About Bill

This is a tough one to write.

But there’s no other way to say it…the medical prognosis for “Uncle Bill” Weisinger, local radio engineer and volunteer leader of WSTB/88.9’s “Sunday Oldies Jukebox”, has taken a turn for the worse.

As such, the focus of those around Bill’s life in the past few days has been maximizing the time he has left on this earth.

This picture is from a 61st birthday visit by his “Sunday Oldies Jukebox” co-horts to the local care center where Bill is staying.

Bill is also still in touch with us here at OMW…telling us a group of local radio types were able to “find new homes” for all of the radio equipment in his condo.

Regular readers of the Mighty Blog need little introduction to Bill Weisinger, a long-time Friend of OMW.

In addition to heading up the “SOJ” effort and doing engineering work for the Streetsboro schools-owned station, Bill also has done engineering work for stations like Mount Union College’s WRMU/91.1 Alliance, and Kenston High School standards outlet WKHR/91.5 Bainbridge.

And even though he’s not out there working on it any more, Bill informed us (and others on his E-mail list) that WKHR had just installed a new antenna.

Back at WSTB, long-time general manager and OMW reader Bob Long tells us the station is in its third studio location after the fire at Streetsboro High School – in one of the temporary trailers the school has set up while it renovates the high school building.

You can bet Bill wishes he could be there, helping the effort…and you can bet the Friends of Uncle Bill wish he could be there as well.

Bill is still reading the GetWellBill.com site set up to send him messages, and we’re sure he’d appreciate a message…or a signal report on WKHR’s new antenna, even.

Your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) is not a doctor, and we don’t play one on the Internet, so we’re not going to go into the details of Bill’s medical condition.

We only hope that he has as much time left among his friends as possible, and that the time left is rich. And if it were up to us, that time would be measured in “years”…

New Starts, Part Two

A week ending update of some new starts…some temporary, some permanent…

FILL-INS: Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 has gone to some experienced freelance sports help while it awaits the legal resolution of the case of weekend sports anchor Terry Brooks.

The station is turning to former WKYC/3 weekend sports anchor Mike Cairns to fill-in on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Since leaving WKYC, Cairns has physically gone – well, not far at all – as he’s been freelancing on various shows for SportsTime Ohio. (STO’s facilities, of course, are in the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center.)

In specific, “NewsChannel 5” sports director Andy Baskin notes that “Mike hosts the Ohio High School Kickoff show, the Viking Basketball Report and is co-host of Tee It Up Ohio. He also does play-by-play for STO’s OHSAA Coverage.”

The other freelancer at 3001 Euclid is also seen on STO, and was seen on WEWS tonight.

Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 Browns beat reporter Andre Knott gets more TV face time, on the Channel 5 sports shows “5 On Your Sideline” on Fridays, and “Sports Sunday” on Sundays.

And yes, rather unfortunately for Andre, he has Sundays free these days…after the Cleveland Browns installed in-house employee Jamir Howerton as sideline reporter for the Browns radio network.

Knott is seen on STO’s Training Camp Daily, Berea Report, and the live call-in show Browns Red Zone.

The station’s news staff has pitched in so Baskin doesn’t have to work 7 days a week, with reporters John Kosich and Paul Kiska taking turns at the sports desk…

NO LONGER FILL-IN, AT LEAST IN INDIANA: Having his Monday through Fridays mostly free the past few months, WTAM/1100 weekend host and former WKDD/98.1-WHLO/640 host Matt Patrick is getting a day job.

Monday through Friday will find Matt in South Bend IN, where he tells us that he’s taking the open morning drive slot at Federated Media talker WTRC/95.3 “NewsTalk 95.3 MNC, Michiana’s News Channel”.

He’s filled in there a handful of times over the past few weeks.

Patrick joins a lineup very similar to what surrounded him at WHLO – WTRC features Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

Matt tells OMW:

“We can be heard into Chicago! Not to mention I see Notre Dame from the studio! It’s a great station..a great team of people…and a fabulous opportunity!”

Matt tells us that he’s not abandoning talk radio in Ohio, as he’ll continue doing his WTAM weekend show (Saturdays from 1-4 PM) from back here in Northeast Ohio.

Matt also tells us he will continue doing fill-ins for WTAM “Big One” brother talker WLW/700 in Cincinnati, as needed…

CONGRATULATIONS: …to an OMW Reader at Freedom Avenue, for an addition to his family.

Clear Channel Akron/Canton operations director/WKDD program director/morning drive co-host/OMW reader/you know the rest Keith Kennedy and “love of (his) life” Kara have welcomed the second baby in the WKDD morning drive show family.

From Keith’s Twitter account:

“Welcome Landon Keith-Alexander born at 6:20pm August 27th, 2010”

Landon joins the other member of the WKDD morning drive infant family, Katherine Ann, recently born to co-host Krissy Taylor, and her husband, sister top 40 WAKS/96.5 “Kiss FM” afternoon driver/assistant program director/music director/OMW reader Kasper.

If any other OMW readers are expecting birth, please let us know, OK? There’s something in the water…

MANSFIELD TALK: OMW hears that a TV station is picking up a show heard for a long time on the radio.

The TV station is Mansfield independent WMFD/68, and the show is “Plant Talk”, which we’re told is “a revival of a long-running call-in show” that aired for some 30 years on Clear Channel talk WMAN/1400.

We’re told the show airs Thursday nights from 7-8 PM, hosted by Bill Collins & Chuck Gleaves from the Kingwood Center in Mansfield.

While we’re visiting Mansfield, electronically, OMW hears that today is the last day on the job for Mansfield Christian School WVMC/90.7 general manager Josh Hooper.

Hooper, who hosted afternoon drive on the “Christian Hit Radio” station, will be replaced by Scott Saunders.

Hooper has a farewell message on his “Afternoons with Josh” page.

WVMC also operates translators W216AH/91.1 Ashland and W274AN/102.7 Jefferson (Wooster)…

AND SPORTS ALL OVER: High school and college sports are taking over the radio and TV airwaves starting this week.

We won’t list everyone, particularly those which haven’t changed their coverage, but some changes we’ve noted:

* We noticed that Clear Channel sports WARF/1350 Akron “Fox Sports 1350” is picking up the high school football baton much earlier this year, bumping Akron Aeros games to Internet-only this Thursday and Friday. In previous years, they’d run the games on sister talk WHLO/640 until the Aeros’ season is over.

