Briefly: Fox Sports Ohio Schedule for Weekend

We just posted this on Twitter, and are just getting Around Tuit after an injury yesterday.

Fox Sports Ohio has announced the weekend play-by-play schedule, with both Cincinnati college basketball teams and the Cleveland Cavaliers and Columbus Blue Jackets conflicting. Here's the schedule along with alternate channels:

Saturday, January 3

The Cincinnati Bearcats

8p Cincinnati @ Rutgers


Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio:

· Cincinnati Bell Fioptics: Channel 261

· Time Warner: Channel 310

· Insight: Channel 6



Columbus, Ohio:

Time Warner, Insight and WOW - check local channels


Cleveland, Ohio:

· Time Warner: Channel 310

· Cox: Channel 98


DISH Network: alternate channel TBD

Direct TV: alternate channel TBD


The Blue Jackets will be on FOX Sports Ohio.

6:30pm Blue Jackets Live pre-game show

7pm Blue Jackets v. Avalanche



Sunday, January 3

The Xavier Musketeers

5:30pm Xavier @ Wake Forest

Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio:

· Cincinnati Bell Fioptics: Channel 261

· Time Warner: Channel 310

· Insight: Channel 6

Columbus, Ohio:

Time Warner, Insight and WOW - check local channels


Cleveland, Ohio:

· Time Warner: Channel 310

· Cox: Channel 98


DISH Network: FS Cincinnati

Direct TV: FS Cincinnati


The Cavaliers will be on FOX Sports Ohio.

5:30pm Cavaliers Live pre-game show

6:00pm Cavaliers v. Charlotte (HD)


And this will be the final calendar year update for This Space. Barring anything very serious being detected on a likely visit to the ER later today (Your Tri-State Media Watcher took a spill yesterday and may have a broken leg), we'll be back Monday.

JUST IN: Fox, Time Warner in Major Dispute

We're hearing that FOX and Time Warner Cable are in some major disputes over retransmission, and that it will affect some channels here.

(UPDATE: We first believed that WXIX-TV 19 was involved. While a) they ARE up for renewal with Time Warner here, and b) some affiliates of the network are being asked to share retransmission fees, FOX 19 isn't confirmed to be one. We've removed that part of it until we hear otherwise.)

However, we DO know of five or six channels that are LIKELY to disappear on Thursday from Time Warner systems locally. Those are:

Fuel
Fox Reality Channel
Speed Channel
Fox Soccer Channel
Fox Sports World Espanol
FX

All of those are listed, along with WXIX, here.

This is part of a larger dispute between News Corp (which owns the FOX networks) and Time Warner (as well as Bright House Networks down in Florida). News Corp is asking for $1 per subscriber for all these channels, and Time Warner wants to give News Corp less. More information is available here, here and here.

Stay tuned... this is a HUGE story (it brought us out of hiatus big time)...

End Of Year Message 2009

What a year 2009 has been in the radio and TV world in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Eastern Indiana.

From Clear Channel cutting talent...good talent in January (and again 3 months later), to the end of analog television, to anchor returns and meteorologist departures... 2009 was not the best year in broadcasting.

But...we look to stay positive here at the Blog of Fun. It wasn't the best year...but it also wasn't the worst.

The biggest stories of 2009 were the first two in the above list. Clear Channel's cut of over 1800 people on Inauguration Day was the broadcast giant's latest effort to cut costs. It didn't totally work, as three months later they went back to slash over 600 more people... but that would prove to be the end of the mass downsizing on the broadcast side.

In print, however, it would be a whole other story, as the Enquirer would lay off over 100 people, shut down CiN Weekly (converting it into Metromix Cincinnati) and end columnist Peter Bronson's column in July.

A couple weeks after that, turmoil would reign at WLWT-TV 5. First, news director Brennan Donnellan would leave in July. Chief Meteorologist Derek Beasley would depart in August to head to Mobile and take the position at WPMI there (which is owned by Newport Television, which owns WKRC-TV here, making his former competitors there more like co-workers).

