Closing the Year

UPDATE 2:22 AM Christmas Eve: Local TV stations pretty much confirmed our second item of the original post Thursday afternoon... the Bengals did NOT sell out and will NOT air on WKRC-TV.

Of course, the NFL doesn't black out radio (it wouldn't likely WANT to try, anyway, as some fans do like to listen to play-by-play on the radio while at the game), so you'll still be able to hear Bengals/Chargers at 4 PM Sunday on WLW-AM 700, WCKY-AM 1530/Cincinnati and WEBN 102.7/Cincinnati, along with all other Bengals Radio Network affiliates.

As of now, and only according to the MSN TV listings, FOX 19 will have this schedule Sunday, since it has to program the 1-4 PM slot itself while other FOX affiliates carry a 1 PM game:

1-3 PM: Cadillac Man - The 1990 movie in which angry husband (Tim Robbins) catches up to a wise-guy car salesman (Robin Williams) who cons customers and women.
3-3:30 PM: Seinfeld - "The Doorman" episode from February 1995.
3:30-4:00 PM: Whacked Out Sports

The original item is below...

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After this post, TSMW will go on "Holiday Hiatus" with a planned return anytime around the New Year.

But we've got a couple things that we haven't noted, that some already have...

Furman To Mornings: This has been out there for several weeks, but we're just now getting Around Tuit (tm by OMW).

Andy Furman, who currently hosts "The Furman Factor" evenings on WQRT-AM 1160/Florence, is about to make a double move...with a timeslot change, and a slight change in location.

The show will now air mornings on WQRT, starting on the 3rd of January, from 7-9 AM, broadcasting live from the Graeter's location on Fountain Square downtown. That's just about 5 blocks east (and two blocks south) of the "Real Talk" studios at WXIX-TV 19 Broadcast Plaza on 7th Street. According to FOX19 (which is co-located with WQRT), Furman plans to allow live interaction with his listeners.

We wonder if this might backfire on Furman...as easy access to him could lead to harm being done to him. (And before anyone says anything, NO, we do NOT encourage anyone to attempt to do physical harm to anyone else.)

Bengals Probably Won't Sell Out: You've probably heard by now of the floods and bad weather down in Southern California, home to the Bengals' opponent this weekend, the San Diego Chargers. In fact, their stadium has flooded, which raised fears that the Poinsettia Bowl wouldn't go on tonight at 8 PM EST.

Since the Chargers are here this weekend, that means they're not impacted by any flooding issues. But Cincinnati fans won't see the game on WKRC-TV 12/Cincinnati, since they've already punted on the game (which has already taken a bump from the prime Sunday Night Football slot).

The game won't air here, meaning WKRC-TV would have to program the time themselves. Last weekend, WKRC turned to infomercials for the whole three hours, two of which were an hour long apiece. That's not going to happen this weekend - CBS has a motocross event scheduled for the 4 PM slot for those affiliates not airing a late game.

That forces WXIX to change their plans, too. They'll only be able to air half of the Fox doubleheader, at 4:05 PM when the New York Giants (who we saw collapse SPECTACULARLY last weekend) try for redemption against the Green Bay Packers, says John Kiesewetter...

WKRC, WCPO Adding Staff: In this economic time, it's great to see stations hiring people, and that's the case at the two stations that were 1-2 in November ratings. (Remember that as a rule, we don't do ratings here.) Kiese has this here, but we'll do quick summaries of each hire.

WCPO 9/Cincinnati added reporter Syed Shabbir on November 29. Shabbir comes from Topeka, KS station KTKA-TV, where he spent 18 months. Before that he'd interned at KSHB-TV/Kansas City from May-August 2008, while working toward his degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He's young, having just graduated in 2009. (We're presuming it's a Journalism degree...Neither WCPO, nor Kiese, says anything about that.)

Meanwhile, WKRC's hire hasn't yet started (he comes in Monday). He's Dan Spehler from WRTV-TV 6/Indianapolis. He'll be on the night shift, covering breaking news during the 11 PM 35 minute newscast. (We'd presume he might also be seen at 10 PM on 12.2.) Before WRTV, Spehler had been at WDTN-TV 2/Dayton and WUPW-TV 36/Toledo, and before those had served as News Director at BGTV 24 News while at Bowling Green State University working toward HIS degree (again, we're presuming he majored in Journalism).

WKRC had been looking to add this spot since before they started their 4:30 PM news September 7, so with this move, they've expanded their news staff as they expanded their news offerings...