More on the CC Restructuring

Here's what we know about Clear Channel's restructuring, and how it affects local operations.

Again, as pointed out, Alan Cutler, C. Trent Rosencrans, and Paul Daugherty are out. At 700WLW, Lance McAlister is in at 6pm, staying until 9 when the Reds do not play a night game, and staying until pregame when they are.

At 1530 WCKY, Mo Eggers will fill in for McAlister when the Reds do not play a night game in the 3-6pm slot. Fox Sports Radio otherwise fills out the schedule.

We now, however, have a new piece of information courtesy our friends at OMW (that's Ohio Media Watch for the new readers).

CC is going to take their local news operations and consolidate into a "hub and spoke" system.

We copied and pasted this from OMW's latest item, but this is who Cincinnati's CC Newsroom will serve in the new system:

Boston
Toledo
Memphis
Nashville

You are reading correctly. Boston will no longer have its own live, local anchors delivering news updates.

For perspective, Boston is Arbitron's TENTH largest market. Cincinnati is market number 28. Memphis is number 49, Nashville a few spots above them at number 44. Toledo is number 91. These are rankings by size.

If the tenth largest market by size was ordered to basically lay off their entire news anchor staff, that's very significant! Boston likely still has a newsroom (after all, it doesn't make sense to call Cincinnati, if you're a Bostonian wanting to relay a breaking story, does it?)...but no longer are there or will there be live, local news anchors on the Boston stations.

DEVELOPING: 2ND ROUND OF CC CUTS UNDERWAY NATIONWIDE

We got this tip late yesterday afternoon but were away from the TSMW Laptop...

John Kiesewetter at the Enquirer reports that several on-air staff at Kenwood Tower were laid off yesterday. The list so far looks to include Enquirer sportswriter Paul Daugherty (SportsTalk host), C. Trent Rosecrans (1530 WCKY) and Alan Cutler (Bengals Radio Network, WLW). Several producers were also cut.

The only local host on 1530 is going to be Lance McAlister from 3-6pm. Scott Sloan, whose 9-midnight WLW show is usually pre-empted by the Reds, did postgame last night which could be permanent. When the Reds don't play night games, McAlister will slide into the 6-9pm slot on WLW, and Mo Egger will do 3-6pm on 1530. Egger lost his regular 9-noon show in the cuts.

This is 1530's schedule as it looks now (all from FOX Sports Radio unless otherwise noted) and also coming from the Kiese blog, just go to the above link, then go to the next entry:

6-9 a.m.: Steve Czaban, the Washington DC-based personality who has subbed for Jim Rome.
9 a.m.-noon: Dan Patrick, who left ESPN in 2007 to host this new show and write for Sports Illustrated. He's a 1974 Mason High School basketball standout and a University of Dayton grad.
noon-3 p.m.: Jim Rome's show syndicated by Premiere (owned by Clear Channel) stays put.
3-6 p.m.: Lance McAlister (except when Reds play a weekday afternoon game, then Mo Egger will do this slot, while McAlister does WLW 6-9pm.)
6-7 p.m.: No more Lance repeat (which would be airing opposite Lance on WLW. Duh!) Now we'll hear last hour of Fox's Chris Myers & Steve Hartman show.
7-10 p.m.: Petro & Money, aka Petros Papadakis and Matt "Money" Smith, 7-10 p.m.
10 p.m.-1 a.m.: J.T. The Brick, aka John Tournour.
1-5 a.m.: Paid informercials overnight.

Changes in Dayton

We've got this word a day or two late.

Recall a couple of months ago that Cox Publishing planned to end its dedicated Washington bureau, and then it was announced that that unit would combine with the Cox Radio and Cox Television units to form one big company.

Well, it will happen without Cox Ohio's leader helming the local side of things, as the Dayton Daily News reports:

Mike Joseph, president and chief executive of Cox Ohio Publishing (COP), has been named president and general manager of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC).

Joseph “brings a wealth of newspaper operations and management experience to the AJC,” Doug Franklin, AJC publisher and executive vice president, Cox Newspapers Inc., said in a statement this morning, April 23. “Mike will help the AJC continue streamlining and adjusting its business model to return to profitability.”

The Daily News reports that Brian Cooper, a Wright State grad, will take the reigns here, and still retain his responsibilities for Cox's North Carolina units.

Weekend Wrapup

We couldn't post this week due to blogger thinking we had cookies disabled (we don't). But, let's catch up, shall we?

