WKNR Changes

We’ve heard the rumors, but AllAccess makes it official today: Good Karma sports WKNR/850 “ESPN 850” Cleveland producer, anchor and reporter Bernard Bokenyi is no longer working at the station.

The radio trade site says Bokenyi, one of Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin’s first two hires for his Cleveland operation, left the station on Friday. Bokenyi was originally hired for Good Karma’s WWGK/1540, now “Cleveland’s AM 1540, KNR2”, which started before Karmazin bought sports talk mainstay WKNR from Salem.

Bokenyi came to the station along with Aaron Goldhammer, who’s now WKNR’s assistant program director, along with being producer/sidekick for mid-morning host Tony Rizzo.

The AllAccess report doesn’t say who will replace Bokenyi.

But we have a good idea who it’ll be.

After pressing our ears to the wall of the newsstand next to the WKNR studios at the Galleria, OMW hears it’s been officially announced: Metro Networks afternoon update anchor Daryl Ruiter will make the move downtown, and will take much of Bokenyi’s work load – including the production of “ESPN 850″‘s afternoon drive show with Mark “Munch” Bishop.

We hear Daryl starts at WKNR a week from next Monday…

Losing Tony – The Third Time

UPDATE: WARF has already posted a new schedule, with 1-4 PM host Dan Patrick moving to a new live clearance from 9-noon, and new SNR addition “The 2 Live Stews” airing from 1-4 PM…both changes starting next Monday…

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Clear Channel sports talk WARF/1350 Akron “SportsRadio 1350” could be the only sports radio station in America which has lost talk show host Tony Bruno for the third time.

Via AllAccess: Sporting News Radio has officially announced Bruno’s departure from the network’s midday slot – retroactively to his last show on January 18th.

Bruno will reportedly remain with the network for “special projects” the next couple of months, but he’s done his last radio show for SNR. AllAccess reports that weekenders Bob Berger and Bob Stelton, along with evening host Arnie Spanier, are among the fill-ins until a permanent decision is made on Bruno’s time slot.

And yes, Akron’s 1350 has aired Bruno’s national radio show in all of its incarnations.

The station was “ESPN 1350” when Bruno aired on ESPN Radio, and the then-WTOU picked him up again with its network change to FOX Sports Radio.

Of course, 1350 then flipped to liberal talk as “Radio Free Ohio”, but returned as a sports station with Sporting News Radio – by then, Bruno’s new radio home.

All three times, Bruno left his network employer while he was airing on 1350.

What’s next…the “Sports Byline” network?

The CC Sale And Northeast Ohio

What’s been “topic number one” in Northeast Ohio radio-land the past few days doesn’t concern the debut of a new co-host this morning on CBS Radio AC WDOK/102.1 “Soft Rock 102.1”.

It’s not Craig Karmazin’s latest move in his Sports Radio Empire, sort of headquartered these days at the Galleria in downtown Cleveland – depending on where Mr. Karmazin hangs his hat most of the year.

No, it’s something that hasn’t even happened yet.

Various trade publications last week reported the official word that the FCC has OK’ed the transfer of Clear Channel Communications (PDF file link) to two private equity firms – Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. The move means only the Federal Trade Commission’s approval stands between the deal and its consummation sometime later this year.

You might recall that Clear Channel proposed sending a number of stations into the “Aloha Trust”, a third-party that would eventually have to sell the stations marked.

One of those stations was the company’s top 40 WAKS/96.5 Akron “Kiss FM”, which operates out of the Clear Channel Cleveland World Domination HQ at Oak Tree.

Well, with the FCC approval, the commission put a condition on it – a certain number of stations will indeed have to be transferred to that trust for eventual sale to another owner.

And as you can see in this list compiled by RadioInsight.com’s Lance Venta – look! There’s WAKS! (The list is taken from Appendix B of the FCC’s order, in the PDF linked above.)

Also on the list are two of the company’s Dayton area stations, and some southeast Ohio stations once tabbed for sale to the now-deceased “GoodRadio.TV LLC” effort, which will have to be sold to SOMEONE.

We’re not just in the theoretical, anymore. The folks at Oak Tree will have to get WAKS off the ownership books to be sold, to comply with the FCC’s wishes.

