To update our earlier item about both rock WRQK/106.9 and incoming (current) WJER-FM 101.7, both soon to join the Clear Channel Akron/Canton cluster...We were curious about the construction we'd heard mentioned at the WRQK tower site, so we dropped by the end of 22nd Street off Whipple Avenue with the Official OMW Photographer over the weekend and sure enough......here it is.(OK, so the "Official OMW Photographer" is actually your Primary Editorial Voice[tm] with a modest digital camera, but … [Read more...]

Just a note to confirm what's been reported before: Salem sports talk WKNR/850 Cleveland is indeed, as the on-air liners now say, "fueled by FOX".Well, FOX Sports Radio, to be exact, which bowed in on schedule at 'KNR very early Sunday morning.And if you really, really want to be picky about it, FOX Sports Radio is actually "fueled" by Premiere Radio, the network/syndication arm of Clear Channel, which owns sports/talk competitor WTAM/1100. Premiere licenses the FOX Sports name, and some of the … [Read more...]

OK, so you really don't know what we had to do to pick up the scratchy signal of WABQ/1540 Cleveland at the OMW World Headquarters. We may have even paid someone off.But we did indeed hear an on-air announcement - hinted earlier in one of our comments here - that WABQ is moving its gospel format to WBKC/1460 Painesville.While it wouldn't seem that would be a "smart move" - WBKC's signal, even in the daytime, does not reach a large part of even the east side of Cleveland covered by WABQ's signal … [Read more...]

A digital TV how-do-you do, from Northeast Ohio and beyond:WEATHER WHERE?: We haven't seen it on digital TV yet, but we understand WOIO/19's "WeatherNow" channel is indeed up and running on WOIO-DT 19.2, the second digital subchannel of the Raycom Media CBS affiliate in the Cleveland market.The channel, according to those who've seen it, has a continuous loop of weather forecasting, weather radar shots, news reports, and live camera shots. Add in the news, and subtract the national end of … [Read more...]

As expected here and elsewhere, Salem sports talk WKNR/850 Cleveland will indeed pick up FOX Sports Radio to replace the departing ESPN Radio.Cleveland Plain Dealer sports media columnist Roger Brown reports that the switch happens at "12:01 AM Sunday". It's consistent with reports we've been getting here quoting FSR personalities hinting at a new Cleveland outpost next week - the network's "J.T. The Brick" was heard talking about it last night.How about that timing? OMW realized last night … [Read more...]

We've touched on this before, with the tough last-minute negotiations to put "CinCW" on Time Warner Cable's Cincinnati system making us wonder about the commitment of CW partner - uh, Time Warner - to spread the network far and wide.It looks like we have the answer.In an article this week in Broadcasting & Cable magazine, B&C's John M. Higgins details that Time Warner Cable is actually getting payment from the operator of "CinCW", Clear Channel's WKRC/12. A source tells B&C that the … [Read more...]

It has been nearly two entire months since OMW broke the story of the sale of Cumulus rock WRQK/106.9 "Rock 107" Canton to Clear Channel.In that entire time, the news has appeared hardly anywhere else.The Main St. Tattler (Conclave) folks picked up on it, and FMQB.com even ran a small item on it. Both brought the newer details - a swap between the companies' stations in Ohio and Michigan.But the deal has yet to be announced in a press release by either Cumulus or Clear Channel, and the … [Read more...]

OMW's thoughts and condolences go out to WKYC/3 "Del's Folks" mainstay Del Donahoo.The Cleveland NBC affiliate reports that Donahoo's wife, Martha, passed away Tuesday evening after a long illness. The couple met in college in Iowa in the 1940's, and had been together ever since.Martha Donahoo was 85... … [Read more...]

When we're in a "zone", like we have been with sports radio the past couple of days, we sometimes miss other stuff. Here's that other stuff:WZAK'S A TALKIN': This is up on AllAccess today, and we heard it ourselves tuning the dial to WZAK/93.1... afternoon drive talk show host Michael Baisden has made the lineup at the Radio One Cleveland urban AC outlet.Yes, we said talk show host.Baisden, for those unfamiliar with his meteoric rise in the urban radio world, hosts a talk show which has also … [Read more...]

Some updates to the items below, and some speculation...with one totally unrelated item:WKNR'S CHANGES: Of course, when "ESPN Cleveland" launches on WABQ/1540, WERE/1300 or any combination of frequencies, Salem sports talk WKNR/850 has to find a new network, and a new way to fill ESPN Radio's hours. That move could be as soon as next week, as we've previously reported that the ESPN Radio 90 day notice to WKNR ends a week from today.OMW has not yet heard what WKNR will use to replace ESPN … [Read more...]