Heading Into A Grab Bag

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 17 had long been occupied, analog style, by the Canton-licensed facility that ended up becoming religious outlet WDLI, owned and operated by religious broadcasting giant Trinity Broadcasting Network out of Santa Ana CA…and operating out of a large studio building along U.S. Route 62 in the eastern Canton suburb of Louisville.

But WDLI built its digital facility closer to the center of the market, in the Akron FM/TV antenna farm near Rolling Acres Mall. First, a pre-transition facility on RF channel 39, then taking over RF channel 49 when Western Reserve PBS’ WEAO/49 (just down the road) stayed on pre-transition 50 and took analog 49 dark.

Since the 2009 digital transition, that old WDLI analog tower has been sitting out there on U.S. 62…until recently.

OMW readers were there when the former WDLI tower met the ground in a controlled drop last week.

Friend of OMW Geoff Mears, afternoon news anchor at D.A. Peterson soft AC WDPN/1310 Alliance, sent along this picture, and tells us the former WDLI/WJAN studios next to the felled tower in Louisville are tabbed for a major remodel as an expanded audio/TV production house.

Those who grew up within range of the analog 17 signal remember it first as local independent station WJAN-TV aimed at Canton, before its time as a religious outlet under PTL’s Jim Bakker, David Livingstone (where the current calls come from), and the current ownership of TBN.

Digital TV being what it is, the station still appears on digital tuners as channel 17. The original RF channel 17 gave Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 in Cleveland an opening for a much more robust digital signal…and of course, digital tuners still show WKYC as channel 3, WEAO as channel 49, etc., but you know the drill if you read OMW at all…

STUDIO 0: We’ve been getting tips that it looks like Local TV LLC Fox affiliate WJW/8′s “Fox 8 News” has abandoned its “Studio 8″ Akron bureau space in the food court of Fairlawn’s Summit Mall.

We don’t know why yet, but OMW hears that “Studio 8″ is indeed being abandoned by the folks on Dick Goddard Way.

“Fox 8 News” will obviously continue to cover Akron/Canton news, but we don’t know yet if they’re looking for new space in the Akron area, or if they’ll do the I-77 Shuffle between Cleveland and Akron/Canton.

Of the four local news operations in the Cleveland TV market, only Raycom CBS affiliate WOIO/19-MyNet affiliate WUAB/43′s “19 Action News” doesn’t have Akron area space. WKYC/3 is based out of the United Building on the corner of Main and Market in Akron (former home of “Akron/Canton News”, now shared with Western Reserve PBS and Kent State University’s WKSU/89.7), and WEWS/5 has its Akron bureau in the Akron Beacon Journal building…

99X THOUGHTS: Radio listeners are discovering that if you’re far from Parma, especially to the east or west, picking up Clear Channel alt-rock “99X” on 250 watt translator W256BT/99.1 Cleveland is quite a challenge.

We surely expected complaints from folks in Westlake, Mentor and Fairlawn, where the signal disappeared for us in the heart of the Montrose commercial area. And one listener has trouble picking up “99X” in Strongsville.

To the west, especially, perhaps its tropospheric propagation (“trop”) carrying on-channel BAS Broadcasting AC WFRO/99.1 Fremont “Eagle 99″ a bit further afield to the east.

But it looks like those 250 watts are also having some trouble getting into downtown Cleveland, perhaps due to those big buildings.

It reminds us of the signal problems Clear Channel sister hot AC WKDD had in the 2001 frequency swap, when it moved from its long-time home at 96.5/Akron to the former WTOF-FM/98.1 Canton stick in eastern Stark County.

At the time, WKDD promoted 98.1 as “the most powerful signal in Ohio!” or something like that.

But the former WTOF-FM’s reach was primarily due to its antenna height, not its base power, and anyone who knows FM signals will tell you that the signal for such a station is “a mile wide, but a foot deep”.

That prompted Clear Channel to quickly move 98.1 to Hartville – closer to Akron. It eventually landed at the former tower site of its original frequency, 96.5, in the former Northampton Township, after a city of license change to the Akron suburb of Munroe Falls.

For the record, long-time personal and professional friend Scott Fybush of NorthEast Radio Watch (go, subscribe, it’s worth every penny!) caught a recent Cleveland Indians game at Progressive Field, and reports that he had mixed “99X” reception results in section 555 with two radios – one, a CCrane “Witness”, showed no sign of picking up 99.1, and the other, an Insignia HD Radio portable, picked it up with a listenable signal. (Of course, that second receiver can also get the “99X” feed on WMMS/100.7′s HD2 sidechannel.)

It should be noted that section 555 is actually blocked from Parma by…the structure of Progressive Field.

It is no surprise that the signal “is what it is”, as a station rep has said on Facebook, and that the station heavily promotes 99X’s feed on iHeartRadio.

But smartphone-wise, at least in the Android version of iHeartRadio, “99X” is buried at the bottom of the listings, well under all of its on-air siblings, and all of the other “Featured” iHeartRadio feeds, including “The Alternative Project”…with an identical playlist to the local alt-rock outlet.

We assume it’s the same on the iOS/iPhone/etc. version of iHeartRadio, as we believe the platforms have feature parity now…

RATINGS TALK: Long-time OMW readers know that we basically don’t report either radio or TV ratings.

The reasons are many: among them, there are only certain numbers we can even report, and they may or may not reflect reality – like the Arbitron “beauty pageant” radio numbers of all listeners 6-plus (12-plus in diary markets).

Thanks to a change at the leading radio ratings service, even that “beauty pageant” is now missing some contestants.

Beginning with the most recent ratings released to the media and the public, Arbitron is only listing stations that subscribe to its service. The stations that aren’t subscribers? They’ve vanished from the reports like they were not even on the air.

Perhaps the best example of the vagaries of the new system comes with the recent Akron ratings. We’ll quote the excellent “Taylor on Radio-Info” E-mail newsletter put out by Radio-Info.com columnist Tom Taylor:

Of the two major local owners, Rubber City Radio is subscribing to the trends, and Media-Com’s not. Rubber City Radio’s country WQMX goes 8.3-7.7. Its rock WONE-FM dips 4.3-3.8. But we’re not able to see Media-Com’s talk WNIR, a 5.6 share in the Winter book. Clear Channel’s hot AC WKDD is a consistent 3.8-3.6. But we’re not seeing any of the normally high-scoring Clear Channel stations from Cleveland like classic hits WMJI (a 6.5 last Fall).

It could be worse…Taylor reports that the entire Knoxville market has no public ratings.

This makes figuring out ratings winners and losers, at least in the “beauty contest”, difficult. And yes, we’ve been given private numbers by various people in the industry, but won’t publish those.

We can’t afford the legal bill from Dewey, Cheatum and Howe, after all. Frankly, we’re not even sure we’re allowed to reprint the numbers we did here. And generally, sources will give us a slice of the numbers that make their own station or cluster look good.

We CAN determine something that is also evident – Arbiton’s “subscriber only” policy means that only stations that subscribe to THAT MARKET’S REPORT are listed.

For example, the stations based at Oak Tree, in Clear Channel’s big Cleveland cluster, have no need to separately subscribe to Arbitron’s Akron market report…since the numbers are already available within the company at Freedom Avenue’s Akron/Canton operation.

Ditto, if Freedom Avenue wants to see how their stations are doing in Cleveland.