We’d ask Keith Kennedy at Clear Channel, but he’s, umm, busy. (See above.)

Thursday’s opener with Akron Hoban vs. Garfield was heard both on WARF, and Rubber City Radio oldies/news WAKR/1590 Akron…as usual preceded by the station’s high school sports preview show.

* We noticed that Time Warner Cable’s schedule of games on the cabler’s Northeast Ohio Network (NEON) Channel 23 includes a healthy schedule of Akron area games, which must mean they were able to come to a production agreement this year for Akron games.

* And Fox Sports Ohio is in the mix with their “Game of the Week” – we believe competitor SportsTime Ohio joins the high school football game parade for the OHSAA playoffs.

College sports will feature a new MAC Football package on STO this year, with additional coverage of the University of Akron Zips on STO – also new to the regional sports network.

We’ll put up various releases and schedules in a separate post, probably sometime this weekend or early next week….

TALKING MARKET SIZE: And OMW hears that the Cleveland-Akron (Canton) TV market stays put at ranking number 18 for the 2010-2011 Nielsen TV season.

The area gained about 5,500 TV homes compared to 2009-2010, for a total of 1,526,200 homes.

Just above Cleveland on the list, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale and Denver swapped places…the Miami region moving up to 16th, and Denver moving down to 17th…

And Another Update

We’re mostly updating some of the busier items we’ve posted in the past couple of weeks…with one new piece of information, though it’s been sitting for a while…

JIM MANTEL REDUX: Helpful OMW readers have been alerting us to TV appearances by now-former Clear Channel country WGAR/99.5 morning host Jim Mantel, who was shown the door a week ago when the company reportedly declined to renew his contract.

Also gone from the morning show at WGAR is producer “Captain Tony” McGinty, who we understand is no longer with the show since he was tied in with Mantel’s deal.

Anyway, you don’t need to alert us to Mantel’s appearances on local TV, as he’s been no stranger to the tube in recent days.

Monday night, we’re told he did appear on WOIO/19’s “19 Action News at 11″…we believe Mantel made an appearance late last week on sister station WUAB/43’s “19 Action News at 10”.

We haven’t been able to dig up the video URLs for either appearance on the “19 Action News” website – come on, Reserve Square, we know you hate us, but we’re trying to give you web hits here! – but we found another Mantel TV appearance in online video form.

This link should take you to the former WGAR morning host’s extended live appearance on Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3’s “Good Company Today” on Thursday…and we’re pretty sure he didn’t pay for the airtime on the set next to Michael Cardamone and Andrea Vecchio (we assume Fred Griffith is on vacation this week).

There wasn’t a lot of “media news ground” broken in the interview, except that Mantel does seem open to non-country radio opportunities (though noting that he is, indeed, very familiar with the country music world after nearly 20 years hosting a morning show on a country station). He did joke that he “doesn’t expect to hear from the hip hop station”.

He did seem open to non-music and talk radio, though in Cleveland that pretty much means WGAR’s sister station WTAM/1100, owned by the same company which just declined to renew his contract after over 18 years.

Well, except for the unlikely prospect of Salem duplicating moves it has made on Chicago’s WIND/560, and hiring him for conservative talker WHK/1420 here. Unlikely may not be a strong enough word.

You do get the idea that Mantel would be happiest doing a morning drive country format radio show in Cleveland, but we’ve already poked holes in the prospect of that happening away from his former radio home at 99.5.

In the Old Days of Radio, a competing station would have already flipped and locked up Mantel as soon as he was contracturally available. In today’s world of Radio Consolidation, there are so many other considerations. For one, since companies own large clusters, many of the stations are no longer competing with each other.

By the way, our item on Mantel’s departure from WGAR is shattering the record for number of comments in our WordPress era.

As of this writing, the original item had 39 comments (!), numbers we haven’t seen since we had a more free-flowing comment section in our Blogger era.

Most of the commenters seem to be Mantel’s regular listeners, and it doesn’t appear to be an accident…a search on “Jim Mantel” on Google brings you to our item as first on the list.

We haven’t felt this “busy” over a personality change since Shane “Rover” French and company made their “Rover’s Morning Glory” move to Clear Channel rock/talk WMMS/100.7…

WHITNEY WENT HOME: A reader asked us why New Vision CBS affiliate WKBN/27 Youngstown anchor Whitney Ward was gone from both the “27 First News” airwaves and the station’s website, and…well, we didn’t know.

After all, we cover the Youngstown/Warren area from afar, and have not yet been able to acquire/set up the antenna that should nab us the station’s over-air signal in our perch far to the west.

So, we asked the one person who could give us the answer in short order, and as it turns out, her publication wrote about it last month.

Friend of OMW Andrea Wood, publisher of Youngstown’s Business Journal newspaper, passed along a scan of the print edition of mid-July’s “Media Scope” column by Stacia Erdos. Quoting:

Ward and her husband, Jon Splichal, will leave their home in Canfield and head about as far west as you can go, closer to home for both of them. Ward is taking a position with CBS affiliate KEPR in Pasco, Wash., in the “Tri-Cities” market, where she’ll anchor the 5, 6 and 11 o’clock newscasts. Her family lives in Olympia, about a four-hour drive away.

KEPR (yes, pronounced locally as “Keeper”) is part of the extensive Fisher chain of TV stations in the Pacific Northwest.

Though the “Tri-Cities” market (Pasco/Richland/Kennewick WA) is actually smaller than Youngstown, Ward tells the Business Journal that being near her family was the “main reason” for the move. You can find a Q&A with Ward in the print edition of the Business Journal, as the article is not online.

Speaking of the Business Journal, Erdos’ “Daily Buzz” video webcast now has its own dedicated site, with continued placement atop the main Business Journal site…and Wood tells OMW that the numbers of viewers are growing, with as many as 10,000 views some days:

“That’s up from 2,000 when we started less than a year ago. News on demand is really something. What’s interesting is when people watch it — 5 a.m. the following day — perhaps a week later if they’re out of town and want to catch up.”