Or will they?

Some rumblings we heard floating out of Oak Tree, onto the wind and into our ears, say that Clear Channel may – or may not – sell the WAKS facility specifically. The feeling there is that if one of the other current five FM holdings out of Oak Tree were to get a larger price, they’d sell that station instead.

How the formats would shuffle out is anyone’s guess. The low stations on the Format Change Speculation Totem Pole are usually hot AC WMVX/106.5, and rock WMMS/100.7.

But even classic hits WMJI/105.7 could be in play, if John Lanigan’s latest reported on-air chatter about not signing another contract turns into reality. The conventional wisdom there is that 105.7 could become just about anything format-wise without “Lanigan and Malone” to hold it up in morning drive.

Who’s out there buying? That could be a big problem for Clear Channel.

CBS doesn’t have any room for a fifth FM, and CC wouldn’t likely sell it to their primary in-market competitor. Radio One has room, but do they have the cash? The company is said to not be doing very well nationally, though Cleveland is a good market for them – with popular WZAK/93.1 and WENZ/107.9 leading the way. And again, would CC sell?

Salem also has been selling more than buying, and with a full-market FM signal running its “Fish” format already, what would they do with a second? Salem’s three core formats are represented with decent signals in Cleveland – 95.5, 1220 and 1420 – and Salem doesn’t strike us as a company that would buy prime real estate on the FM dial for top dollar.

As for other possibilities, the sold station would be a single FM, which means unless someone picked up one or two other signals from other operators, it doesn’t make sense for the usual players, even those who aren’t here already.

Entercom is one of those, but we doubt they’d enter the Cleveland market with a solo FM.

And some speculate that Good Karma’s Craig Karmazin gets involved here.

Well, his AM holdings (specifically WKNR/850) are a direct competitor to Clear Channel’s WTAM/1100. Do you think CC wants to sell him a powerful FM signal where he can run his sports programming against their big AM talk/sports outlet?

And if CC is – as we’ve mentioned – rumored to be selling whatever signal gets it the most money…would that big FM stick be too rich for Mr. Karmazin’s money? Even if CC agreed to sell it to him?

He doesn’t have many full-signal stations. His FM sports talker in Madison is a class A rimshot from Columbus WI, which is in the process of being moved into the heart of the market. His FM rocker in that market is a class A rimshot from southern end of the market.

We have no evidence that Good Karma is interested in – or can even afford – a full-market class B FM signal in a market like Cleveland. WKNR was the company’s very first full-market, full-time AM signal in a top 30 market.

Then, there’s the Akron Situation.

WAKS/96.5 is licensed to Akron. It’s the former home of WKDD, of course, the 2008 version of which now resides on 98.1 Canton.

Assuming CC can’t get “top dollar” for “lakefront” property with one of the other Cleveland FM stations, could 96.5 basically be moved back down to Akron, returning the station to its historic home just to get it off the books?

And could a 96.5 signal downgraded back into Akron – presumably from its former tower next to WCUE/1150 on Bellaire Road – satisfy the commission by being transferred to Freedom Avenue, on CC’s Akron/Canton books?

Probably not, due to the general definition of the area market, but we’re throwing it out there. We don’t know the answers to pretty much all these questions, even in Rumorland.

For now, with WAKS tabbed to go into the Aloha Trust…we presume the folks at Oak Tree will continue to program and run it as they do now, until whenever the station goes out of the company…or if another of the Oak Tree FMs is sold instead in the required effort to reduce the company’s ownership stake in the Cleveland market.

There are a lot of other questions here, and nearly all of the above is pure speculation. But since everyone else is talking about it…why not us?

Furman Resurfaces

It’s not a full-time sports talk show, but long-time Cincinnati radio sports voice Andy Furman has landed a new gig.

Starting Monday, Furman will deliver one minute weekday commentaries on Cincinnati oldies outlet WDJO/1160 “Oldies 1160”, during the morning drive show with Dusty Rhodes.

The station’s website would seem to indicate that he’ll opine on a broader scale:

Andy Furman talks about more than just sports! Listen Monday morning at 7:55 to find out what he knows, and what his opinion is!!

