Fox Sports Ohio Covering MAC, Atlantic 10 Tournaments Plus Cavs and Blue Jackets This Weekend

We got word today that Fox Sports Ohio will be covering both the Atlantic 10 and Mid-American Conference tournaments, along with Cavaliers and Blue Jackets games. These are the times and channel information as we know it at this time:

Thursday, March 11

MAC Tournament Quarterfinals
Game 1 (12pm) & Game 2 (2:30pm)

Cleveland: FOX Sports Ohio

Columbus: FOX Sports Ohio

Cincinnati/Dayton: FOX Sports Ohio
Direct TV: FS Ohio, FS Cincinnati
DISH Network: FS Ohio, FS Cincinnati

Game 3 (7pm) & Game 4 (9:30pm)

Cleveland:
· Time Warner: Channel 310
· Cox: Channel 98
Columbus: Check local channels
Cincinnati/Dayton:
· Time Warner: Channel 99 & 310
· Insight: Alternate Channel TBD
· Cincinnati Bell Fioptics: Alternate Channel TBD
Direct TV: Channel 658
DISH Network: Channel 449

Columbus Blue Jackets (HD)
Blue Jackets Live (6:30pm) & Blue Jackets v. Thrashers (7pm)

Cleveland: FOX Sports Ohio
Columbus: FOX Sports Ohio
Cincinnati/Dayton: FOX Sports Ohio
Direct TV: FS Ohio, FS Cincinnati
DISH Network: FS Ohio, FS Cincinnati

Friday, March 12

MAC Women’s Tournament Semifinals
Game 1 (12 pm) & Game 2 (2:30pm)

Cleveland: FOX Sports Ohio
Direct TV: FS Ohio
DISH Network: FS Ohio

MAC Men’s Tournament Semifinals
Game 1 (7pm) & Game 2 (9:30pm)

Cleveland:
· Time Warner: Channel 310
· Cox: Channel 98
Columbus: Check local channels
Cincinnati/Dayton:
· Time Warner: Channel 99 & 310
· Insight: Alternate Channel TBD
· Cincinnati Bell Fioptics: Alternate Channel TBD
Direct TV: Channel 657
DISH Network: Channel 453

A-10 Tournament Quarterfinals
Game 1 (12 pm) & Game 2 (2:30pm)

Cincinnati: FOX Sports Ohio
Columbus: FOX Sports Ohio
Direct TV: FS Cincinnati
DISH Network: FS Cincinnati

Game 3 - Xavier v. UD (6:30pm) & Game 4 (9pm)

Cincinnati: FOX Sports Ohio
Direct TV: FS Cincinnati
DISH Network: FS Cincinnati
**The Xavier v. UD game will NOT be televised on FOX Sports Ohio in Dayton, Ohio due to a conflicting syndication agreement with local TV, WHIO-TV.**

Cleveland Cavaliers (HD)
Cavaliers Live (6:30pm) & Cavaliers @ Philadelphia (7pm)

Cleveland: FOX Sports Ohio
Columbus: FOX Sports Ohio
Cincinnati/Dayton: FOX Sports Ohio HD only
Direct TV: FS Ohio
DISH Network: FS Ohio

Saturday, March 13

MAC Women’s Tournament Final (1pm)

Cleveland: FOX Sports Ohio
Columbus: FOX Sports Ohio
Cincinnati/Dayton: FOX Sports Ohio
Direct TV: FS Ohio, FS Cincinnati
DISH Network: FS Ohio, FS Cincinnati

Columbus Blue Jackets (HD)
Blue Jackets Live (6:30pm) & Blue Jackets v. Blues (7pm)

Cleveland: FOX Sports Ohio
Columbus: FOX Sports Ohio
Cincinnati/Dayton: FOX Sports Ohio
Direct TV: FS Ohio, FS Cincinnati
DISH Network: FS Ohio, FS Cincinnati

Note: We do not know which channel Insight or Cincinnati Bell will use. Keep an eye on the FSOhio website for more information.

