BREAKING NEWS: WJW’s Easterly Moves Up To GM

He almost left Cleveland entirely to take a job in Dallas, but WJW/8 news director Greg Easterly is staying at “FOX 8” in Cleveland.

As general manager.

OMW hears that it’s been officially announced on South Marginal Road – Easterly, who has run the WJW news department for 10 years, will move up to the GM’s chair to replace Mike Renda.

Renda announced a month ago that he was moving within the FOX corporate structure as well, to head up the company’s O&O in Philadelphia, WTXF/29.

And Easterly all but had his bags packed for the ND gig at CBS O&O KTVT/11 in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, before deciding to stay in Cleveland for what was described as “family reasons”.

At this writing, we have no idea who’s been considered to replace Easterly as news director at WJW.

More as this develops, but we wanted to get this out there…

A Newsy Monday

Our first item for the new week is rather newsy. We actually have some interesting stuff this time! (No, not our usual flotsam-and-jetsam for a Monday morning.)

But a request, first.

Please dial back on the jokes in our comments at the expense of a certain board op who was once on-air at a local radio station. There are many who know the “back story”, and we do, as well…and we don’t think he deserves the joking potshots. It’s really out of the spirit of what we do here, anyway, and we’ll consider deleting such comments in the future.

Thank you, and now…the news…

A DEELY MOVE?: OMW documented – albeit with little hard information – the departure of WFHM/95.5 afternooner Dan Deely from the Salem Cleveland CCM outlet known as “The Fish”.

We didn’t have to cast a long fishing line to find what he’s been up to.

Thanks to regular OMW tipster Nathan Obral in Lorain County for landing this one (OK, enough fishing jokes) – Nathan tells us Deely was heard doing a shift on Saturday afternoon at CBS Radio AC powerhouse WDOK/102.1.

Nathan helpfully reminds us that WDOK recently parted ways with afternoon driver Chris Fox, in what passes for “staff turnover” at the otherwise quite stable ‘DOK.

And though we didn’t hear Mr. Deely on WDOK on Saturday, we’d have to think he’s a front-runner to take that afternoon drive opening. Though, we have no idea if WDOK program director Scott Miller has other ideas…

BASKIN WITHOUT ICE CREAM: We didn’t catch his evening debut on Friday, but Your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) did see new WEWS/5 sports anchor fill-in Andy Baskin on the late edition of “NewsChannel 5” (At 11 – aka “NewsChannel 5 NIGHTBEAT!!! “Did We Mention NIGHTBEAT???”) on Friday.

Our first impression – he was comfortable, smooth and professional. From our memory, he seemed to be have more presence on screen than his last regular stint, as weekend sports anchor over at WKYC/3.

And we’re apparently not alone, as OMW hears that Baskin’s debut was well-received within the confines of 3001 Euclid. And it was probably well-received at the home of one Ms. Sue Ann Robak, who FINALLY got a day off as the only current permanent full-time on-air employee in the “NewsChannel 5” sports department.

Could Baskin become a regular at WEWS, despite his own personal commitment to “Over The Falls Productions”, the production company that does shows for SportsTime Ohio? And how would that square with the competitive nature of the local TV sports business?

STO, of course, is directly associated with – and indeed, technically run out of – WKYC, Baskin’s last regular local TV home. Will the work he does for STO via his production company conflict with a long-term gig at 5? Could, perhaps, he still squeeze in a part-time role at WEWS and do both, if allowed?

We hear that at least now, Baskin is quite happy to be at 3001 Euclid.

We don’t know if this fill-in work, which is what it is right now, is an audition as well…and we don’t know the answer to all those STO-production company-related questions…we’ll keep watching.

We do know that this is a very busy time of year coming up for TV stations – the May sweeps – and we’re told that it is very, very difficult to find “new talent” in the middle of a book.

By the way, we also hear from 30th and Euclid that former Browns star Reggie Rucker is in the mix, at least to some degree. Rucker has been on the air at “NewsChannel 5” frequently in the past week due to the NFL Draft…he’s dubbed their “Browns Specialist”.

But though we understand he may have auditioned for a sports anchor slot, we don’t know how serious WEWS is about using him beyond Browns-related coverage. After early this week, we may find out the answer to that – on the air…

ONN MOVES: The hiding of the Ohio News Network cable channel has begun at Time Warner Cable.

OK, well, maybe hiding is a relative term, but sometime in the past few days, the dominant local cable provider in Northeast Ohio has scooted the Columbus-based cable news channel off into Digital Cable land.