A few days after Beasley's departure, WLWT hired replacement news director Stacy Owen, who took 3 months to find the station's new Chief Meteorologist in Kevin Robinson, bringing him back home after a stint with The Weather Channel.

Analog TV was also a big story. All of the full power stations except WSTR-TV 64 shut down analog broadcasting in June (WSTR had already shut their analog transmitter off on the original February 17 date). Almost as quickly, WCPO found it had lost many viewers when the VHF signal proved to be less powerful than advertised. So that station set about first increasing power, then ultimately filing a Petition for Rulemaking to move from digital RF 10 to RF 22. (End of Year Update: at last check, WCPO still hasn't filed to make the switch - but we'd say that's coming sooner rather than later - the petition was approved 12/7.)

Radio and TV broadcasting also lost some legendary figures both nationwide and locally, from Soupy Sales (October) to Paul Harvey (February) and "Uncle" Al Lewis (March) to Michael Jackson (June) to George Michael (last Thursday).

But...like we said, we want to end this year on a positive note.

Where's the silver lining, you may wonder? It's this: that even though many good talents have come and gone, there's still great talent employed locally.

Take the good folks at WKRQ-FM 101.9 for example (and for that matter, the entire Bonneville Cincinnati cluster, which also has WREW-FM 94.9, WYGY-FM 97.3 and WUBE-FM 105.1). We saw MANY examples from Bonneville of good community service from the start of the year to its end, including "Bras Across the Bridge" (breast cancer awareness), "Camp Carr"(toy collection for Toys for Tots), and "Stuff the Bus" (filling a TANK bus with non-perishables for needy families in NKY). (Yes, we realize all the cited examples are from the final quarter of the year...but, there were too many to mention, and we can't remember all of them.)

Or use the still-to-be-launched WVQC-LP 95.7 as another example. The group of people involved with that effort through Media Bridges is an example of radio BY Cincinnati, FOR Cincinnati, featuring local bands, local-minded talk programs, and local, home-grown talent behind all of it. We're hoping to see Media Bridges and WVQC succeed in 2010.

Anyway, stations like Bonneville's holdings and WVQC still do (or they will) employ community minded people. We believe that will continue into 2010. It is people like those up at Bonneville and Media Bridges that make broadcasting great... and we see bright things for all of those involved at both...and any station that keeps its community the focus...

BREAKING: One Change In Chillicothe, Flip Coming to Indy

UPDATE: We listened in and sure enough, WNTR-FM flipped right around 12:30 PM. Lance Venta at RadioInsight pegs the new "My 107.9" as "Still Variety Hits, but it appears at first glance to be more Pop leaning than the previous Rock leaning “The Track”," which sounds about right to us. The very first song to play was Journey's "Don't Stop Believing". The intro spoke of their three core values for the new "My 107.9", which were (as cited from the station's website here):

1) We Play the Widest Variety in Indianapolis (everything from Bon Jovi to Nickelback);
2) "We Listen to You" (including three different ways to contact the station); and
3) "We play everything you want" (request line, email or twitter).

Our original posting from an hour ago follows...

------------------------------

Both of these are just outside our coverage zone, but both are worth noting.

Chillicothe: We start to the east, where RadioInsight tells us that "Ross" is now "Mix".

WSRW-FM 106.5 out of Chillicothe has become WQLX-FM, and is now going by "Today's Mix 106.5". It's running what appears to be either Hot AC or at least Top 40.

We're calling it a flip, because it looks like before today they ran a straight ahead AC format with artists like .38 Special, Bonnie Raitt, and even Shania Twain.

Indianapolis: And now we head west, across to the other side of the TSMW coverage area.

Out there, you'll recall we noted WNTR-FM 107.9/Indianapolis going from "The Track" to "The Christmas Station", with a new format set to launch after the holidays.

