It's a landmark broadcast event in the Akron radio market. Clear Channel hot AC WKDD/98.1 is fronting its 7th annual radiothon to benefit Akron Children's Hospital. WKDD morning stars Matt Patrick and Angela Bellios are broadcasting live from the hospital through 9 PM on Sunday evening.As of this writing on Saturday afternoon, the radiothon has raised over $400,000.Though it's the 7th year for WKDD, the Children's Hospital Radiothon has roots even earlier than that. In the mid-1970's, … [Read more...]

You read it here first a month ago, and now, it's official...the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers will air 9 remaining regular season games in high definition on local cable providers.The first game will air Monday, February 13th (Cavaliers vs. San Antonio). Most local cable providers are on board, including Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cox and WOW, an alternative provider in Cleveland...and wouldn't you know, Adelphia is absent from the list! (Our regular readers know that the palatial OMW World … [Read more...]

The largest national satellite provider, DirecTV, is dropping the "i" (PAX) network from its service...along with a number of PAX stations across the country.In a page on its website, DirecTV points out that after being programmed as a general entertainment outlet, the network has changed, and now "most of their programming consists of infomercials and other promotional shows. As a result, we have terminated our agreement to carry iTV and local PAX stations."Among the list of stations to lose … [Read more...]

Especially when he had to leave the air due to problems with his voice a few years back, radio folks started buzzing about the "replacement strategy" for veteran ABC News Radio commentator Paul Harvey...the iconic broadcaster who's heard on hundreds of stations nationwide, including WTAM/1100 Cleveland, WAKR/1590 Akron, WHBC/1480 Canton, WEOL/930 Elyria and others throughout the state of Ohio.Word's coming out this morning that ABC Radio may be looking to former U.S. Senator and "Law and Order" … [Read more...]

We saw this yesterday on AllAccess, but didn't get a Round Tuit as far as posting:Former WTAM/1100 Cleveland news anchor Craig Edwards has taken over as program director of Salem's Los Angeles-based talkers, KRLA/870 (Los Angeles) and KTIE/590 (Inland Empire).Edwards, who's also worked in Denver and Buffalo, has been the VP/Regional Operations director of Metro Networks' Southern California office. He starts his new gig in March. … [Read more...]

This isn't really local, aside from how it affects Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC/3, but we can't stop laughing about it.In a move expected by everyone who knows how to put the letters "N-B-C" and "N-F-L" together, long-time "Monday Night Football" play-by-play voice Al Michaels will indeed rejoin color commentator and Hall of Famer John Madden on NBC's new "Sunday Night Football" this coming season...getting out of his ABC/ESPN contract, and declining to do the new "MNF" on ESPN.That's not the … [Read more...]

It must be a side effect of winter in Northeast Ohio. For whatever reason, local media seems taken with noting which local notables are the "sexiest (whatever) in Cleveland".We first spotted it in the current issue of Cleveland Magazine, where a cover story promises a look at 20 of the region's "Sexy Singles". Two prominent women in local media were among the notables in that story - WJW FOX 8 evening co-anchor Stacey Bell, and WQAL/104.1 "Q104" afternoon driver Jen Toohey. As far as we can … [Read more...]

Hit 1: A while back, we noted the sale by Xavier University of Cincinnati-based pubcaster WVXU/91.7, and its far flung "X-Star" network of repeaters, to Cincinnati Public Radio's WGUC/90.9. The move turned WVXU into a pretty standard NPR news/talk affiliate to complement WGUC's classical music format. But it also left questions in our mind...if the new WVXU owners would hold onto repeater stations far outside Cincinnati, in particular some up in rural Michigan.That question's starting to be … [Read more...]

Just a couple of notes:* It doesn't really affect Northeast Ohio at all, but that long-rumored Citadel deal with ABC Radio has been officially announced. The transaction basically merges ABC Radio into Citadel, with Disney shareholders retaining 52 percent ownership...and the new radio group will be managed and operated by Citadel.Not included in the deal are the Radio Disney or ESPN Radio networks. That means nothing happens, at least for now, to ABC/Disney's only local media presence, Radio … [Read more...]

Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS/5 is promising to announce a "Super Surprise" during tonight's broadcast of Super Bowl XL (40, for us non-Romans).What is it? Well, we figure they're already unveiling it a little during the pre-game show. The station's been occasionally running a brief graphic titled "Power of 5", which apparently refers to a new doppler radar system of some sort... … [Read more...]