But…the clusters generally only sell based on local numbers, anyway. Ask talk WTAM/1100 afternoon mouth Mike Trivisonno about “not getting credit” for his Akron market numbers…he’ll go on about it for an hour.

We also don’t know if some stations are subscribing only to certain Arbitron reports, or if they’ll show up in the reports where they subscribe.

We’re also not surprised to see that the thrifty Media-Com doesn’t subscribe in the Akron market.

TV-wise, at least one station has sent us an official release on improved ratings, but we’re not sure we’ll print it unless we get similar releases from the other three major local stations with news operations…

Weekend Cleanup

With such a busy week, even the weekend provides us with the opportunity to clean up news from the remainder of the week…

NOLAN RADIO AND THEN SOME: We were mostly playing around last week when we were speculating about the radio future of now-former Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 morning news co-anchor Mark Nolan.

Though that speculation intersected with changes at CBS Radio AC WDOK/102.1, now known as “New 102″, it turns out Mark’s return to radio will take place at a different location – not at One Radio Lane, but at 6200 Oak Tree Boulevard.

News started getting out Friday when Clear Channel Cleveland staffers openly congratulated Nolan on Twitter for an unspecified gig in that Independence building… and it didn’t take long for us to uncover what that gig will be.

Mark Nolan takes over the midday shift (10 AM-2 PM) at Clear Channel classic hits WMJI/105.7 “Majic 105.7″, starting February 6th.

Though the outside press release wasn’t due until next week, our friends at Oak Tree recognized the Cat Was Out Of The Bag (between us and a note from the folks at Cleveland Magazine), and issued that release on Friday.

And it reminds readers that despite a long tenure as a weather forecaster and news anchor at WKYC, Nolan has not at all been a stranger to radio:

He has been guest hosting on the station since 1995 and for nearly seven years Nolan’s weather forecasts were broadcasted during the Lanigan & Malone Morning Show. He has worked in a variety of positions, both on-air and in production, with roles throughout Ohio at WNIR and WKDD in Akron and WZKL in Canton. Nolan also spent 18 years on-air at NBC Affiliate WKYC TV. He is a Cleveland native and a graduate of Kent State University.

Nolan will replace Chuck Collier, Cleveland radio legend, who unexpectedly passed away on September 22, 2011. Collier spent nearly 40 years on-air in Cleveland as part of sister station, WGAR, and WMJI since 2005.

“I’m looking forward to sharing ‘Cleveland’s Greatest Hits’ with Northeast Ohio on a daily basis,” said Nolan. “I have a passion for radio and I am honored to join such a great heritage station in my hometown.”

Of course, that part about replacing Chuck Collier needs an asterisk, as the midday shift on WMJI was actually a second voicetracking job to Chuck’s main role as afternoon driver at country WGAR/99.5.

And in that role, Oak Tree has also announced that fill-in Shotgun Taylor will take WGAR’s afternoon drive slot, and will be permanently heard 2-7 PM weekdays.

Another asterisk here, of course, as “Shotgun Taylor” (as even readers of the Cleveland Plain Dealer now know) is the on-air persona of WGAR program director Charley Connolly…who started voicetracking the station’s evening show in April 2010.

The station says long-time WGAR voice Kat Jackson will be now be heard 7 PM to midnight, though it doesn’t say where she’ll be based.

Kat actually worked at WGAR for a number of years, before heading to sister Washington DC market country station WMZQ as its assistant program director/night personality. She left that station in August…

PUPPET JOURNALISM: When we heard that the folks at Reserve Square have been using puppets to re-enact portions of the corruption trial of former Cuyahoga County commissioner Jimmy Dimora, the item almost started writing itself.

Yes, Raycom Media’s Cleveland TV news circus, WOIO/19-WUAB/43′s “19 Action News”, had its newest act. And we’re no stranger to chronicling those acts right here in your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm).

But it’s not quite as simple as that, and “19 Action News” actually has some admirers in the journalistic community for “The Puppet’s Court”…and that’s saying something.

Oh, sure, not everyone’s on board…like associate professor Randy Reeves of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, who tells the Plain Dealer’s John Caniglia:

“It’s entertaining … it’s professionally done, but it’s not news…This is a line I wouldn’t cross. The visual distracts from some pretty serious stuff. Even at the end of the newscast, it’s puppets. I can’t get past that.”

But others make the broader point: in 2012, the federal justice system does not allow cameras or microphones into the courtroom, long after most local jurisdictions have routinely allowed them.

Rubber City Radio VP/information media and long-time OMW reader Ed Esposito makes the point on the website of the Radio-Television Digital News Association:

We should consider the irony that much of the government’s case against Mr. Dimora was built on the same type of technology citizens are denied in seeing justice at work; recorded telephone conversation, video surveillance, the use of computer programs to track transactions and contracts are tools the people’s government (and the defense) have available to present their case. But the tool of the people — the media, through its reporters — cannot use the recordings or actual testimony of those involved because it’s in federal court.

Or as Ed says later:

No free and open society should tolerate someone else pulling the strings otherwise when it comes to the public’s justice system. That is, unless we’re comfortable with the image of Big Bird sending folks to the Big House.

As a local newsie, Esposito is certainly no stranger to the antics at Reserve Square over the years, noting the station’s “aggressive style” in the RTDNA piece.

But he says he has “great respect for the creative vision that uses one of the oldest forms of entertainment (and satire) to not only portray details surrounding one of the biggest public corruption cases to hit Ohio but also make a statement on the federal judiciary’s long-outdated insistence that public understanding of justice is still rooted in the time of Johannes Gutenberg and now the technology employed a thousand years ago by storytellers: puppetry.”

Since it is “19 Action News” we’re talking about here, we’re only surprised that the Puppet Prostitute portrayed in one of the “Puppet Court” segments kept her shirt on…

SPEAKING OF ED: …who’s about to get “Ed’s Corner”, much in the style of another long-time Friend of OMW, WKSU public relations/marketing guru Ann VerWiebe…

Esposito, a veteran Northeast Ohio broadcast journalist, has long had ties with the aforementioned Radio-Television Digital News Association and its educational arm, the Radio-Television Digital News Foundation.

After serving as chairman of both RTDNA and RTDNF, Ed stepped down from direct involvement with the organization…for a while. But he’s back as secretary/treasurer of the RTDNF.

Not that Ed isn’t busy enough, of course, overseeing all news operations for Akron-based Rubber City Radio Group, which owns news/oldies WAKR/1590, rock WONE/97.5 and country WQMX/94.9 in Akron, the news website AkronNewsNow.com, and its latest addition, Cleveland market smooth AC WNWV/107.3 “The Wave”.

The RCRG West Market Street newsroom provides Cleveland news and traffic to “The Wave”, and has recently added its weekly public affairs program “Spectrum” – with a regionally-expanded focus – to the WNWV airwaves.

WNWV itself is temporarily broadcasting from a West Market Street production studio, until making the physical move to a new Independence studio sometime in the spring…

TV CAROUSEL: No, the Carousel of TV Changes hasn’t stopped going around this week.

The latest news on the TV side of things is a word of a new 12 noon co-anchor at Local TV LLC Fox affiliate WJW/8′s “Fox 8 News”.

She’s Jennifer Jordan, a New York City TV market veteran most recently seen on CW network affiliate WPIX/11, who’s also been seen on nearly all the other major New York City news operations over the past 10 years.