On the Cleveland-based system once owned by Adelphia, ONN has been moved analog channel 70 to digital channel 163, with a billboard left behind on 70 directing ONN viewers to the channel’s new home.

On the ex-Adelphia system in the Dover/New Philadelphia area, an OMW reader tells us TWC moved ONN from analog channel 72 to digital channel 122.

As we said, “hiding is a relative term”. Analog 70 or 72 is not exactly prime cable TV real estate. We guess if the folks at Dispatch Broadcast Group had their way, the WBNS/10-sister network would be either among local broadcast outlets, or in the same area as CNN, MSNBC and the like.

And as mentioned before, TWC has long placed ONN on digital cable tiers.

Does TWC just not like ONN? Well, maybe not – or maybe.

We suspect one of the main “drivers” for this move is to free up analog channel space.

Eventually, systems like TWC and others will move the vast majority of analog channels off to digital land entirely, because doing so frees up tons (and we mean tons, cable-wise) of bandwidth to use for more profitable services like high-speed Internet, HDTV and the like.

The bad news? The digital channels don’t all look as good as you would expect.

In particular, we point out the move on the Cleveland-based TWC system from 70 to 163. We expected it to make ONN clearer, since analog channel 70 is interference-prone. (We explained why in an earlier item.)

On digital 163, though, ONN looks almost unwatchable, with very deep darks and little focus.

Oh, our “maybe” about TWC not liking ONN?

We can’t help but wonder if TWC, with a super-dominant position in nearly every major Ohio market, would eventually launch its own local news channel in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, much like the company’s existing “News 14 Carolina” in North Carolina.

The only thing stopping us from predicting this? TWC has pulled back on these channels, even consolidating the North Carolina operation.

But TWC also plays a part in the WKYC/3-produced “Akron/Canton News”.

And maybe they’d do local news channels in Ohio if they felt they could get a critical mass of viewers with a cost-efficient structure.

This last part? Just speculation on our part. We haven’t heard it’s even in the works…

CLEVELAND’S INFOMERCIAL 1540: While dialing around to catch NFL Draft/Day 2 coverage on Sunday, we checked in with Good Karma’s “little brother” sports station, WWGK/1540 “KNR2”.

And just before the 11 AM start of FOX Sports Radio’s live pre-draft coverage, we heard talk about home improvement, and a reference to something called “The Home Solutions Show” that was just ending.

Huh?

Not only have we never heard of such a syndicated show – and it was rather clearly not part of the FSR lineup – it sounded to us, frankly, like an infomercial…though we didn’t catch what products were being sold, as we only heard the last minute or two of the show.

We’ll add this to the list with shows like the horse racing program that would appear to be directly sponsored by a local horse racing track – heard Thursday evenings 6-7 PM on “KNR2”.

We’re not going to knock Good Karma’s Craig Karmazin for selling block time on his 1,000 watt daytime secondary station. In WKNR’s former regime, these shows would have aired at 7 PM on 850!

Infomercials are, as a former co-worker put it, the “crack cocaine of radio”. It’s about as close as you get to “free money” in radio sales, so we can’t blame Karmazin – as long as he limits the time sales to 1540.

Now, if “The Home Solutions Show” ends up on 850, that’ll be another matter.

While we’re ripping infomercials on the radio, we note that NFL Draft coverage also knocked another paid show off local radio. Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 bounced “The Mutual Fund Show with Adam Bold” into the hours long after the draft, and after Saturday night’s Cleveland Cavaliers’ victory over the Washington Wizards was over…

Weekend Programming

In our zeal to enjoy the weekend, we forgot that we didn’t run down today’s NFL Draft, and local coverage of same.

On TV, of course, it’s all about ESPN and sister network ESPN2, which own the TV rights lock, stock and proverbial barrel. Local TV affiliates will have to wait until their evening newscasts to show video of the Browns drafting Brady Russell Thomas Peterson, or whoever it’ll be.

This year, NFL Draft coverage has beefed up on radio.

On Browns AM flagship Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100, at least at the opening, it’s Browns beat reporter Andre Knott joined by mid-morning host Bob Frantz – slipping on the sports jersey for the station’s draft show. And Frantz and Knott are doing the show live from Browns HQ in Berea.

And at this writing, afternoon driver Mike Trivisonno has also just showed up. It’s not clear what role he’ll play, but in past years, he’s been a “drop-in” and usually spent the most time on the air immediately surrounding the Browns pick.

WTAM’s full coverage today is of note because in past years, the station has been forced to dial back on the coverage due to its role as the Cleveland Indians’ flagship station.

