Columbus Shakeup

UPDATE 7/1/10 10:13 PM: No, we haven’t signed LeBron James. We’re a few million, all of them, short of cap space, and LeBron wasn’t sure of our head coaching plans, though he liked the fact we’re in Northeast Ohio.

But seriously, thanks to Tim Feran at the Columbus Dispatch, we have some more details on this item, if not the NBA Free Agency Shuffle.

* WOSU Public Media is buying the 101.1 operation for $4.8 million $5.7 million, $2.5 million $2.25 million (sorry, typo on our part) up front and the rest paid over 20 years, according to the latest version of Feran’s article and an earlier article in the alt-paper “The Other Paper”.
* WWCD will be “operating” 102.5, “in a partnership” with owner WHIZ Media Group (aka Zanesville’s Southeastern Ohio Broadcasting System). They’ll also move the FM rights to the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets to the new frequency. The AM rights are on the Dispatch’s own “The Fan on AM”, WBNS/1460. The WWCD deal presumably still prevents Dispatch from putting the NHL team on the FM side of “The Fan”, WBNS-FM/97.1.
* Feran characterizes the new NPR-laden 89.7 programming, when classical music moves to 101.1, as a simulcast with WOSU’s AM side at 820.

Our original item is below…

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As it turns out, the recent flip of Clear Channel’s WRXS/106.7 “Radio 106.7” to 90s mix “Gen X Radio” is the quietest radio format news out of Columbus this week.

That’s because as your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) was actually in the Columbus market (for non-media reasons) on Wednesday, the announcements came fast and furious.

First, we learned from Ohio State University that the school’s WOSU Public Media operation is buying Fun With Radio LLC’s WWCD/101.1 Grove City, long-time home of the locally-owned “CD 101” alt-rock format.

Those who have been following the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) weren’t surprised by the next move.

“CD 101” indeed confirmed the rumors, and the alt-rock format will move down the dial to the more powerful 102.5/Baltimore signal…with a simulcast of “CD 101” airing there starting at midnight tonight (Wednesday night/Thursday morning)…finally putting the poorly automated “Highway 102” country format somewhere on a computer in Zanesville out of its misery.

Thus, the “CD101at1025.com” domain name picked up earlier by Lance Venta and the RadioInsight net gnomes makes sense…the alt-rocker will be heard on both 101.1 and 102.5 until the fall.

That’s when the final shoe drops…when they take it over, Ohio State University will use 101.1 as a full-time classical music outlet, freeing up primary signal WOSU-FM/89.7 to become a full-time NPR news/talk station.

We presume it will sound much like WOSU(AM)/820 does now, which leaves open the question of what the WOSU folks will do with the AM signal in the fall.

There were no changes for us to observe in the few hours we were in Columbus.

102.5 won’t be flipping to the “CD 101” simulcast until midnight, though we heard an air personality on CD 101 this afternoon telling listeners to listen at midnight for a “very important event”. The air person didn’t give away the store, though the frequency change is on the CD 101 website.

As of yet, there are no FCC sales applications in the online database – either for the WWCD purchase by OSU, or for a WCVZ purchase by Fun With Radio. For that matter, we don’t know if Fun With Radio’s Roger Vaughan is buying WCVZ, or just leasing airtime or LMAing.

At “Gen X Radio”, we heard the early positioning, including one liner imploring listeners to “don’t tell a friend – they’ll find us on scan, anyway”, and promising music that meant something to the target listener’s life, even if they were wondering what they were thinking at the time.

As of mid-afternoon, they had not changed the WRXS calls to the coming WCGX, at least during the legal ID…

The Next Batch

News seems to be coming in batches, so here’s our next one…

CBS MOVES CARVER: Steve Carver literally didn’t have enough time to unpack in Northeast Ohio.

Not long after CBS Radio announced he was taking the job of VP/market manager at the company’s Cleveland cluster (AC WDOK/102.1, hot AC WQAL/104.1, classic rock WNCX/98.5 and alt-rock WKRK/92.3), he’s leaving town…according to numerous trade reports, he’ll take oversight of CBS’ cluster in West Palm Beach FL.

