The death of a popular and well-regarded media personality, particularly when it comes in such a sudden way, often feels like a body blow to the rest of the broadcast community. So it has been after Saturday's untimely death of WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron" midday talk show host Howie Chizek of a massive heart attack at the age of 65. Chizek had another range of admirers - those who had no idea he had an Akron talk radio show (let alone for 38 years running, most of those years dominant in … [Read more...]
WNIR Iconic Host Howie Chizek Dead After Heart Attack
Posted on June 16, 2012 · 30 Comments
UPDATE 6/16/12 11:25 PM: WNIR president Bob Klaus tells WEWS "NewsChannel 5": "We have lost a great friend very saddened by it as are thousands of people in Northeast Ohio who spent hours and hours and years and years listening to Howie." --------- MediaCom Akron market talk WNIR/100.1 "The Talk of Akron" midday host Howie Chizek has died, according to station weekend host Bob Earley tonight on the air. Earley says Chizek apparently died of a heart attack on an airplane headed for Florida, … [Read more...]
WLFM-LP…Let There Be Video
Posted on June 13, 2012 · 8 Comments
The most talked about radio station in Cleveland this week is, of course, actually a TV station. And now, Venture Technologies' WLFM-LP 6/"87.7" has turned on the video that comes with, well, having an LPTV station as your base. And thanks to OMW reader Scott Chumley's upload to YouTube, you, too, can watch what's going out over TV channel 6 while the loop of sports theme songs and the Michael Stanley Band hit "My Town" is airing over the audio portion of the signal. [youtube … [Read more...]
Fallout And More
Posted on June 13, 2012 · 2 Comments
UPDATE 6/13/12 7:06 PM: The Asset Purchase Agreement (PDF) for Bernard Radio's WRBP/101.9 Hubbard says that Educational Media Foundation will pay $500,000 for the Youngstown market station... ---------- We had planned this as a "fallout" item after the testing of Venture Technologies' WLFM-LP/6 "87.7" FM Cleveland, but as they say in the news business..."This Just In". WRBP TO EMF: Just under a month ago, Bernard Radio urban WRBP/101.9 Hubbard "JAMZ 101.9" was presented a resolution by the … [Read more...]
A Franken FM Is Born
Posted on June 12, 2012 · 19 Comments
For some time, we've told you to expect a new "radio station" on the FM frequency of 87.7 in Cleveland...dubbed by some industry wags as a "Franken FM", because it is the byproduct of the audio carrier of analog TV channel 6. Tonight, Venture Technologies' WLFM-LP has made that creation a reality. WLFM-LP is most assuredly testing at this point, and the sounds coming out of 87.7 on the FM radio dial are a collection of historic "fight songs" for the city's three professional sports … [Read more...]
Press Release Theatre (Plus), Vol. 2
Posted on June 12, 2012 · 1 Comment
With two brief non-press release notes... First, new Clear Channel hot AC WKDD/98.1 personality Shannon Steele, back in Akron and at the station which started her career, won't be heard in afternoon drive from 2-7 PM. WKDD has moved her to the morning co-host position mysteriously vacated by Jenn Ryan. She'll co-host "Keith and Shannon" with WKDD program director/CC regional operations manager/OMW reader Keith Kennedy. The second item affects mainly an area we don't really cover anymore, but … [Read more...]
It All Happens At Once
Posted on June 7, 2012 · 1 Comment
We paused long enough to take a breath or two, and then, six things happened in the space of a day. And we're sure we missed something... LEON'S REDUCTION: A veteran TV anchorman in Cleveland is moving around his work schedule. Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 "NewsChannel 5" anchor Leon Bibb, who has been anchoring the noon and 6 PM editions of the station's newscasts, is no longer anchoring the 6 PM show as of this week...replaced by Chris Flanagan, the Dallas-Fort Worth anchor the station … [Read more...]
A Nice Pile Of Items
Posted on June 5, 2012 · Leave a Comment
One of our readers commented the other day that they wished "we'd post more often"...but of course, life continues to intervene, and off-blog business is keeping us very busy...dealing with both extreme highs and lows. But...we're around this afternoon, so here goes... THE R WORD WATCH: When you're 80 years old and have been doing weather on TV for 50 years, it's no surprise that there's speculation on your eventual retirement. But for now, we have no information on when Local TV LLC Fox … [Read more...]
The Awards Post
Posted on June 5, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Local TV and radio broadcasters spent a lot of time in Indianapolis and Columbus this past weekend, picking up awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Great Lakes Chapler (the local Emmy awards), and the Ohio Associated Press Broadcasters. Here are the winners for stations and organizations within the OMW primary coverage area. Of course, a number of operations did not enter nominations... ----------- EMMY AWARDS (Only categories with Northeast Ohio winners are … [Read more...]
Heading Into A Grab Bag
Posted on May 30, 2012 · 1 Comment
As we head into June, which has the potential to be a very busy month for us (both good and bad), let's let out some more items. We may be a bit scarce for a while, again, due to Life Intervening(tm), but we'll be around from time to time... WHAT COMES UP, EVENTUALLY COMES DOWN: We spent a lot of time with the digital TV transition back in 2009, both here and on our other blog, Ohio Digital TV. One major change on the TV landscape in Northeast Ohio was the occupant of RF channel 17. Channel … [Read more...]