But with the Indians scheduled for an evening game tonight…WTAM has the opening for full-time draft coverage.

And though WTAM will be carrying today’s Game 3 NBA Playoff tilt between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Washington Wizards, tip-off is not until 5:30 PM…which gives plenty of time for draft talk even with a half-hour Cavs pregame show.

Good Karma sports WKNR/850 Cleveland “ESPN 850” has thrown the kitchen sink at Draft Day in 2007, mounting a day-long show at Harpo’s Sports Cafe in Brook Park’s Brookgate Shopping Center.

And the way it’s been scheduled tells you a lot about the state of the station.

Heading up the all important run-up to the Browns’ third-overall pick (10 AM to somewhere before 1 PM) is afternoon driver Mark “Munch” Bishop, joined by former Browns player Jim Pyne.

At Browns HQ in Berea is mid-morning host Tony Rizzo (presumably also working for his primary employer, WJW “FOX 8”), joined by producer/sidekick Aaron Goldhammer and long-time station reporter Bob Karlovec.

Joining in at noon will be station evening host Kenny Roda, who’s said he’ll be on the air from noon to 4 PM. In past years, Roda and mainstay Greg Brinda were the primary anchors for whatever NFL Draft remote the station has done.

Roda will also be tasked with taking the “this pick stinks/I’m happy with it” calls, which judging from the interest in this year’s draft, could take half the night.

The station’s website promotes basically everyone, including “10th Inning” host Brinda and even “Wine and Gold Postgame Show” host Michael Reghi, as being part of the draft show mix.

Your third radio, er, audio draft coverage option locally is provided by SportsTalkCleveland.com.

The Internet broadcaster is hosting a live remote from Shula’s 2 restaurant/sports bar in what we call the Independence Media Gulch, at the Doubletree Hotel off Rockside and I-77.

Unless you’re a diehard STC listener, you probably won’t recognize the names credited in the show’s roundtable: Paul Teeple, Jim Kushlan, Rick Morris, Jason Jones and Jason Ashton.

But as far as we know, former WKNR/850 host Kendall “The BSK” Lewis is still aboard doing STC’s mid-morning show – even after gaining much higher-profile employment co-hosting FOX Sports Net Ohio’s “Cleveland Rants” with Les Levine.

“The BSK” is contributing live call-ins from Browns HQ in Berea to the STC draft day show.

In a totally unrelated item, non-sports fans may find solace in the annual WVIZ/25 Auction, which started Thursday and takes the airwaves at the Cleveland PBS outlet starting at noon today and tomorrow, and running into the wee hours.

This year, the auction folks are offering a live video stream of the show, in case you’re near a computer and not able to watch TV for some reason. (They may have done so in the past, but we can’t remember if they did.)

And even if you’re not into the bidding, the Auction is usually a fun place to check in if you’re a follower of local media personalities. And if you’re here, that probably applies.

Each year, a number of local TV and radio people drop the competitive swords to help out their brethren at public TV…and you’ll even get to see what some of the radio folks look like…

And…It’s Friday

OK, so we will sneak in a final update for the work week…

IT’S BAAAAAAACK!: After what would appear to have been a one-day test earlier this month, Cleveland market CW affiliate WBNX/55 Akron has returned to the digital airwaves.

WBNX-DT is back up as of this writing. (If you haven’t set your digital tuner up for it yet, have it scan new channels, or specifically, RF channel 30.)

And things are a little different for the station’s return to digital broadcasting.

This time, WBNX-DT is putting out three subchannels. 55-1 is labeled WBNX-HD, 55-2 is labeled WBNX-DT, and there a 55-3 that’s being called “WBNX-3”. But right now, 55-1 is the only one putting out any signal – and we’re told CW programming was indeed shown in HD on 55-1 Thursday night.

Aside from the logical thought that the station will use 55-2 to feed its SD signal to cable systems, 55-3 may have other purposes.

OMW readers have told us that WBNX owner Rev. Ernest Angley has actually outlined plans for a new WBNX subchannel on the air on his “Ninety and Nine Club”.

We seem to remember that the subchannel was described, among other things, as a place the station could run that very program more than once…in particular, in prime time, since the station moved “Ninety and Nine Club” out of its 10 PM time slot to run repeats of the popular sitcom “Friends”.

But we don’t seem to recall that “WBNX-3” – or whatever they’ll call it – would be a running repeat of the show, or even that it would be specifically devoted to religious programming. But, we guess we’ll find out with everyone whenever they start programming it.

