of this writing:OMW has confirmed that long-time WTAM/1100 news director R.C. Bauer is leaving the Clear Channel Cleveland news/talk powerhouse for a new gig at sister talk WFLA/970 Tampa FL. (We alluded to this item in the entry just below this one, but it was just rumor at the time.)OMW hears that R.C. will be taking the newly minted role of "Director of Information and Programming Services" at the Florida talker, a title which sounds from the … [Read more...]

We managed to catch up with Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Julie Washington's latest TV/radio column (and then some - though we'll pass on the film-related stuff) on the same day it showed up online...and in a nutshell:JONESIN' IT AND MOVIN' IT: Julie has more on the arrival - reported here a while ago - of WTOL/11 Toledo reporter Bob Jones at Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS/5.WEWS general manager (and former newsroom boss) John Butte calls Jones "one of the top reporters in the state." Not like … [Read more...]

...to the weekend, as we really need it to be Friday soon. Some new stuff and some old stuff revisited:OUT OF THE BUILDING: We weren't listening to radio in morning drive today, so we missed what we're told is the second "out of the building" on-air evacuation at the Clear Channel World Domination HQ on Oak Tree in beautiful Independence, Ohio.We hear that a fire alarm forced Clear Channel outlets to abandon studio for at least part of morning drive. OMW hears WTAM/1100 morning co-host Bill … [Read more...]

Some of the dominoes we've been talking about, regarding changes involving at least three Cleveland market radio stations, are falling.Since he's the first one who heard the syndicated 24/7 gospel music format "Rejoice - Musical Soul Food" on Painesville's WBKC/1460 - from all the way across town on the other end of Lake Erie in Lorain County - we'll give regular OMW reader/tipster Nathan Obral another nod for catching this on the WCLV website's "What's New" section:WBKC NO LONGER SIMULCASTING … [Read more...]

While we were looking for Other Things in FCC data, we stumbled upon the now-approved construction permit for WHIZ-FM/102.5 Zanesville to move to Baltimore.Baltimore as in the small town in Central Ohio, that is, not the more famous one in Maryland.The FCC gave its blessing to the facilities on October 2nd. The move drags the Zanesville FM clear into the Columbus market, with a proposed transmitter site in northwest Fairfield County, just west of that new COL.It looks like the 11KW … [Read more...]