Online video by non-TV sources is growing in the Northeast Ohio region, but only the Business Journal (with former WYTV/33 anchor Erdos) and Rubber City Radio’s AkronNewsNow.com (with Lindsay McCoy) are making a daily fully-produced video webcast as far as we know…

AND ONE MORE VALLEY ITEM: After soliciting and getting some help cleaning nasty graffiti – digitally – off the pictures, the incoming owner of WRTK/1540 Niles and WANR/1570 Warren has sent us his own “clean” version of a picture of the stations’ soon-to-be home at the WRTK transmitter site in Mineral Ridge.

The Photoshop-fixed version obscures a four-letter word we don’t use here at the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), a word in graffiti that will be totally gone before owner Chris Lash moves WANR in, and operates both stations from the facility not terribly far from the various truck stops, motels and restaurants that line the I-80/Ohio 46 interchange.

Studio-wise, both stations are now operated from the Beacon Broadcasting leased studio complex on Courthouse Square in downtown Warren…itself the former home of WRRO/1440, now Salem’s WHKZ, operating from its transmitter site in Lordstown and presumably controlled out of Summit Park Drive in Independence.

We’ll learn WRTK’s new direction around September 1st, the date Lash takes over both stations. WANR will continue as a Fox Sports Radio affiliate, presumably heavy with local sports broadcasts (which even in the economy of 2010, are the closest thing to a money printing press in the Mahoning Valley).

There’s at least one other technical surprise regarding Lash’s new operation…which we’ll share in a later item…

The WKSU Item

Kent State University’s WKSU/89.7 has been so busy lately…we’ve talked with the station’s Ann VerWiebe the past few days more than we’ve talked with some of our relatives.

But…there’s been a lot to talk about on East Summit Street…so, let’s get started…

THE SOUND OF REGINA: Plain Dealer columnist Regina Brett makes her local public radio return with a new weekly show on WKSU.

The former Friday host of Ideastream WCPN/90.3’s “The Sound of Ideas” launches her own program on the Kent-based public broadcaster, making her roughly the 20th person in the past 5 years to shuttle back and forth between WCPN and WKSU.

The program, however, won’t be the usual political/issues talk show.

From a description in the press release written by the always-helpful Ms. VerWiebe:

The weekly radio show was inspired by Brett’s book God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours, an inspirational collection of essays and stories about the lessons that life had taught based on a popular column she wrote after turning 50. Each show features guests with insights, tips or fresh concepts to help people create a greater life for themselves and for others. Programs will revolve around themes of life’s transitions and universal issues of home, work, community and finding a personal balance.

“The Regina Brett Show” will air Wednesday nights at 7 PM, starting September 8…

AND MORE PROGRAMMING NOTES: Shortly after we heard about Ms. Brett’s new show, WKSU announced another new spoken word program…this, on the station’s daily schedule.

The station will add the Boston-based “Here and Now” show weekdays 12 noon-1 PM, starting August 30th:

The hour-long news magazine is produced by WBUR in Boston and hosted by veteran journalist Robin Young. The fast-paced program features a broad-range of topics from public policy, foreign affairs and technology to food, culture and the arts. Reports from the WKSU newsroom will also be part of the Monday through Friday broadcasts.

WKSU general manager Al Bartholet cites the public radio audience’s hunger for news and information:

“Airing ‘Here and Now’ over the noon hour means that breaking news won’t have to wait until ‘All Things Considered’ begins at 4 p.m. Young’s program is produced with the curious, intelligent and information-hungry public radio audience in mind. Plus, an additional news hour means more opportunities for the WKSU news staff to present stories on arts and culture to Northeast Ohio listeners.”

Robin Young has extensive news experience, a 25 year career working for the Discovery Channel, CBS, ABC and for NBC’s “Today Show”

The release also notes the Thursday evening show “Other Voices”, offering hour-long audio documentaries at 7 PM…

AND IN NON-PROGRAMMING ANNOUNCEMENTS: We already mentioned the WKSU-based Folk Alley’s Android app – added to the existing iPhone/iOS4 app.

The station has been busy offering a full menu of smartphone and smart device apps.

In addition to the iPhone/iPod Touch and Android versions of the WKSU and Folk Alley apps, the station is also now directly supporting the iPad…allowing the use of more text and images than just running the iPhone version on the iPad.

If the iPad version of the WKSU app is not available in the iTunes store yet, it will be soon.

All of the WKSU apps play the four WKSU streams, with high-quality streaming available assuming you have the bandwidth to support it. We can play the high-quality versions of the WKSU streams with no problem on the 3G connection on our Android device.

The streams include the main WKSU simulcast (HD1), the Folk Alley feed (HD2), the Classical Channel (HD3) and the News Channel (HD4).

The dedicated Folk Alley app, of course, only plays the Folk Alley stream.

Dedicated would be the word for the young man directly responsible for all this, a recent high school graduate who has written all the apps for WKSU. From the appropriate release:

The WKSU apps were developed in-house by the WKSU web development team under the lead of IT Director Chuck Poulton. The WKSU apps follow the release of the Folk Alley Player iPhone app last summer. Both were created by James Savage, a recent graduate of Hoban High School (Akron, Ohio) who will attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., in the fall.

And for those of us in the Android world, there’s a backstory to the creation of the WKSU apps:

Savage constructed the WKSU Android app in part using code from NPR’s app. In the same atmosphere that prompted public media powerhouse NPR to share content on NPR.org through an open source API, the network invited input from the community in the development of the its Android app. Sharing this type of information reflects the spirit of the Android operating system and also NPR’s mission of public service and cooperation between content providers and the listening audience.

All of the apps are downloadable for free in the appropriate place: the iTunes Store for the iOS4 devices, and the Android Market for Android devices. And background audio is supported on iOS4, and of course, on Android.

You can find out more at the WKSU website…complete with screenshots of the apps.

And of course, WKSU’s programming is available on your good old fashioned radio, at WKSU/89.7 Kent, WKSV/89.1 Thompson, WKRW/89.3 Wooster, WKRJ/91.5 New Philadelphia, WNRK/90.7 Norwalk, and translators W298BA/107.5 Boardman, and W239AZ/95.7 Ashland. (Yes, we did that entire list from memory, though we needed help with the translator call letters…)

AND SPEAKING OF THE WEBSITE: Our news from East Summit Street is not complete, yet.

WKSU has revamped its website…the most notable change is the placement of news on the new front page of WKSU.org.

Before the change, if we remember right, you had to go to the WKSU News page to discover the station’s news output…

AND THANK YOU: …to WKSU’s Ann VerWiebe, for all of the above information.

