We have some big updates from the fringes of the OMW coverage area, but let's start in Cleveland first... THE MOSSMAN AND REBECCA SHOW?: We didn't see it, so we don't know what Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8" is calling the temporary replacement for "The Robin Swoboda Show", taking the 10 AM weekday time slot after the sudden departure of that show's namesake host on Friday. But we're told that indeed, Fox 8 entertainment reporter David "Mossman" Moss was in the former "RS" studio … [Read more...]
Other Early January Stuff
Posted on January 7, 2011 · 8 Comments
UPDATE 1/7/11 12:30 PM: There's one additional item we forgot to add, later in this update. If you've already read this, scroll down... ---------- Let's run through some other items not involving a homeless former Ohio radio personality appearing on major network TV shows... RICK'S GONE: Long-time local traffic reporter Rick Abell is apparently gone from his perch at Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19's "19 Action News". Readers have been asking about his absence since the start of this … [Read more...]
The Year Starter
Posted on January 5, 2011 · 6 Comments
UPDATE 1/5/11 11:13 AM: An update on "The Homeless Radio Voice Guy": With Ted Williams' story going national, he's appeared on national morning TV (NBC's "Today" and CBS' "Early Show", among others), and has gotten job offers from diverse places like MTV and the Cleveland Cavaliers. (They want him for voice work, not to play power forward.) RTDNA's website cites a "Mail Online" report that Williams once "worked overnight shifts" for WVKO/1580 Columbus, in its days as an urban music station. … [Read more...]
Closing Out The Week And Year
Posted on December 17, 2010 · 3 Comments
After this, OMW will go on official Holiday Hiatus, with a return scheduled for January 3, 2011. As per usual, we'll try to get any major media news mentioned here, either on the blog itself or via our Twitter feed. You can see our Twitter feed on the right hand side of the blog, even if you don't "do" Twitter...and the items will also appear on our Facebook page... 4:30 NEWS: The trend of early TV news getting earlier isn't going away with the new year. Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 enters … [Read more...]
Digging Out
Posted on December 14, 2010 · 3 Comments
UPDATE 12/14/10 1:11 PM: We've added a new second item...scroll down... ---------- Pardon us while we put the shovel aside. After all, we've been dealing with yet another Northeast Ohio snowstorm... FROM TWO TO NONE: The older-skewing Youngstown market has long had two standards outlets - Clear Channel's WNIO/1390 Youngstown, and Cumulus' WSOM/600 Salem. It is about to have zero standards outlets, as WSOM has ditched the standards music for talk as "NewsTalk 600". "NewsTalk 600" features a … [Read more...]
No Theme Anymore
Posted on December 10, 2010 · Leave a Comment
We were going to have a "theme week" item, with three things all related in some way, and then...a whole bunch of other media news popped up... THE FCC SAID THAT: Long-time listeners to Good Karma sports WKNR/850 "ESPN 850" midday fixture "The Really Big Show" know it well...the infamous "Who Said That?" contest. For those who don't follow the antics of Tony Rizzo, Aaron Goldhammer and company: the contest, which ran until it finally ran out of gas last year, asked listeners to identify a … [Read more...]
TV, Radio And Other Stuff
Posted on December 1, 2010 · 4 Comments
We guess you could say that items have been piling up again. But we have another full menu for you this late Tuesday evening, and it's chock full of TV, radio and other stuff... NOT THE HELP THEY WERE LOOKING FOR: A recent FCC filing is bound to disappoint some over-air TV viewers in the immediate Akron/Canton area. OMW uncovered two recent filings by signal-challenged Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 "Fox 8", to add low-power digital translators to improve the station's reception in some … [Read more...]
The Big Update
Posted on November 23, 2010 · 3 Comments
"We're slipping," as a reader said. Just days after our big return, your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) became scarce, and we did not invoke our Secondary Editorial Voice(tm), though we notice he was busy with some items "off stage". So, it's a Thanksgiving feast of items, some of them courtesy of our second... EARLY CAST: Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 is joining a growing trend in local TV news across the country - pre-5 AM newscasts. GM Sam Rosenwasser notes, in a memo that floated out of … [Read more...]
A Week’s Worth Of Stuff
Posted on November 9, 2010 · 1 Comment
We've been hanging onto most of this, but one just happened today... HO, HO, HELLO: There have already been early Christmas music flips, even though Thanksgiving is still a few weeks off. Cleveland got on the Holiday Music Sleigh Ride today. And the first entrant in the sweepstakes isn't a traditional Christmas music convert...with Clear Channel hot AC WMVX/106.5 "Mix 106.5" jumping into Radio Jingle Bells sometime today. (We'll assume it happened shortly after the "Valentine in the … [Read more...]
Remembering “Tall Ted” Hallaman
Posted on October 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Veteran radio announcer Ted Hallaman has passed away at the age of 83. A native of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, "Tall Ted" (so nicknamed because of his 6"1' stature) originally was a newspaper writer, contributing for The Ambridge Daily Citizen, and then for The Beaver Valley Times in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He first entered radio in 1949 while as a journalism major at Duquesne University, answering a casting call for then-upstart radio station WDUQ/90.5 Pittsburgh. After working in the … [Read more...]