The New York Daily News had first word of Jordan’s move to Cleveland, and says she’ll start at “Fox 8 News” on January 30th…

TRY, TRY AGAIN: Clear Channel in Cleveland now has a second construction permit for its attempt to mount an FM translator at 99.1.

Long-time OMW readers know that the translator was given the approval to make the move…first from its Lorain-licensed site (W262BN/100.3) to a temporary turn-it-on-for-one-day location in North Ridgeville (W259BI/99.7), to the eventual permanent home for what will apparently become W256BT, the 250 watt 99.1 faciility on the tower of Clear Channel sister station WMJI.

“Not so fast”, the FCC said after issuing the 99.1 construction permit the first time.

That CP was rescinded with a request for more technical documentation, and last week, the newly revised application got another FCC approval.

Though absolutely no information has even been rumored locally, it appears somewhat likely that Clear Channel intends to add 99.1 as a presence on the FM dial for talk WTAM/1100 (“Newsradio WTAM 1100…now on 99.1 FM!”).

Clear Channel has made a number of similar moves recently in other markets, using FM translators to get heritage AM talkers on the FM band with a second signal.

In other markets, the company has blown up underperforming full-power FM stations to provide new FM homes for AM talk formats (Sacramento’s KFBK is the most recent example)… but that’s not an option in Cleveland…

BYE, BYE, MCFLY: A veteran weekend personality at a local country station is heading south.

But it’s not another radio job that has Rubber City Radio country WQMX/94.9 personality George McFly heading for new vistas in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

George’s wife has accepted a new position there with her company, so Saturday, the WQMX personality said “farewell” to his audience, as he’s heading to Arkansas with his family next week.

McFly has certainly had a high profile at the Akron market country powerhouse, and not just on weekends.

George was a regular fill-in for WQMX’s “Wynn & Wilson in the Morning”, and was often called on to work middays, afternoons and nights during the week.

He also served as the videographer and photographer for station events and concerts, and helped the station launch its social media presence.

George McFly tells OMW:

“I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the Rubber City Radio Group. To have an owner who supports live and local radio is so awesome.

I need to thank Ken Steel for hiring me and Program Director Sue Wilson for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the success of WQMX.

I will miss my WQMX family and the great listeners who have made me a part of their lives for many years.

Our listeners are one-of-a-kind.. it’s great getting calls from listeners to see how my kids are doing, share things about their life or just to say Hi.

I leave here with so many great memories and hope to one day return to the area. Keep it Real & Keep it Country!”

George can be reached via E-mail, Facebook and Twitter. And in his new Arkansas home market of Fort Smith, McFly hopes to continue his career in country music radio…

The Local Media Scorecard

Yes, as a reader asked, this has indeed been one of the busiest periods of change in Northeast Ohio media…and we’ve been covering that particular topic for some six years and change.

“You can’t tell the players without a scorecard,” so the saying goes, so let’s update the Local Media Scorecard as we write this late on Sunday night…

YES, THERE IS A RUSS: Heading off our scorecard is the debut of Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3′s new evening anchor and managing editor Russ Mitchell, whom you might recognize, possibly, from his 20 year tenure at a little operation known as CBS News.

And it was hard for us not to make the direct comparison between Mitchell’s most recent role – as anchor of the weekend editions of “The CBS Evening News” – to his Sunday night debut on “Channel 3 News”.

As we’ve noted before, Sunday nights are important to local TV stations, and you’ll often see the “weekday” anchor team…especially after ratings grabbing events like NBC’s “Golden Globes” coverage this weekend.

There was some national and international news in Russ Mitchell’s Sunday night mix.

After news of a local apartment building fire, the newscast turned to an update on that grounded Italian cruise ship, and late word that Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is expected to announce his departure from the race on Monday.

That provided the perfect segue to a live, on set exchange between Mitchell, a veteran of covering national political news, and WKYC’s Tom Beres, a veteran of covering local political news.

What could be the greater role for Mitchell at 13th and Lakeside is that of managing editor, with direct input at very least into the shape of his own newscasts (6 and 11 PM weeknights), and providing journalistic direction to the entire operation.

With that in mind, here’s audio of an interview with Mitchell – conducted last week by Ed Esposito, VP/information media for Akron’s Rubber City Radio Group…home of oldies/news WAKR/1590, rock WONE/97.5, country WQMX/94.9, and recent Cleveland market addition smooth AC WNWV/107.3 “The Wave”.

Oh, and of course, Ed is a long time reader of your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm).

Esposito’s interview with Mitchell was conducted immediately following his appearance on the WAKR “Ray Horner Morning Show”.

And yes, as seen in this picture provided by Esposito, the newly minted WKYC anchor knows the way to Akron now, as he was there in person.

Here’s Mitchell in WAKR’s West Market Street studio, with “Ray Horner Morning Show” news anchor Lindsay McCoy, and Ed…

OTHER CHANGES: It’s hard to escape some of the other changes in Cleveland TV news this coming week. Some of them were even referenced during Mitchell’s first WKYC newscast on Sunday night.

Take, for example, a story by Erin Kennedy, the station’s new morning co-anchor.

Noting that she’d have more Monday on “Channel 3 News Today”, a promo for the newly revamped morning show appeared not long after…featuring Kennedy, new morning co-anchor Chris Tye, and the rest of the morning show crew.

And then, when WKYC sports director Jim Donovan was finished with his sportscast, it was noted that he begins his new tour of duty as “Channel 3 News at 7″ news co-anchor on Monday. Donovan joked that “I’ll change my first name to James” as a news anchor. As noted earlier, Donovan will also remain as WKYC’s sports director.

With all the changes in January alone, is it any wonder viewers may actually be looking for a Cleveland TV news scorecard?

In addition to all the noted changes at WKYC, Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5′s “NewsChannel 5″ has brought on two new morning co-anchors and an 11 PM co-anchor.

Local TV LLC’s Fox affiliate, WJW/8 “Fox 8 News”, lost its long-time evening co-anchor to a family move, replacing her with its long-time morning co-anchor, and replacing her with the morning show’s traffic reporter/midday show co-host.

And stations have brought on new reporters…er…multimedia journalists.

Isn’t it amazing that Raycom Media’s “19 Action News” (CBS affiliate WOIO/19-MyNetwork TV affiliate WUAB/43) is the model of on-air stability in 2012?

And even Reserve Square has added a new morning traffic reporter.

Ashley Johncola’s the former “Face of Fox Toledo” at WUPW/36 in that market, and her old Toledo station is undergoing changes itself, as LIN TV announced its sale to American Spirit Media recently…an operator that is, according to FCC filings, mounting a “Shared Services Agreement” that will end up turning over news operations to Raycom CBS affiliate WTOL/11.

The Toledo Blade has more.

We generally don’t cover Toledo these days, but it sounds a lot to us like what Youngstown ABC affiliate WYTV/33 went through when it was sold to Parkin Broadcasting, with operations ending up at the Sunset Boulevard studios of New Vision CBS affiliate WKBN/27-Fox affiliate WYFX-now-LD/now-19.

If we have readers at “Fox Toledo”, a quick search on “Parkin” in our archives will give you an idea of the likely future. It’s not a pretty picture, and shows a lot of job losses and consolidation…

YOUNGSTOWN DISH DEAL REACHED: Speaking of the New Vision stations, a last minute deal avoided the removal of WKBN, WYTV and WYFX from Dish Network late Sunday night.