Like her counterpart (in the “Talk to OMW” department) at Western Reserve PBS, Diane Steinert, Ann is always accomodating and cooperative with your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm).

It’s a tradition that goes back to Bob Burford’s time as public relations director/OMW handler at East Summit Street…and we’re appreciative! There’s something about those Kent-based public broadcasters that make them accessible…

The Big Followup

As usual when major media news breaks here, we spend time afterwards sorting it all out…

MANTEL’S EXIT: It’s the day after long-time WGAR/99.5 morning man Jim Mantel was shown the door at the Clear Channel Cleveland country outlet, and instead of being behind the microphones at Oak Tree, he’s communicating with his fans via social media.

Mantel noted on his Twitter account:

“Probably heard that I’m no longer on the air at wgar. Was lucky to do morning in my hometown for 18 1/2 yrs. On the other hand shot 78 today”

He confirmed via that same Twitter account that the end of his contract meant the end of his over 18 year run as WGAR’s morning drive host, in a response to a listener:

“Contract was coming up and they decided not to renew it.”

We’re told that Mantel also appeared on WOIO/19-WUAB/43’s “19 Action News”, but can’t find a link to the story on the station’s website.

Of course, Mantel is by far not the first well-compensated morning drive star (or media personality in general) to see the end of his run when a station did not want to renew his deal.

Radio and TV stations across the country, and certainly in Northeast Ohio, point to the flagging economy…when deciding not to pay large salaries to even the most popular personalities. We have chronicled those stories extensively here at OMW over the past few years.

Whether a radio station renews a contract or not, and how much it costs to do so, matters little to the listener.

And in the country format, with long-time loyal listeners, it’s no surprise that those listeners are weighing in online…with several comments already posted to our earlier item on Mantel’s exit.

WGAR’s Facebook page, at this writing, is filled with wall posts from disgruntled listeners. (Click on either of the “Others” links to see them.)

If those listeners indeed will “stop listening” to WGAR to protest Mantel’s removal as morning drive host, there are plenty of alternatives – though none in the immediate Cleveland radio market.

Cleveland is literally ringed with powerful and successful out of market country stations – including (west to east) Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting’s WKFM/96.1 Huron “K96”, Rubber City Radio’s Akron market WQMX/94.9 Medina, Cumulus’ WQXK/105.1 Salem “K105” and Music Express’ WKKY/104.7 Geneva.

All four of these stations have some fringe in-market coverage in the appropriate geographic parts of the Cleveland market, but country format stations often “play to the room” – with programming, particularly morning shows, that cater to the station’s hometown area.

Will Mantel’s exit from WGAR prompt an in-market country format competitor?

Well, his availability (after any post-contract non-compete period) may embolden someone to step up to the plate…but we’re having a hard time finding likely in-market candidates for a format change.

CBS Radio would otherwise be a candidate to mount a new country station…but the company is very much in “caretaker” mode in Cleveland, hoping to find an eventual buyer with CBS’ national mandate to sell “smaller market” (non-Top 10 market) stations. It’s the same reason a sports format flip at CBS in Cleveland is unlikely, despite CBS’ recent passion for big FM sports talkers.

The other two major competitors in Cleveland, Salem and Radio One, basically don’t do country. (Radio One once owned the country outlet in Urbana in southwest Ohio, WKSW, but that’s now owned by Main Line with Radio One’s exit from the Dayton area.)

And the market’s former smooth jazz outlet, ELB’s WNWV/107.3 Elyria, already made its change to AAA late last year as “V107.3”. (As noted above, ELB has experience in the format with long-time country outlet “K96”.)

Meanwhile, Jim Mantel is left to work on his golf game…

SHE WON’T BE HER KIDS’ RADIO HOST: Nationally, the big news in radio Tuesday night was The End of the Dr. Laura Show.

Talk Radio Networks’ long-running advice show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger dropped that bombshell on CNN’s “Larry King Live” last night, saying she’ll exit talk radio when her TRN deal ends at the end of this year:

In announcing her decision “not to do radio anymore” after being in the business for more than 30 years, Schlessinger said, “I want to be able to say what’s on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry or some special-interest group deciding this is a time to silence a voice of dissent.”

Schlessinger has been in a bit of hot water lately, due to an incident on her radio show (again, quoting the CNN piece):

National furor erupted when Schlessinger used the N-word 11 times in five minutes during a call August 10 with an African-American caller who was seeking advice on how to deal with racist comments from her white husband’s friends and relatives. The conversation evolved into a discussion on whether it’s appropriate to use the word ever, with Schlessinger arguing it’s used on HBO and by black comedians.

She apologized for the incident on her program.

And though Schlessinger framed her exit from radio as a “freedom of speech issue”, she says she’s “not retiring and not quitting”, and will continue to express herself via avenues like her website and YouTube channel.

And all this fuss over “Dr. Laura” has prompted most Ohio listeners to say, “she’s still on the radio?”

After years of clearances on big Clear Channel talkers like WTAM/1100 in Cleveland, Schlessinger has all but disappeared from the radio dial in Ohio – supplanted on large market stations mainly by Premiere’s Glenn Beck (even if Beck did himself disappear for a while from many of those same stations).

“Dr. Laura” used to be syndicated by Premiere, of course, but eventually migrated to TRN after Schlessinger took over ownership of her own show via her “Take on the Day Productions”.

Dr. Laura’s Ohio affiliate list in 2010 has just three stations – Canton’s WCER/900, Findlay’s WFIN/1330 and little WBLL/1390 in Bellefontaine.

Like the demise of liberal talk network Air America, this would have been a much bigger Ohio story a few years ago…

VALLEY UPDATE: We shouldn’t be surprised, we guess, but the incoming owner of now-Beacon Broadcasting’s two Ohio stations is a regular OMW reader.

And as a result, Chris Lash tells us of some of his plans for WANR/1570 Warren, and sister daytimer WRTK/1540 Niles.

Lash will take over WANR and WRTK September 1st in a local marketing agreement, pending approval and closure of his purchase of the stations.

WANR will continue under his ownership as a Fox Sports Radio affiliate, and we guess the station’s local sports commitments will continue – and maybe grow.

WRTK will go a different format direction, which Lash says he’ll announce after he takes it over. Until simulcasting WANR, WRTK ran Christian contemporary music, once using the Beacon handle “Freq 1540”.

