Ohio Media Watch

Lose power and stay away from the keyboard for a couple of days...and what else can you miss?The Plain Dealer's Julie Washington reports that ABC affiliate WEWS/5 morning co-anchor Adam Shapiro is leaving the station, is headed out of Cleveland and is moving to New York. Apparently, he doesn't have a gig in NYC at this time, and is just moving because he's wanted to live there for a long time...near family members in the area, for one reason.Shapiro exits "Good Morning Cleveland" on June 2nd, … [Read more...]

And another update to an earlier item - Detroit's WDTW/106.7 is not flipping from classic hits/rock "The Drive" to a FM news/talk format, one format that had been earlier considered one possibility for the station by industry observers.No, "106.7 Needs Help", it now says, with names for a new country music format. So, Detroit doesn't go on the list in our watch of FM stations flipping to news/talk or sports formats, at least not now.Unless, of course, they're "double stunting" with a temporary … [Read more...]

Our apologies for being gone for a day or two here at OMW. Not only are we busy enjoying weekend activities with some out-of-town friends who are in Northeast Ohio through tomorrow, but the palatial OMW World Headquarters was without power for the better part of Friday night into Saturday morning! And only the OMW World Headquarters, and about 34 other unlucky neighboring souls. All's back to normal, now.UPDATE LEVEL 1: A clarification to our earlier item, suggesting that Cleveland market … [Read more...]

The CW Network, which premieres in September on many former WB and UPN affiliates, has unveiled its premiere lineup at a new website, complete with video of the network's opening promo.Meanwhile, OMW hears that WBNX/55 Akron, the Cleveland market WB affiliate that's moving to The CW in the fall, may NOT have its digital signal up in time for the fall CW season's high-definition programming.OMW reported earlier that WBNX had finally received a construction permit for WBNX-DT 30, which has been … [Read more...]

Just a few odds and ends from various parts of the state and beyond:STACK ITEM #1: You normally don't look to TV "up front" presentations for radio news, but that's what happened Wednesday. CBS head honcho Les Moonves tipped at the network's presentation to advertisers that the company's looking to sell off 35 "small market" radio stations.It's not the first time the company's said that. It's not even the second time. And we don't have any indication, at least in the above-linked article from … [Read more...]

In our continuing series highlighting moves to put talk, news/talk and sports formats on FM across the country...is Detroit next?AllAccess reports that Clear Channel Detroit classic rock/hits station WDTW/106.7 "The Drive" has pulled the plug on its eclectic format, and is stunting with "everything from Garth Brooks to Barry Manilow".Detroit TV news legend Bill Bonds is reported to be voicing the stunting, directing listeners to make requests at "www.1067needshelp.com", and is inviting them to … [Read more...]

After suffering a stroke during one of his weekend weather segments in March, NBC affiliate WFMJ/21 Youngstown meteorologist Mark Koontz will be back on the air this Saturday evening.The Youngstown Vindicator reports that Koontz got hugs and handshakes from WFMJ co-workers, when he returned to visit the station on Tuesday. Koontz had trouble coming up with the right words when he had the stroke on March 17th, and needed help from weekend anchor Jennifer Baligush to finish his weather report. … [Read more...]

ITEM 1: That was indeed Ron "The Ghoul" Sweed we heard plucking Froggy's magic twanger this morning on CBS Radio Cleveland classic rocker WNCX/98.5, as the station continues its search for a new morning show.The Plain Dealer's Julie Washington updates that search, noting the laundry list of mostly veteran local radio personalities filling in the time slot once occupied by Howard Stern, and most recently, the David Lee Flop show. Er...Roth, sorry.When CBS Radio Cleveland decided not to pit … [Read more...]

In a late March item, OMW actually foresaw this possible outcome for Greg Phipps' UPN LPTVer, WLQP-LP/18.The Lima News reports that come September 1st, "UPN 18" will become..."ABC 18". Apparently, Phipps has been trying to land approval for an ABC affiiation in Lima for some time. We're not sure why it didn't happen until now...perhaps ABC's own O&O affiliate up in Toledo, WTVG/13, stood in the way. (We seem to remember, last time we were in Lima, that WTVG had local cable carriage … [Read more...]

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...]