The Madness Begins...March Madness That is...and WCPO's Good Morning Tri-State team now a-tweeting away!

Couple quickie items here:

March Madness: Well, it is March Madness time, and that means basketball all over our TV's here at Tri-State Media Watch.

WKRC-TV 12 as well as WHIO-TV 7 in Dayton both will broadcast CBS' coverage of the NCAA Tournament beginning Thursday. And that means, for the next few weeks, the prime-time schedules get messed with, particularly on Thursday and Friday nights the next 2 weeks.

While we don't have the schedule of games to be aired locally, at least in Cincy, we do know what's going to happen to Local12 News at Noon as well as First at 4 this week.

The noon newscast will be bounced to the CWCincinnati subchannel 12.2 this Thursday and Friday at its regular time. There will not be a 4pm newscast either day this week. (Something about this year's February/March sweeps, which wouldn't normally be an issue if not for that blasted DTV Feb. 17 conversion date that, for most, wasn't...)

We don't know how we missed this, but all month Local12 has been preparing viewers to make the switch to CWCincinnati for the midday news by simulcasting it on Local12 and 12.2. And it looks as though this will continue even after the first week of the tourney...

Meanwhile, the Dayton CBS affiliate looks to be planning to go with a shortened edition of NewsCenter 7 both Thursday and Friday this week.

WCPO Good Morning Tri-State team now on Twitter: We mentioned WCPO as having a twitter page for their weather team. Apparently, we forgot a couple of WCPO's Twitter names when we posted that.

Like WCPOTraffic, for example.

Or WCPO's main Twitter account.

Even John Matarese's Don't Waste Your Money segments have a Twitter home!

And here's the one Good Morning Tri-State, the station's morning show, is using. This is their talkback Twitter account, and it was just launched over the weekend.

Starting this morning, the Good Morning Tri-State team will use this to talkback to their viewers, in the stylings of CNN's Rick Sanchez (who actually started this whole revolution of news agencies tweeting), or of Local12's Doppler Tim.

FCC Sets New DTV Transition Rules

It looks like the FCC set new rules Friday, saying all of the stations left to transition to all-digital broadcasting must notify the FCC of their new plans by next Tuesday. (Hat Tip to Rich Emery for finding this information and sending it over)

Broadcasting & Cable magazine has more here including the link to the guidelines. We'll hit the highlights here, and these are quotes from the link.

-- The FCC is requiring that every station that has not yet transitioned to digital file a binding notice of analog termination by that March 17 date. Stations will have to air viewer notifications for at least 30 days before pulling the plug, including the information about antennas and possible signal loss where applicable. Once the stations have filed that notice, they may proceed with their plans without getting a specific individual approval from the commission.

-- Network affiliates that want to go before June 12 can do so if at least one network affiliate remains on the air in full analog service in the market until June 12. If a major network affiliate (meaning ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC [parentheticals mine]) can't attest to that and still wants to pull the plug early, it can do so as long as at least one of the major affiliates is maintaining an "enhanced nightlight" service of news, public affairs and emergency info.

It should be noted that the individual stations can decide to pull the analog service off the air at any time during the day of their transition but must communicate that time to the FCC. The guidelines also require all broadcasters to air a new, long-form (meaning 30 minute) educational program to their viewers which contains updated, locally-specific information, at least one time before June 12.

Stations are allowed to shut off analog transmission beginning April 16th, except for non-commercial stations which are claiming financial hardship. Those stations can shut off as early as 13 days from today. Those stations include the Kentucky Educational Television network, which will go April 15 as we reported previously.

And we've just remembered Gray Television-owned CBS affiliate WKYT-TV 27/Lexington.

That station has said in public for weeks they would go on April 13...which is three days before the earliest allowed deadline for commercial TV stations. We wonder if the FCC will still allow this...it shouldn't be much of an issue, as the NBC affiliate already said it would not go before June 12.

MTV "Taking the Stage" at SCPA

MTV finally has a website up for its new show "Taking the Stage", which is set in Cincinnati at the School of Creative and Performing Arts, which is in Over-The-Rhine.

The show follows five SCPA students as they pursue their dreams of stardom, much the way Nick Lachey, Sex and the City's Sarah Jessica Parker, actor/director Todd Luiso (High Fidelity, Love Liza), and actor Rocky Carroll of NCIS did.

There are five main characters, according to the website, they are as follows:

* Jasmine is a prima ballerina who dreams of dancing with the famed Alvin Ailey dance troupe. "I want to be one of the best professional dancers of my generation," she says. Jasmine hopes to attend New York performing arts conservatory Juilliard after graduating from SCPA.

* Malik -- Jasmine's best friend -- leads the school's only hip-hop dance group, The Definition. "When I dance," he says, "people notice. I want to inspire." In addition to his formidable dance skills, he is also a talented choreographer and a singer/songwriter.

* Shaakira is a dancer and aspiring actress. "I want to be an all-around entertainer. I have really big dreams," she says. "I will do whatever it takes to be famous." Shaakira is an accomplished ballet dancer -- one of the best SCPA has ever produced -- but prefers hip-hop dance and is an integral member of Malik's team.