We noted briefly on Twitter this morning that two days post-Christmas, that the "Christmas Station" holiday-themed format was still running.

It may not be for much longer...as in half an hour more from now.

We may or may not be near the desktop at 12:28 PM, but we're hearing that the station did run a promo around 1:30 AM saying simply "12:28 PM 12/28". Or something to that effect. As we type this, it is a few minutes before noon.

Anyway, whenever WNTR DOES flip, it will apparently become "My 107.9".

We caution: The timing isn't confirmed. But it's been known for weeks that they were going to flip... and 2 days post-Christmas seems to be a day for flips around the country (stations in Cleveland [Hello, OMW!] and Tulsa are also due to flip this afternoon, with the Cleveland flip about to happen as we type).

We'll have our ears on it...

A Couple Christmas Words

We're still on hiatus, but we want to make note of two or three things...

1) We'll post our "Year End" message probably sometime December 29 or 31. (It won't be the 30th...one of our friends has a birthday party on the 30th so we'll be doing that.)

2) As we noted on our Twitter account (Linked at right), John Hingsbergen sent us a story produced by Cheri Lawson, former WMUB 88.5/Oxford staffer. Lawson now produces stories for 89.7 WNKU/Highland Heights, Kentucky. This story was featured yesterday on NPR's "Morning Edition" national broadcast, which reaches 7 million people. Check it out at this link.

3) From all of us here at Tri-State Media Watch (mostly Your Tri-State Media Watcher), MERRY CHRISTMAS! (While we're at it, our thoughts go out to our friends and colleagues in Northeastern Ohio at Ohio Media Watch...who are dealing with some personal issues.)

Quick Post: FSO Coverage Wednesday

Yes, we're on hiatus but a quick note:

Fox Sports Ohio announced their schedule for Wednesday, when they will cover a Xavier University men's basketball game against Miami (Ohio), the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey game against the Dallas Stars, AND the Cleveland Cavaliers game with the Sacramento Kings. Here's the schedule per FSO:

Xavier Musketeers

6:30pm Musketeers Live pre-game show
7:00pm Xavier v. Miami (OH)

Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio:

• Cincinnati Bell Fioptics: Channel 261
• Time Warner: Channel 310
• Insight: Channel 6

Columbus, Ohio:

• Time Warner, Insight and WOW - check local channels

Cleveland, Ohio:

• Time Warner: Channel 310
• Cox: Channel 98

DISH Network: alternate channel TBD

Direct TV: alternate channel TBD


Columbus Blue Jackets

8pm Blue Jackets Live pre-game show

8:30pm Blue Jackets @ Stars

Columbus, Ohio:

•FOX Sports Ohio SD

Cincinnati, Ohio:

•FOX Sports Ohio SD

DISH Network: FOX Sports Cincinnati

Direct TV: FOX Sports Cincinnati


Cleveland Cavaliers

9:30pm Cavaliers Live pre-game show
10:00pm Cavaliers @ Sacramento (HD)

Cleveland, Ohio:

• FOX Sports Ohio SD & HD

Columbus, Ohio:

• FOX Sports Ohio HD
• Time Warner, Insight and WOW - check local channels

Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio:

• FOX Sports Ohio HD
• Time Warner: Channel 310

DISH Network: FOX Sports Ohio

Direct TV: FOX Sports Ohio

A note: DISH and Direct TV haven't announced alternate channels for the XU game yet. We expect to hear about those tomorrow or Wednesday and we'll update that info via Twitter.

Also, another program premieres tomorrow with a preview of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats Sugar Bowl game against Florida.

The "Bearcats Bowl Preview Special" will premiere tomorrow at 7 PM, with the following airings after that:

12/22 9:30pm

12/26 3:30pm

12/28 9:30pm

12/29 11:00pm

12/31 10:00pm

Now, we're off for the holidays! Have a great holiday season and we'll be back 1/5/10!

NEW THIS MORNING: WLWT Re-signs Rico

We got word of this very early this morning from our source close to WLWT-TV 5/Cincinnati.