Taking over the four CBS stations in Cleveland is cluster vet Tom Herschel.

But…for how long, at least as a CBS Radio employee?

We’ve recounted rumblings and rumors that CBS Radio has sold/is about to/will/could sell its stations in Cleveland and as many as four other cities.

Is Herschel CBS’ caretaker for a set of properties that aren’t long for the company?

We would think/assume that if the situation is otherwise, the company would not have brought in Mr. Carver, and would have handed the keys to Mr. Herschel a few weeks ago.

But we warn again – we have no solid information, or even “solid rumor”, other than unconfirmed rumblings that there’s some sort of sale of the CBS Radio Cleveland cluster in the works.

We have no evidence that it’s actually happening, or that there’s actually fire underneath all that smoke.

But…we’re watching…

FORMAT CHANGE IN CENTRAL OHIO: A relatively new Columbus market radio station changed format on Monday afternoon.

Clear Channel’s WRXS/106.7 was on its first format after the company moved it from Marion, where it was once WMRN-FM “Buckeye Country” at 106.9. (The format and calls in that area moved to 94.3/Caledonia, which itself moved closer to Marion from its former home in Upper Sandusky.)

But the alt-rockish “Radio 106.7” gave way to “Gen X Radio” on Monday, based (on what we hear) on Clear Channel’s Louisville KY station of the same moniker.

Here, let’s let Radio-Info columnist Tom Taylor – who recounted some of the CBS sale rumblings – do the heavy music description listing…noting that Arbitron’s PPM ratings system starts soon in Columbus:

Big-cumeing stations tend to perform better in PPM, and maybe that’s what Clear Channel is thinking with “Gen X” – which typically jams together songs that were hits on either rhythmic/top 40 or rock-leaning stations.

Taylor says WRXS is taking the new-format-appropriate calls WCGX.

“Gen X Radio” could be destined for wider adoption within Clear Channel, or at very least, it could be the early 2010s version of Jammin’ Oldies.

We’ll actually get a chance to hear it in the market this week, though our lack of musical knowledge won’t give you much more insight after we get back from the Columbus area.

One set of ears in the market tells us it sounds like a young-music-skewing version of “Jack FM”, the “playing what we want” format that is usually based in classic hit selections.

What we won’t hear in Columbus is Shane “Rover” French, unless we happen to get freak reception on 100.7 – or fire up the show’s “IHeartRadio” channel on our Android device.

Yep, the “Radio 106.7” move to “Gen X” has taken WMMS/Cleveland-based “Rover’s Morning Glory” off the Columbus airwaves again. We hear the station is totally without air personalities for now, not just without Rover and his cast.

“RMG” was previously heard in Columbus some time ago on rimshot then-WAZU/107.1 Circleville “The Big Wazoo”, which was sold by CBS Radio to Wilks, and changed to country WNKK “The Hawk” “Wink” (sorry, we got 107.1’s country format confused with sister station 95.5!). And if you think “Rover’s Morning Glory” doesn’t fit with a young-skewing jukebox-ish format with no air personalities, it certainly doesn’t fit with a country format…

WHILE WE’RE IN COLUMBUS: Electronically, tonight, at least…

Lance Venta at RadioInsight and his “net gnomes” are at it again, spotting two domain registrations that could signal a future for a new signal in Columbus:

A move of Columbus, OH’s Alternative ‘CD101’ WWCD appears to be on the horizon. A pair of domain registrations hint at a new frequency for the longtime independently owned station. CD101at1025.com and CD1025.com were both registered anonymously but pointing to the servers of the Columbus area ISP that host WWCD’s online operations.

102.5 FM in the Columbus market, as long-time OMW readers could cite without searching, is WCVZ/Baltimore, the new home of the former 102.5 signal in Zanesville.