THIS JUST IN: WHAS-AM Names New Midday Host

We have the official word straight from Clear Channel's Louisville HQ, courtesy of our colleague Tom Taylor at Radio-Info.com.

As we tweeted this morning, an announcement was expected around 3 PM this afternoon from 840 WHAS-AM/Louisville, naming the replacement for Francene Cucinello. Cucinello died January 15 from a heart attack and brain aneurysm, leaving the 9 AM-Noon slot open.

That's until the end of this month. Mandy Connell(seen at right, photo courtesy Clear Channel) will be the replacement.

She's coming here from Fort Myers, Florida, leaving the FOX News Radio station there, where she has done mornings for a trimulcast out of 1240 WINK-AM/Fort Myers, 1270 WNOG-AM/Naples and 92.5 WFSX-FM/Estero. (Yes, that's a city; it's south of Fort Myers.)

Here's the press release:

Louisville, KY, March 4, 2010 – NewsRadio 84WHAS (840 AM) today announced the appointment of Mandy Connell as its new 9AM-12Noon talk show host.

A 14 year radio veteran, Connell has entertained and informed audiences in several Florida cities, including Gainesville and Orlando. For the last five years, she has served Southwest Florida listeners as morning show host on 1240/1270 WINK/WNOG and 92.5 Fox News Radio in Ft. Myers/Naples.

84WHAS Operations Manager Kelly Carls had this to say: “We reviewed over 130 applications, and talked to many talented people. Mandy really stood out for her energy, enthusiasm, and dedication to giving listeners an interesting, informative, and engaging radio program. We believe she will really connect with the 84WHAS audience.”

Clear Channel Louisville Market President Bill Gentry added, “Mandy is personable, friendly, and well-read. We’re confident she will uphold the tradition of exceptional performance our listeners have come to expect.”

Commenting on her new appointment, Mandy Connell said, “To say that I am excited is a
massive understatement. Not only do I get to join a heritage radio station like 84WHAS, I get to live in Louisville, which has more amazing restaurants than I dreamed possible. I couldn’t ask for a better new home! I can’t wait to dig in, metaphorically and literally.”

Mandy Connell will join the 84WHAS program line-up during the week of March 29th. Listeners can join her on the air at 840 AM, online at www.whas.com, or using their iPhones or Blackberries with the iHeartradio app.

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

Our Take: This, on paper, seems like a good hire for WHAS. We've not heard Connell's show, since a) we're not usually awake at 5:30 AM and b) we're not based in Fort Myers. (We know it's online also, and we'll try to listen in to her current show before she leaves that station.)

We've said it before, and we'll state this again: WHAS needs to keep the 9-noon slot local. We believe that will continue but, again, since we haven't heard Connell on air, we can't say for sure. Connell seems to be a good fit, however and we look forward to being able to hear her on her new show.

One thing's for sure: At least she's not having to endure a 3 AM wakeup in Louisville...we'll have to see if she can produce the ratings in the 9 AM to noon slot that she has been in Fort Myers 5:30 AM-9 AM.

And we really hope she was kidding about not knowing who the current coach of University of Kentucky basketball is...

JUST IN: Two More Channels Moved by Insight, WCVN Now on 6

UPDATE: We stand corrected: WCVN is now on Insight channel 6. The remainder of this item is unchanged...

At this rate, it may soon be easier to list what's LEFT on Insight Cable for analog subscribers...

We were flipping through channels today and found this slide on channels 18 and 19:



If you can't read it due to poor quality (our apologies, as it was taken using a cell phone camera), it says "Northern Cable has moved to channel 96. CSPAN has moved to channel 97."

Yes, that's right - that's two more channels that are basically all but gone from the basic cable. Northern Cable has provided people with NKU news and information for years...as long as we can remember. And now it's moved...no alerts or anything. We couldn't find anything that told us these channels were moving. We didn't see any crawls on these channels.