That source sent word to us this morning that the station has re-signed meteorologist Randi Rico to a three year deal to do mornings for the still struggling NBC affiliate.

Our source went on to remind us that this leaves WLWT with two meteorologists on the team that need to be moved around, ahead of Kevin Robinson's arrival on January 11th: Valerie Abati and Eric Green. And we hear Green's contract will be up soon. He was signed a few years ago to do mornings, before Channel 5 moved Derek Beasley into that shift.

So, with Rico now signed for three more years, it remains to be seen who else will make up the Channel 5 "Power of 5" weather team...

A Reminder: This Space will take its yearly Christmas break beginning tomorrow night, December 16. We won't be updating nearly as often between then and January 5th - and as we noted, we're going to try to put away the keyboard between the 24th and the 1st. Major news will get posted...such as this morning's tidbit - BUT - we're also dealing with some technical issues with the TSMW laptop, which is causing us to rely on the slower (but still functional!) TSMW desktop. So, if we don't update from tomorrow on, don't be surprised...

WCVG - Now CONFIRMED Silent

We've confirmed that WCVG-AM 1320/Covington has indeed been taken silent as of Thursday.

We're told that they're going to remain silent until a buyer or tenant is found for the Gospel station, but we note that there's still an online stream available in the meantime at WCVG's website. We were briefly able to catch that on Friday.

THIS JUST IN: WCPO, WXIX Make Shared News Agreement

We just got word that WCPO-TV 9/Cincinnati and WXIX-TV 19/Newport, KY will pool their resources to send only one camera instead of two to events like press conferences, trials, meetings and even basketball games.

We're looking to find a copy of the press release online, but it's not at either station's site. For now, we reference the Kiese Blog, which broke the story while we were taking a brief catnap.

As the agreement notes, WXIX and WCPO will still have the ability to send their own crews to some events. And it says nothing about breaking news events like fires, weather, etc., which one would assume would continue to be covered individually on each station.

The agreement, as we've seen, mirrors those done in places like Cleveland (hello, OMW), Detroit, Phoenix, and Tampa by other Scripps stations, as well as other network affiliates in Washington, Philadelphia, Dallas and Chicago.

We will wait to judge this, as we don't think it's in place even right now. But, it seems like a good move on paper by both sides, helping increase efficiency...

A Couple Weekend Items

These items will end our week, as we attempt to spend some time with significant others this weekend...

WCVG Off Air?: For all the world, it sounds like WCVG-AM 1320/Covington isn't on the air at the moment. Their nighttime directional 430 watt signal shouldn't be having any trouble reaching the TSMW HQ in Boone County from Latonia...but, there's no signal coming through on our radios at all.

We'll double check throughout the weekend...but as far as we can tell, the signal is not there.

WRRM-FM New PD: You'll recall back in October that we reported TJ Holland's move to Columbus as PD and Operations Manager of the Saga group there.

WRRM-FM now has its new PD according to posts from the Radio-Info Cincinnati board.

That station promotes its Assistant Program Director and Music Director, Chris Lynn, from what we're hearing.

Assuming this is correct, congratulations to Mr. Lynn.

Louisville News: We were, as noted, in Louisville, Kentucky Wednesday afternoon and were able to confirm one radio station that was doing Christmas tunes.

We'd heard that WVEZ-FM 106.9/St. Matthews, Kentucky had flipped back on Thanksgiving morning at 3:00 AM via another of the Radio-Info boards, this one the Kentucky state board.

Well, our trip down to the Possibility City had us in a downtown Arby's around 1 PM local time, and we were able to confirm the stunting, as WVEZ was on the store's radio. (And this was during a High Wind Warning...so somewhere in the middle of the 35 minutes we were there, there was a weather update from WAVE-TV 3/Louisville.)