And we have no guarantee that WBNX-DT will stay on the air from now on, as we would assume they are still in “testing” phase. For one, the other subchannels aren’t “lit up” yet…

WHILE WE’RE TALKING TUBE: You probably already know how important the morning news has become for local TV stations here and across the country.

More and more, stations are putting resources into their morning shows. Many have expanded them even into the early morning hours, as viewership goes up rapidly (while it’s been declining for the flagship evening newscasts).

So, it’s no surprise to us that we get a lot – and we mean a lot – of questions about on-air personnel changes in local TV in the Cleveland market…and the vast majority of them concern the morning shows.

First, an update.

We’ve asked around, and indeed, WKYC/3 morning anchor Kim Wheeler moved off the station’s wakeup show (weekdays) to take a job as the station’s education reporter.

But Wheeler has also been paired with station (and market) veteran Jeff Maynor on Saturday and Sunday mornings, doing her education reporting the other three days of her work week.

We don’t know how permanent that is, and note that WKYC will now be bringing in a new news director with the departure of Mike McCormick back to Florida.

As for who’s anchoring ABC affiliate WEWS/5’s “Good Morning Cleveland”, it’s anyone’s guess.

Former station regular Lorna Barrett had been filling in for Tracy Carloss, who was on maternity leave. Lorna’s been seen on GMC, while Carloss has returned from leave to co-anchor weekend evenings with Curtis Jackson.

Who…has also been seen on GMC.

Which…has also seen reporter Paul Kiska co-anchoring with Barrett.

Wait, there’s more!

Don’t forget the move of Susanne Horgan from the weather desk on GMC to the co-anchor spot with Danita Harris. Then, back to weather.

Local news mainstay Jack Marschall went from the station’s morning helicopter reporting slot to the news anchor desk, and back up to the helicopter.

Alicia Booth is in there, somewhere, though we have no idea how permanent her “GMC” role is.

And don’t forget anchor Adam Shapiro, who left GMC and WEWS for New York City, and who seems to have been the last regular, steady, non-moving-to-other-shows-or-roles presence on the “NewsChannel 5” morning show. His time on the show seems like it was 5 years ago, after all this.

We’re not sure we’ve detailed all the changes – all of them within the past year, by the way. We probably got one or two wrong.

But if you think it’s confusing to us – we keep track of this stuff! – think of how confusing it is to viewers.

In fact, we should run a contest: Which number is higher, the number of anchor changes on “Good Morning Cleveland” in the past year, or the number of format/owner/frequency changes in the Cincinnati radio market in the past year? It’d be a close call…

Not Quite A Week Ending Post

…unless we take Friday off, at least in the world of your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm). Which, we might…

TOWER’S NEW MORNING SHOW: We last paid attention to the morning show at Cumulus top 40 WTWR/98.3 in the Toledo market when “Tower 98-3” sent Toledo market veteran Johny D and his crew packing.

We’re not even sure what “Tower” ran in mornings since, but we know what they’re running now.

An item on Wednesday’s AllAccess Net News scroll tipped us that WTWR has become the latest affiliate of “Kidd Kraddick in the Morning”, a syndicated show based at Clear Channel top 40 WHKS/106.1 “Kiss FM” in Dallas.

And though Kraddick’s show affiliate list has a lot of Clear Channel outlets, the show has apparently left the company’s syndication wing, Premiere. We haven’t been able to track down who is syndicating Kraddick these days.

So, in the Toledo market, Kidd will be up against Clear Channel’s own top 40 outlet, WVKS/92.5 “Kiss FM”. (We wonder if putting the show on WVKS’ direct format competitor would have even happened in the show’s days being syndicated by Premiere.)

And if you believe the Wikipedia entry on Kraddick – hang on, we’ll truck in a grain of salt the size of the new I-280 bridge – the new affiliation is almost a homecoming for Kraddick.

The article claims that Kraddick was born in nearby Napoleon, Ohio…which is southwest of Toledo.

But “Tower’s” relatively anemic Class A move-in signal may be faintly audible that far away from its transmitter site, which is apparently just south of the Ohio/Michigan border – an across-the-water shot away from WTWR’s city of license, Luna Pier MI. (And by the way, that’s one of our favorite COLs anywhere, name-wise…)

WTWR becomes Kidd’s second Ohio affiliate, after Clear Channel’s WZOO/102.5 “102ZOO” in the Ashtabula market…

MSNBC’S LATEST IMUS AUDITION: The show is no longer heard in Ohio, after Clear Channel flipped liberal talk outlets WARF/1350 Akron and WTPG/1230 Columbus to other formats (sports and conservative talk, respectively).