TWC Announces plans for Cavs Game Tonight, and Looking at Conflicts Next Week: Before last weekend, we'd been following the Blue Jackets/Reds conflict.

Well, add the Cleveland Cavaliers (in the territory of our friends at OMW) to that conflict.

With the Cavs in the playoffs now this forces Time Warner to adjust their schedule again. The Reds will air as scheduled on Fox Sports Ohio tonight at 7pm. Meanwhile, the Cavs are bounced to ESPN locally tonight at 7pm.

This also affects the HD schedule, as tonight's game as well as next Tuesday's game, will NOT be HD as had been previously planned. FSO will add two games later this season in HD.

With the Blue Jackets out of the playoffs as of last night, there needs only be one move made per gametime conflict, as long as the Cavs remain in the hunt.

Watson Out at 9: John Kiesewetter says Bernard Watson's tenure at WCPO-TV/DT 9 quietly ended last week.

His contract was not renewed, we're told and he won't be replaced. WCPO is going with a show that is centered around Katherine Nero.

Q102 Wins NAB Award: The folks up on Bonneville Mountain must really like this news.

WKRQ-FM 101.9 has won the NAB 2009 Crystal Radio Award, which is given to stations with a commitment to public service, Kiese reported earlier this week. They were one of 10 stations out of fifty nominated for the award.

Sister Bonneville station WUBE-FM 105.1 B105 was one of the ten winners last year, and can't reapply for 3 years.

Q102 noted in its entry that they had done almost 16,000 minutes of Public Service Announcements, raised 2.5 million dollars for charities like The Susan G Komen for the Cure, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, Kenzies Closet, American Heart Association, Special Olympics, Autism Speaks, Brighton Center, ACT, Lighthouse Youth Center, Shriners Burn Hospital and St. Joseph Orphanage, and that their staff donated over 15,000 hours to serve their communities.

Congrats to Q102 on winning this award, and we also thank them for remembering why they're in this community in the first place...to serve the public.

Welcoming Anyone Reading From the WVQC-FM Newsletter.

As we told you some time ago, TSMW was the FIRST media source in the Tri-State to break the news of WVQC-FM, launching at 95.7 in August.

Well today, we received their first newsletter.

Since Your Tri-State Media Watcher is mentioned in said newsletter, we figured it'd be a wise idea to welcome those who may come here from that fine resource.

If you have any questions, comments, or perhaps tips about local media, feel free to email me. My address is at the link to the right, under Email TSMW.

Once again, welcome to any and all new readers, and we hope TSMW becomes a new source for YOUR news about Cincinnati (and Dayton, too!) media!

Dayton Legend Retires

We heard about this one from our friends and colleagues at Ohio Media Watch.

They report this morning that local legend and current WHIO-TV anchor Jim Baldridge will retire later this year.

From WHIO-TV's website:

After a broadcasting career spanning five decades, News Center 7 Anchor Jim Baldridge will be retiring from WHIO-TV at the end of August. “I am very grateful to the people of the Miami Valley for welcoming me into their homes, and to WHIO-TV for a long and fulfilling career in one of the most respected newsrooms in the country,” says Baldridge.

Regular reader Rich Emery tells OMW:

I recall when he was a newbie at WHIO, working at that time with Don Wayne (Dayton's version of Walter Cronkite, an avuncular and completely trustworthy news source). Jim stepped into Don's shoes and carried on almost without pause.

Won't be the same down here without him!

Indeed, Mr. Baldridge is a local legend. When you're in the business for 37 years and spend all of it at one station, especially in today's world, thats a huge accomplishment.

We here at TSMW wish Mr. Baldridge all the best, and hope he enjoys his well-deserved retirement.

By the way, current 5:30/11pm anchor James Brown (no, not the music legend) will replace Baldridge at 5 and 6pm.

FOX19 Launches New Online Chat

A couple of weeks ago, you'll recall we mentioned that WLWT had used a live blog to cover a local murder trial.

Well today, we learn that FOX19 is doing, basically, the same thing - but in a longer-term idea.

The station is now running commercials, advertising "Cincinnati's First and Only Interactive News" at 10pm Monday-Friday. We can't find where these chats are hosted, but figure that it would be on the front page of the website at 10pm.

If you'd like to participate, head to FOX19.com.

Ken Broo doing WLWT Anchor Fill-in Tonight

We happened to catch Ken Broo, normally a sports anchor on WLWT-TV/DT 5, filling in for Sheree Paolello tonight on the 5:30pm news.