Again...we're hearing WVEZ should go back to its normal format on the day after Christmas. We won't be making a second trip down to confirm that, though. So, if any of you read from Louisville, and want to let us know if this isn't the case, email us. (Link at right.)

Otherwise, we didn't catch the other two stations we previously mentioned in the area, as those are only weekend Christmas music stations. Those two are WJIE-FM 88.5/Okolona and WMJM-FM 101.3/Jeffersontown.

Two Quick Administrative Tidbits

Yes, we're burning the midnight oil, but we have two administrative announcements:

1) We noticed our twitter feed at right wasn't updating correctly. So, we've removed the feed itself. At right, you'll notice that the list of links we once noted as being local or regional blogs, is now a list of links that we here at TSMW generally use or like. Included now on the new list is the Radio-Info site, as well as a site run by a friend (Scott Fybush) of our colleagues at Ohio Media Watch (by the way, OMW is on hiatus, as they've announced - we'll be covering the adjoining areas as often as we possibly can). And, we've put the OFFICIAL twitter of This Space in that list at the top.

2) Also, we've got two upcoming things we need you, the readers, to be aware of. First, later today (it's 2:45 AM as yours truly writes this), we'll be out of town (though only about 80 miles southwest of the TSMW Headquarters in Boone County, KY - OK, we'll be in Louisville) for several hours. If you hear of any major news, sudden flips, etc., send it to us via e-mail. If it happens in Louisville, we may hear about it first and post it to our Twitter. We'll definitely be checking when we get back (we're not sure if we'll be able to do updates from Louisville, especially where we will be), post any emergency info needed (there are high wind warnings for this area, so there's a possibility of power problems), and plan a double update on Thursday for anything else.

Then, beginning late next week, it's time for the Holiday Hiatus.(Yes, we're invoking the Dreaded H-Word.) The truth of the matter is, Your Editor and Tri-State Media Watcher has two different doctor's appointments next Thursday and Friday afternoons and needs to prepare for and then go to those. And our Holiday Hiatus tends to span the last 10 business days of the year, anyway.

So, from December 17th onward, it will probably take something major happening to bring us here to update. Our daily minor updates might be non-existent between then and January 4, 2010. We're even going to attempt to put away the keyboard entirely between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day.

So, that's your administrative stuff for this next 2 weeks. Anything else, we'll grab for sure Thursday.

FSO Announces New Reds Play-By-Play

Briefly: Fox Sports Ohio sent us a press release yesterday afternoon to announce the new play-by-play man for Reds games on the cable network.

Paul Keels is a Cincinnati native and has been doing Ohio State University sports broadcasts for over 10 years. He also has extensive experience in broadcasting, with his career beginning in 1979 for WLW-AM 700 here.

Here's the press release in its entirety:

FOX Sports Ohio Announces Cincinnati Reds 2010 Play By Play Lineup
Cincinnati native and longtime broadcaster Paul Keels joins broadcast team.

CINCINNATI, OHIO – FOX Sports Ohio is excited to announce its 2010 play by play broadcast team. As previously announced, Thom Brennaman, an already experienced and distinguished Reds announcer who previously split duties with George Grande on FOX Sports Ohio, will now take on greater responsibilities and serve as the play by play voice for the majority of Reds game telecasts.

Cincinnati native and longtime broadcaster Paul Keels has been named the new play by play announcer for the remainder of the Reds schedule. Both broadcasters will team with color analysts Chris Welsh and Jeff Brantley on FOX Sports Ohio’s Reds telecasts beginning next spring.

“The decision to select the new play by play announcers for the Reds was not an easy one, as our viewers have high expectations of our broadcasts. Thom Brennaman is a first-class Reds broadcaster and we are delighted for him to take on greater responsibility,” stated Henry Ford, FOX Sports Ohio Senior Vice President and General Manager. “Paul Keels is an accomplished broadcasting professional with a deep understanding and passion for Cincinnati Reds baseball. His presence will complete an already superb broadcasting team.”