But we suspect some Ohio listeners want to keep track of Jones Radio mid-morning syndicated host Stephanie Miller, who counted WTPG as one of her first affiliates, and who also had at least a minor following on WARF.

Next week, Steph becomes the latest radio host to fill-in on cable TV’s MSNBC, during the morning drive slot vacated with the semi-involuntary departure of CBS Radio host Don Imus.

Ms. Miller and her “mooks” (voice guy Jim Ward and producer Chris Lavoie) make the trek to New York City next week, doing the 6-9 AM (ET) show live from Imus’ former studios just across the river in suburban New Jersey.

She’ll be in the slot Monday through Wednesday of next week, and it appears that means her radio slot will be covered by a 3 hour delay of the MSNBC show’s audio (9-noon ET).

Philadelphia-based conservative host Michael Smerconish (WPHT/1210) has been doing the former Imus show this week on the cable network.

But we put this item up only for this joke: For those buried in a hole, who didn’t know that Imus had been canned and find Stephanie Miller on MSNBC next week, Imus to Miller is perhaps the most drastic change in looks in the history of television…

SOME REPRESENTATION: Ohio’s getting a little representation in a radio trade organization.

Rubber City Radio news director Ed Esposito (Akron’s WAKR/1590-WQMX/94.9-WONE-97.5) has been tapped as chair-elect of the national Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA).

And we notice from the release that Ed sports a fancy new title – “vice president of information media”. As companies like Rubber City expand on the Internet, with sites like the company’s AkronNewsNow, this kind of wording will become more common.

Also named as a director-at-large by RTNDA is Brian Trauring, news director of Toledo ABC O&O WTVG/13…

Hump Day

Disorganized, and in no particular order…

AND THE REST OF THE STORY: We’ve already reported that former WKYC/3 sports anchor Andy Baskin starts pinch-hitting in the WEWS/5 sports department Friday, which is now officially down to one person (“The Overworked Sue Ann Robak”) on-air after the departure of anchor John Chandler.

What we haven’t reported yet may be just as interesting.

OMW hears that upon the departure of sports director Chris Miller – now happily at Comcast SportsNet in Washington DC – a sports anchor previously seen filling in elsewhere in the market has been trying to get back on the air.

Charlie Minn.

Yes, that Charlie Minn.

In perhaps the strangest stint ever for a TV personality doing an extended audition for regular work, Minn had many heads shaking as a fill-in sports anchor on CBS affiliate WOIO/19’s “19 Action News”. (And really, working at Reserve Square, you have to DO something to make people think you’re odd.)

The animated sportscaster was best known for his throw-it-against-the-wall schtick. We remember him wadding up paper and throwing it at the camera for some reason.

In the end, despite support from former Cleveland Plain Dealer sports/media columnist Roger Brown, Minn didn’t catch on, and WOIO hired David Pingalore out of Pennsylvania…who, of course, is headed for Orlando FL.

We don’t have an inside pipeline into the WEWS general manager’s office, but all the rumblings we’re hearing elsewhere out of 3001 Euclid would indicate that Mr. Minn shouldn’t expect a return call any time soon.

So, perhaps Cleveland has been saved from Charlie Minn – again…

SINGLE SPONSOR: WKYC/3’s “Director’s Cut” blog, a regular link to our left-hand side, notes a local TV first of sorts.

It’s been done on the network level, including on “NBC Nightly News”. But the local NBC affiliate tried a single sponsor newscast locally for the first time Tuesday:

Tonight at 6 PM, WKYC launched its very first – single sponsor newscast in the Cleveland television market. Ohio Savings Bank, which changed its name to AmTrust, on Monday bought the entire 1/2 hour of Channel 3 News to bring you a virtually uninterrupted newscast.

It’s actually harkening back to early TV days, where entire programs on a daily basis were brought to you by a sole sponsor…

SPORTSTIME OHIO’S PLACEMENT: The Cleveland Indians’ SportsTime Ohio now has full-time placement on a number of systems, most notably Time Warner…where STO airs now on cable channel 76 on the “legacy” Akron/Canton TWC system, and on channel 17 on the Cleveland-based system formerly owned by Adelphia.

But at least one viewer is left to wondering.

We got a note from a subscriber to TWC’s Norwalk system, telling us that he hasn’t seen STO in the mornings at all.