Quoting a story on WKBN.com:

New Vision Television (NVT) and the Dish Network have reached an agreement in principle, averting the removal of WKBN-TV, WYTV, and FOX Youngstown, from the satellite provider’s channel lineup starting Monday.

The item says it’ll be a three year deal.

Of course, with New Vision owning or controlling three out of Youngstown’s four commercial TV stations, the only commercial station left on Dish Network without a deal would have been Vindicator NBC affiliate WFMJ/21… alongside Western Reserve PBS’ Youngstown market outlet, WNEO/45…

AND ONE RADIO NOTE: In Sunday night’s news mix at WKYC was a story by anchor and Akron bureau chief Eric Mansfield.

It’s a story we really should have noted earlier, but it ends up with a happy ending for one Akron radio personality who has literally been unable to do her job after a battle with bronchitis.

That’s because Clear Channel hot AC WKDD/98.1 morning co-host Jenn Ryan has basically had no voice the past few weeks…certainly no voice suited for someone who makes her living talking in front of a microphone.

Eric Mansfield’s story notes that Ryan got vocal cord treatment at the Cleveland Clinic…in effect, literally moving her vocal cords back into place. Coughing during Ryan’s bout with bronchitis apparently dislodged what is very vital for a radio personality.

Mansfield – who recently guest co-hosted on the WKDD morning show with Keith Kennedy – notes that Ryan is expected to be back on the air later this week, assuming she gets the OK from her doctor.

And a note to the headline writer on WKYC.com – we’re pretty sure the Clear Channel facilities on Freedom Avenue aren’t in “Cleveland”…and we know that Eric Mansfield himself very much knows the difference.

In the interview with Ed Esposito, Mitchell notes Mansfield as a good example of the kind of anchor who brings reporting skills to the TV news anchor desk…

Two TV Notes

And from the world of local TV on this Tuesday…

MORNING GLITCH: The world of morning TV news has quickly become a hotly competitive landscape.

From the days where congenial “Today in Cleveland” hosts Tom Haley and Del Donahoo held forth on a folksy kitchen set on Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3, the playing field has turned morning news into a multi-hour, multi-anchor extravaganza at all four local TV news operations.

To say “the stakes are high” in local TV morning news would be an understatement. Two local stations are in the process of retooling those shows, which we reported below.

Today, Local TV LLC Fox affiliate WJW/8 came to that battle…with the syndicated gossip show “TMZ”?

No, the substitution of “TMZ” for the last part of the highly-rated 8 AM hour of “Fox 8 News in the Morning” – an act that’s pretty much the definition of TV station insanity – was not deliberate.

The “Fox 8″ computer systems that run the production of “Fox 8 News in the Morning” failed, and in 2012, you can’t run a complex TV news show without computers in most cases.

While rebooting the ailing system, WJW kept viewers informed about the tech glitch with a prominent, red-colored crawl over “TMZ”, and via Facebook and Twitter from the station’s account and from its morning anchors, notably weather anchor Scott Sabol and news reporter Todd Meany.

That’s a far cry from “WKRP in Cincinnati” news director Les Nessman confidently informing program director Andy Travis that he’d made the station’s off-air status the top story on a newscast no one heard.

We imagine the decision to keep the station on the air with “TMZ” was made at the very last minute, though we’d have gone with a less controversial choice like repeats of “New Day Cleveland” (with co-host Kristi Capel from “Fox 8 News in the Morning”), if possible.

Assured that the computer systems would likely behave, “Fox 8 News in the Morning” resumed at 9 AM. After a glitch or two…the rest of the show went off without a hitch.

Why is this worthy of such treatment here on the Mighty Blog(tm) this morning?

See our opening lines here.

There is a LOT of money attached to morning TV news these days. There’s a reason shows extend from 4:30 AM to as late as 10 AM (for “Fox 8 News”) these days.

As a noted bank robber supposedly said when asked why he robbed banks…”that’s where the money is”.

And while the folks at Dick Goddard Way were crossing their fingers and hoping the computer systems would return to normal, they were hoping that folks wouldn’t find the other morning news options on the TV dial…though channels 3, 5 and 19 were limited in local news updates due to the presence of the network morning shows…

NEOTROPOLIS: Western Reserve PBS’ business-oriented show, “NEOtropolis”, is getting another overhaul.

The show is getting the third host in its three year history, Luke Frazier, and a new time slot, Tuesday nights at 9 PM on the main Western Reserve PBS stations, WNEO/45.1 Alliance and WEAO/49.1 Akron. It’s generally been seen in some combination with the local public affairs roundtable “NewsNite” (nee’ “NewsNight Akron”) on Friday evenings.

According to a Western Reserve PBS press release helpfully provided to us by station OMW Handler Diane Steinert (we’re sure she has a better title than that):

The third season of NEOtropolis has been re-envisioned with a broader content scope, focused on helping Northeast Ohioans make sense of the forces of change that impact our lives. The series will continue to explore the region, but the net is widened.

The show’s focus will be on changes including technology, globalization and diversity.

Host Luke Frazier is, according to the station release, “an award-winning public radio reporter and producer who currently produces and co-hosts Civic Commons Radio, a weekly public affairs program.”

Social media expert Kathleen Colan, who we’re pretty sure is a follower of the OMW Twitter presence, will report on “social media feedback and trends” as part of an expanded social media presence on “NEOtropolis”, which will stream live at not only the show’s website, but on Facebook.

“NEOtropolis” will get an early Saturday repeat at 3:30 PM on 45.1/49.1, and will also air on the Western Reserve Public Media “Fusion” subchannel 45.2/49.2 Thursdays at 10:30 PM. and Saturdays at 5 PM….

Bombshell At One Radio Lane – Alden Out

UPDATE 1/4/12 10:39 AM: The item has been corrected to reflect that Nancy Alden moved back to middays on WDOK in 2009. And a glitch caused by the WordPress mobile client, with much of the item becoming underlined, has been corrected.

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CBS Radio AC WDOK/102.1 Cleveland has had one constant on its schedule over the past 20-plus years…veteran air personality Nancy Alden.

Well, until today.

OMW has confirmed that Alden’s contract with WDOK hasn’t been renewed, and she has exited One Radio Lane as of Tuesday afternoon.

That confirmation of our own is also confirmed by the fact that Alden’s page has been wiped off the WDOK web site.

A visit there reveals the typical radio “Soviet-style purge”, returning the simple message “Page not found – Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.” “Nancy who?”, anyone?

And Alden’s departure could be just the first change at One Radio Lane.

Until her exit today, you’d probably have to think long and hard to remember WDOK without Nancy Alden.

As near as we can piece together, she joined WDOK in 1987 or thereabouts, moving up the schedule from late nights to nights (“The Lady In Red”) to middays, where she spent the bulk of her on-air time at 102.1.

Alden moved to WDOK’s afternoon drive slot in November 2008. (UPDATE: For whatever reason, we missed her swap back to middays in August 2009. Maybe we were on hiatus?)

Alden came to Cleveland as part of the launch staff at WNCX/98.5 when it started as “The North Coast Express”, before a format change to the current classic rock format not long afterwards – when owner Metropolis Broadcasting basically came apart.

Before that, she had a lengthy stint at Akron’s WKDD/then-96.5, now Clear Channel hot AC WKDD/98.1.

And are more changes coming to 102.1?

Well, the space on WDOK’s website normally dedicated to a link to On Air personalities links now to “Feedback”, asking listeners to let the station know “what do you want from your station in 2012″.