Lash tells OMW that he’s already in the process of renovating the former WNIO studio building on Webb Road in the Mineral Ridge section of Trumbull County (the current WRTK transmitter site), and will move both stations’ operations into that building.

He shared pictures with us, which need editing (due to nasty graffiti!), and we’ll try to put them up here later today…

Jim Mantel Out At WGAR

Veteran Clear Channel country WGAR/99.5 morning star Jim Mantel is now officially a man without a station.

Sources at Oak Tree confirm that Mantel is out as morning drive host at WGAR, as is morning show producer “Captain Tony” McGinty.

As usual, the “Soviet-style purge” has removed the “Mantel in the Morning” page from WGAR’s website, and Mantel’s name from the station’s air personality list.

Mantel’s Twitter account is still around, though it hasn’t been updated since Sunday.

McGinty’s Twitter account is no longer accessible as of this writing, and the Google cache for the account shows it was updated recently. McGinty’s Facebook account is also missing.

UPDATE: An OMW reader tells us that McGinty is available on Twitter under a new account name.

UPDATE: We’re also told McGinty has a new Facebook page address, too.

From a memo announcing Mantel and McGinty’s departure from Oak Tree:

(WGAR program director) Charlie (Connolly) begins the search begins today for WGAR’s next morning show. On the interim, he and Lori Hovater will handle morning duties.

We don’t know why Mantel is gone from WGAR, along with his producer, but the best educated guesses involve ratings – remember, Cleveland is now firmly in PPM land – and what we’d have to assume is his more-than-decent compensation package, earned by hosting a top-rated morning drive show for many years…

The Beacon Ohio Empire Sold

OMW hears that a buyer has been found for the two Beacon Broadcasting stations in Ohio, and that a prospective buyer is lining up for the remaining Pennsylvania-based Beacon stations.

Pittsburgh-based broker Ray H. Rosenblum announced today that Beacon’s WANR/1570 Warren and daytime sister WRTK/1540 Niles are being sold to Whiplash Radio, LLC, a company owned by husband-and-wife team Chris and Kathy Lash.

Chris Lash currently operates non-comm community station WYNS/89.3 “Hybrid FM” in Waynesville, outside Dayton in Southwest Ohio. WYNS and Cincinnati-market WMWX/88.9 Miamitown are owned by Bill Spry’s Spryex Communications.

In addition to operating the Waynesville station for Spry, Lash also does morning drive. He has operated or owned other stations in Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Lash and his wife picked up both WANR and WRTK, and associated real estate, for $50,000. The stations are currently operating as a sports simulcast (“Fox Sports Radio 1540 and 1570”).

Rosenblum’s release notes that negotiations continue with another buyer for the remaining Beacon stations, now-mainly-AC WEXC/107.1 “C107.1” Greenville PA, and classic country simulcast WGRP/940 Greenville and WLOA/1470 Farrell PA.

The Beacon stations went on the block after the death of Beacon patriarch Harold Glunt in January of this year, and are currently under the oversight of Glunt’s son (and executor of the estate) Dennis Glunt.

The release from Mr. Rosenblum is below…

———-

NEWS RELEASE August 16, 2010

Sale Announced Of 2 Beacon Broadcasting Radio Stations
In Warren/Youngstown, Ohio

Dennis Glunt, the Executor for the estate of the late Harold Glunt has announced that the 2 Beacon Broadcasting, Inc. radio stations in Warren/Youngstown, OH have been sold to Whiplash Radio, LLC of Waynesville, OH, subject to the approval of the Federal Communications Commission.

According to Media Broker Ray H. Rosenblum of Pittsburgh, PA, WANR(AM-1570) in Warren, OH and WRTK(AM-1540) in Niles, OH have been sold for a total of $50,000, including real estate. The stations are currently simulcasting a sports talk format.

The principal owners of the buyer, Whiplash Radio, are Christopher and Kathy Lash of Waynesville, OH, where they operate WYNS(FM-89.3). During the past 25 years Mr. Lash has owned and operated radio stations in Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Mr. Rosenblum noted that negotiations are continuing with another prospective buyer for the sale of the remaining Beacon stations in Pennsylvania. They are
WGRP(AM-940) and WEXC(FM-107.1) both in Greenville, PA; and WLOA(AM-1470) in Farrell, PA. All 5 stations are in the Youngstown, OH market.

Harold Glunt, the principal owner of Beacon Broadcasting, died on January 25th. The Executor of his estate is his son, Dennis Glunt.

—END—

The Big Flood

UPDATED 8/10/10 10:45 PM:  Oops!  There’s one more item we forgot to mention, which you can read by scrolling down to the bottom if you read this when it came out…

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We don’t know why we bother to go on hiatus, no matter how busy life beyond the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) may be.

Items tend to write themselves, anyway, and basically demand to be put up…and there’s another flood we have to deal with…

WCLV MOVE:  Classical mainstay WCLV in Cleveland has already made one big move in the past few years…from its traditional 95.5 FM frequency to 104.9 FM, part of the Great Cleveland Frequency Swap of 2001.

The station is moving again…and this time, it’s a big physical move, not a frequency change.

WCLV president and OMW reader Bob Conrad has announced that the classical station is moving out of its long-time studios, and gaining a new set of broadcast neighbors.

Quoting a station release, which is now on WCLV’s website:

WCLV 104.9, northeast Ohio’s classical music station, will be moving its studios and offices from the current Radio Ranch location in Warrensville Heights to the Idea Center on Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland, the home of ideastream,  Cleveland’s public broadcasters WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN FM.

WCLV will be sharing space, currently not occupied in the ideastream facilities, with OneCommunity, northeast Ohio’s nonprofit broadband network, which will establish offices and work area for HealthNet, which connects rural and urban healthcare centers.

The station release talks about corroboration between the commercial classical outlet, and the public radio/TV combo:

By co-locating, WCLV and the ideastream stations will be able to collaborate on programs and services designed to strengthen current efforts and foster new concepts. As opportunities are identified, the organizations will look for ways to work more effectively by partnering with one another.

The move will cost about $2.3 million, $1.6 million of which is already covered by contributions from “individuals, corporations and foundations”.  The remaining amount will be covered by financing, but additional contributions are being sought for that.

Mr. Conrad tells us that work has begun on the project, and is expected to continue through the end of calendar year 2010.

