Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 "NewsChannel 5" has announced the final piece of the new "Good Morning Cleveland" puzzle. From a station press release, which also mentions the hire of MMJ Josh Boose that we reported earlier: ----------- WEWS NewsChannel5 welcomes anchor Mike Dunston to Good Morning Cleveland. Dunston will join new anchor hire Macie McInnis Jepson, Meteorologist Christine Ferreira, Traffic Anchor/Reporter Alicia Roberts and new multimedia journalist hire Josh Boose. "I'm … [Read more...]
The Monday Collection
Some of this you've already read before, of course, but it's official... SLATS TO WNCX: In a previous item, we told you that former Cleveland market radio veteran Tim Slats was heading back to town for a big gig...morning driver at CBS Radio classic rocker WNCX/98.5. On Friday, we found a familiar sight in our mailbox...official confirmation that Slats would start in morning drive on WNCX (as we reported) today, Monday, November 7th. And from that official release out of the Halle Building, … [Read more...]
The All Ones Update
That's because today is November 1, 2011, otherwise known as "11/1/11". Some TV changes are up first, with radio not far behind... WHERE'S AMANDA? WHERE'S AJ?: The big movement among local TV newsrooms this week involves weekend weather forecasters. First, we'll start with brand new forecaster Amanda Jahn, who moved to Cleveland from Phoenix to join OMW reader Mark Zinni on the recently launched weekend morning editions of Local TV LLC Fox affiliate WJW/8's "Fox 8 News". You might recall the … [Read more...]
Clear Channel Layoffs Post
Those watching the trade sites aren't surprised: An estimated 150 to "many hundreds" of Clear Channel employees nationwide are being told today that their services aren't necessary. This post, affecting Northeast Ohio's Clear Channel stations, will be a running list as we update it. All Access and other sites have been tracking those laid off in some other Ohio markets, like Dayton. The so-called "Reduction in Force" is affecting mainly Clear Channel's medium and smaller … [Read more...]
Comings And Goings, Late October Edition
OMW once again becomes Grand Central Station, Media Hub... 3001 EUCLID, INCOMING: Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 "NewsChannel 5" has two incoming newsies, and one is a familiar local TV name from the past. The station has already announced the arrival of Macie McInnis Jepson as one of two new "Good Morning Cleveland" co-anchors, the other to be named later. And yes, she is a name you'd recognize if you watched local TV news in the 1990s, says the station's announcement: Northeast Ohioans will … [Read more...]
The Sports Radio Imaging Battle
Our extensive coverage of "The Sports Radio Battle" in Cleveland, between Good Karma's "ESPN 850 WKNR" and CBS Radio's "92.3 The Fan", got noticed by someone well-qualified to talk about the respective stations' sound. And we mean "sound"...as in "overall station sound". After all, Ken Dardis of Cleveland's Audio Graphics, Inc. was directly responsible for WKNR's first "sound" in the 1990s, when he was the sports station's first creative/production director. Ken adds a much less important … [Read more...]
The Monday Followup
As usual when big news comes out, there's a followup that comes a little later... BIG SHOES: To say that the next afternoon driver at Clear Channel Cleveland country WGAR/99.5 has "big shoes to fill" is probably our understatement of the year. But the station has begun the daunting process of filling the afternoon drive time slot left open by one of the biggest tragedies in local radio history - the passing of Chuck Collier. All Access reports that Clear Channel Cleveland OM Keith Abrams (Hi, … [Read more...]
THIS JUST IN: WNWV/107.3 Sold To Rubber City Radio
The rumors have been bouncing all over Northeast Ohio radio for some time, and have intensified this week, but it's now official - with confirmation coming from the website of the co-owned newspaper to Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting AAA WNWV/107.3 Elyria "V107.3". ELB announced today that it is selling WNWV to Rubber City Radio Group, which owns Akron market stations oldies/news WAKR/1590, rock WONE/97.5 and country WQMX/94.9. From ELB's sister paper, the Chronicle-Telegram: The agreement still … [Read more...]
THIS JUST IN: WJW/8 Likely Headed To UHF Soon
If you're an over-air TV viewer tired of not being able to receive Fox programming or local news from Local TV LLC WJW/8 Cleveland's "Fox 8 News", here is some GOOD news. Your long, regional TV nightmare is nearly over. That's because the FCC has weighed in on WJW's request to move its over-air signal from RF channel 8, to its pre-transition UHF channel of 31...off the trouble-plagued VHF band. In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) released Tuesday, the agency says it is in favor of the … [Read more...]
Blog Housekeeping
UPDATE: Our review has found that the original information behind the entry is not as solid as we thought it was, so we've pulled the item for good. At this point, we consider it to be inaccurate. Our apologies to readers, and to any radio trade sites which may have picked up the item originally. A note: Our earlier item about Clear Channel classic hits WMJI/105.7 morning host John Lanigan's contract has been pulled "off stage" pending internal review. … [Read more...]