Southeastern Ohio Broadcasting System moved the WHIZ-FM “Z102” hot AC format and calls to the former WCVZ/92.7 South Zanesville, once known as CCM “The River”…and former 92.7 owner Christian Voice of Central Ohio decamped in the area to new non-comm WZNP/89.3 Newark “The Promise”. 92.7 took the “Z” moniker as “Z92.7”.

And 102.5 then moved to its spanking new facility southeast of Columbus, one of the market’s better rimshot signals. It’s been running loosely automated country run by the WHIZ folks under the name “Highway 102”.

(And we mean “loosely”. You could drive an 18 wheeler through some of the breaks between songs and spots!)

Could “CD101” take up a new home on 102.5/Baltimore, and will owner Ingleside keep – at least in the short term – the existing 101.1/Grove City signal?

We’ll see…possibly soon…

That WKNR Lineup Change

We’d hinted at this since earlier this month…when we noted rumors of changes on Cleveland’s AM dial.

Building rumors have become reality, as Good Karma sports WKNR/850 “ESPN 850” shakes up its weekday lineup starting Tuesday, July 6th.

WKNR creates a two-person afternoon drive show from 3 to 6 p.m. by teaming incumbent afternoon driver Michael Reghi with evening host Kenny Roda, who currently is heard 6 to 9 p.m.

Roda sticks around for another hour with former college and pro football star LeCharles Bentley from 6-7 p.m., then Bentley sticks around with fellow ex-pro footballer Je’rod Cherry for “Xs and Os with the Pros”, a show currently heard on sister WWGK/1540 “KNR2”.

Finally, from 8 to 10 p.m., WKNR stays local with “ESPN Cleveland Gamenight”, which the station says “will be hosted by the ESPN Cleveland staff, including Ohio Radio Hall of Fame Broadcaster Greg Brinda, along with Chris Fedor.”

The rest of the WKNR weekday schedule, featuring ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning”, the local “Really Big Show” with Tony Rizzo and “Munch in the Morning” with Mark “Munch” Bishop, and Premiere’s “Jim Rome Show”, remains unchanged.

A station press release is reprinted in full, below…

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ESPN CLEVELAND ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO WKNR AFTERNOON AND EVENING LINE-UP

Beginning Tuesday, July 6th, ESPN 850 WKNR will sport a new daily afternoon and evening lineup.

ESPN 850 WKNR’s afternoon lineup will feature current 6pm-9pm host Kenny Roda with current afternoon host Michael Reghi from 3pm-6pm.

In addition, Roda will co-host the 6pm-7pm hour with former Ohio State Buckeye All-American and NFL Pro Bowler LeCharles Bentley.

The evening line-up will go through some notable changes as well. Headlining the changes will be the addition of X’s and O’s from 7pm-8pm. X’s and O’s features three-time Super Bowl Champ Je’rod Cherry and former OSU great and NFL All-Pro LeCharles Bentley.

From 8pm-10pm, ESPN 850 WKNR will debut ESPN Cleveland Gamenight. The show will be hosted by the ESPN Cleveland staff, including Ohio Radio Hall of Fame Broadcaster Greg Brinda, along with Chris Fedor. The show will feature the latest on Cleveland and National games as they happen and a recap of the sports day with interviews and callers.

Good Karma Broadcasting President and CEO, Craig Karmazin said, “I am so excited for these additions to our lineup because they were dictated to us directly by our fans. We’ll see if this additional local talk is enough to satisfy the passion of the Cleveland sports fans.”

ESPN 850 WKNR’s Monday-Friday Lineup:

5am-6am Munch in the Morning
6am-9am ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike in the Morning
9am-Noon the Really Big Show
Noon-3pm The Jim Rome Show
3pm-6pm Reghi & Roda
6pm-7pm Kenny Roda & LeCharles Bentley
7pm-8pm X’s and O’s with the Pros
8pm-10pm ESPN Cleveland Gamenight

You’ll Need A Scorecard

You’ll definitely need a scorecard to keep track of weekend talk radio in Ohio and beyond…in four steps…

STEP ONE: We’ll start off at the Clear Channel complex in the Kenwood area of Cincinnati, where sister talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland weekender and former WKDD/98.1-WHLO/640 Akron voice Matt Patrick, as scheduled, did a 12 noon-3 PM Saturday shift on the original “Big One”…WLW/700.