Keels brings 30 years of broadcasting experience to the booth. Fans may recognize him as the play by play voice for Ohio State football and basketball on WBNS Radio in Columbus, where he has been since 1998. While in his new role with FOX Sports Ohio and the Reds, he will maintain his current responsibilities with Ohio State.

Keels began his career with Cincinnati’s WLW Radio as a news anchor, reporter and sports talk show host in 1979. After sports reporting and broadcasting jobs in Washington D.C. and Michigan, where he called radio games for the Detroit Pistons and University of Michigan football and basketball, he returned to Cincinnati in 1989 to serve WCKY Radio as sports director and play by play voice for University of Cincinnati football and basketball for three years. Keels then joined the WHIO Radio team in Dayton, Ohio as news anchor and morning show host (1992-95) before returning to WLW Radio as sports director and play by play announcer for UC football and basketball as well as sports anchor and reporter for the Cincinnati Bengals (1995-98).

Reds Chief Operating Officer Phil Castellini said, “We’re very pleased to be able add to our television broadcast team someone of Paul’s experience and reputation. Fans in Reds country already are familiar with his talent, and he will be an outstanding addition to what we think already is a very strong broadcast team.”

In 2007, Keels was inducted into the Radio/TV Broadcasting Hall of Fame of Ohio and was the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters “Ohio Sportscaster of the Year” co-winner (alongside Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman).

Keels additionally has extensive freelance experience including work with the Cincinnati Reds, Bengals and college football. He has also participated in various shows and videos, including Ohio State Coaches Shows, The History of Ohio State Football, Buckeye Classics TV Shows, and the Moeller High School recruiting video.

“I’m very excited to join FOX Sports Ohio as part of the Reds Broadcast team,” stated Keels. “Being a Cincinnati native, and having followed the Reds as far as back Crosley Field, it’s a thrill to be involved in working with others to bring Reds Baseball to some of the most passionate baseball fans in the country.”

Keels grew up in Silverton, the same home town of retired Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, and attended Moeller High School and Xavier University.

"Paul Keels will be a terrific addition to our Reds broadcast team," said FOX Sports Ohio Executive Producer Tom Farmer. "Paul grew up in Cincinnati, has tremendous knowledge of the game of baseball, and is passionate about the Reds. We feel very fortunate to be able to welcome him to FOX Sports Ohio."

----

Our take: A good hire by Fox Sports Ohio. Keels will be a good addition to the team, which also added Thom Brennaman last week (Brennaman will do 100 games, with Keels doing 45 more). We've heard some pieces of his work on WLW from the late 90s and he knows sports...which you just about have to here, and he is a great broadcaster. He's in the Ohio Radio and TV Broadcasting Hall of Fame and 2007 Ohio Sportscaster of the Year.

One thing we didn't catch: Louisville River Bats announcer Jim Kelch was also added last week. (We didn't make it down to Redsfest where this was apparently announced). It appears Kelch will do mainly radio for the Reds. We've never heard Kelch, so we'll reserve judgement there.

But, the Fox Sports Ohio booth gets better with these two moves on the TV side. Again, we'll reserve judgement on the radio side of things until we actually hear the team of Marty and Jim...

FSO/Insight Problem

We first reported on this Friday night when it occurred... but now, we know it was apparently not Fox Sports Ohio's fault that Xavier vs. Kent State didn't air in Northern Kentucky until nearly the entire game had passed.

FSO says in a statement on their Facebook page and also directly to the Tri-State Media Twitter:

"Hi everyone,
Insight Cable experienced a programming error and did not get the game on until 9pm. Insight admits to making the mistake and ensures us that it will not happen again."

We'll cut FSO some slack on this one. We felt we were fooled, and we said as much. We were, admittedly, a bit hot under the collar with both parties, mostly Fox Sports Ohio.

And we really hope it doesn't happen again on the Insight end, so we'll give them the benefit of the doubt for this slip.

