We're kind of in an unorganized mood this week, so please forgive us for more potpourri... we can't cook, after all:ROGER'S LEAVING: As hinted and reported here the past week or so, it's now official... Cleveland Plain Dealer sports/media columnist Roger Brown will be taking the PD's buyout, designed to reduce the paper's staff to save money.Roger's not the only PD sportswriter listed in the paper's news blog item on the buyouts. Well-known names like Bob Dolgan and "Railbird" Bob Roberts have … [Read more...]

Stringing some items together for no apparent reason, other than the fact they're there:JOE MONDAY-THROUGH-FRIDAY: Or is that "Just the Facts, Ma'am?"OMW hears that Rubber City Radio Akron country WQMX/94.9 weekender Joe Friday will slide into the open weekday overnight slot.Joe's been holding down the station's Saturday night request show, and has been with 'QMX for some 6 years.We see he's already trumpeting the news on his own MySpace site.WQMX overnights opened up when J.R. Ewing (female … [Read more...]

The Cleveland Indians have announced their new two-man TV booth.The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that it'll be Tribe radio voice Matt Underwood moving over to the SportsTime Ohio side, paired with incumbent analyst and former Indians centerfielder Rick Manning on the team's TV broadcasts.Like last year, Underwood and Manning will be joined by WKYC/3 sports director Jim Donovan on the team's 20 broadcasts that'll be seen on WKYC and the regional over-air TV network.Underwood's move to TV also … [Read more...]

OMW reported a week ago that WJER-FM's proposed new facilities had hit the FCC database, and provided pictures of construction for the new WRQK/106.9 tower which will also eventually hold the antenna for the 101.7/North Canton facility.Some minor updates:* A trip back to the site over the weekend showed what we'd been told by OMW readers in the area - the wooded site that will house the new WRQK tower is a lot less wooded than even our previous picture indicated just a week earlier. (We'd have … [Read more...]

As it turns out, on the day liberal talk radio network Air America filed for bankruptcy (see below), the network's best known star was so close to the OMW World Headquarters...that we could have driven a few miles and asked him about the day's events.Not that he was saying anything about the news.We find out from the Akron Beacon Journal's Rich Heldenfels that Air America midday host Al Franken was actually in Akron on Friday, at an event at the University of Akron to support Democratic … [Read more...]

We hadn't planned to say much about the report that the Air America Radio liberal talk network has filed for bankruptcy, primarily because the network reports that it will continue to operate. (Think "bankrupt airline".)But the news has prompted at least some liberal talk stations to go on the record about it, and to restate their commitment to the nascent format. And among those stations is the progressive talker in our own backyard (almost literally), Clear Channel's WARF/1350 Akron "Radio … [Read more...]

BYE, STEFANI!: OMW hears that the last day for WEWS/5 anchor Stefani Schaefer will be Friday.As reported earlier, Schaefer is leaving NewsChannel 5 for the "big time", as one of the hosts on the new NBC-syndicated show "iVillage". The show will air on the NBC owned-and-operated stations at first, and will be offered to other stations later. Since WKYC/3 is not owned by its network anymore, it won't be on in Cleveland until it's offered in syndication.Channel 5 mainstay Lee Jordan will add the … [Read more...]

Out of nowhere, OMW has been hearing from all over the place about the history, and future plans, of Wilks Broadcast Group...the company which is buying the CBS Radio cluster of stations in Columbus.And to a person, the information we're getting from our contributors is not promising for folks who currently work at stations like rock WLVQ/96.3 "Q96", country WHOK/95.5 "K95.5", or alt-rock WAZU/107.1 "The Big Wazoo".You can, of course, point to Wilks Broadcast Group CEO Jeff Wilks and his … [Read more...]

As expected, SportsTime Ohio is slimming down in the broadcast booth.The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the Indians-run TV network is not renewing the contract of John Sanders, who's been calling Tribe games on TV dating back to 1991... much of that time on FOX Sports Net Ohio and its predecessors.Sanders, along with analysts Rick Manning and Mike Hegan, moved as a group to STO when the cable/satellite network started this season.STO's Jim Liberatore cited the move to a two-person TV booth … [Read more...]

It appears Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert has learned the Lesson of Michael Reghi.The team and veteran radio play-by-play voice Joe Tait are announcing a new 2-year deal, keeping the Voice of the Cavaliers in front of the microphone through the 2008-2009 season. The new contract extension will take effect at the end of the current NBA season, giving Tait three seasons - counting this one - to hope he sees LeBron James lead the team to their first NBA title.After a rather odd attempt at humor, … [Read more...]