We don’t know how far the “full-time” progression has gone for STO, even on favored cable partner Time Warner.

We do know that Tuesday night, after the Indians’ game with the Minnesota Twins, all forms of STO went dark on the Cleveland-based TWC system – analog 17, digital 179, and even HD 798, which at times has been left “up” even after the game ends. (Tuesday night’s game was not in HD, since it was in Minnesota.)

Instead of “Outdoors Ohio” with venerable Cleveland outdoors media personality D’Arcy Egan, we were treated to What It Looks Like Outdoors With No Stars In The Sky.

STO is switched out of the WKYC “Digital Broadcast Center”, so maybe Mr. Macek will have an explanation on his blog…

More Tuesday Potpourri

We’re just in an odds and ends kind of mood lately…

HELP INCOMING: Just two days after WEWS/5 lost sportscaster John Chandler to the land of New England, OMW hears that a fill-in may already be on the way.

We hear that if it hasn’t happened already, former WKYC/3 sportscaster Andy Baskin will soon be tapped to pitch in at the local ABC affiliate – to ensure Sue Ann Robak isn’t chained to the sports department 7 days a week, and to help with “team coverage” of events like the Cavaliers’ run in the NBA Playoffs.

(We’re pretty sure the definition of “team coverage” includes having more than one person on the air, after all.)

After leaving the local NBC affiliate, Baskin has started his own production company (“Over The Falls Productions”), and produces shows on a freelance basis for SportsTime Ohio.

We haven’t heard much about the details of Baskin’s upcoming work with “NewsChannel 5”, but we get the idea it is strictly on a fill-in basis.

UPDATE 4/24/07 2:03 PM: We wrote this article before reading Akron Beacon Journal sports/media writer George M. Thomas’ column in Tuesday’s Beacon.

Thomas writes that Baskin will come aboard at WEWS starting Friday. We’ve been aware of the possibility since late last week.

And we maintain our original reporting, that as far as we know, Baskin will only be aboard at “NewsChannel 5” on a fill-in basis. One assumes that his production company would preclude any full-time gig.

As for now-former WEWS sports anchor John Chandler, we hear that he’ll also get to do some feature-length pieces for the New England Cable News (NECN) sports department…

NOT REALLY LOCAL, BUT…: …but, the person quoted by AllAccess Monday was definitely a local radio mainstay at one time.

Former WAKS/96.5 “Kiss FM” programmer Dan Mason, who’s now in Sacramento by way of Miami, has landed a new morning show for the Entercom top 40 outlet there – you know, the one which ran That Contest, long before Mason showed up to clean up the mess.

And that’s what Dan has brought to mornings at KDND/107.9 “The End” – a Mess.

No, we mean “The Morning Mess”, a morning show which used to air on Clear Channel top 40 station WHKF/99.3 in Harrisburg PA, a sister “Kiss FM” outlet to Dan’s Cleveland station.

In its new Sacramento incarnation, the show will become known as “The Wakeup Call”.

And Mr. Mason mentions this in the AllAccess quote:

“I’ve been aware of JASON, KELLY, and GAVIN, since I programmed for CLEAR CHANNEL in CLEVELAND. I always thought the show would find it’s way to a major market and I am thrilled that it’s happening at KDND.”

We have no confirmation to a rumor that the Harrisburg trio won’t even be allowed to MENTION Nintendo video games…

THE CINCY GANG IS SPLITTING UP: With the sale of Clear Channel’s television division to investment group Providence Equity Partners for $1.2 billion dollars, the split between Clear Channel’s TV and radio holdings will become official when it closes.

In Ohio, this affects only one station – Clear Channel CBS affiliate WKRC/12 Cincinnati “Local 12”, which will break ranks with Clear Channel’s massive radio cluster in the Queen City at the sale’s completion.

It almost seems like a footnote to us at OMW. Remember, dominant Clear Channel talk WLW/700 already had its own split from sister station “Local 12”, when “The Big One” decided to hook up with NBC affiliate WLWT/5 for its news, weather and content sharing partnership some ways back.

A trivia question with an answer: There is, technically, one other Clear Channel-owned TV outlet in Ohio – at least for a while.

The company’s hot AC WDFM/98.1 Defiance “Mix 98.1” operates WDFM-LP/26 in the same Northwest Ohio city, which is a locally programmed LPTVer that mainly features frequent repeats of local public affairs shows.

With Clear Channel’s pending sale of hundreds of small market radio stations, including “Mix 98.1”, the distinction won’t last long…though the small market radio sale has hit a bump or two recently.