We just want to see networks live up to what they say they'll do. Even if "what they say they'll do" is a contradiction of something ELSE they said would happen...

BREAKING NEWS: WLWT Hires Kevin Robinson as Chief Meteorologist

We just received word (via the Kiese blog here) that WLWT has hired their new Chief Meteorologist, straight from The Weather Channel in Atlanta.

Here's the WLWT press release as it came in:

CINCINNATI, OH – After 4+ years at The Weather Channel, Kevin Robinson returns to the Tri-State to join WLWT News 5 as Chief Meteorologist effective Jan 11th.

Kevin’s roots are in the Tri-State. He graduated from Princeton High School, his father works for P&G, and his family members still live in the Tri-State.

“Kevin covered every weather situation there is while forecasting at The Weather Channel, working side-by-side with the top meteorologists in the country” said WLWT President and General Manager Richard Dyer. “His forecasting experience, weather knowledge, and engaging style, along with his Tri-State connections, bring a unique combination to Cincinnati television.”

Prior to WLWT and The Weather Channel, Kevin also served as morning meteorologist at Hearst Television Inc owned WAPT in Jackson, MS.

Kevin is an active speaker in the community, from visiting schools and showing students the science behind weather forecasting, to holding town hall meetings on how to stay safe during severe weather.

Kevin graduated from Mississippi State in 2001 with a BA in Broadcast Meteorology, and carries the American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval.

Our Take: This, on paper, would seem to be a good move on WLWT's part. Hire a guy with local ties (Princeton HS and his dad works for P&G which is headquartered downtown), who knows his weather (BS at MSU plus his four years at TWC) and has the style that apparently Channel 5 was looking for.

But Robinson is coming into a new environment here. He's never been chief meteorologist...that's certainly not a dig against him. We've seen his work on TWC and he impressed us. We're only stating facts that can be gleaned from the above presser. (As noted in our administrative announcement this morning, Your Tri-State Media Watcher has been watching weather patterns around the Cincinnati area for 17 years.)

We'll just have to see what happens. We wish Mr. Robinson the best, and he'll certainly get his chance here in Cincinnati to show what he can really do...what with unpredictable patterns and all...

Twitter Feeds Going Haywire

Just a heads up... consider this an administrative heads up.

I've noticed that twitter feeds, especially new ones like at yours truly's weather blog (yes, Your Tri-State Media Watcher is a Weather Watcher, too - it's an off-media blog hobby and has been since the age of 7), aren't working correctly. Meaning, they won't display the CORRECT feed.

If this happens here at Tri-State Media Watch, please email me and let me know asap. This way, I can catch the issue and temporarily remove the offending feed.

In case that scenario becomes necessary, you'll want to get to the feed directly...so bookmark http://twitter.com/tristatemedia.

A Quick Bengals Update plus Reminder About XU/Kent State

UPDATE: We're not sure why, but...we look like idiots.

In northern Kentucky, which is where the TSMW Headquarters is located, the X game is NOT on.

We're going to find out why - you can count on that!

Stay tuned...

We've got a pair of updates and a reminder for you on this Friday.

We're putting out the "Gone Fishin'" sign for the weekend (although it is way too cold to fish in Northern Kentucky) so this will be our last update for this week.

Bengals Update: The Bengals and WXIX-TV 19/Newport, Kentucky announced just minutes before 3:00 PM that the game is sold out and will air on the Fox station.

WXIX, along with Kroger and Fifth Third Bank will team up to give away the remaining seats tomorrow, but details aren't announced yet. Those are expected to come this evening.

The game against the Detroit Lions will have a special local pregame show. As they did for the contest against the Chicago Bears back in October, Tricia Macke, Dan Carroll, and sports director Brian Giesenschlag along with sports anchor Zach Wells will host the pre-game, which will blow out Fox NFL Sunday at 11:30 AM all the way to gametime. It's planned that the show will be including pieces on the Detroit club's start in Portsmouth, Ohio and a Shayne Graham "Cribs"-style tour of the field goal kicker's home, according to the John Kiesewetter blog.