It’s a natural partnership between the two stations.  WCPN, with its news/talk format with off-hours jazz music, and WCLV, with its long classical music history, would seem to fit together like the proverbial glove.

And one other side effect of the move?  The Idea Center is theoretically within the strong signal range of the Lorain-licensed, Avon-based 104.9 signal…give or take a skyscraper or three…and Warrensville Heights is certainly not…

INTERCEPTED:  We caught this brief item in a recent Elyria Chronicle-Telegram story by Brian Dulik:

The Browns have replaced Andre Knott as their radio sideline reporter with team employee Jamir Howerton. Knott remains the club’s beat reporter for WTAM-AM 1100.

Huh?  What happened to Andre Knott?

We did a quick beeline to our sources at Oak Tree, who tell us the Story Behind The Quick Story.

First of all, Andre Knott is not on the unemployment line.  As the item above indicates, he continues his regular duties as a sportscaster and Browns beat reporter for AM flagship Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100, and this decision doesn’t affect that at all.  In that capacity, he is employed by Clear Channel.

Second, OMW hears that the phrase “team employee” in the Chronicle-Telegram blurb is something of an understatement.

Sources at Oak Tree tell us that the Browns pressed rather hard to get one of their own in-house people in the sideline reporter role. 

The decision is not being characterized as the team having any problem with Knott’s work, but rather, that they want a team employee handling the job.

Though Knott works at WTAM, the team has control over the broadcast and the broadcast team, and that’s pretty standard in the world of pro sports radio rights.  There’s usually language to that effect during the broadcast of each and every game.

Why do the Browns want an in-house employee on the sidelines during the radio broadcasts?  Who knows?  But that’s what we hear.

Who is Jamir Howerton?  We must not watch enough SportsTime Ohio.

The “front office” page on the Browns website lists him as “Video Production Manager – New Media”.

And from his STO bio page:

Grew up in Bay Shore NY, attended the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Howerton worked with the NY Jets for six years before coming to the Cleveland Browns in 1999, been with the Browns for ten years going into his eleventh.  Jamir is the Video Content Man(a)ger and On-Air Talent for Clevelandbrowns.Com and the Corresponding Reporter for the Cleveland Browns Report on STO and the Co-Host for Beer Money on STO.

As we remember, the team is responsible for much of the Browns-related programming on STO, including “The Cleveland Browns Report”.

Andre Knott succeeded the late Casey Coleman, the WTAM sports anchor who had the sideline gig for many years until passing away due to pancreatic cancer.

Knott started off substituting for Coleman when his illness first kept him away from the microphone…

NOW FILLING IN…: When your weekend sports anchor is off on an, um, unscheduled leave of absence, SOMEONE has to read the sports.

The job on Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 “NewsChannel 5” over the weekend fell to news reporter Paul Kiska, who we saw in the Saturday night sports anchor chair that is usually occupied by Terry Brooks.

(For those who missed it, scroll down a bit to our previous item about Mr. Brooks’ current involvement in the legal system.  We won’t repeat it here.)

We seem to recall that Kiska has been pressed into sports anchor sub-service before, somewhere in that time period between the departure of names like Chris Miller, John Chandler and Sue Ann Robak, and the current team of sports director Andy Baskin (himself, once a fill-in) and Brooks.  As far as we know, there is no third member of the “NewsChannel 5” sports department, even off air.

We don’t know what seeing Kiska means for the future of the NewsChannel 5 weekend sports anchor position – our guess is that the station won’t make any decisions until Brooks’ situation is resolved one way or another.

And in an entirely unrelated item, our friends at CursedCleveland.com point out an advertisement for a sports anchor over at Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 “Fox 8”, posted just a few days ago:

Can you do sports like it’s never been done before on a television newscast? WJW/Fox 8 is looking for a dynamic personality to re-define the way traditional sports is done on a newscast. We want you to blow up the 1970’s sports format that most stations are still using and help us reinvent it in a 24 hour ESPN, Facebook, Twitter, Blackberry world.

Hmm.  Is this somewhat more interesting than it appears?  We’ll see… definitely “stay tuned”…

MATT’S NEXT:  Presumably still hoping to take the now-open 9 PM-midnight weeknight slot on Clear Channel talk WLW/700 Cincinnati, sister WTAM weekend host and former WKDD/98.1-WHLO/640 voice Matt Patrick is hitting the Queen City again.

This time, it’s AllAccess passing along word that Patrick will be heard on the original “Big One” again this Saturday from noon to 3 PM.

He also has a one-day fill-in gig Friday on the morning show for South Bend IN talker WTRC/95.3 “News/Talk 95.3 MNC, Michiana’s News Channel”.

We’ll assume Matt’s firing up the ISDN line in his Hudson home studio, at least for the gig in the shadow of Notre Dame University (alma mater of WNIR/100.1 “The Talk of Akron” afternoon driver Bob Golic, of course).

We get tired just THINKING about driving from Northeast Ohio to South Bend on Friday, and then down to Cincinnati on Saturday…and back after that…

SPEAKING OF THE BIG ONE: We have some details on the partial resurrection of the third version of Clear Channel’s “Big One”, talk WWVA/1170 Wheeling WV.

WWVA lost pretty much all of its three towers in a big windstorm last week, forcing it to temporarily move programming to sister WBBD/1400 there for a couple of days.

The station returned to AM 1170 for good on Friday, on a temporary setup described in the FCC application for special temporary authority:

CAPSTAR TX LLC SEEKS SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY TO OPERATE STATION WWVA WITH A LONG WIRE ANTENNA IN A NON-DIRECTIONAL MANNER WITH POWER REDUCED TO NOT EXCEED 12.5 KW, BOTH DAY AND NIGHT, DUE TO VERY SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO ALL 3 OF THE SELF SUPPORTING TOWERS UTILIZED AS ELEMENTS IN THE WWVA ANTENNA ARRAY.

The Clear Channel application says the 125 foot wire is strung between the stubs of two destroyed towers.

The signal has been heard in Northeast Ohio, though Your Mileage May Vary depending on how the 500 directional watts of Family Radio’s second-adjacent WCUE/1150 Cuyahoga Falls affects your reception of 1170.