Technically, WDFM-LP isn’t considered an asset of Clear Channel Television. It’s a side business of the radio operation…

Living On The Air In The DVD Section

Countless local radio types credit one thing for their career in the business – the late 70’s-early 80’s TV show “WKRP in Cincinnati”.

And it only seems that we’ve been waiting that long for the DVD version of the show, the first season of which is released in stores today.

Not only is there that inspiration, there’s also the Ohio connection…the southwest Ohio city which served as the home of the fictional radio station in the CBS sitcom.

As would befit a newspaper headquartered in the Queen City, the Cincinnati Enquirer has put up a number of articles, quizzes and even videos to accompany the release date.

Enquirer TV/radio guru John Kiesewetter weighs in with a bunch of stories in Sunday’s paper, such as this one about people so drastically affected by “WKRP” that they either moved to Cincinnati, or went to college there, after seeing the show. One Danish teenager was so taken, she got into an exchange student program that sent her to Cincinnati – where she still lives today.

But our favorite “WKRP” bit on the Enquirer’s website is a video by Enquirer photographer Glenn Hartong, with Kiese’s help, recreating the original ‘KRP opening sequence with today’s Cincinnati landscape.

For one, Paul Brown Stadium is there now, and Riverfront Stadium is not. The video compares the original opening sequence (with music) to today’s Cincinnati, side-by-side. It’s linked from all of the WKRP stories on Cincinnati.com – we don’t want to put up the window-laden direct video link here.

Kiese has much more, including a behind-the-scenes of that recreation and some other stuff that wouldn’t fit in print, on his TV/radio blog.

And yes, there is that music thing.

As has now been made clear, the “WKRP” DVD has been excised of much of the music which served as a soundtrack to the original show. (A Canadian magazine writer, Jaime Weinman, has a pretty extensive list of the substitutions here.)

While the show’s original producer, MTM, used videotape instead of film for the very same reason – music rights costs – those rights don’t transfer to the world of DVD. And, including the same “real” music from popular artists of the day would apparently drive the cost of the DVD set into the stratosphere. We believe there was music substitution even on the original VHS tape release.

This is only a small problem in some places on the show – but musical interludes provide a number of the show’s turning points in a number of episodes. The music issues even forced them to take “Fly Me To The Moon” off of Jennifer Marlowe’s world-famous apartment doorbell.

Still, short of charging over $100 (just our guess) for the first season’s DVD set – which would mean very little sales – this was the only way they could get it out on the market.

So, we’re resigned to it, and sigh at the thought of a Russian defector calling the one and only Bailey Quarters “terrible dresser” (we guess it was a dub for “Tiny Dancer”, as in that song removed), but realize that many other scenes have no major music connection – like the infamous “Turkey’s Away!” that even non-regular WKRP viewers know.

And there’s still a lot to like about WKRP, even without some key musical interludes.

And yes, Cincy is one of those towns which jumps and jumps when a local connection is big news in the national media, so the ‘KRP stuff on local media there this week may seem a bit excessive.

But remember, Cleveland, we have all those Drew Carey newspaper stories…

Monday, Monday

Some pickups/leftovers/questions to start the week:

THERE GOES JOHN: OMW hears that Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS/5 announced on its 11 PM newscast Sunday night that sports anchor John Chandler’s last day would be – Sunday. It’s news that isn’t news to regular readers of This Space, which reported the “NewsChannel 5” sports anchor’s exit on Thursday.

(An error on our part resulted in us reporting a last date of April 26th.)

We didn’t get a chance to see it, but we’re told anchors Curtis Jackson and Tracy Carloss gave Chandler a send-off, along with weather anchor Jason Nicholas – who quipped, “John Chandler’s leaving?”

OMW hears that Mr. Chandler’s destination in Boston is New England Cable News (NECN), the massive local cable news channel co-owned by Hearst (WCVB-TV there) and Comcast, where we presume he’ll join the network’s sports anchor rotation.

And Chandler’s fiancee is apparently from the Boston area, and the pair has an upcoming wedding in the works as well.

We also caught the only on-air sportscaster remaining at WEWS after April 26th, Sue Ann Robak, make a quip Friday night – thanking her producer and an intern, if we remember right.

OK, Sue Ann – you’re the only *on-air* sportscaster staying at 3001 Euclid…

With the Cavs in the playoffs, and Robak being the only sports anchor left, “NewsChannel 5” is going to have to find at least a second fill-in sports person – and quick. With the May sweeps looming, we hear it’s going to be a tall order for WEWS to hire anyone permanent in the next couple of months.