As we pointed out before, WLW is filling that time slot – formerly occupied by now-former WLW host Mike McConnell’s Premiere syndicated “The Weekend” – locally. Scott Sloan, who has been subbing in WLW’s weekday midday time slot since McConnell left, did the show on WLW last week.

(More on both McConnell, and “The Weekend”, later.)

Patrick was almost directly preceded by the man who could decide if he appears on WLW in the future: Darryl Parks, CC Cincinnati AM operations chief, who also regularly hosts the 9-11 AM Saturday “Midday” show…though his immediate lead-in was a quasi-infomercial hour we won’t mention here again unless the host pays us…

STEP TWO: With Matt Patrick in Southwest Ohio for the day, someone had to take the 1-4 PM Saturday shift he has been occupying back at WTAM…and who took the shift is sure a surprise.

That Saturday afternoon shift was filled by former sister hot AC WMVX/106.5 “Mix 106.5” co-host Brian Fowler, marking his return to Oak Tree since “Brian and Joe” were canned for budget reasons.

Joe Cronauer, by the way, was recently heard filling in for Trapper Jack on CBS Radio AC WDOK/102.1 “Soft Rock 102.1″…and Fowler had an earlier turn filling in for Scott Miller at CBS Radio classic rock WNCX/98.5.

The pair has not been on the air together since leaving WMVX, though they have produced a regular podcast we’ve already mentioned. Fowler now has a regular “day job” with a local advertising agency.

Like Patrick in Cincinnati, Fowler gave the impression the WTAM show was a one-time appearance, unless he hears any more from the station. (Curiously, Fowler got liners done by the regular station voice, though we would not read too much into it…)

STEP THREE: And it appears McConnell is not long for “The Weekend”, or, it not long for him.

News out of Chicago places him in afternoons on WGN/720 starting in August – as expected, WGN’s Steve Cochran was told his last show in the 1-3 PM time slot was Friday. (It’s not known how the station will divide time between McConnell and earlier host John Williams, who is presumably staying.)

Maybe that finality led to McConnell’s run on “The Weekend” finishing a little earlier than expected.

On the web stream of Louisville KY’s WHAS/840, we heard KFI/640 Los Angeles host Tim Conway Jr. do the Saturday “Weekend” show, announcing that he had “signed a three year deal” to be the show’s permanent host…but that he’d be gone most of the summer due to a pre-scheduled vacation, with fill-in hosts rotating on the show.

We’re not all that familiar with Los Angeles talk radio, so we don’t know if any of that was accurate or not a joke.

But McConnell’s name has been officially excised from the show’s open, in a quick edit job.

Two Ohio notes in all this: We’re told by WTVN/610 Columbus weekender Dirk Thompson that the station hasn’t run “The Weekend” in “over a year”, though we seem to recall Cincinnati Enquirer TV/radio guru John Kiesewetter noting the post-WLW “Weekend” with McConnell hosting airing on both WTVN and WHAS.

And yes, Tim Conway Jr. is the son of THAT Tim Conway, the Cleveland-area native actor and comedian known worldwide for his stints on “The Carol Burnett Show” and “McHale’s Navy”, not to mention “Dorf on Golf”…

AND STEP FOUR: We received a tip confirmed by long-time OMW reader/Lorain County-based tipster Nathan Obral, of a fill-in at a local talk station.

And Nathan tells us it was a return to the airwaves Friday morning by long-time local radio voice Jeff Thomas, subbing on Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting talk WEOL/930 Elyria’s morning show.

We hear that Jeff could repeat the fill-in one day next week.