From that page:

Our Resolution for 2012 is to be a better station and YOU can help us!

WDOK has been part of your family for a long time. But we want to hear how we get better… We play More Music with a Better Variety. All the music you love. We have never been more committed to you and Cleveland.. Tell us how we can better serve you, our loyal listeners…

The “On Air” link at the bottom of the WDOK webpage is still active, listing “Trapper Jack and The Morning Show” and Desiray McCray, with Alden now also gone from that page.

Notice the mention of “music” in that message, and not one mention of on-air personalities.

Thus, it appears quite likely to us that WDOK will adopt a “more music” presentation, perhaps tweaking that AC music mix and with air personalities, what few there are, largely voicetracked.

We hear Trapper Jack is still under contract for 2012, and we expect him to return (but have not confirmed that), but we’re not at all sure of the composition of the show around him when he comes back.

OMW heard earlier today that WDOK has also dropped the syndicated “Delilah” program in the evening. That show is indeed absent from the WDOK airwaves this Tuesday evening.

Note that tomorrow morning, 102.1 gets a competitor…Rubber City Radio’s WNWV/107.3 “The Wave” will launch its “new generation” format. (UPDATE: Rubber City Radio did a “soft launch” of the new format on Tuesday evening.)

After an automated “Smooth Jazz Christmas”, the station goes “smooth AC”…with more vocals and a more upbeat music selection, which may surprise those who expected the old smooth jazz format to return lock, stock and saxophone.

(The traditional smooth jazz format will remain on WNWV’s HD2 subchannel and online, called “Wave Classics” by the new ownership.)

“Smooth AC” is generally considered to be the evolution of the smooth jazz format, and there are still plenty of saxophones and Kenny G tunes around. Format pioneer KTWV in Los Angeles, which originally licensed “The Wave” to WNWV and other stations back in the day, has also gone in this direction in 2012.

More than one reader has noted that former WDOK programmer Sue Wilson is in the building at West Market Street, as program director and morning drive co-host of Rubber City Radio’s country powerhouse, WQMX/94.9.

And if you’re going any direction of AC in Cleveland, having Sue Wilson already across the hall from 107.3′s temporary home in Akron is not exactly a bad thing…though we have no idea if she has had a role in the new station’s development.

We also note that 107.3′s new contact page lists no program director…midday host Mark Ribbins, a Wave veteran, is assistant program director/music director.

“The Wave” will broadcast from the Akron Radio Center until new studios are completed in Independence later this year.

WNWV starts its new format life with some WDOK veterans on the air, including morning driver Dan Deely and afternoon driver Bobby Thomas. (Deely’s bio notes he lives in Independence, happy for a short commute to the coming 107.3 studios.)

WQMX middayer Lynn Kelly will also handle the 6-midnight shift of “Cleveland After Dark”, presumably helped by the magic of voicetracking. (Or, by doing without sleep.)

Also aboard the new “Wave” is Grace Roberts, who started her career at the station (under Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting ownership, of course), and eventually became a mainstay at Radio One urban AC WZAK/93.1 and gospel WJMO/1300.

Is WDOK gearing up for the competition by making these changes? Make your own guess.

But RadioInsight’s Lance Venta, Internet domain name snoop extraordinare, tells OMW that the domain name “new102.com” was registered last month by a registrar normally used by CBS and other radio companies.

Meanwhile, OMW hears that the other half of CBS’ female-audience division, hot AC WQAL/104.1 “Q104″, could see some changes as well…

The Elephant In The Radio Room

Long-time readers may have noticed that we’ve had almost nothing on one of the biggest changes about to hit Cleveland radio…changes at AAA/adult rock WNWV/107.3 “V107.3″, the Elyria-licensed station that is being sold by Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting to Akron’s Rubber City Radio Group, owners of oldies/news WAKR/1590, rock WONE/97.5 and country WQMX/94.9.

The application to sell the station was approved by the FCC on November 28th, and closing – and a temporary move of the station to RCRG’s Akron Radio Center – should happen soon. A part of the sales agreement is that Rubber City won’t be able to operate 107.3 from its current Elyria home, thus the need to move to Akron until permanent Cleveland area studios are put together.

We have our reasons for not saying much, but most of it is…well, we don’t trust a lot of the information we’ve heard.

In the time since the sale of WNWV was announced, we’ve heard speculation that the station would carry pretty much every format imaginable. We’ve heard just about every format except polka. We’ve heard smooth jazz, smooth AC, soft AC, alt-rock, syndicated talk (!) and even a retooling of the current “V107.3″‘s AAA rock format as possibilities.

The first public item causing stir in the local radio community was this item from Cleveland Scene writer Anastasia Pantsios, entitled “V 107.3 to return to snooze music format”:

In late 2009, Elyria-based WNVW 107.3 FM abandoned its rapidly fading “Wave” format — “smooth” jazz & soft R&B — in favor of something a little more contemporary and upbeat. It became V 107.3, which featured a “Triple A” format— a mix of contemporary and classic rock, with artists like Steely Dan and John Fogerty getting airtime alongside newer acts like the Black Keys, Snow Patrol, and Clevelander Kate Voegele.

But after two years in which the uneven, mismanaged and under-resourced V107.3 failed to catch fire, the station will return to the world of smooth contemporary sounds. Dave Koz, Yanni, and Lionel Richie fans can rejoice when they wake up from their naps. For most Northeast Ohioans, the station might as well be going off the air, as “smooth” anything has bled followers across the country. Only about two dozen stations nationally still feature this soporific format.

For out-of-towners, Scene is Cleveland’s “alternative weekly” tabloid newspaper, and the ratio of rock music fans vs. smooth jazz/AC fans in its readership is probably 50,000 to one.

Pantsios’ article spells out the end of “V107.3″, with employees “out of work effective December 16; they have been ordered not to discuss their severance or the station’s format change.”

We do hear Facebook chatter that V midday personality Ravenna Miceli has lined up a special music mix for what is expected to be her last week on the air – this week.

Meanwhile, the out of work V folk will be replaced by others. Rubber City Radio has placed this help wanted ad everywhere from the Plain Dealer to radio trade site All Access:

WNWV Cleveland is looking for full and part time on-air talent with strong communications skills and ability to connect with listeners on-air and online. For part-time, weekends a must as well as availability for occasional weekday fill-ins. Proficiency in content creation & social networking a must. NO PHONE CALLS. Resume and audio demo required to Nick Anthony, c/o Rubber City Radio Group 1795 West Market Street Akron, Oh 44313 or email to nanthony (at) rcrg.net The Rubber City Radio Group is an EOE.

Friend of OMW Lance Venta at Radio Insight snooped out a domain registration by Rubber City:

Rubber City has registered 1073TheWave.net for its new acquisition. The station had flipped from Smooth Jazz “The Wave” to AAA in December 2009. We’re assuming this will be a revised Smooth AC this time around much like the format has evolved in other markets should the move to the previous format take place.

And add this just out there today, from the industry E-mail newsletter RAMP (Radio and Music Pros) (free subscription link here):

RAMP has learned that once the station officially changes hands, Rubber City will flip it to Smooth AC under its former identity of “107.3 The Wave,” the name it was known as during most of its 22 years as a Smooth Jazz outlet before going Triple A in 2009. “It will feature Pop and Urban AC vocals along with Smooth Jazz vocals and instrumentals,” SVP Nick Anthony tells RAMP.