* Mia is a singer-songwriter whose talent is matched only by her drive. "My whole life I've had the same goal, to make music and get a record contract by the time that I'm 18," Mia says. "I know I have what it takes to make it happen."

* And, finally, there's Tyler, a gifted hip-hop dancer. Along with his little brother, Chris (also a dancer), he's new to the School for Creative and Performing Arts, and he's about to shake things up. "Dancing is my world; it just comes out of me," he says. "I am hip-hop dance. Hip-hop dance is me."

In a news-related twist, the school is currently dealing with a tragedy in its midst after one of their students was killed. 13 year old Esme Kenney was murdered sometime Sunday. SCPA held a very emotional memorial Tuesday night. It's unclear as to how, or even if, this affected production of the show.

Thomas Goldsmith Dead at 99

More sad news to report nationally today, that actually happened yesterday. (Hat Tip: Rich Emery)

Dr. Thomas T. Goldsmith, one of the pioneers of the Du Mont Television Network, has died at age 99, reports the Olympian out of Olympia, Washington.

Here's a link to an interview Dr. Goldsmith did a couple years ago with the Archive of American Television.

It should be noted that WTTG-TV in Washington, DC, which Goldsmith started as an affiliate of the Du Mont network, carries his initials.

Quinlivan Update...More personalities/stations on Twitter

A couple of Tuesday items...

Quinlivan to run for Cincy Council: The former WCPO-TV 9 I-Team reporter currently suing the station over her termination, has announced a bid for Cincinnati City Council.

Laure Quinlivan, who also did some special reports for WLWT-TV 5, announced her plans today at a press conference, according to WLWT today.

Her website has this statement:

Hello and Welcome to my campaign web site. I'm just getting started, having announced for City Council on March 10.

Be sure to check back in a couple weeks for video reports.

I am running to bring a new energy and fresh perspective to Cincinnati Council. My 15 years of investigative reporting has resulted in positive changes for our community. I stand up for taxpayers and average citizens.

People may know me for “Visions of Vine Street” documentaries, investigating Paul Brown Stadium construction and proposing solutions for Ohio’s side of the Purple People Bridge.

I can research important issues, make decisions and communicate with the public. I have the passion, experience and tenacity to be effective on City Council.

We wonder how her bid will affect the lawsuit which we previously reported on...

More Radio, TV Personalities on Twitter: We have a few more personalities and stations to add to the list of Cincinnati Radio/TV people on Twitter.

Much of FOX19 WXIX-TV's staff now tweets, including reporter Sara Gouedy, meteorologist Frank Marzullo, and Morning News anchor Rob Williams.

Over at WKRC-TV, the entire Good Morning Cincinnati team tweets. And meteorologist John Gumm just got his own Twitter account. Otherwise, the station's Chief Meteorologist, Tim Hedrick, tweets from the station's main twitter account.

WLWT and WCPO's weather department tweet, too.

Even a couple of Bonneville's radio stations get into the act, with WKRQ-FM 101.9 and WSWD-FM 97.3 having their own twitter pages.

And, to round out, WKRQ's Brian Douglas is also a tweeter, as he and Laura Powell announced yesterday on-air.

And of course, we can't end this part of the update without a quick reminder to follow OUR tweets at twitter.com/tristatemedia.

WLW Has Lost XM Carriage!

A hat tip to my friends up in Northeastern Ohio at Ohio Media Watch for this bit...as I received it from them via email this evening!

Seems WLW-AM 700 is no longer carried on XM Satellite Radio channel 173 as of this past Friday. WCPO has the story here.

Of course, WLW has a blowtorch signal anyway, at 50,000 watts, so much of the eastern US won't lose The Big One. But, this means anybody that can't get the station over air, no longer has the Satellite Radio option available to them and now has to listen on the station's website.

It sounds to us as if the Clear Channel pursestrings may have had something to do with it...stay tuned, if we get any information, we'll let you know!

Wrapping up the week...

OK...let's finish off the week...

WNNF Stunting: We had never gotten any reports of stunting on WNNF-FM 94.1, but listening to it ourselves, we can confirm that indeed, they are promising that they are "renovating your radio station". It's not known what 94.1 will flip to...but it's been speculated that they could flip to anything from AC to rock to a country station. We'll know sometime down the line.

They are, however, taking opinions...log onto radio941.com to weigh in...

WKRQ-FM Girlfriend Getaways: From Bonneville Mountain, the home of the number 9 Hottest Woman in US Radio, Holly Morgan comes Girlfriend Getaways.

The station is giving away a few trips to Florida's Emerald Coast, which include airfare and hotel.

Log on to WKRQ.com for more...

Concert To Benefit Komen for the Cure: And while we're electronically at Bonneville Mountain and in the WKRQ studios, we're finding out about a concert the station is going to hold at Newport on the Levee on the 12th.

The station announced that Natasha Bedingfield will perform at Jefferson Hall at 8pm that night, and all door proceeds will benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Again, log on to WKRQ.com for those details. The station will also have a contest, where the winners can get engaged LIVE on stage after Bedingfield performs.