We’re also told that Jeff did a regular talk show, and wasn’t doing a sports show – despite his lengthy sports radio background as the morning update voice on Good Karma sports WKNR/850 (via Metro Networks).

Of course, WEOL would have a good reason to try out a new voice…as incumbent morning drive host Les Sekely is leaving the station in August, heading for full-time teaching work. But we don’t know if Jeff is the only voice getting a try-out…

Just Like Starting Over

…no, not the John Lennon song of the same name, but here’s another item about the cable TV feature “Start Over”.

Time Warner Cable, as of today, has added the digital cable feature to the feed of its first local participating broadcaster, Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3.

“Start Over” allows viewers to return to the start of a program, even if they tune to the channel in the middle of the show. Digital cable service is, of course, required, and you have to show up and “Start Over” before the show ends. The service is free for digital subscribers.

TWC doesn’t have yet a list of shows that are available to restart under the service, but we’re told “nearly all” of WKYC’s local programming, particularly “Channel 3 News”, will be covered…

Exclusive And Digital

This is an exclusive blog post about local Cleveland TV. It will appear on no other blog…until someone picks up our RSS feed or links to us, of course. But at the moment we’re typing this, it’s exclusive. Honest.

FUN WITH RESERVE SQUARE: The reason our tongue is so firmly in cheek above is due to Reserve Square.

Raycom Media’s WOIO/19-WUAB/43 “19 Action News” breathlessly promoted an “exclusive” interview of Joe Jackson, father of the late Michael Jackson, on the 10 PM edition of “19 Action News” on WUAB “My 43”.

Conducting the interview was 19’s Sharon Reed – and unlike one of the last times she had an “exclusive interview”, she was actually the one asking Jackson the questions, live on set.

The interview, as of this writing late Friday morning, is still tagged on the “19 Action News” website, in bold, red letters, as a “SHARON REED EXCLUSIVE”.

Here’s our problem with Reserve Square: To them, “exclusive” apparently means “the only station interviewing Joe Jackson on Thursday night”.

For today (Friday), the father of the late King of Pop – in town for events at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and Cleveland State University – has already appeared live on Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8’s “Fox 8 News in the Morning”, and then on Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3’s “Good Company Today”.

He also has a scheduled appearance later today on Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5’s “Live on Five”.

We haven’t checked Univision O&O WQHS/61, but we half expect him to appear in that station’s lobby for its weekend public affairs show.

Again, unless there was a chromakey effect in play, at least Sharon Reed was actually sitting next to Joe Jackson, and was actually interviewing him…but exclusive?

Jackson’s appearance in town is newsworthy because it comes on the first anniversary of his son’s death…and the Rock Hall will hold events marking that somber anniversary with Joe Jackson present. We hear the events at the Rock Hall are “exclusive”…at least as far as rock museums go…

AND DIGITAL: Those following our Twitter account know we made the round of local TV stations’ smartphone applications – with particular interest paid to the Android platform used by your Primary Editorial Voice(tm).

And as it turns out, all the Cleveland market TV news operations that have smartphone apps also have Android versions.

We already knew about, and installed, the Android version of WEWS/5’s application.

But it took reader tips to direct us to the Android app for WJW/8 “Fox 8”, and to one for WOIO/19’s “19 Action News”.

We don’t have an iPhone here at OMW World Headquarters, so we can only compare the Android versions of the above apps.

In our view, the Android “NewsNet5” application is by far the most complete, with the most news stories, video, weather radar and other features.

The “Fox 8 News” app and the “19 Action News to Go” app are actually produced by the same provider, LSN.

They’re both somewhat limited compared to the WEWS app. “Fox 8 News” only has about two or three local stories and two or three local videos. “19 Action News” has a significantly larger haul of local news stories, but no video of any sort.

And in the “it sticks in our craw” department: The “Fox 8 News” Android app, though it actually has a “Live Video” button, does not offer the station’s live video feed during local/news programming. The underlying screen says it’s for the iPhone, and clicking the video screenshot reveals – a text URL for the iPhone streaming, and nothing more.

