As expected, it's not the illegal gambling that was veteran Cleveland sports personality Bruce Drennan's downfall...it was the taxes.The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports this afternoon that Drennan pleaded guilty to evading federal taxes on winnings from betting on baseball games in 2003 and 2004. The plea deal between Drennan and prosecutors will put the talk host behind bars for five months, and under house arrest for up to another five months.Drennan admitted placing the illegal bets with … [Read more...]

Shop at Home Network owner E.W. Scripps has announced it is shutting down the TV home shopping network, which airs locally on WOAC/67 Canton. In a company release, Scripps says it's shutting down the Shop at Home TV side, and the network's associated Internet site, on June 22nd.The company has been doing some shopping of its own - shopping around the SAH stations to other buyers. Scripps says that effort continues, and they'll seek alternative programming for the stations while they seek a new … [Read more...]

Insomnia leads us to an early morning update that really doesn't have much to do with Ohio, especially if you are an Ohio State Buckeyes fan, but it clarifies an earlier item of ours.We had learned that Michigan Wolverines football broadcasts were headed off of long-time flagship WJR/760 Detroit, and wondered if that's what paved the way for Cumulus Toledo talker WTOD/1560 to pick up the games starting this fall.As it turns out, it appears Northern Ohio will still be blanketed by a Detroit-area … [Read more...]

With The WB and UPN going away in September, new merged network The CW - and new competitor My Network TV - are slowly building their nationwide affiliate lists.But unlike The CW, the network owned by UPN parent CBS and WB parent Time Warner, FOX's My Network TV is ramping up rather slowly in Ohio. There's now officially a CW affiliate in every Ohio market short of Zanesville, a puny mini-market which will likely see its WB100 cable channel flip to CW+ without much fanfare.My Network TV has … [Read more...]

ODDS: Exiting "Kiss FM" Cleveland PD Dan Mason weighs in with AllAccess on his appointment as PD of sister Miami top 40 outlet "Y100": "It's an honor and privilege to be part of one of the most legendary Top 40 stations in America. This is my dream job and I look forward to working alongside DAVE DENVER and (RVP/GM) MIKE CRUSHAM to make an already great station even greater."Radio and Records Online has their version of the story here. It reminds us of how Mason, by far WAKS' first … [Read more...]

OMW hears it is official - Clear Channel Cleveland top 40 WAKS/96.5 "KISS FM" program director Dan Mason is exiting the station, heading for the PD slot at legendary Miami CC sister top 40 outlet WHYI "Y100".APD/MD/afternoon driver Kasper has been tapped as acting program director while the station searches for Mason's permanent replacement.UPDATE: AllAccess quotes CC South Florida regional programming VP Dave Denver on the move: "Dan's an exciting programmer. We love his promotional mind and … [Read more...]

We promised to bring word of companies converting FM stations to talk or news/talk (or sports) formats across the nation, and there's now officially another one on the way. (Thanks to Perry Michael Simon at AllAccess for the tip!)In New Orleans, Clear Channel is about to wipe out classic rock mainstay WRNO/99.5 for a new FM news/talk station. New Orleans Times-Picayune media columnist Dave Walker reports that the "working date" for the new station is June 1st. From the description, it sounds … [Read more...]

Our weekly dissection of Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Roger Brown's Monday sports media column, with some extra added flavor by OMW:* Actual news out of the column concerns the growing interest in high school football by local sports TV outlets. Noting that FSN Ohio has already said it will do high school games in the fall, Brown adds that competitor SportsTime Ohio is expected to do so as well, perhaps airing a live Saturday night "game of the week".Last we heard, STO plans to go 6 … [Read more...]

Well, it's a virtual road trip to the Queen City, since a quick look at the OMW budget shows we can barely afford to leave the OMW World Headquarters...STOP 1: Some changes at CBS Radio's Cincinnati cluster, courtesy of Cincinnati Enquirer TV/radio columnist John Kiesewetter's excellent blog...WKRQ/101.9 "Q102" programmer Patti Marshall ascends to OM of Q102 and sister alt-rocker WAQZ/97.3. Marshall keeps her Q102 programming duties, and Julie Evans slides into that chair at WAQZ from the … [Read more...]

As first reported here on OMW, Clear Channel talk WHLO/640 Akron is indeed expanding the live clearance of Premiere's Glenn Beck - to its full 9 AM to noon time slot.The station had polled listeners via its website about the change. Beck has been airing for only two hours (10 AM-noon) due to the repeat of the first hour of the morning show hosted by WPGB/104.7 Pittsburgh's Jim Quinn and Rose Somma Tennent. At least a part of the reason for the Quinn and Rose repeat was due to the station's … [Read more...]