Channel 9 Bearcats Coverage: Yes, WCPO-TV 9/Cincinnati gets to cover yet another University of Cincinnati Bearcats football game. (Maybe at this point, WCPO should see if they can be the local over-air home of the team. Heh.)

And that means another pregame special, this one hosted by the WCPO sports team of Dennis Jansen and John Popovich, before the game kicks off at 12 PM. John Kiesewetter of the Enquirer has all of the details in the link.

The Bearcats face off with Pittsburgh. If Pitt wins, it claims one half of the Big East title. If Cincinnati wins, they are sole champions of that conference.

By the way, the BCS bowl selections will be made at 8 PM and televised on FOX 19, which pushes The Simpsons back to an 8:30 start time.

Reminder About FSO Alternate Channels: If you're looking to set the DVR's to record the Xavier Musketeers game against the Kent State Golden Flashes (who are in Ohio Media Watch territory), take note of the alternate channels we'll list below. Fox Sports Ohio is sending the game to these channels due to the Cleveland Cavaliers game against the Chicago Bulls.

Here's what you need to know here in Southwest Ohio (that we know of as of this writing):

Cincinnati Bell Fioptics: Channel 261

Time Warner: Channel 310 (NOT channel 99 - FSO says 310 is set as the permanent channel for overflow programming when there are conflicts.)

Insight in Northern KY: Channel 6

Dish Network and Direct TV Satellite: Fox Sports Cincinnati

If you're not on one of these providers, consult FSO's website here.

Alternate Channels Set For Xavier/Kent State - Plus WHIO Returns Over The Air

BRIEF UPDATE TO THE FSO SITUATION: We're hearing from various XU fans on the team's message board that the last couple times TWC Cincy has had the game on alternate channel locations in Cincinnati, it's been the same location in Dayton.

Also, there's a reason that the X game did NOT get channel position 99.

It's a little thing called "High School Football State Finals" that gives the bump to XU from that spot on Time Warner.

As such, the game was put on channel 310. As far as we can tell, 310 is normally vacant - so FSO can light this channel up to carry future games.

And no, there's still nothing confirmed for the much-anticipated Xavier/Miami (Ohio) showdown two days before Christmas. Stay tuned on that...

For those who may watch FSO on other cable providers around the metro, we don't know what cable provider you're using but could use the help.

If you're NOT on one of the below listed cable providers, PLEASE email us at tristatemediawatch at gmail-dot-com. (You can put the email address together...our spam box gets filled on yours truly's personal email and we don't want this one to get cluttered, too.)

We'll check it often today and tomorrow before the game, and if we know what cable provider you use, we'll give you an idea of what channel assignment you're going to have...

The original item of Tuesday follows below...

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FSO Alternate Assignments: We just received word of the alternate channel assignments for Xavier vs. Kent State on Friday night from Fox Sports Ohio.

While the Cavaliers will be on Fox Sports Ohio, the XU/Kent State game will be on these channels in our local area with the pre-game beginning at 7 PM with the game at 7:30 PM:

-- Cincinnati Bell Fioptics: Channel 261
-- Time Warner Cable: Channel 310
-- Insight: Channel 6
-- Dish Network/Direct TV: Fox Sports Cincinnati

Notice that the Time Warner assignment has changed to channel 310.

And, if you're anywhere else in Southwest Ohio, check out the website of Fox Sports Ohio for updates - we don't have any word on assignments in Dayton.

WHIO Returns OTA: Yes, we noted this yesterday, but WHIO returned to over-the-air broadcasting early Monday - before we got our morning update out.

We're hearing they restored service around 5 yesterday morning.

There is still no HDTV broadcast from WHIO as of this writing, because they are working on replacing the equipment.

We are unaware at present if they did any repeats of the CBS Sunday shows, or are planning any.

We'll let you know when they get full HD and SD signals restored.