Cincinnati Enquirer radio/TV guru John Kiesewetter reports that the job sprang directly from Kiese’s own story last Sunday in the newspaper, where Furman lamented that his radio career was over, and had decided to not pursue radio jobs in other markets, since he wanted to stay in town.

“Oldies 1160″‘s Rodger Kay saw the story, then got in touch with Furman.

Andy Furman’s best known, of course, for his lengthy stint hosting “SportsTalk” on Clear Channel talk WLW/700 “The Big One”. After he was let go, he bounced back in afternoons on Cumulus talk WFTK/96.5 “SuperTalk FM”, a job which recently ended as the station dumped FM talk to become “96 Rock”…

BREAKING NEWS: WDOK Announces New Trapper Jack Co-Host

CBS Radio Cleveland AC WDOK/102.1 “Soft Rock 102.1” has filled the open chair left by the departure of long-time morning drive co-host Robin Benzle.

The station has announced that Terry Moir will join “Trapper Jack and the Morning Show” starting Monday, January 28th.

Quoting the station’s official release:

“Terry’s energy and passion for our business surpasses most that I’ve worked with over the years,” says Christopher Maduri, Senior Vice President and Market Manager for CBS RADIO’s four Cleveland stations. “Her talent and creativity are limitless and we are all confident that her joining Trapper and News Director Jim in the mornings will entertain our Greater Cleveland listening audience for years to come.”

Trapper Jack added, “Terry is such a positive person that she lifts every room she walks into. She’s fun, funny … and I’m absolutely thrilled she wants to come play with us.”

As she’s a radio novice, you might be wondering…Terry WHO?

Moir is the Director of Programming and Sales Marketing for Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3, a job she’s had for 10 years…after an 18 year stint at Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5.

And she’ll still be WKYC’s programming boss. She’s not leaving 13th and Lakeside, according to the WDOK release:

Joining the ranks of individuals like Ryan Seacrest and Whoopi Goldberg who host morning shows on radio and then continue their day elsewhere, Terry will also continue in her position at TV-3.

We’ll have any more as we find out…

More On Milwaukee

A quick follow to the item about Good Karma’s Craig Karmazin and his purchase of Salem Christian talk WRRD/540 in the Milwaukee market…

The price Good Karma has now been revealed, thanks to FCC filings…$3.8 million.

And some more details are being made known.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel now reports rumblings that Salem is selling its other station in Milwaukee, CCM outlet WFZH/105.3 “The Fish”, to the folks at Educational Media Foundation (“K-Love”).

That would answer a question we had – why would Salem sell a station with its core format, Christian teaching/talk? The answer: assuming the news about its FM outlet is true, Salem sees Milwaukee as an underperforming market, and is getting out entirely.

And the Journal-Sentinel article has another tidbit of information about Craig Karmazin’s plans for what has become a two station Milwaukee cluster:

He notes that he’s had a number of calls in recent days from folks interested in buying the station (WAUK). But it’s not on the market.

“Like any asset in the world, I’m sure there’s a price,” he says. “But it’s not something I’m looking to sell.”

Right now, potential formats for WAUK run the gamut from liberal talk to Spanish-language sports, to brokered programming – that is, airtime purchased by individuals or groups, like churches.

“Anything would be a possibility,” he says.

We’re kinda shaking our heads at that potential format list – which we assume was drawn up by Tim Cuprisin on his own, without help from Mr. Karmazin.

If we had to bet a spare $10 bill, we’d put it on Craig doing with WAUK what he’s done with his original daytime station here in Cleveland, positioning it as a second, mainly syndicated sports talk outlet to his new primary station in Milwaukee – “ESPN 540”. Perhaps it becomes “ESPN 1510”?

This news affects what we’ve talked about here in two places.

First, now that we know Salem is selling out of Milwaukee (“EVERYTHING MUST GO!”), a similar scenario here – where Good Karma would buy the former home of WKNR, AM 1220 – wouldn’t likely happen unless Salem sold out of Cleveland as a whole.

With its three core formats fully represented here, and just having taken money from Mr. Karmazin for its second best signal in the market, we doubt that’s happening.