Of course, long-time readers recall the speculation (and it was only that) that Clear Channel/Wheeling would move the WWVA talk format to 1400 AM for good, after the company applied in 2004 to move 1170 AM to a Stow license city, serving Cleveland and Akron from a transmitter site planned for eastern Lorain County.

That proposed move was taken off the books later that year…

SPEAKING OF EX-BIG ONE STAFFERS:  Back to Cleveland’s version, WTAM/1100, where we’re finding out more about what former WTAM field reporter Greg Saber is doing these days.

Saber is covering Northeast Ohio news exclusively (on a freelance basis) for CBS Radio News.

The exclusivity comes, we’re told, because appearances on FOX News Radio put him on WTAM and other Clear Channel stations, and CBS wants Saber for itself.

Greg also appears as a panelist on Ideastream PBS affiliate WVIZ/25’s “Feagler and Friends” with Dick Feagler, where we also saw Rubber City Radio VP/information media and Friend of OMW Ed Esposito make an appearance over the weekend.

But CBS Radio News doesn’t have a big penetration in Northeast Ohio… so you’re more likely to see Greg doing “Feagler” appearances than you are to hear him on the radio locally.

If you’re hankering for some good old fashioned hard-nosed award winning radio news reporting. and there are too many miles or power lines between you and local CBS affiliate WJMP/1520 Kent(/not really Akron/small parts of Cleveland’s southeast suburbs), try firing up your best AM radio at night to catch Saber’s reports.

You can hear them on CBS O&O flagship news station WCBS/880 in New York City…among other regular 50,000 watt CBS nighttime visitors to the local airwaves (WBBM/780 Chicago, etc.)….

3D:  It’s not the cable system’s first 3D program, but Time Warner Cable is promoting another sporting event in 3D this weekend…which you can see in the new format with the appropriate equipment, of course.

TWC will air the PGA Championship this Thursday and Friday in 3D format.  (If you wanted to see last week’s Bridgestone Invitational in 3D, all you had to do was drive down I-77 and buy a ticket.  Heh.)

Those who haven’t gone 3D yet can still take a look at what they’re missing.

We’ll turn to an entry in a new Time Warner corporate blog, authored by local media relations manager Travis Reynolds…but have those driving directions to Akron’s Firestone Country Club handy:

If, like most people, you don’t have a 3D TV yet, we’ll be hosting a free 3D viewing party this Friday at Hackers Bar & Grill. The restaurant is located at Firestone’s public golf course, 600 Swartz Rd, Akron 44319.

Come out to Hackers between 3 – 7 p.m., grab a bite to eat and take a few minutes to see what 3D is all about. This special coverage from Turner Sports and the PGA of America will focus on holes 12 and 17, two par 3s. Ever wonder what a hole-in-one looks like in 3D?

We’ll provide the 3D glasses…all you need to do is be ready to watch. Not a golf fan? This is still a great chance to experience 3D TV.

We have experienced 3D TV, but only in demo form….we haven’t yet seen a live event in the new format, and we’ll have to miss the Friday TWC showing.

More details on the event, and how to see it in your own home, are here.

Of course, the first thing you have to do is by one of those fancy 3D TV sets…which are so far out of our budget we couldn’t even buy the glasses…

FOLK ALLEY:  Local public radio outlet WKSU/89.7 has found another official outlet for its Folk Alley folk music programming stream.

Heard over the Internet (www.folkalley.com) and on the HD2 streams of the Kent State University-owned station’s full-power outlets (WKSU/89.7 Kent, WKSV/89.1 Thompson, WNRK/90.3 Norwalk, WKRW/89.3 Wooster and WKRJ/91.5 New Philadelphia), Folk Alley also has had an existing iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad app for some time.

Those of us in Android land get to share in the Folk Alley fun, as WKSU has put out a new Folk Alley app. It is slick, well-designed and works great in the limited testing we’ve given it since this afternoon. Search the Android Market for “Folk Alley” and it’ll show right up.

There’s no word from the OMW readers at WKSU about a regular WKSU app on the Android side, though we know the Public Radio Player project is actively working on an Android app.

And there are several ways to listen to the WKSU streams on an Android device already, in both existing streaming audio apps and in a third-party app that streams a whole bunch of public radio stations.

By the way, we actually came up with that list of WKSU’s full-power stations without looking them up, which is kind of scary…

MOVING WEST?:  Thanks to long-time personal friend and colleague Scott Fybush and his NorthEast Radio Watch for this one.

It’s been a long struggle for Cumulus Youngstown, trying to nudge rock WWIZ/103.9 Mercer PA “Rock 104” closer to the Mahoning Valley, but the station may finally get its wish.

From Monday’s NERW, where Scott reports that a 2007 application to change WWIZ’s license city to West Middlesex PA (closer to Youngstown) is happening after a waiting game:

That 2007 application stalled out when it ran afoul of FCC rules barring city-of-license changes for clusters that are already grandfathered over ownership limits. But where there’s a DC communications lawyer, there’s a way – and in 2008, Cumulus quietly redrew the boundaries of the Youngstown Arbitron radio market to exclude several outlying stations, thus putting its cluster under the ownership caps and making a WWIZ move possible. That set the clock running on the Commission’s two-year waiting period, but Cumulus is patient. In January, it reapplied (as soon as it was eligible to do so) to move WWIZ to West Middlesex, and last week the move was granted.

It sounds like the same waiting game Clear Channel in Cleveland played to get top 40 WAKS/96.5 “Kiss FM” reattributed to the Akron market, thus allowing it to remain at Oak Tree without the move of even one microphone while it was legally in a trust.

And we wonder if the soon-to-be final disposition of the ownership of WRQK/106.9 Canton – allowing it to officially be deposited into the hands of Clear Channel after a lengthy LMA at Freedom Avenue – plays a role in Cumulus’ ability to move WWIZ to the west.

Well, in license city, at least.  As Scott points out, WWIZ’s filing for the West Middlesex COL doesn’t move its transmitter site…much like Clear Channel first did in changing the COL of WKDD/98.1 from Canton to Munroe Falls.

After that filing, Clear Channel filed to move WKDD’s facility to the former site of the station when it was at 96.5, on Bellaire Lane in what is now Cuyahoga Falls.  That move should be complete very soon.

After it covers the new “West Middlesex” construction permit with the current WWIZ transmitter site, expect Cumulus to file for a physical move west for WWIZ…

Up From Hiatus

Yes, we’re still on hiatus. But as per usual when we take a break from the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm), media news breaks out…and then some…

TERRY BROOKS: The news spread fast and furious on local TV stations…and off-air, in their newsrooms.