They’d better at least get fill-in help, or Ms. Robak may have to use that producer and intern to physically hold her up, and stop her from falling over from exhaustion…

AND GOINGS…: Cleveland Plain Dealer media/radio/TV/moviemaking columnist Julie Washington has more on something else we reported in that item, the departure of WKYC/3 news director Mike McCormick.

McCormick tells Washington he was “tiring” of commuting between Cleveland and Jacksonville FL to “see his family”, and denies that he was being thrown under the bus due to lower ratings at the local NBC affiliate.

Julie tells us that McCormick will be out of the building at 13th and Lakeside “before May sweeps”, which, as we look at the calendar would be pretty much, well, very soon.

We’ll do our best not to be skeptical here, but the timing seems pretty quick to us, particularly happening just days before an important sweeps ratings period…

AND GOINGS?: We are reminded by our comments that another local media departure has gone unreported.

And that’s only because, well, we don’t know anything about it.

But it does appear that Salem contemporary Christian WFHM/95.5 Cleveland “The Fish” is no longer featuring veteran voice Dan Deely in its afternoon drive position.

The move would seem to be confirmed by the “Fish” website’s staff page, which shows Josh Booth in afternoons – and still shows Deely as host of the “Sunday Morning Celebration” from 8 AM to noon on Sunday.

But a click on the page for that Sunday show credits Salem’s Glenn Mertz – presumably also voicetracking overnights on WFHM – as the host of “Celebration”.

Meanwhile, Deely’s own page still exists on the station’s website, untouched from his time doing afternoon drive. And Josh Booth’s WFHM staff page confirms his regular presence in the “Fish” afternoon drive slot.

And to further confuse matters, we’ve heard that Dan Deely’s voice has still been heard doing production.

So, we just don’t know. We’d appreciate any information about this – please, folks, E-Mail us privately if you can. We will be discreet and tasteful…as always.

And please, keep it “nice” in the comments…

DENNY REDUX: We reported here some time ago that former Clear Channel talk WSPD/1370 Toledo afternoon drive host Denny Schaffer had “landed” with a tryout at Dickey Broadcasting sports WCNN/680 Atlanta “The Fan”, with a weekend show called “Denny Radio: Sports and More”.

While Schaffer had always made it clear that the show was a tryout, we lost track. And looking for something else recently, we found out that the show apparently didn’t continue past its first few tryouts.

Schaffer’s name and bio are no longer on the WCNN website, and his own website’s page with audio from the show has been moved into the “Past Shows” directory, with only one day’s worth of audio from January 20th available.

It’s not that the former WSPD host is completely out of the radio loop.

We missed it, but we’re told Schaffer substituted last week for Premiere nationally syndicated host Glenn Beck (weekdays 9 AM-noon, WHLO/640 Akron, WEOL/930 Elyria and others).

A letter on Schaffer’s E-Mail page from a former Toledo listener indicates that the host was heard doing Beck’s radio show last Tuesday, in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre.

Anyway, as we’ll surely be asked after we post this, we don’t know what the future is for one Mr. Schaffer and a permanent radio gig…

BREAKING NEWS: Browns Re-Up With WKYC/3, Add SportsTime Ohio

The Cleveland Browns are sticking with local NBC affiliate WKYC/3 for the 2007 season, as the team’s official broadcast TV partner and home of Browns preseason games.

But on the cable side, the local NFL team is making a change for 2007, as it will start a new agreement with SportsTime Ohio, the local cable/satellite regional sports network owned by the Cleveland Indians.

The other big news out of this agreement is for HDTV fans.

Channel 3 will air four 2007 pre-season games in HD format, and new cable partner STO will replay these games in HD within a day after the original airing on WKYC.

STO’s technical operations are handled from studios at WKYC’s “Digital Broadcast Center” in downtown Cleveland, and WKYC is also the broadcast outlet for Cleveland Indians baseball.

WKYC will also continue to air the “Pregame Huddle” pre-game show and the “Point After” show on Monday nights.

The STO agreement takes effect July 1st. The team has had a pact with competitor FOX Sports Net Ohio.

The Browns renewed their relationship with WKYC last year, when the team broke ranks with then-broadcast partner WOIO/19 over the 911 tape controversy.

And as last year, WOIO will actually air all but two regular season Browns games, as the local CBS affiliate. FOX O&O WJW/8 will pick up the other two, due to that network’s role as home carrier for the National Football Conference, when those teams visit Cleveland…