Also today marked the move of ICN6 to Insight channel 2... our original posting was incorrect about it being yesterday. As we type this, the former slot of WCVN-TV 54/Covington is now ICN2. And as for WCVN...it's on channel 6. (By the way, we now hear that Insight plans to replace the local programming now seen on ICN... uh, 6/2... with statewide weather 24/7, with live meteorologists. That per the Kiese Blog today.)

Shouldn't Insight have alerted customers of the other channel changes, also when word of the ICN move came?? Did we miss an ad in the papers or something? This seems like it was sprung on most Insight customers with no warning at all...and we don't like having things like this spring up with no warnings because it makes it hard to do our jobs.

And no, Insight, we don't see any sections on your website that list upcoming moves. Nice try... but we've looked before. Nothing. (Heck, your lineups aren't even up to date now!)

These lapses in communication really make it hard to be a media blogger sometimes...we bet not even Kiese knew of THIS change.

FOX Sports Ohio News

Wow, a lot coming from the Fox Sports Ohio HQ today...one of which we saw on WXIX-TV 19/Newport's "Sports Wrap" broadcast yesterday evening.

Xavier Bounce: Another Xavier game has been bounced due to a professional basketball game conflicting.

Xavier takes on Fordham this Wednesday at 7 PM, at the same time as the Cleveland Cavaliers will be facing the New Jersey Nets.

Xavier, therefore, gets bounced to channels 99 and 310 in Cincinnati and Dayton on Time Warner, channel 291 on Cincinnati Bell Fioptics, and (according to the presser) channel 6 in Northern Kentucky on Insight Cable. (We're not sure about that last one, as Insight announced that they were moving all of ICN 6's programming to channel 2 - see our post around 8:30 AM.)

McCoy Back on the Beat: Yes, we mean Hal McCoy, formerly of the Dayton Daily News.

He'll be covering the Cincinnati Reds for FSO's website, and is already in his new role. We think he's already in Goodyear, Arizona, which of course is the site of Reds Spring Training.

McCoy left the Dayton Daily News after last season, following 37 years covering the Reds for them, but apparently his love of the game won out. We can't blame him for that... we don't think we could retire, either in this situation...

Looking for the Next Sports Blogger: FOX Sports Ohio announced in a press release today a new contest, called “Blog Sports Ohio".

They're taking entries now on FoxSportsOhio.com through next Wednesday. Contestants have to submit one game recap, one editorial and one feature story, plus complete the online entry form to enter.

For details on all of these stories, you can log on to FSO's site here.

THIS JUST IN: Regent Filing for Chapter 11

We just got word that Regent Communications, based in Cincinnati, has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization this morning.

Radio-Info.com reports that shareholders of Regent stock will receive 12.8 cents for every share they own. Oaktree Capital will gain control of the company but the top management team will remain in place and day-to-day operations will continue as normal.

You'll recall we've mentioned Regent a time or two, as their stock price has been...well, at rock bottom.

So, this may help them get back to some measure of profitability...but it certainly isn't going to occur overnight...

NEW: WCVG to Great Lakes Radio

TSMW received word of it Friday morning, and spent Friday afternoon tracking down the situation... and here's what's known now after I had a sit-down interview with Tim Gallagher of Great Lakes Media:

WCVG-AM 1320/Covington is being sold by Davidson Media Group. The buyers are Mr. Gallagher and Michael Fortin, who run Great Lakes Radio out of Chicago, Illinois. The sale price as posted by the FCC (WARNING: Large file and capital letters) here is $472,500. Great Lakes already owns WBGX-AM 1570 up in Chicago, and has owned stations in Detroit and Cleveland also.

No, I didn't mistype. The station is being bought for 25% of what Davidson paid for it some time back, Gallagher told me yesterday.

Gallagher heard back in December that the station was for sale, and just before Christmas came and looked at it, he told me.

Gallagher said that the plan, and indeed what's already started happening, is that they will sell airtime on the station to local churches which in turn will use that for ministering to the local community. Yes, most of that programming will be pre-recorded. The way Gallagher put it yesterday was that the churches aren't promoting the station so much as they are their local ministries...something no other station is doing for Tri-State churches. (WCKY 1530 and WLW 700 both do broadcast church programming, however none of the programming is locally based in Cincinnati.)

