Ohio Media Watch

There's a reason we kept mentioning the name of former WNIR/100.1 afternoon drive legend Joe Finan, who retired from the Akron market talker one year and change ago.He'll be back on the air.Clear Channel liberal talk WARF/1350 "Radio Free Ohio" will air a new midday program hosted by Finan starting in February. The new gig for Finan was announced officially by the station this afternoon, and WARF has already started hinting at his return on their website. Like the station's first pre-launch … [Read more...]

Our condolences to Cleveland community activist Art McKoy, host of the Sunday night talk show "Black on Black Crime" on Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100.McKoy had notified police and the media that his 36 year-old daughter Denise had been missing since January 16th. She was found dead in her Cleveland Heights apartment complex on Thursday night, according to an article in this morning's Plain Dealer. Police say Denise's body was found with a gunshot wound to the head, just after McKoy held a vigil … [Read more...]

Thanks to Lance Venta at Radio-Info, we're now a direct link on the left side of R-I's Cleveland board.Now, as has been noted, it's not likely many readers of that board aren't familiar with the MBoF(tm) ("Mighty Blog of Fun[tm]", as we occasionally call this thing). OMW basically sprung from long-time contributions to that board by your Primary Editorial Voice.But in case you've missed the numerous plugs and the signature file that leads you here...welcome!It's kind of a quiet period in local … [Read more...]

It's the Day After...and the fallout from the announcement of the new "CW Network" is beginning to be seen in Cleveland.The new network, which will combine programming and resources of the folding UPN and WB networks at its September launch, caught everyone in the normally-leaky TV business by surprise. And we mean EVERYONE.Both WUAB/43 ("UPN 43") general manager Bill Applegate and WBNX/55 ("Cleveland's WB") general manager Lou Spangler found out the same way everyone else did...from media … [Read more...]

* The Plain Dealer's full-article treatment on Ronnie Duncan's new morning radio gig is in today's paper, and surprise, it's written by radio-TV writer Julie Washington and not "Friend of Ronnie" Roger Brown (who's been absent from the PD's pages recently). We were surprised, as calling Cavaliers PA announcer Duncan "the voice of the Cavaliers" - a title usually applied to radio legend Joe Tait - sounded like a Brown-ism.As it turns out, there were some 30 people auditioning for the new morning … [Read more...]

It's tough being the fifth and sixth broadcast television network in the U.S., so after September, there's going to be one less over-air network.CBS-owned UPN and the Time Warner (Warner Brothers)-owned WB Network will be merging by the start of coming fall TV season. The new network will be known as "The CW Network". An official press release says it'll air in many major markets on CBS' UPN owned-and-operated stations and Tribune's O&O WB stations, with Tribune hosting the network in the … [Read more...]

Don Keyes, who made his mark as a national programmer for legendary station owner Gordon McLendon (KLIF/Dallas, etc.), died today...according to his own website.The site says Keyes died "from medical complications following a heroic struggle".The local connection? Keyes left McLendon after buying WNYN/900 and WNYN-FM/106.9 in Canton in the mid-60's. The stations are now talk/religious WCER and rocker WRQK. After he sold the two stations to separate owners, he bought another station in … [Read more...]

(Thanks to OMW tipster and Radio-Info Cleveland board regular Nathan Obral for the pickup.)The Cleveland Plain Dealer's website reports this afternoon that veteran local sports voice Ronnie Duncan will helm the new local morning talk show on Radio One urban talker WERE/1300 Cleveland. Duncan will be the local component in a new talk format aimed at African-American listeners, which will feature names such as Rev. Al Sharpton on the national end of things.The former WOIO/19-WUAB/43 sports anchor … [Read more...]

Just a couple of items to pick up:* As first reported on OMW, Canton market CHR WZKL/92.5 "Q92" officially anoints night jock DeLuca as its morning drive host, starting a week from today. AllAccess reports that part-timer Igor - who may well be reading this item - will at least temporarily fill the night slot when DeLuca starts his early wake up call...* We now have a name for the early afternoon talk show in Radio One's urban talk radio lineup, which debuts on the company's WERE/1300 Cleveland … [Read more...]

Yet another "ABC Radio is about to sell its stations" report, though this one seems closer to actually happening.The New York Times business section reports that Disney may be near a nearly $3 billion deal to sell off its owned and operated radio stations to Citadel, the nation's 5th largest group owner. (Free NYTimes.com registration is required to access the full story.)Despite wording in the article, it's never really been clear if ABC intends on selling its other radio assets, including its … [Read more...]