With RCRG’s Nick Anthony talking openly about the new station, at least in the radio trade press, we guess that the secret’s “out”.

There have certainly been a lot of pieces out there, but we haven’t comfortable enough to confirm details on what we’ve heard before now.

Readers may recall we tracked everything but the lunch schedule of incoming personnel at new CBS Radio sports talker WKRK/92.3 “The Fan” in Cleveland. But this is entirely different…and we wouldn’t be at all surprised if our friends at West Market Street floated a few trial balloons in the air, hoping they’d reach us.

Meanwhile, regarding “92.3 The Fan”, almost none of our information was coming directly from the Halle Building, due to the national CBS Radio effort to build the new station.

It’s certainly clear that major changes will be coming at the 107.3 spot on Northeast Ohio’s radio dial…soon…though we haven’t heard an exact date for the format change…

A Snowy Mix Piling Up

As we write this item, the first snow of the season can be seen outside the OMW World Headquarters.

Meanwhile, our items are piling more than the snow in this short-lived event…

THIS JUST IN, FROM THE FCC: Monday, the Federal Communications Commission officially approved the $6.5 million sale of Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting AAA WNWV/107.3 “V107.3″ to Akron’s Rubber City Radio Group.

There’s no word on a timetable for the deal to close, or on what the new owners plan to do with the station…

STAFFING UP: For some time, Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3′s morning newscast has featured former chief meteorologist Mark Nolan as its only news anchor…usually sitting alongside morning meteorologist Hollie Strano.

That’ll change soon.

WKYC has hired Erin Kennedy, evening anchor at Providence RI combo WPRI/WNAC, as its new morning co-anchor. In Providence, she was a co-worker of Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 “Fox 8 News” reporter/weekend anchor and OMW reader Mark Zinni.

From fellow blogger and WKYC Senior Director Frank Macek’s “Director’s Cut” blog:

“I’m looking forward to becoming part of such a terrific morning show,” said Ms. Kennedy. “And I’m excited to work with such a strong and enterprising news team. More than anything, I value Channel 3′s commitment to making a difference in the Northeast Ohio community. My husband and I can’t wait to put down roots in this dynamic and progressive city.”

Hollie Strano will remain as the show’s weather anchor, and reporters Amanda Barren and Stephanie Coueignoux, and “Ways To Save” segment host/producer Matt Granite, also remain in place.

One part of her resume is unusual for the Cleveland market:

Erin is fluent in Spanish, and a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She has reported from Mexico; covering stories on immigration and the drug trade. While in Providence, Erin was the creator, producer and anchor of “Webcast en Espanol.”

We don’t know if Northeast Ohio’s Spanish-speaking population is large enough to garner attention from its big English-language-only network affiliates, but if WKYC believes so, it has its anchor.

Note, of course, that Univision O&O WQHS/61 has no news presence at all…it’s only in Univision’s hands because the Spanish-language network bought the former Home Shopping Network stations in bulk. “Univision 61″ only airs one local program – a Sunday public affairs show that looks for all the world like it’s taped in the WQHS lobby.

Macek’s item says Erin Kennedy starts in early January, after she and her musician husband move here…

AND SHE USED TO BE HERE: “Fox 8 News” had quite a sendoff for long-time evening co-anchor Stacey Bell, who moved to New Jersey to be with her husband, New York Jets running back coach Anthony Lynn.

Could she be back behind the TV anchor desk in New Jersey soon, as well?

OMW hears that Bell has taken an anchor position with Cablevision-owned local news channel News 12, which has operations in areas all around New York City and its suburbs (including New Jersey).

We hear she’s expected to start at News 12 in February, giving Stacey a long time to catch up with her husband without having to work. The pair has had a commuter marriage for years.

We don’t know which arm of the News 12 empire will feature Bell, but even Connecticut or Long Island is a much shorter commute than Cleveland…

DANIELLE, NOT SHARON, FOR A FEW: A tidbit from the Facebook presence of Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19 “19 Action News” 4:30 PM co-anchor Danielle Serino:

In addition to my role on the 4:30 broadcast with Paul Joncich, I will be filing in during the 5:30 news, as well as anchoring the 10pm news on our sister station WUAB. My new role begins today and should last for the next 6-8 weeks.

As we commented to someone else, “that would basically be Sharon Reed’s anchor schedule, right?” That it is, but we have no idea what Sharon will be doing for the next 6 to 8 weeks…

PROMOTION FOR OMW READER: We’ve often joked that Clear Channel Akron/Canton operations director Keith Kennedy, who programs hot AC WKDD/98.1 and co-hosts that station’s morning show with Jenn Ryan, currently voicetracks middays on AC WHOF/101.7 “My 101.7″, and also oversees programming for Clear Channel’s Ashland/Mansfield cluster on top of his local duties, does everything but sweep the snow off the microwave dishes at Freedom Avenue.

He’s got quite a few more dishes under his programming oversight now.

That’s because Keith has been named Regional Programming Manager for Clear Channel in Northern Ohio, with a number of markets in his portfolio now: Akron/Canton, Toledo, Youngstown, Ashland/Mansfield, and Defiance.

That’s nearly every Ohio Clear Channel market north of Columbus, with the obvious exception of the Cleveland market…larger markets are under a different structure in Clear Channel’s recent restructuring.

So, Keith Kennedy is obviously a long-time OMW reader, and upon finding this news in another trade report, we reached out and asked him about it:

“I can confirm I’ve become the RPM for Northern Ohio. I’m thrilled to work with great stations, strong brands and excellent people.”

Keith will retain all of his current duties at Freedom Avenue, and won’t be coming off the air there at all…

ANN’S CORNER: It’s been a while since we gave space to long-time Friend of OMW Ann VerWiebe…marketing and public relations guru for Kent State University-owned NPR outlet WKSU/89.7 Kent and its myriad of simulcasters and translators.

But there’s more WKSU-related news, so here we go.

* The station has successfully completed its “Sound of the Future” capital fundraiser. From a release helpfully provided by Ann:

The station raised a total of more than $5 million in the largest fund raising effort in WKSU’s 61-year history. The four-year campaign focused on raising funds to upgrade WKSU’s broadcasting infrastructure in a move towards digital technology.

We are grateful to everyone who donated to or worked on the Sound of the Future campaign,” (WKSU executive director/general manager Al) Bartholet says. “Its success means better sounding radio for Northeast Ohio as WKSU moves through our next half century. Digital technology makes the station more efficient and effective as we continue to provide quality public radio to the region.”

Gifts to the Sound of the Future campaign were divided between cash and pledges, documented planned gifts and in-kind donations. The largest percentage of the total went to WKSU’s digital conversion, the station’s News & Information Fund and Folk Alley.

In addition to the full HD/digital conversion of all the station’s full-power repeaters, WKSU’s on-air studio was reequipped and dubbed “The J.M. Smucker Company Studio”.

No word on if the gift includes free jams and jellies…

* The Ohio Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) named WKSU reporter/producer Vivian Goodman as Best Reporter in Ohio for the year 2010 (in 2011 awards). The list of Best of Show, First Place and Second Place winners includes pretty much the entire WKSU staff.

The complete Ohio SPJ 2011 winners list – including for TV, print and other categories – is at the awards’ site here.

A quick look at the radio list shows a number of awards for both WKSU and its main public radio competitor, Ideastream’s WCPN/90.3 Cleveland (among them, Best Public Affairs Program for WCPN midday talk show “Sound of Ideas”), among others.