It looks to us like Broo does a solid job as a news anchor. However, we're basing this off of about 15 minutes worth of viewing tonight. We'll check it out at 11pm if he's reporting then.

Blue Jackets Update, plus Skinner Back On Air

A couple items to clear the plate on this Thursday night...all coming from the Kiese Blog (aka John Kiesewetter's TV blog):

Time Warner/Blue Jackets update: Time Warner has announced today that the Columbus Blue Jackets' game against the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night at 6 pm will air on Channel 99 locally. The Reds game will air as scheduled on Fox Sports Ohio at 7 pm.

Skinner Back On Air: Richard Skinner has a new radio gig. Skinner is hosting "Saturday Morning Sports Talk" 8-11 a.m. on WCIN-AM (1480), the smooth jazz station owned by WDJO-AM (1160). With other Angry Guy Tom Gamble still at 96 ROCK, Skinner has been paired with a familiar voice to talk radio junkies..... "Glenn from Mason."

This seems like a good move for Skinner. He works best with a partner, as we've heard. We'll listen in and see what happens...

Collinsworth for Madden: John Madden's surprise retirement today prompted a change at NBC for "Sunday Night Football".

Cris Collinsworth will replace Madden, NBC announced today. The former Bengal, who lives in Fort Thomas, has won numerous Sports Emmys for his work at NBC, Fox and HBO, both as a game and studio analyst.

This is a good move. Collinsworth has grown leaps and bounds since his days at WLW-AM as Bob Trumpey's successor on "Sports Talk". We'll definitely be watching this one, too...

The Latest on Local Stuff

I realize I haven't posted in a week! As announced way back in February, I have the prerogative to take a few days to clear my head. So I have been off doing just that. But, let us get to the media news that's come up since last week:

First FSO, Then WLW Cut Away Early From Reds?: Indeed, it looks like that's what happened, according to the Enquirer today.

Monday, during the first Reds/Brewers game of the series, Fox Sports Net's computer in New York cut away at 11:30pm to "Best Damn Sports Show Period", with the Reds game in the bottom of the ninth and the Reds winning 7-6. It apparently affected all local subscribers plus those on DirectTV who received the game, including the father of Reds outfielder Laynce Nix in Midland, Texas. Fox Sports Net later did apologize for the error.

Then on Tuesday, with the Reds again in the bottom of the ninth inning with one out, WLW's feed did exactly the same thing...cutting away from the game into a commercial and coming back in at postgame. What happened at WLW is still unclear.

Skinner is One Angry Guy: John Kiesewetter gives us this and the next two items from his blog.

Apparently, when Skinner was let go late last year, 96 ROCK WFTK-FM 96.5 continued to use the "2 Angry Guys" branding for their morning show for another 2 months. Skinner wasn't too happy about that, says Kiese. This is a quote:

Skinner says the station made the changes about two months ago -- which would be about when Skinner's attorney, Eric Deters (yes, the fill-in WLW-AM talk show host), sent Cumulus a copy of the suit they intended to file. Says Deters: 'We tried to resolve this. I sent a letter to them with the copy of the law suit, and they didn't respond.... I don't bluff, so I filed it.'

Skinner also says he remains friends with Gamble, and the suit "has nothing to do with him."

WFTK has since changed the show's name to "Gamble-N-Fin".

"Clean House" in Westwood: We not only heard about this through Kiese, but have seen TV coverage on WLWT-TV/DT 5...

The Style Network is filming an episode of the "Clean House" show in Westwood, at the home of Sharon and Brigitte Baglien. They're shooting a two-hour special at the house, which will air July 1 as the climax to the seven-episode hunt for the messiest home, says Kiese.

Kiese says that the daughter, Brigitte, told him her mother never threw anything away, buying multiple sets of everything, and never threw out Brigitte's baby toys or clothes.

Kiese also has these notes about the yard sale, and an appearance by the "Clean House" team:

There is so much stuff that the yard sale has been moved to the old Steve & Barry's store at 5150 Glencrossing Way, in the Glenway Crossing Shopping Center, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Host Nash will be there, along with co-stars Trish "Yard Sale Diva" Suhr, designer Mark Brunetz and "go-to" fix-it guy Matt Iseman.

All four "Clean House" celebs also will sign autographs at a meet & greet 5-6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Time Warner cable customer service center in Tri-County Mall in Springdale.

