Some items from the OMW Secondary Coverage Area (i.e. outside Northeast Ohio):WHIO-FM MOVE?: Recent changes in the FCC regulatory process have started affecting Ohio. We'll let long-time Friend of OMW Scott Fybush detail what's happened, from the most recent edition of his NorthEast Radio Watch (thanks in advance, Scott!):The new rules streamline the process by which AM and FM stations change their communities of license, frequency and class. For AM signals, any change of community was once … [Read more...]

Literally millions of current and former Northeast Ohioans grew up watching Del Donahoo roam Ohio for interesting stories and interesting people...and now, the long-time WKYC/3 personality is retiring.Donahoo announced the retirement Monday on the station, and the local NBC affiliate is airing a week's worth of "Del's Folks" stories on all of its newscasts, leading up to the end of his 39 year tenure this Friday.WKYC is offering a special web page for Del's departure from the local TV airwaves, … [Read more...]

Since we've been away, some reminders of things that are "still out there", but not completed yet...WKNR CHANGES: Though we've been "away", OMW has tried to get more information on whatever changes could be coming to Good Karma Broadcasting sports WKNR/850 Cleveland.And the situation is eerily quiet.So quiet, we're beginning to wonder.Is this "the calm before the storm", with Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin getting ready to make a major overhaul? Or is it as we suggested earlier - that there are … [Read more...]

OK, so we snuck in here Friday, but we're officially back. And...we think we have a solution for our "comments problem".For now, we'll leave the comments "turned on". But a more permanent solution is on the horizon, which we hope to announce in the next week or two. Until then...we'll dive into some leftovers:FRANTZ CONTROVERSY: Yes, we're aware of the hot water WTAM/1100 mid-morning host Bob Frantz got into last week.We don't have much to say about it now, as it's basically over, but we … [Read more...]

It's not quite in the "major" breaking news category, but since we're here anyway, getting ready for our "official" return on Monday...CBS alt-rock/talk WXRK/92.3 "K-Rock" morning host Shane "Rover" French has just lost another affiliate.Emmis St. Louis alt-rocker KPNT/105.7 "The Point" dumped Cleveland-based "Rover's Morning Glory" after this morning's airing, just a couple of hours or so ago.OMW hears that the station proclaimed that "Rover is Over" just minutes after the end of the show at 10 … [Read more...]

Barring other issues popping up, OMW will return to regular publication on Monday, January 29th.Thanks for bearing with us during our hiatus!--The Management … [Read more...]

As hinted here repeatedly, OMW is going on a hiatus of undetermined length...probably somewhere on the order of a week or two, if we had to guess right now.Each time we use the "h word", we get a lot of queries.Our incoming E-Mail volume increases, and it appears some people are actually concerned about the health of your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) and the future of this blog.Don't worry...we're fine.But, we owe you an explanation.Simply put, at times OMW gets a bit overwhelming. When we … [Read more...]

Here's what should be our final regular update for a while. We'll wax philosophical on it in a final entry sometime over the weekend.During our "hiatus", as mentioned, we'll continue to update major "breaking media news" items, mainly in our primary coverage area of Northeast Ohio.More details on that to come, but...for now...CLEVELAND RADIO VET: Walt Tiburski, a name certainly familiar to anyone with a history with Cleveland radio, is retiring.AllAccess reports he's stepping down from his job … [Read more...]

Almost as quickly as it entered the Cincinnati market, Entercom is leaving.The Philadelphia-based group is initiating a trade with Bonneville, and that company picks up the newly-reformed Entercom cluster in Cincinnati: rock WUBE, country WYGY, hot AC WKRQ and alt-rock WSWD. Bonneville also gets three Entercom stations in San Francisco.We'll have to go back into our archives to remember which of those stations came from Entercom's initial purchase of the CBS Radio cluster in the Queen City, and … [Read more...]

When you say "Randy Michaels is back", people's ears perk up.And though it's not radio - yet - the statement is now based in reality, not rumor.The suburban Cincinnati-based former Clear Channel radio head, who rose to prominence with Jacor, is officially "back in the media game", as new company Local TV LLC has named him chief executive officer.Local TV LLC is the operating arm of Oak Hill Capital Partners, an private equity firm which is buying the nine New York Times Company TV … [Read more...]