And there’s that Best Anchor award to Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland anchor and OMW reader Tom Moore…well deserved for the Oak Tree veteran.

* Speaking of OMW readers getting awards, WKSU got five national awards in the Communication Contest produced by National Federation of Press Women (NFPW), including awards to Goodman and reporter/producer Amanda Rabinowitz.

And look! This is “Ann’s Corner” for another reason:

2nd Place: Online Newsletters, Interim Director of Public Relations and Marketing Ann VerWiebe for “Folk Alley Chat.”

Hey, we know her from somewhere. At least we didn’t miss it this time! Congratulations, Ann…

SPEAKING OF FRIENDS OF OMW: Former Clear Channel Youngstown programmer Matt Spatz is still an OMW reader.

Matt was programming rock WNCD/93.3 “The Wolf” and top 40 WAKZ/95.9 “Kiss FM” at South Avenue, until falling victim to the most recent round of Clear Channel budget cuts.

Matt checks in, and tells us: “I’m doing fine. I’ve had numerous inquiries from stations from around the country about PD, OM and morning show openings. Just waiting for the right one.”

If you’re hiring, and want to add Matt to your team, he can be reached via E-mail at matthewspatz (at) msn.com, or via phone at (330) 502-1254. (A reminder: upon request, we run both Help Wanted and Situation Wanted ads free of charge for anyone in the radio and TV industries.)

Despite being involuntarily thrown “on the beach” in the Clear Channel cuts, Matt has a positive attitude. “I’m blessed to have some great people around me,” Matt tells us…

The Exit Door

It’s nearing the end of the year, and that means at least one high profile TV news personality in Cleveland is about to end her run here…and one other could follow in the next month or so…

BELL MOVES ON: The first primary evening news anchor to exit the Cleveland market this season is Stacey Bell, who has been co-anchoring the 5 PM and 10 PM editions of Fox affiliate WJW/8 “Fox 8 News” with Bill Martin for the past few years…starting anchor duties on the 5 PM show in 2000, and adding 10 PM duties in 2006.

The station’s Dan Jovic has more on Fox8.com:

After 13 years, she will sign off on Wednesday for the final time on Fox 8 News. Stacey is leaving Fox 8 to join her husband in New Jersey.

Please join us in saying a heartfelt goodbye to Stacey Bell over the next few days.

The announcement of Bell’s departure appears rather sudden, but we’ve talked about her impending exit here for weeks…and have already passed along word that “Fox 8 News in the Morning”‘s Tracy McCool has been the odds on “in house” favorite to move to the evening co-anchor chair alongside Martin.

We aren’t yet hearing that such a move has been made official, and we’ve heard nothing of outside candidates one way or the other.

OMW is hearing that another evening anchor, elsewhere in the Cleveland market, could be leaving their station as soon as mid-December…

OTHER MOVES: Yes, that’s former long-time Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 anchor/reporter/show host Scott Newell who’s been popping up lately reporting on Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5′s “NewsChannel 5″.

We’ve checked, and it turns out Newell is freelancing for WEWS, and has not actually been hired as a regular employee.

Not that the man most remembered for hosting WKYC’s “AM Cleveland” in the 1980s has not been busy.

He left WKYC (after returning there as a freelancer) in 2000, and has done a number of independent TV news producing jobs, including a lot of work for network TV news shows.

And we last caught up with Newell’s career after he won a seat on Pepper Pike City Council.

He was elected to begin serving in January 2010, and he’s still listed as a council member on the city’s website. We presume that if he is still on council, WEWS would ask him to refrain from covering stories about Pepper Pike’s government – but that’s not really a governmental body that gets a lot of TV news attention.

Meanwhile, OMW hears that a former local TV weather anchor has moved to a new job.

MediaBistro’s TV Spy reports that Amy Murphy has joined Scripps ABC affilate KNXV/15 “ABC 15″ in Phoenix as a weekend weather anchor.

The TV Spy post notes her return to Phoenix after a stint in Los Angeles…but it doesn’t mention her time in Cleveland, where she was known as Amy Hasten, at WKYC and later at WEWS. She was here until leaving for a job in Miami, and it doesn’t sound like Amy has seen snow in years…

NO JUSTICE, NO TALK SHOW: And we freely admit we swiped that one from Paul Rado’s comment on our Facebook page.

Yes, it’s true…after years hosting Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100′s Sunday night show, “Black on Black Crime” community activist Art McKoy is without a radio platform.

OMW hears that McKoy’s exit from his post on WTAM “was not by his choice”, the station replacing his show with a new program hosted by Cleveland City Council member Zack Reed.

From a station release on the new Sunday 8-10 PM show, called “The Forum”:

Reed’s experience as a Cleveland City Councilman will give him a unique perspective on what the real problems are in our area. He will also bring insight to positive programs and developments that will make a difference in our community,” said Ray Davis, Program Director, WTAM. “We are happy to have him join the talented group of talk talent on WTAM.

But though the official release highlights Reed’s public service career, there’s not one word about the station’s former polarizing Sunday night personality.

And no, though we do know Art McKoy didn’t leave on his own, we don’t know what prompted WTAM to make the change.

Reed appeared on a recent edition of Mike Trivisonno’s afternoon drive show, with Triv noting frequently that McKoy was “no longer with the station”.

Triv and McKoy had a lot of back and forth “sparring” between the two shows over the years, though certainly much of that was played up for on-air and comedic effect…

IN STORE: We haven’t gotten a chance to visit Time Warner Cable’s new retail store across Brittain Road from Akron’s Chapel Hill Mall, but TWC local public relations guy and OMW reader Travis Reynolds has answered a few of our earlier questions.

From a fact sheet Travis passed along to us, it appears that the new store will indeed offer live “hands-on” demonstrations of TWC products:

12 interactive TVs showcasing TWC programming and features , including Digital Cable, Movies on Demand, HDTV, DVR, Look Back and Start Over
3 computers demonstrating TWC’s broadband and Wideband internet service.
2 Digital Phone displays.
2 Mobile Internet kiosks.
TWCable TV ipad app

This would presumably be a direct answer to our earlier complaints about a “demonstration” unit for AT&T’s U-verse we ran into at a local AT&T store, with a thinly disguised DVR playback system acting as the “demo” unit. (And if there is somewhere one can go “hands on” with U-verse somewhere in Northeast Ohio, we’d love to know about it.)

And as we suspected, the former Time Warner Cable customer service operation at Midway Plaza on the Tallmadge/Akron border has been moved up Brittain Road to the new retail store, with customer service being offered “on the floor” for those who wish to use it.

No, not literally “on the floor” at the Brittain Road store…they meant as opposed to being behind a counter…

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 YouTube video we featured here a while back.

Maybe Jahn saw the long-range winter weather forecasts when she got to Dick Goddard Way, and high-tailed it back to Phoenix.

That’s because just a few weeks after her Cleveland TV debut, Amanda Jahn is now the former weekend morning weather anchor at “Fox 8 News”.

OMW hears that it was a mutual agreement between the station and Jahn that it “wasn’t working out”, and so, Amanda gets out of Cleveland before the first snowflake falls. (And no, we have no idea if Cleveland’s winter weather played any part in her end of the decision.)

Who takes the slot alongside Mark Zinni starting this weekend?

A hint: He’s been doing his old job at another Cleveland TV station on a freelance basis for months, after his departure was publicly announced earlier this year.