FSO Schedules Conflict: And finally from Kiese comes news about one somewhat local sports team, whose schedule is about to conflict with the Reds'.

The Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team has made the playoffs, and that's about to create issues for its' fans locally.

Kiese says the first game will air locally, as there is no conflict with the Reds Thursday night. That game will air at 7 pm as scheduled. But Reds games conflict with the series on Saturday (6 pm) and next Tuesday (7 pm), and if there's a need for games 6 and 7, those will also conflict on April 27 and April 29.

Time Warner usually creates separate channels for these kind of situations, but Kiese says he has no official word on what will be done. Stay tuned for more details on this one.

RTN On the Air in Cincinnati, plus ABC announces its summer schedule.

A couple headlines on this Wednesday evening:

RTN On The Air at 25.3: This comes from Rich Emery, dutifully keeping his eyes on DTV stuff from Fairfield...and we do realize this is a DTV item, but figured this was the right spot for it...we will have a DTV item or two over at Tri-State DTV Watch in a few minutes.

RTN (Retro Television Network) is on the air in Cincinnati on 25.3, at long last, after almost a month of hints and suggestions that it was almost here!

Right now, it looks like WOTH is on 25.1, WBQC/WKRP is on 25.2, RTN is on 25.3, and the old skyline shot of eastern Cincinnati near their tower is on 25.4. The cheesy White Springs TV (that) has been on 25.4 is nowhere to (be) found right now.

ABC Announces Summer Lineup: Also from Rich, comes the news that ABC will burn off episodes of several critically acclaimed TV series that didn't make the cut this past fall over the summer.

TV Week says the following at the end of their story:

ABC also is bringing back Burnoff Theater, scheduling the remaining episodes of some critically loved shows that didn’t make the cut.

“Pushing Daisies” will air Saturdays at 10 from May 30 until June 13, with “Eli Stone” taking over that slot on June 20. “Dirty Sexy Money” returns for its death march on July 18, with its finale airing Aug. 8.

Also returning this summer are "The Bachelorette"(which will kick off the summer May 18), "I Survived a Japanese Game Show", "The Superstars", "Surviving Suburbia", "Here Comes the Newlyweds", and "Wipeout".

And new this summer will be Mike Judge's new animated effort "The Goode Family", as well as a new reality show, "Dating in the Dark".

BREAKING: Holland Out At Cumulus

We're hearing that TJ Holland, the operations director at Cumulus Central HQ on Central Avenue, has been let go by Cumulus. This coming from John Kiesewetter this morning.

Holland helped keep WRRM-FM 98.5, WGRR-FM 103.5 (after buying that from Bonneville), and WMOJ-FM 100.3 (MOJO, until its sale to Radio One) near the top of the radio ratings for a long time. He also launched WFTK-FM 96.5 (96 ROCK) and started the Cumulus ownership era of WOFX-FM 92.5 (92.5 The Fox) and WNNF-FM 94.1 (Radio 94.1). We're not sure who is running the cluster right now. We'll let you know if we find out.

Holland has a website up at hiretj.com.

FOX19 "Lego My Logo" Campaign Ends

And as expected here on Tri-State Media Watch, WXIX-TV debuted a new logo. The picture is below...and it looks like a clean graphic. We'll try and capture pics of the open for FOX19 Morning News tomorrow...

Not Really In Market, Or Even Ohio.

But we have an interesting piece of news about the new NBC Primetime Show with Jay Leno. (No that's not the official name of it.)

Seems NBC affiliate WHDH in Boston, Mass. has decided preliminarily that it won't air the show, saying they believe it to be detrimental as a lead-in to the late news there.

There's a really distant connection to Cincinnati here. WHDH is owned by Sunbeam Television. Sunbeam also owns another station in Boston, WLVI-TV, the CW affiliate there. WLVI used to be owned by Tribune...where Randy Michaels is in management. Of course, Michaels formerly headed Jacor which owned Local12 WKRC-TV.

See? Told ya it was a distant connection...you had to know we'd find one.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out...and if any other affiliates decide to pull the plug like WHDH...

The Interview Everyone's Been Waiting For

UPDATE 10:52AM 4/3: IT'S UP! Look below, and let me know how I did!

We have the interview that Your Tri-State Media Watcher himself did with Katie Finnigan at Media Bridges yesterday. It's being uploaded to our YouTube account right now and will be posted there and here within the next 30 minutes. We'll edit this post and put the video below when it is up.

We'll hit the other news of the last 36-48 hours in a separate entry...