Second, well, Educational Media Foundation is on the prowl, looking to add another market to its reach by taking advantage of Salem’s apparent exit from Milwaukee to add a full-market signal for its “K-Love” format.

That would tend to make us wonder about its role in the future of Clear Channel country WCKY-FM/103.7 “103-7 CKY” in Tiffin, which was the one station left out of the announced sale of CC’s Findlay/Tiffin and Sandusky stations to BAS Broadcasting.

Is EMF looking to fill a signal hole in Toledo, where it owns western rimshot K-Love outlet WNKL/96.9 Wauseon?

And would it pay to move 103.7 up closer to Toledo? There’s really not a LOT of room to do so, if any, and an outfit like EMF may be OK even with the current rimshot signal from the south – which does a “decent enough” job on car radios in areas where 96.9 has problems.

There are also rumblings that other local owners may be looking at 103.7, though we don’t know who would fit that bill…

Craig’s Milwaukee Upgrade

Craig Karmazin, who owns sports talker WKNR/850 “ESPN 850” and sister WWGK/1540 “KNR2” in Cleveland, has been a little busy in one of his other markets.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that his Good Karma Broadcasting is moving its sports talk format in that market to a new, full-time signal, as it picks up Salem Christian talk/teaching WRRD/540.

Good Karma’s ESPN-based sports talk format in Milwaukee is currently housed at daytimer WAUK/1510 Waukesha, with a second nighttime home at local urban talk outlet WMCS/1290. The combo is promoted as “ESPN Milwaukee – 1510 Days, 1290 Nights”. The format will simulcast on 540 AM starting in mid-February, and eventually, 1510 will get a second, currently unknown format. (“AM 1510, ESPN Milwaukee2” anyone?)

The move, aside from giving the station a 24 hour presence on one frequency, is apparently also driven by the impending loss of the nighttime time brokering deal with WMCS, which Milwaukee’s Business Journal reports ends at the end of this year.

OMW readers, of course, know that Craig Karmazin has done business with Salem before, in his purchase of WKNR.

While speculation is likely to mount here, we wouldn’t expect him to do something like, well, buy Salem’s big-signaled WHKW/1220 “The Word”, the company’s home of the Christian talk/teaching format here in Northeast Ohio – and the original home of the WKNR sports format now on 850.

Salem very, very rarely sells its talk/teaching outlets. The format is the very core of its business plan, and the reason the company exists. We wonder if they’re doing so in Milwaukee because of another shoe no one has hinted about yet, perhaps the purchase of an FM station up there where they can land the teaching/talk format.

We would expect a repeat of this move in Cleveland only IF Salem were to somehow land a full-market FM signal – or a reasonably good rimshot – for the current “Word” format, or if Salem somehow falls apart financially, and has to start selling signals.

Good Karma’s new signal in Milwaukee sounds like it’s a small one…just 400 watts, directional, which is less than half the company’s WWGK/1540 down here.

But 540 AM is an amazing frequency. At the very, very low end of the AM dial, 400 watts gives WRRD coverage that may even be better than a high-band 5,000 watt station…

Monday And New Stuff

Some actual news has happened this weekend. Or, sometime in the last week, but we just got a Round Tuit(tm) now…

STO INDIANS ROAD GAMES IN HD, CONFIRMED: It’s been rumored around the Internet for a while that SportsTime Ohio would “drop the other shoe” as far as HDTV coverage of Cleveland Indians games. But now, we have it confirmed.

WKYC/3 senior director Frank Macek gets the scoop in his “Director’s Cut” blog from STO itself:

Regarding STO – yes, all Indians games (home & away) this season will be done in high definition according to Pat Kilkenney, SportsTime Ohio Vice President of Program Acquisition/ Executive Producer. Viewers having been asking – and now you shall receive.

STO had been broadcasting road games in SD, while WKYC – the network’s over-air partner for the games – has been doing road games in HD. It looks like an All HD Season for Tribe fans starting in April.

Note that OMW hears (from other sources) that there will still be some SD games in the 2008 Indians spring training schedule…but it’ll be all HD starting with Opening Day.

By the way, congratulations to Frank on the first anniversary of “Director’s Cut”. The blog is very useful to us, helping us keep track of some of the “behind the scenes” workings at the local NBC affiliate.