We assume they’re working on this, or they wouldn’t have a “Live Video” button on the Android version – right?

You can pick up the “Fox 8” Android app at this link.

We include it because we had trouble finding it in the Android Market.

Searching “WJW” did not work, and searching “Fox 8” brought up two other apps in addition to the local version – including Local TV sister station WGHP/8 in the Greensboro NC market.

As you’ll note on the file description linked above, “Fox8 Flash” has no indication that it is for WJW in Cleveland.

We found the “19 Action News” app by searching for WOIO.

As far as we know, Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 has no smartphone apps, though it does have a version formatted for mobile browsers (mobile link).

For our iPhone friends, we apologize for another detour into Android land, but local TV stations having iPhone apps really is not news anymore…

Clearing Out

The rain is clearing out, according to the weather forecasters…and so are we. The inbox, that is…and we have some updates on old items…

RUMORS DYING: We passed along rumblings in Tom Taylor’s always excellent “Taylor on Radio-Info” column that involved the Cleveland market.

The original rumors noted sale talks that could involve the cluster of four CBS Radio stations in Cleveland – alt-rock WKRK/92.3, classic rock WNCX/98.5, AC WDOK/102.1 and hot AC WQAL/104.1.

Tom initially noted that the possible buyer could be Cumulus Radio Investors, the latest acquisition effort involving Cumulus Media, that was interested in some five markets CBS wishes to sell – including Cleveland. (CBS has actively been interested in selling its operations in markets below the very largest.)

Stand down. Nevermind.

Taylor notes that the rumored talks are apparently dead:

Now I hear that the CBS asking price was ultimately too “frothy” for the buyer. Lew Dickey said when he took the wraps off the Crestview Partners-backed CRI that he’d potentially be up for paying 7-8 times cash flow for premium properties. But CBS – Les Moonves – is probably still locked in on the multiples it got in the last batch of selloffs.

We’ve noted here time and again that despite expressing quite public interest in selling stations in its non-top-10ish markets – Moonves has repeated that sentiment at various conferences – CBS is not in a hurry to dump stations in Cleveland or anywhere else. If they get the number they’re looking for, they’ll sell, but this is by far not a “fire sale” operation.

And we’ve heard rumors, separately from Tom Taylor’s reporting, that the Cleveland CBS Radio cluster was about to be sold, or even “has already been” sold.

Other than what we’ve reprinted from Mr. Taylor, we’ve heard absolutely no evidence to support an agreed-upon sale, or near sale, of the Cleveland CBS stations.

Meanwhile, those who were following the rumors in “Taylor on Radio-Info” are probably breathing a sigh of relief, even if it’s only temporary.

Cumulus is not exactly known for high staffing levels. The company decimated staffing in former Susquehanna markets (including big markets like San Francisco), and has been a very active participant in recent layoff rounds – along with just about every other major or even minor radio company in the recession.

But we get the idea that Cumulus is very much a “lean and mean” company when it comes to staffing…recession or no.

And a quick search on the “Cumulus” name right here in the OMW search box (now to the right in our WordPress version, or a pull down menu in the mobile WordPress version) will provide plenty of examples…

AWARDS: For various reasons, we don’t spend a LOT of time with awards, but as a public service, here are some links we found with awards information.

Instead of linking to the various local TV stations, we’ll just go here for the list of local Emmy awards presented last weekend.

The local NATAS (Lower Great Lakes) chapter includes not only markets like Cleveland, Youngstown and Toledo, but also reaches into Pennsylvania and Indiana. As last year, the Hoosier stations picked up a decent number of awards.

And the folks on West Market Street are noting their third national Edward R. Murrow Award (Small Market: Radio) for the website AkronNewsNow.com, the online news component of Rubber City Radio Group’s oldies/news WAKR/1590, rock WONE/97.5 and country WQMX/94.9.