Yes, it’s now-former Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 forecaster AJ Colby making his return to “Fox 8 News”.

Colby was filling in for, well, himself at 13th and Lakeside, for such a long period that we got plenty of “Why is AJ still there?” E-mails…many hoping that WKYC had changed its mind.

The folks at Channel 3 News will bring on Colby’s replacement, though we don’t have that person’s name yet.

We did catch new WKYC MMJ (reporter for us old school types) Stephanie Coueginoux on air the other day, and yes, we had to copy that name from online. And OMW hears that reporter Darrielle Snipes is no longer with Channel 3 News.

The station also has a new iPhone app, and there’s no word on whether an Android app will follow (hint! hint!)…

NEW 5 WEEKEND FORECASTER: Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 has been on something of a hiring spree as of late, and a new weather forecaster is also about to appear at 3001 Euclid.

And the hiring is an addition to the staff, not a replacement.

From a memo by news director Jill Manuel:

Trent Magill has signed on to be our 4th Meteorologist & Multimedia Journalist. Trent comes from Midland Texas KMID.

He has an impressive pedigree: having graduated from University of Missouri, Columbia. He has the Certified Broadcast Meteorology Seal of Approval from the American Meteorological Society. This Missouri native specializes in severe weather and was an integral part of the school’s Severe Storm Chase Team and was primarily responsible forecasting where the storms were likely to form.

Trent will be featured prominently on our new weekend morning show. He is also very excited about expanding his skills into the new media as well.

YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT: The memo about Magill mentions NewsChannel 5′s “new weekend morning show”, and yes, the station is about to become the third local station doing weekend morning newscasts…and the second to return news to that time slot, as WKYC/3′s “Channel 3 News” never left weekend mornings.

OMW hears that the weekend morning edition of “NewsChannel 5″ will air only on Saturdays, at least for now. Both WKYC and WJW air their weekend morning casts on both Saturdays and Sundays.

There’s no word at this time who will fill the news anchor role(s?) on the new show.

When will the Saturday morning “NewsChannel 5″ newscast start?

Well, Magill is scheduled to show up at 3001 Euclid on December 5th, and our best guess is that he may do some holiday vacation fill-in…with the usual state of newsrooms around the holiday, we’d expect the Saturday show to begin sometime shortly after the first of the year.

And a quick note: new WEWS traffic and transportation reporter Alicia Roberts has begun her work at the station. Former “Good Morning Cleveland” traffic anchor Patty Harken had her last day on Euclid Avenue on October 21st…

SLATS TO WNCX: It’s time to let one of the worst kept Cleveland radio secrets out for some air.

OMW hears that former Cleveland radio personality Tim Slats will return to the market soon, and take the open morning drive slot at CBS Radio classic rock WNCX/98.5.

The time slot became open, of course, when the company set “The Maxwell Show” adrift.

We’ve known about this so long, we’ve had an item sitting backstage for weeks written by our Secondary Editorial Voice(tm)…who revisits Slats’ history in the Cleveland market:

(Slats was) the former afternoon host on Clear Channel rock WMMS/100.7 from 1998 until 2004 (when, oddly enough, he was replaced with the aforementioned Maxwell). Later on, Slats held like duties on then-”Xtreme Radio” WXTM/92.3, leaving the station as it was preparing to flip to WXRK “K-Rock.”

Tim has been on the golf course in Florida – literally, working at one, that is.

But he returned to radio in Orlando on Cox rocker WHTQ/96.5 “96 Rock” – actually a return to the frequency for him.

“96 Rock” went away this past August, when the 96.5 frequency became the FM simulcast of long-time Cox talker WDBO/580…it’s now WDBO-FM.

As “The Maxwell Show” – fans might want to check its Facebook presence, recently returned from CBS Radio control.

From the postings there, it sounds like they plan some sort of Internet-based show when the show’s CBS Radio contract expires (reportedly in March)…

AND THAT MEANS NO DANNY: One of the odder rumors bouncing around the Cleveland market recently also involved the WNCX morning drive slot.

Morning radio veteran Danny Bonaduce – yes, the grown up “Danny Partridge” from the 1970′s sitcom “The Partridge Family” – was displaced from his slot on CBS Radio rock WYSP/94.1 Philadelphia…when sports talker WIP/610 made the move to FM.

Industry buzz had CBS Radio trying to find a new home for Danny, and yes, at the time, the WNCX morning slot was open.

Now that we know that WNCX has gone a Non-Danny Direction for morning drive, his landing spot has been made official, according to numerous trade reports: Seattle classic rocker KZOK/102.5, where he’ll be paired in morning drive with a cast member from his old Philadelphia show.

So, if you’ve got a burning need for a Danny Bonaduce fix in Cleveland, you’ll have to turn to Antenna TV on WJW/8.2…which airs “The Partridge Family” each day…

HUNTING AND FISHING: Local TV viewers may have run into the “Hunting and Fishing Show” in the past on Media-Com low-power TV combo WAOH-LP/29 Akron – W35AX/Cleveland, now the Cleveland market’s northernmost RTV affiliates.

OMW hears that the show has returned to the stations, hosted by long-time host Steve Jones. A release provided by someone associated with the show has the rest of the story:

Jones was forced to abandon the popular outdoors related program in 2003 after being diagnosed with lymphoma cancer.

Now cancer free, Jones is joined on the live call-in format program with award winning outdoor columnist Jack Kiser of the Record Courier Newspapers. Kiser hosted the “Buckeye Angler” television program which aired on PBS affiliate 45/49 in 2005-06, and the program was awarded the Best TV Show in 2010 by the Outdoor Writers of Ohio at their annual banquet and awards ceremony.

AND A QUICK NEWSPAPER NOTE: OMW doesn’t cover much when it comes to the newspaper industry – we’re mostly broadcast-related.

But there is a bit of a broadcast hook to this one.

The suburban Akron weekly newspaper “The Suburbanite” has tapped a veteran journalist as its new editor.

She’s Kymberli Hagelberg, who is familiar to print readers from a decade at the Akron Beacon Journal, and to online readers as the Fairlawn-Bath editor of the AOL/Huffington Post “Patch.com” network of local news websites.

But we’d forgotten that Hagelberg has broadcast news history as well – according to The Suburbanite article on her hiring:

Hagelberg worked as a radio reporter and producer for WCPN, the public radio station in Cleveland. She was the station’s main political reporter during the 2008 presidential campaign.

The Suburbanite, owned by Canton Repository parent GateHouse Media, serves southern Summit County and parts of northern Stark County, with a separate edition for Stark County’s Jackson Township…

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 markets.

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UPDATE 1:00 PM 10/28/11:

AKRON/CANTON
————
Rock WRQK/106.9 afternoon driver Todd “Fishhead” Fisher

ASHLAND/MANSFIELD
—————–
Country WNCO-FM/101.3 midday host-Talk WNCO/1340 program director Gene Davis
Production director Bryan Moore
Utility/sports/news staffer Josh Bowman

UPDATE 5:10 PM 10/26/11:

YOUNGSTOWN
———-
Rock WNCD/93.3 and Top 40 WAKZ/95.9 program director Matt Spatz
Board operator Todd Heston
- Classic hits WBBG/106.1 program director Jeff Kelly adds duties as WNCD program director, and Hot AC WMXY/98.9 program director Steve Granato adds WAKZ duties to his plate.