And his anniversary message may mark the first time anyone’s ever called us a “great publication”…

SPEAKING OF THE TRIBE: One of the Indians broadcasters will be “on the mend” for much of spring training, due to a hip injury.

We’d heard about this from one of our regular sources, but it’s confirmed by local sports media columnist/TV host Les Levine in the Lake County News-Herald – in an item Les ran last Sunday:

Several Indians players are re-habbing after suffering injuries during the past season. So is a member of their broadcasting staff. Mike Hegan should be ready for the final spring training in Winter Haven, Fla., after suffering a broken hip on the golf course. Like many of us do, Hegan reportedly attempted to move a golf cart while sitting on the passenger side, lost control and crashed into a tree.

Les also notes that iconic Cavaliers radio play-by-play broadcaster Joe Tait is also facing medical issues – with knee replacement surgery scheduled for the team’s off-season.

We wish a speedy recovery for Mr. Hegan, and as for Mr. Tait…well, let’s just hope no one decides to do surgery on his vocal cords…

NEW STATION, WELL, SORT OF: Actually, it’s a new translator in the Akron area that’s squeezed its way onto the airwaves, on a frequency that’s second-adjacent to a Cleveland powerhouse.

An OMW reader living in the Akron area wondered what new station was stopping his radio scans at 102.5 FM, at first thinking it was some sort of pirate.

No, this thing actually has an FCC license.

It’s W273BL/Akron, which has become the latest outlet for Educational Media Foundation satellite-fed network “Air1”. “Air1” is the younger-skewing network that’s the sister of the ubitquous Christian contemporary network “K-Love”, both based near Sacramento, California.

The FCC construction permit for the new translator was recently transferred to EMF from Creative Educational Media, the owner of the religious “Oasis Network” – which is the licensee of WOFN/88.7 Beach City OH near Canton.

W273BL is pumping out 10 watts from an antenna on the WVPX/23-WONE/97.5 tower near Akron’s Rolling Acres Mall.

And according to the link above, EMF had roughly just over a week to put 102.5 on the air in Akron, as the construction permit was to expire on January 28th.

We’ve talked about this sort of thing before – the massive number of unbuilt translator applications sitting around from a few years ago.

W273BL’s original life as an application started in 2003, and its currently authorized construction permit was granted a few days after EMF took over the facility last November.

The new station is rather close, electronically, to CBS Radio AC WDOK/102.1 Cleveland. In its application, EMF’s engineers argued – apparently successfully – that the translator wouldn’t interfere with WDOK in populated areas – despite being within WDOK’s protected 60 dBu contour. It’s something about the interference happening only over a small airborne area, not affecting population.

The bigger problem would seem to be for the tiny translator, which can get wiped off the dial in much of greater Akron by WDOK’s spillover, especially on radios with poor selectivity.

The W273BL application lists the primary station as KHRI in Hollister CA, and our original source says they heard that ID on the new Akron translator. The signal may be getting there via another of EMF’s local translators in the area.

OMW noted earlier that EMF bought WCVJ/90.9 Jefferson, and flipped it to Air1, with the apparent intent on using it to seed commercial band translators in Northeast Ohio.

We’re not even sure that rule (about needing a non-comm station nearby to feed commercial band translators) is still in place, or if EMF gets around it by using EMF’s W215BS/Hinckley, which is on 90.9 as well, as the “off-air” feed originator.

And that’s much more than we expected to ever write about a translator of a nationwide religious music network that basically has those tiny stations at every wide spot on the road…

ANOTHER WVKO ITEM: You can blame us for this one, as we took to the forums of Columbus liberal talker WVKO/1580’s website to defend our earlier item about the station using a public Internet streaming audio feed to deliver programming normally sent by satellite.

The move has forced WVKO to replace Jones Radio’s Bill Press in morning drive with Air America Radio’s “The Young Turks” – or whatever AAR will put on in the time slot if the show, as reported by some, has ended. (We note it like that because the show’s own website seems to indicate that they’ll be back on Tuesday after Sam Seder subs for them.)

Well, a new show has debuted on WVKO, and not only is this an intended program change, it’s local.