MOBILE: While we’re talking about West Market, AkronNewsNow now has an iPhone app in Apple’s App Store. For now, other mobile users can access ANN’s mobile-browser-friendly sub-site.

And we believe Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 is the first Cleveland market TV station to make its station/news app available on the Android platform, adding to its existing iPhone app…and since we have an Android device here at OMW, we hope the other area TV and radio stations follow suit.

(Youngstown’s WKBN/27 was actually the first TV station in the region to have an Android app, and the My Local TV folks, creators of the WEWS app, have apps for WUPW/36 “Fox Toledo” and Dayton’s WDTN/2.)

Semi-related…the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Cleveland.com has launched its own new mobile-friendly site, in what appears to be an improvement over the previous version in our brief time using it.

Ah, but newspapers strike again.

We saw the announcement in a tweet from Cleveland.com that took you to a story on the traditional site, with a link to go to Cleveland.com (and thus, pull up the new mobile site on a mobile browser) that did not work.

One note: we urge the folks at Cleveland.com to NOT wall off the traditional site from mobile users.

Point your mobile browser to NYPost.com for a very bad example of that…there is NO WAY to access a regular New York Post link from a mobile browser, rendering the content inaccessible to everyone but desktop users.

Links followed from Twitter or Facebook on a mobile device get “swallowed” into the main menu of the mobile New York Post site, where the original article sometimes can’t even be found. (We do have an alternative mobile browser that presents a desktop user agent.)

Given that social media is a prime traffic driver to news websites, and that much of that social media is consumed on mobile devices, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to us.

Go mobile, content providers, but go smartly. And with a reported 160,000 new registrations per day, the Android platform is quickly showing that “the mobile app strategy” is not just putting up an iPhone app. And that’s not even mentioning the very popular Blackberry platform.

The iPhone and its related devices are the leaders and insanely popular, but the overall popularity of smartphones means there are now millions of people out there with capable devices that aren’t made by Apple.

Forgive us for wearing out the soapbox…it’s about to break…

ADS: Readers may notice that some Google ads are appearing on OMW.

That decision wasn’t ours. It’s part of the “free” bargain for our use of the WordPress.com system, and the ads pop up without any intervention from us. We receive no income from the ads.

(Oddly enough, the Google-powered Blogger had no “forced” ads.)

The ads are also showing up in the mobile version of the site. At least on our Android device, they are causing some very slight formatting issues… the text is pushed to the very edge of the mobile window.

If you’re noticing the same, E-mail us via the link up at the top of this blog, making sure to note what device you are using. The “WPTouch” skin used for the mobile version works on a wide variety of mobile device browsers, including the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android devices and WebOS devices…

Chasing His Dream

UPDATE: Our friends at CursedCleveland.com point out in a comment below that Tony has just tweeted about a new job:

Just took a job in N Carolina w/ ISP Networks… on the air with UW Huskies broadcasts on KJR in Seattle. Thanks for all your support!!!!

Congratulations, Tony!

Our original item is below:

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Tony Castricone is by far not the first Ohio media person to lose his job and wonder “what now?”. It’s how he answered that question that brings his story to OMW.

The former Columbus TV/radio sportscaster didn’t just send out resumes and video and audio clips when he found himself looking for work recently. He embarked on an ambitious journey that could change his life – one way or the other.

Tony tells OMW:

“Instead of looking for another job right away, someone said ‘do what you always wanted to do.’ I decided to cash out my 401K and be a touring musician, since that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve been playing guitar for 11 years.”

From there, it was an extensive Google search for “open mic” nights at various locations across the country – “the biggest and best”, Tony tells us. That resulted in a 40 day, 10,000 mile cross-country music tour Castricone is currently undertaking.

Upon realizing “he didn’t have the money to do this”, he turned to friends to raise the money for his road trip.

Oh, Castricone got into a car accident just before heading out, and had to arrange to buy a new car – while unemployed.

Tony tells us that he’s “living the experience of a lifetime”, in the middle of a tour that started June 10th, and will finish on July 20th.