The bottom line, Gallagher says, is that they're filling a niche that nobody else is doing, and they intend to do it 24 hours a day.

To yours truly, the fact that they're doing all of this with a 500 watt daytime/430 watt nighttime signal is remarkable. The nighttime signal doesn't reach much of the Ohio side of the market, and even though daytime isn't much better, it DOES cover much of the city of Cincinnati. (No, Gallagher didn't tell me of any plans to upgrade...and anyway, they sit between 1230 WDBZ-AM/Cincinnati and 1360 WSAI-AM/Cincinnati...both of which use 1000 or more watts of power 24 hours a day.)

Anyway, hopefully this sale will help WCVG succeed in radio...especially today's market. After all, locally based programming is a good thing. And locally based programming that isn't being done anywhere else is a really good thing.

Special thanks to Tim Gallagher for allowing me to sit down and talk with him about what's going on with WCVG.

NEW: Insight Scrapping Local Programming on ICN6 - AFTER Moving to channel 2

Insight is about to make yet more moves - and one has already hit by the time you read this.

Insight is moving ICN 6 to channel 2 effective as of Monday...in other words today. All the local programming you've seen on ICN 6 is now on channel 2. At least, for the next few weeks.

At the end of THIS month, Insight will scrap all the local programming on channel 2. This includes shows like "Northern Kentucky Magazine", "On the Record", and "Sports Page". An email from Nancy James, host of the aforementioned "Northern Kentucky Magazine", says that "some consolidation is being done and specific programming is in the works for the better of the State of Kentucky".

The entire email, which was originally posted on John Kiesewetter's blog here, follows:

Dear Friends, Sponsors and Guests of Northern Kentucky Magazine, and Faithful viewers:

There are two reasons for my email. Simply put: As we approach March 1st, “Things they are a changin’onICN6!” As you might have already heard, our location on your dial or “remote” will change effective this month. We make the move from Channel 6 to Channel 2. All the programming will switch, leaving all local programming on Channel 2.

Then effective April 1st, another change will take place. On that date, all local programming seen on Channel 2, including our show Northern Kentucky Magazine will no longer be aired there. There has been no official ‘press release’ to this effect or any official direction for us to communicate to you, other than ‘some consolidation is being done and specific programming is in the works for the better of the State of Kentucky’. But this is not a secret. The ‘word is out on the street’ and I wanted you to be just as aware.

Here is the first of my two requests: The relationship between our staff, our guests and our viewers is a very important one to me. You have been an integral part of our family and we yours. Please allow us the honor of being able to be your “voice” for your event, your gala, your new CD, your business, your cause, your news, your story, whatever, one more time. Northern Kentucky Magazine has been proud to be your voice for almost 20 years, and I would love for these last 4-½ weeks to reflect that same proud stance. So please email me ASAP with your availability and I, along with Sandy Megowen, will make every effort to accommodate your wishes.

The second request is simple: Please reply to this email with a couple of sentences that describe what this show, Northern Kentucky Magazine, has meant to you, your clients, your family, or our community. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am alone in believing that if the management of Insight were to be informed as to just how very important this show was to our community, we might be looked at differently! I don’t know what difference they might make, but I would love for YOUR voices to be heard.

I have been honored to have interviewed most of you or your clients and hope that our paths will continue to cross in the future!

With Warmest Regards, Nancy James

Our take: Channel move is an okay idea. In fact, I believe that in Louisville, similar programming is already found on channel 2. Not great, but a good idea.

However: The idea to scrap the local programming in favor of statewide programs is a BAD IDEA. ICN6, along with all the other "ICN" channels across the state, serve their local communities. There's a local focus on news among other things. Besides, KET already DOES statewide programming here, probably pretty close to what Insight is planning to do.

In short, good channel move, BAD idea to scrap local programming...