“What’s What with Mike Cole” started a week ago today in the 5-6 PM weekday time slot, displacing one hour of AAR afternoon drive host Randi Rhodes. From the station’s website:

Talk show host Mike Cole is a rising star in Central Ohio radio. Coined, “progressive talk in progress,” he takes a funny, critical and informed look at politics, current events, news and popular culture.

Umm, how can a talk show host whose program just started one week ago be a “rising star”?

As it turns out, Cole is actually returning to the same station he was on before.

We don’t know how long the program lasted, but a quick Google search shows numerous references to Cole’s program on the former incarnation of WVKO, back in the Stop 26 Riverbend days as a talk/gospel station focusing on the Columbus area African-American community.

We’ve never heard Mr. Cole, but in our view, it’s a good move for the WVKO folks. It forges a link between the station’s historic mission and its new one, and could smooth over some of the wounds made when Bernard Radio LLC took the station off the air, before returning it from a new transmitter site.

It is also the first “local” show on the station – as organizers and WVKO general manager Gary Richards promised local programming shortly after 1580 re-launched.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see much of that local programming show up as more local sports coverage…

Friday Warmup

Think warm as you read this item to wrap up our week.

After all, the weather forecast tells us that the wind chill over the weekend in Northeast Ohio will be roughly 200 degrees below zero, give or take a hundred…

DID YOU HEAR IT?: Anytime Cleveland market morning drive radio icon John Lanigan even remotely talks about his career and future, the Bat Signal appears in the sky, and OMW gets contacted by numerous readers.

That’s what happened earlier this week, when a caller apparently called the WMJI/105.7 “Majic 105.7” morning fixture on Wednesday, suggesting something when Lanigan “goes on vacation or negotiates a new contract”.

A reader tells us that Lanigan responded that there “will be no new contract”, leading to massive speculation – at least among our readers – about Lanigan’s retirement…and if it’s soon.

We didn’t hear the segment, and can’t confirm it aired.

And we remind readers that just about everyone of that stature in this business throws out stuff – sometimes to set the tone or atmosphere for contract negotiations.

We’re told that Lanigan has negotiated shorter contracts over the years, for the express purpose of being able to walk off into radio’s sunset whenever he wishes to do so.

We also hear that both sidekick Jimmy Malone, and newsman Chip Kullick, have socked away money from other, non-show ventures, and would likely follow Mr. Lanigan off the dial if he retired.

This item is mainly up to get reaction from people who may have heard the quip mentioned above, which may or may not even mean anything. We also don’t remember when Lanigan’s current contract expires…

WHIO-FM MOVE SET?: OMW hears that the move of Cox talk WHIO-FM 95.7 Piqua, currently simulcasting the company’s WHIO/1290 Dayton, has been announced as being approved.

The application to move the station from Piqua to the northern Cincinnati suburb of Sharonville was filed a year ago, and at least at this writing, there’s no indication on the FCC website that it has been approved. (The FCC web database has lagged behind reality in the past.)

But OMW hears that the news of the move was delivered inside Cox’s Dayton headquarters, and that employees were told that the station would be sold to another company.

We speculated on much of this long ago, even going so far as to point out the presence of long-time broadcast move-in specialist First Broadcasting on the application to move it.

And it’s no secret that First Broadcasting still actually operates stations – in Cincinnati, no less – including the “MAX FM” adult hits trimulcast. Or simulcast. Or whatever it is now. (We haven’t kept track.)

Wither the FM side of WHIO’s news/talk simulcast?

We’d be surprised if it didn’t land at the current WZLR/95.3 Xenia, which filed to move its transmitter location west – closer to Dayton – at the same time Cox filed the WHIO-FM move.

That last part is just our own guess, but it would appear to make sense to us. We have no indication that Cox, either as a company or locally in Dayton, is abandoning news/talk formats on FM.

This is very lightly sourced at this time, but our sources tell us they’re surprised it hasn’t popped up anywhere else…

ANOTHER TWEAK: We spent an entire item recently tweaking Columbus progressive talk outlet WVKO/1580 for being unable to acquire its satellite-fed syndicated talk shows by, well, satellite…which forced it to substitute a different morning drive talk show for Jones’ Bill Press when an Internet feed went down.

