Time Warner Cable/WKYC's "Akron/Canton News" is moving its second daily broadcast.Akron Beacon Journal TV columnist R.D. Heldenfels reports that the 9 PM local news program produced for TWC by the Cleveland NBC affiliate moves to 10 PM starting on Monday. That's the original late slot once occupied by the show when it was "PAX 23 News", over air on WVPX/23. The 6:30 PM edition of "Akron/Canton News" doesn't move.WKYC news VP Dick Moore calls the new/old later time a "better fit" for news … [Read more...]

Those old days where the living room TV or the small set in the bedroom was the only place to consume TV content are rapidly disappearing. And some new things are emerging in the race for TV's future.OMW's latest obsession is costing us something on the order of $25 a year. It's CNN's "Pipeline" service, TV news web video on super steroids. The biggest feature in our news junkie eyes? Live "raw" video and lots of it. From the menu we found when checking in at about 9 this morning - a … [Read more...]

The future direction of CBS Radio Cleveland alt-rocker WXRK/92.3, once known as WXTM "Xtreme Radio", has been announced.WXRK programmer Kim Monroe checks in with the folks at FMQB, and says the station will officially unveil the on-air name "92.3 K-Rock" on January 17th, with a return of the existing airstaff. As far as the music is concerned, Monroe tells FMQB that listeners can expect to hear...well, pretty much everything they're playing now. Since the first of the year, 92.3 has been … [Read more...]

You could call it "from Cleveland to the world". Well, OK, maybe from Cleveland, to Chicago, to a handful of other midwestern cities...as long-time morning doggie Shane (Rover) French has expanded his empire this week as one of three major replacements for now-former CBS Radio morning star Howard Stern.Though Rover's antics may be old hat to those of us in Northeast Ohio, he's new to big markets like Detroit and Chicago. And some of the early reviews are already in. Writer Susan Whitall in … [Read more...]

Maybe it was a dream.But why is a local broadcast legend's name back in our thoughts?Did the act of looking over at our copy of the CDs of his final show on Media-Com Akron talker WNIR/100.1 bring Joe Finan's name back to us...or was it...something else that got us thinking about the veteran talk host, who ruled afternoon drive on WNIR for nearly 20 years?Hmmm. OMW will have to look into this one... … [Read more...]

We haven't been able to confirm it, but message board chatter suggests that Metro Networks sports anchor Ryan McNaughton is leaving Cleveland, headed for a TV job in Syracuse. McNaughton has been heard weekday afternoons doing sports news updates on Salem sportstalk WKNR/850, and has also provided updates to Metro client WING/1410 ("ESPN 1410") in the Dayton market.We'll leave it to others to make comments about the Cleveland market's only all-sports station not actually employing drive-time … [Read more...]

Updating the items immediately below...* OMW hears that WEOL/Elyria news anchor Larry Wright continues in his position anchoring the station's long-form noon newscast and afternoon newscasts. His "5 O'Clock World" show was bumped by the addition of ABC Radio's Sean Hannity this week. An afternoon sports update by veteran sportscaster Jim Allen will be heard during a local break in the first half-hour of Hannity's show. And ABC's Paul Harvey is likely to be heard on WEOL during Hannity's show … [Read more...]

As we launch into 2006's first full radio business day:* Former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth debuted in Howard Stern's rather large shoes, on a number of large market east coast former Stern affiliates...including CBS classic rocker WNCX/98.5 in Cleveland. We haven't heard his first show yet, but we set up our equipment to record roughly his first hour. We hear from the good folks at AllAccess that among Roth's first guests this morning was his uncle Manny, talking about the "old days of … [Read more...]

UPDATE 1/2/06 5:35 PM - The FCC Call Sign Request database now shows the WXRK(FM) calls attached to 92.3/Cleveland Heights, the former WXTM(FM).SUBURBAN WASHINGTON, DC -- From the OMW "Since We've Been Invoked Dept.:"Sure enough, there's yet another sign that our absence from the Northeast Ohio region fuels major changes in local media (and apparently sports, as we mention below).The sophisticated OMW Remote Monitoring System has a little trouble with the station apparently once known as "923X", … [Read more...]

Just a couple of items to close out the new year...* Regular readers of this Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) know that we always give you a heads up when we leave town, as big things tend to happen in local media when we're out of town. We didn't know our power extended to the world of local sports.It's been a wild ride today for local TV and radio sportscasters, upon word from ESPN's Chris Mortenson that the Cleveland Browns were going to fire VP/GM Phil Savage. The news even pulled WTAM afternoon … [Read more...]