OMW passed along a report earlier this week that former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar will be in the TV booth as color commentator for the team's pre-season games this year - no matter which local TV station airs the four games next month.Kosar wouldn't tell reporters who will join him in that booth this year, but it appears this year's play-by-play voice on TV is likely to be a name from the team's broadcast past.In a Thursday story on Kosar's new TV job, Lake County News-Herald Browns beat … [Read more...]

Monday is the announced launch date for the national syndication of WLW/700 Cincinnati midday talk star Mike McConnell.However, unless we've missed it in the regular reading of trade websites over the past couple of months, OMW has yet to see any stations announced for McConnell's syndication effort. A quick Google web and news search also shows no such announcements for the weekday McConnell show.(The WLW host also fronts "The Weekend with Mike McConnell", syndicated by Premiere on some 120 … [Read more...]

A couple or three items floating around:RANDY'S TALK: Gee, like we didn't see it coming.On Friday, Cleveland Plain Dealer sports/media columnist Roger Brown quoted "TV insiders" as predicting a settlement between Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19 and the Cleveland Browns - in what could be called "The 911 Call Flap".Later Friday, when we were dissecting Roger's column, your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) noted that such a prediction was like predicting the sun would rise in the morning, and reiterated … [Read more...]

We're just three days away from the expected takeover of the local Adelphia and Comcast systems by Time Warner Cable, and the company's unleashing a promotional blitz.Customers are getting letters in the mail about the change, and the company's launched a new website called "TWCusoon" to help explain the changes to those leaving the Adelphia and Comcast universe in Northeast Ohio (and in other areas where TWC is taking over the local Adelphia and/or Comcast systems). Putting in a local ZIP code … [Read more...]

OMW is hearing that big radio news is about to break out of Canton.Could there be changes afoot at one local radio operation there as soon as Monday, or maybe even before then?At Your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), we're plugged in and will let you know as soon as we get more details. But you'll want to be checking in frequently... … [Read more...]

OMW has a little more information on what incoming "19 Action News" weekend anchor Danielle Serino, who's inbound from Chicago, will do once she's here.In addition to sharing the anchor desk with new arrival Paul Joncich (late of KOVR/13 CBS Sacramento), Serino will do "investigative consumer reporting" for the WOIO/WUAB newscasts. That word comes to us from Chicago media beat writer guru Robert Feder's Friday column in the Chicago Sun-Times.Feder reports that Serino declined to sign a contract … [Read more...]

Our apologies for much of our absence today.No, we don't fly around town with a big red "OMW" on our chest, protecting the Northeast Ohio region against radio and TV crime. Sometimes, our life is as mundane as waiting for a tow truck at a local supermarket. But at any rate, we're back and picking up today's pieces, starting with Roger Brown...Though the Cleveland Plain Dealer sports/media columnist has yet to report that FSN Ohio is signing up as the "Official Cable Home of the Browns" (seen … [Read more...]

We don't know how long they've been using it, but Raycom Media UPN affiliate WUAB/43 has started using the "My 43" on-air branding, pictured here at the start of tonight's 10 PM edition of "19 Action News".It's not the first presence of "My 43" at the sister station to CBS affiliate WOIO/19. OMW reported earlier this month that WUAB's website has been replaced by a temporary placeholder for the upcoming "My43.net".It shows you how much we do not watch WUAB...OMW readers tell us the new … [Read more...]

The city's most popular professional sports team can't help but make news in media circles. This time, though, the battle's on cable.OMW hears that the NFL Cleveland Browns have already moved to shore up one part of their local TV rights package. Contingent upon the resolution of the legal dispute between the Browns and Raycom Media's WOIO/19, FOX Sports Net Ohio is signing up with the team as the "Official Cable Home of the Browns".Since FSN Ohio can't air any actual games - the NFL requires … [Read more...]

OMW hears from inside the CBS Radio compound that classic rock WNCX/98.5 Cleveland will be muddying up its mornings, as rumored on various message boards for some time.In specific, we hear that the incoming morning drive host will be "Mudd"...the one-time WWWM/"M105" host also known as "J. Mudcliff". (We're not sure what form the name of his liquified dirt will take at WNCX.)For now, we have no details on who will be paired with him in morning drive on WNCX. Mudd was among the parade of … [Read more...]