Someone presumably associated with the station ripped us in a comment response, basically taking us to task for not knowing “what (WVKO) is up against” – and not just the inability to point a satellite dish through downtown Columbus buildings.

We’ll take a “we’ll agree to disagree” stance with that one, and chalk it up to WVKO’s small budget or lack of engineering expertise.

But we’re not going to let Good Karma Broadcasting sports WKNR/850 Cleveland “ESPN 850 WKNR” off so easy.

It’s now a running on-air joke on the station’s most popular local talk show, Tony Rizzo’s midday show “Rizzo on the Radio”. Somewhere after the WKNR move from Broadview Heights to downtown Cleveland’s Galleria, the station was apparently not able to move its long-time toll-free number, 866-228-0850. (Try it! See if anyone answers!)

OK, new place, new number. We get that.

But MONTHS after the sports talk station “moved on up” to a deluxe studio in a downtown shopping mall, the station has no toll-free number of any kind. Period.

Efforts to return toll-free calling to WKNR callers have been chronicled in one of “Rizzo on the Radio” co-host/producer Aaron Goldhammer in one of those It Really Should Be Shorter “update” segments for the past few weeks, and Hammer told the Rizz and listeners last week that prospects of the new toll-free number being activated were “farther away than ever”.

Huh?

A sports talk radio station with no toll-free number? You might as well have one without play-by-play!

Now, the world has changed somewhat in recent years. Most callers use cell phones – either using their own minutes or a station-provided free call hotline. Even if callers at home don’t use their cell phones, many of them have Internet-based phone services (Vonage, cable company services) with unlimited toll-free calling nationwide.

But…why in the world is getting a toll-free number such a big deal for a radio station, and why has it taken WKNR so long?

It really makes the station look unprofessional…and in our humble, outside opinion, Good Karma boss Craig Karmazin should stop the joking and get the number installed ASAP…

A Sharp(ton) Move, Or Not?

We don’t spend a lot of time listening to either of Radio One’s AM stations in Cleveland, so when we first heard just what changes were made this week, we were surprised.

But starting Monday, the company has moved Syndication One host Al Sharpton’s national show talk in the Cleveland market from urban talk WJMO/1490″The People’s Station” to its original frequency home in Cleveland, gospel WJMO/1300 “Praise 1300”. Syndication One is an arm of Radio One.

Sharpton’s program airs in its live 1-4 PM time slot on WJMO, displacing the first two hours of local afternoon drive host Ronny Knight’s show…which still airs starting at 4 PM.

Over on the 1490 side, we hear that at least part of that time slot is covered by the syndicated conservative religious-themed “Point of View” talk show. That’s the show most known for its creator and former host, the late Marlin Maddoux. Kerby Anderson hosts the show these days.

From Al Sharpton to the show formerly hosted by Marlin Maddoux. Talk about a change in, well, the talk radio “point of view”!

The show is distributed by the USA Radio Network. We don’t know if it’s a free clearance, or if the “Point of View” organization pays for airtime. The show also airs on a number of stations in Ohio, including Canton talk/religious WCER/900. USA Radio Network programming has shown up often on WERE, in place of unsold time.

And we question, as well, the placement of an issues talk show in the middle of the daytime schedule of gospel mainstay “Praise 1300”.

We’ll assume that Radio One/Syndication One wanted to put Sharpton back on the company’s best AM signal in Cleveland, where his show launched originally when the WERE news/talk format was on 1300.

And we wonder if the company is decoupling from its earlier vision to build a full-fledged national urban talk format – given that Al Sharpton is now the only remaining host in the Syndication One talk format launch lineup.

By the way, an aside here: Former Syndication One afternoon drive sports talk hosts “The Two Live Stews” have landed, doing 1-4 PM (Eastern) weekdays on Sporting News Radio.

That time slot on SNR’s Northeast Ohio affiliate, WARF/1350 Akron, is filled locally by a delayed broadcast of The Content Factory’s Dan Patrick Show. But when they were on either Radio One AM outlet in Cleveland, the WQXI/790 Atlanta-based “Stews” never had any opportunity to build a fan base south of the Ohio Turnpike due to signal issues…