He tells us:

“I’ve gotten dozens of emails, many from complete strangers, who have told me they were inspired to do what THEY’VE always wanted to do from hearing the story. One signed up for cooking classes, one started taking piano lessons. Some just vent their frustrations to me about getting laid off and say the story’s giving them hope!! What an incredible experience.”

Tony has also hit various media outlets, appearing on TV in Columbus, Baltimore and other cities to tell his story.

That story is on the web here, and his on-the-road-from-the-tour blog is here, with plenty of video and audio.

Our best of luck to Tony, and we thank him for a very inspiring tale!

Thoughts For A Friend Of OMW

He’s not only been a regular reader of the Mighty Blog over the years, but he’s also been very helpful to us on a number of occasions.

He is “Uncle Bill” Weisinger, known for his role not only as the volunteer program director of the “Sunday Oldies Jukebox” daypart programming on WSTB/88.9 Streetsboro, but also for his engineering work for stations like WSTB, Kenston High School’s WKHR/91.5 Bainbridge, and Mount Union College’s WRMU/91.1 Alliance.

He’s also the treasurer for SBE local chapter 70.

Recently, he’s been dealing with not RF issues…but cancer issues. OMW hears that Weisinger is being treated for “a cancerous tumor”, and was admitted to the hospital on June 2nd.

Long-time WSTB general manager and Friend of OMW Bob Long tells us that “Uncle Bill” is “in good spirits…alert…eating well…and talkative as always. He expects they will be sending him out to a care center sometime this week.”

Bob notes that the doctor told Bill previously that “he wasn’t going to die from this”, which he found “somewhat humorous”.

Friends of Weisinger have set up a website with a public guestbook, and we’re told he can see it – so return the favor and make him smile.

You can add comments to this item, but we suspect they’ll be more direct at the above site.

Send snail mail c/o WSTB, 1900 Annalane Drive, Streetsboro, OH 44241

And on behalf of OMW Nation, Bill, here’s hoping your recovery is smooth as possible, and that you’re presiding over the Jukebox again soon…

Lake Wobegon In Ohio

The fictional Lake Wobegon will be in Northeast Ohio this afternoon, as the iconic American Public Media public radio program “A Prairie Home Companion” broadcasts live from Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls today.

Garrison Keillor and company will be joined by bluegrass musician Ricky Skaggs, says an official release from the show:

The cast, crew, and fans of A Prairie Home Companion always look forward to a visit from Ricky Skaggs and his top-flight band, Kentucky Thunder.

At just 17 years old, Skaggs — already an accomplished singer and mandolin player — was invited to join the band of the legendary Ralph Stanley. That was in the early 1970s, and since the moment he first took the stage, he has built a reputation rarely equaled in the world of bluegrass music.

His latest CD is Ricky Skaggs Solo: Songs My Dad Loved (Skaggs Family Music).

The fine folks at local affiliate WKSU/89.7 tell us that “rising star” Jessica Lea Mayfield from Kent is among other musical guests, including Andrea Suchy, with “Apollo’s Fire” playing before the show, and “Eels Gallery and the Speedbumps” playing after the show. (The group certainly wins points for a creative name.)

More information can be found at the show’s site, or the WKSU site.

The live show starts at Blossom at 5:45 this afternoon, and Keillor and his gang take to the airwaves at 6 PM.

In addition to 89.7 and the WKSU network of stations (WKSV/89.1 Thompson, WNRK/90.7 Norwalk, WKRW/89.3 Wooster and WKRJ/91.5 New Philadelphia) and translators in Boardman and Ashland, the show will also be heard on Ideastream’s WCPN/90.3 Cleveland and hundreds of affiliates nationwide, worldwide, on the Internet, on streaming media smartphone apps, and on just about any device short of a toaster.

And a quick online check shows tickets are still available (and presumably there’s plenty of room on the Blossom lawn), or you can get them at the Blossom box office…