We’ll let Scripps Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS/5’s “NewsChannel 5” report the happenings of this past week involving one of its own employees:

WEWS NewsChannel5 weekend sports anchor Terry Brooks was indicted Wednesday on charges of rape, attempted rape and kidnapping, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office said.

The indictment is linked to an alleged incident between Brooks and a 21 year-old woman.

And here’s a statement released by WEWS general manager Sam Rosenwasser:

“We learned late on Tuesday of the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s interest in legal action surrounding the alleged activity of Terry Brooks. Any hint of improper conduct by our employees is taken very seriously by the station and its management team. We will cooperate fully and completely with all investigating authorities in the interest of a resolution that is fair and just for all parties involved. At this time, we have placed Terry Brooks on a leave of absence until the facts are determined and we can evaluate his future with the station.”

Brooks tells his own station: “I am innocent of these charges.”

And Rosenwasser has definitely had quite an opening few weeks as general manager at 30th and Euclid. His experience as a TV management veteran is serving him very well right now.

As you might expect, all of the other local TV newsrooms covered the story.

We caught Scott Taylor breathlessly talking about the charges on Raycom CBS affiliate WOIO/19’s “19 Action News”, but Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8’s “Fox 8 News” actually went to Brooks’ South Euclid home…where they caught him taking out his garbage while wearing shorts, and the sportscaster had no comment for the “Fox 8” cameras.

(We saw early reports from both stations, and know that Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 also covered the story.)

And that’s all we’ll note, unless this affects WEWS’ sports department or some sort of resolution is forthcoming…

BOOM GOES THE TOWER: As it turns out, straight line winds over 70 miles per hour apparently caused the collapse of three directional towers at Clear Channel talk WWVA/1170 Wheeling WV, on the edge of the OMW coverage area with (normally) a 50,000 watt signal that covers much of this part of the country.

WWVA has kept listeners apprised of the situation on its website, which describes the events that took the station off the air Wednesday afternoon:

Wednesday, August 4th, around 4pm all 3 of WWVA-AM’s broadcast towers were knocked down due to severe storms and winds in excess of 70 mph. Weather experts say wind speeds at the top of the 400 foot towers could have been in excess of 100 mph at the time of the incident.

For listeners in Wheeling, the station temporarily took over sister standards outlet WBBD/1400, which aired the WWVA programming most of Thursday – starting at 6 AM with local morning drive host David Blomquist’s “Bloomdaddy Experience”.

While work continued for a temporary return for the 1170 site – involving “temporary towers”, said a station official on Blomquist’s show – WWVA’s news/talk format continued on AM 1400 until the Pittsburgh Pirates took to the airwaves in their normal spot on WBBD Thursday evening.

There was some hope not long after the Pirates played, says the WWVA website update:

Our engineering crews worked all day and into the evening Thursday, and from around 10:30pm until a little after 1am Friday morning, we were back on the air at reduced power and using temporary equipment. At approximately 1am there were some “technical difficulties” that knocked us off the air again.

That brought “Bloomdaddy” and company back to WBBD/1400 on Friday morning, but the station’s latest update says they are back on 1170 AM with a temporary setup:

We’re happy to let you know that the problems we encountered overnight have been fixed, and as of around 10:45am this morning (8/6), we are back on the air…still at reduced power and using temporary equipment….but on the air, with a signal that covers the listening area extremely well.

We don’t know what power level WWVA is running, but while the station was on the air briefly late Thursday, long-time OMW reader/tipster Nathan Obral in Lorain County heard WWVA’s temporary signal.

The station says WWVA will be restored to full power at some point, though they have no timeline right now.

WWVA does not stream its audio, but we heard snippets of the discussion on the “Bloomdaddy Experience”‘s show website.

In addition to pictures and a video walkthrough by WWVA operations manager Chad Tyson on the WWVA site, the events of the past few days have gotten WWVA a last minute spot as the featured “Site of the Week” at long-time friend and colleague Scott Fybush’s NorthEast Radio Watch.

NEW HOST: The local business newsmagazine “NEOtropolis”, seen Friday evenings on public TV outlet Western Reserve PBS (WNEO/45 Alliance-WEAO/49 Akron) does indeed have a new host.

He’s local broadcast veteran Jim Evans, who, according to the show’s online newsletter, “has more than 26 years of experience in on-air and production broadcasting and currently produces, writes and performs sports stories for Clear Channel Radio in Youngstown. He is also an instructor in the Telecommunications Department at Youngstown State University.”

Evans replaces founding NEOtropolis host Thomas Mulready of CoolCleveland.com, but the folks on Campus Center Drive say Mulready is still seen on the show:

Thomas Mulready is still contributing to the program with “The Business of Fun,” a video clip that he culls from his CoolCleveland.com productions.

A gradual retooling of the show, we’re told, includes a new podcast feature from Crain’s Cleveland Business, a feature on start-up companies called “Into the Future”, and a more focused stock market segment called “Stock Rap” – which will center on a single regional company’s stock performance, as opposed to a general weekly stock report.

The goal, according to the Western Reserve PBS folks, is to improve and the show as it seeks a new funding cycle from underwriters…

TOLEDO MOVE: As noted on our Twitter feed, there’s been a station move in Toledo. Well, a mini-station move.

Cumulus alt-rock “100.9 The Zone” moved recently to 100.7 FM, a fact we discovered in a trip to Toledo so short we only had time to catch one legal ID (“W264AK Toledo, WXKR-HD2 Port Clinton”).

Cumulus filed to move the 82 watt translator to 100.7, its original frequency, after complaints from Toledo area listeners having trouble hearing Detroit rocker WRIF/101.1.

FCC records say the construction permit to move to 100.7 was approved July 28th.

That little translator sure gets out.

We picked it up in a car radio all the way past the Route 51 exit on the Ohio Turnpike on the southeastern edge of the Toledo market, heading back to our Northeast Ohio home base…

The H Word Again

Regulars around here know that that “H Word” stands for “Hiatus”, and we’re overdue for one.

There’s nothing sinister or troubling about our absence, and we’ll be back at some point fairly soon.

We may or may not pass along items on our Twitter feed.

See you when we return!

–The Management