OMW would like to give a hearty "hello" to certain executives from Montgomery, Alabama...who are rumored to be camping out today at Reserve Square in downtown Cleveland.Of course, this is all in reaction to the giant mess created there this past week, when a move by the "19 Action News" newsroom prompted the city's most popular professional sports team to pull the pre-season rights to its games from Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19.If the Raycom folks are near a computer during their time in … [Read more...]

AllAccess reports that Clear Channel hot AC WVMX/94.1 "Mix 94.1" Cincinnati has become the first Ohio outlet to pick up the upcoming syndicated "Wake Up With Whoopi" show...hosted by comedienne Whoopi Goldberg.The move displaces current Mix 94.1 morning host Mike Stevens, but he'll stay aboard in the station's morning drive slot to "provide local content" during the new show.We believe the Whoopi show starts airing at the end of this month, but WVMX comes on board on August 14th... … [Read more...]

Well, it's not quite ALL "mea culpa", but...STREAMING STATIONS: OMW noted that the online presence of Clear Channel Akron/Canton hot AC WKDD/98.1 made it the first commercial station in either market to stream its main signal. Well, maybe not.We're reminded that three stations south of the Akron/Canton Airport have been streaming for some time: Melodynamic talk/religion WCER/900 Canton. We should have remembered this, because we even listened to the station's stream a few months ago while … [Read more...]

OMW is hearing strong rumblings that Piedmont CBS/FOX combo WKBN/27 - WYFX/17-62 "FOX 17/62" Youngstown either has been sold, or will be sold in the very near future.The station's been up on the market for some time. In fact, it appears to have constantly been on the market even going back to the days when GoCom Investments owned it - and a number of Youngstown radio stations which are now mostly owned by Clear Channel.The station has seen the usual "parade" of potential buyers over the past … [Read more...]

It's been around for a month and change, but we just stumbled onto the first commercial radio streaming audio feed - of a main over-air signal - in the Akron/Canton area. Well, at least the first in some time.It's from Clear Channel hot AC WKDD/98.1, which put up its live Internet audio feed back in early June.WKDD follows non-commercial outlets like the Akron Public Schools' WAPS/91.3 "The Summit", the University of Akron's WZIP/88.1, Streetsboro Public Schools alt-rock/oldies outlet … [Read more...]

OMW recently passed along a FOX press release about the debut of a new national 9-10 AM morning show, to be hosted by two FOX News Channel personalities. It'll air on all of the network's owned-and-operated stations, including Cleveland's WJW/8.But...it apparently won't air at 9 here in Northeast Ohio. And a new locally-produced morning show may air in that time slot.The New York Times' Jacques Steinberg weighs in on the new show (registration required), but notes the following:Because the Los … [Read more...]

Here at OMW, we usually joke that when we're out of town, or too busy to update this blog on a regular basis, things happen. We didn't know that Cleveland Plain Dealer sports/media columnist Roger Brown had the same problem, but he apparently does...Anyway, Roger's back from his most recent vacation and weighs in on the two biggest local sports media stories of the past week...the abrupt dropping of WOIO/19 as the Cleveland Browns' local TV partner, and the abrupt dropping of WKNR/850 as ESPN's … [Read more...]

More followups and day-end stuff:FISH SALE?: We're having a very hard time grasping this, due to the company's general mission, but...An anonymous birdie tips us off that Salem's Cleveland Christian contemporary outlet WFHM/95.5 "The Fish" is rumored to be on the sale block, for a price of about $20 million...at least if the rumblings bouncing around the market are correct.The CCM "Fish" format is one of the company's mainstays, along with the Christian teaching/talk format (WHKW/1220) and … [Read more...]

We apologize for not being able to weigh in on this bombshell today, but it's all anyone's been talking about in local media.The Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi started it all in this morning's paper, with word that the Cleveland Browns have dumped Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19 as the local team rightsholder. Along with other official partnerships, the move takes the team's pre-season games away from Channel 19 just a month before the first game was set to air.Any regular follower of This … [Read more...]

The National Association of Broadcasters has released this year's Marconi Award nominations, and there are plenty of Ohio entries.Cleveland is well represented by the Clear Channel World Domination HQ on Oak Tree again this year, with country WGAR/99.5 up for Large Market Station of the Year.And talk WTAM/1100 afternoon driver Mike Trivisonno is nominated for Large Market Personality of the Year for the second year in a row.But Triv will have to compete with someone in the same building for the … [Read more...]