We're batting cleanup with some small items this afternoon. (No, we're not available for the Cleveland Indians lineup. We couldn't hit a baseball if you put it on a tee-ball stand in front of us...)ITEM 1: We normally break out Cleveland Plain Dealer sports media columnist Roger Brown's Monday column as a separate item, as it's the one that's supposed to focus specifically on sports radio/TV/media items. There's just not enough material in the column to do it this time.Real Estate Roger has … [Read more...]

Today marks the first anniversary of the establishment of Ohio Media Watch.One year ago today, your Primary Editorial Voice became one of the last human beings on earth to start a blog. (We think even a few cats and birds beat us to it.) Since that modest start on June 26, 2005, OMW has grown by leaps and bounds.Honestly, we have no idea exactly how many people read Your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm). The only number we can go by is the number of hits to the "View my complete profile" page, which is … [Read more...]

With the Spinal Tap shout "Hello, Cleveland!", Premiere syndicated morning duo Bob and Tom kicked off their first broadcast to the show's newest (and second-largest, after St. Louis) market.The opening shot on Clear Channel rocker WMMS/100.7 was punctuated with references to Cleveland, which is clearly a market the Indianapolis-based pair has wanted to have on their roster for a long time.Not only did the show feature regular guest Pat Dailey - a singer/songwriter well known to those who've … [Read more...]

Monday is the opening salvo for Premiere syndicated morning duo Bob and Tom in Cleveland, as they premiere on Clear Channel rocker WMMS/100.7 starting at 6 AM. (The graphic to the left is currently being featured on WMMS' website.)As we note that event, we're reminded that it's the very first time in WMMS' long, historic run as a rock station that the morning show will not be produced locally.We do seem to recall a brief run where the station's "Wolf and Mulrooney" show was syndicated back to … [Read more...]

OMW is hearing rumblings that Radio One Cincinnati urban outlet WIZF/100.9 is advertising its upcoming frequency change on-air...a move that sometime in the next few weeks will take it to 101.1 FM.The move is needed because of Radio One's second, incoming Cincinnati market FM station - WIFE/100.3 Connersville IN, which will head for the Queen City as Radio One purchases the locally-owned eastern Indiana oldies outlet.Though Radio One is not entirely an urban format operator - it's had a couple … [Read more...]

It's not often you'll witness us rant this much, so you might want to pull up a seat.The rant started, in part, because we stumbled upon an infomercial on Raycom Media's WUAB/43 tonight, Cleveland's UPN (to become My Network TV) affiliate. Tonight...as in 9:30 PM. Prime-time.We're pretty sure UPN doesn't program Saturday nights nationwide, so the slot was likely open. But to get extra revenue, unlike competing NBC affiliate WKYC/3 - which preempted NBC's rerun of the "Treasure Hunters" … [Read more...]

As a part of our research for Ohio Media Watch, we dive into FCC public access records quite a bit. OK, so maybe not as much as our good friend Scott Fybush does, but we do check in from time to time. (For one, we're continuing to watch for the construction permit application for WJER-FM 101.7's move to North Canton.)And while looking at some of this stuff, we occasionally run into applications for new construction permits for translators. Most of them are filed on behalf of religious … [Read more...]

ITEM 1: We're hearing rumblings, unconfirmed, that "The Iggy Show" is no longer heard nights on CBS Radio Cleveland alt-rocker WXRK/92.3 "K-Rock". Iggy's mug has been removed from the WXRK "Jox" page, and he's apparently returned the favor by removing station references on his MySpace account.We don't know if it's permanent, but "The Bull Program" (that's "Bull", pictured at right) has been heard in 92.3's 7-midnight slot.A birdie in the O&A thread above tells us that WXRK is up to 5th … [Read more...]

From the Land of the Buckeyes:Columbus Dispatch TV/radio columnist Tim Feran reports that Clear Channel talk WTVN/610 sports director George Lehner is out after some 20 years at the Columbus station.Sources tell Feran that it was a simple non-renewal of Lehner's contract, which will expire on July 1st. Assistant sports director Matt McCoy moves up to interim sports director in Lehner's absence.From WTVN program director Bruce Collins: "I would personally like to thank George for his years of … [Read more...]

Though we don't yet have numbers out of affiliate WXRK/92.3 in the Cleveland market, CBS has put out some early ratings numbers for morning duo Opie and Anthony in other markets.And it's easy to see why CBS was quick to put the word out. O&A's May ratings in markets such as New York City (WFNY/92.3), Boston (WBCN/104.1) and Philadelphia (WYSP/94.1) scored solid gains over what was turned in by David Lee Roth in his last month, April. For more complete numbers, check out FMQB.com, and an … [Read more...]