12-1-14
Reese was heard on Cleveland radio for over 50 years. He was 83 years old when he passed away last week. Cleveland.com reports Reese grew up in Akron and got his start in radio in the Army, with the Armed Forces Network in Germany in 1948. After working at small stations in the Akron-Canton area, he came to Cleveland in 1952 on WTAM radio and its TV sister, WNBK. Picture courtesy Cleveland.com
3-10-14
Eddie Harrell joined the Radio One Company in June 2011 as VP/GM for Columbus. He replaces Jeffrey Wilson who was named Radio One's Regional Vice President for its Mid-West stations. Radio One Radio Division President Chris Wegman said, "Eddie has proven to be a leader with great community ties, leading our Columbus cluster to solid performances in ratings and revenue. I'm confident that he will continue the same leadership taking over for Jeff Wilson who will be concentrating on his regional responsibilities full time."
10-3-13
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, WMMS-FM Morning Man Shane French (his radio name is Rover) has been indicted on 13 charges for an incident that took place on the 4th of July. The charges include, inducing panic, assault, resisting arrest, vandalism and criminal damaging. Off-duty officer Steven Kinas told police he was on his boat, saw fireworks and found French and another man (sidekick Michael Toomey) "highly intoxicated." After telling the two men to stop Kinas says they shot fireworks in his direction. Kinas says both men were highly intoxicated and when they were told they were under arrest they took off running.
According to local media reports, the police report also says, "French got rowdy, grabbed the officer's shirt, pushed him with both hands in his back and said, " I don't believe you're a police officer," even after the officer flashed his badge." French has said publicly that he plans to fight the charges and prove his innocence.
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7-8-13
Rover from Rover?s Morning Glory will had plenty to talk about when he got back on the air today. He was arrested over the holiday for allegedly getting into an altercation with an off-duty policeman according to the ABC-TV affiliate in Cleveland. He said on the air this morning that the facts of the incident, the way it was reported are incorrect, "the truth will come out and I will be exonerated."
Rover (real name Shane French) was asked by the officer to stop shooting off fireworks at 3:30AM. That's when the fight started and additional officers were called to help make the arrest. Rover is heard on WMMS in Cleveland which is owned by Clear Channel.
Read more details HERE
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4-15-13
Salem flips WHK-AM Cleveland to "The Answer," joining similar moves Salem has made in New York, Los Angeles, Riverside, Dallas, Houston, Columbus, and Chicago. WHK is also adding a new evening show called "The 11th Hour" hosted by McIntyre and long time Cleveland talk host Tom Kelly. The show will focus on both local and statewide stories with news updates and interviews of the day?s newsmakers and journalists.
Salem VP Director of Spoken Word Format Phil Boyce, said, "As our listeners are preparing to write Uncle Sam that fat check, I can't think of a better day to give Cleveland 'The Answer' to why their taxes are so high. We have the answer for little things like 'why am I stuck in traffic' to bigger things like what can conservatives do to win back the White House."
3-29-13
With the sports radio format so popular with listeners and the NFL so popular with consumers could this new arrangement be the wave of the future for radio? In Cleveland, exclusivity is out the door. The Cleveland Browns have confirmed they have struck a deal with two different radio companies for broadcast rights to the upcoming NFL season.
The Browns will wind up getting over 1,000 hours of programming and nine shows on the stations proving how vital play-by-play is to radio operators. The stations include 850-AM WKNR, owned by Good Karma Broadcasting and 92.3-FM WNCX, a CBS affiliate. Clear Channel loses the Browns on WTAM-AM, which they had since 1999.
CBS Market Manager Tom Herschel said, ?We couldn?t be happier that 92.3 The Fan and 98.5, WNCX will help bring the excitement of Cleveland Browns football to fans across Northeast Ohio for many years to come. 92.3 The Fan is committed to delivering the highest quality programming and putting fans in the center of the action both on and off the field. Our stations are looking forward to carrying on that tradition with the Cleveland Browns.?
Good Karma Broadcasting CEO Craig marmazin said, ?The uniqueness of this deal just comes back to the fans of Cleveland because the Browns? passion is so unlike anywhere that we?ve ever seen. It leads you to do things you wouldn?t expect to do. It only goes to show that the only team in North America in the history of sports that could bring two separate companies in the same format together and could bring three different stations together on gameday is the Cleveland Browns. It was a no-brainer for us to do it. To be able to work with this organization and be able to serve these fans in this way, it was unique, but it was a no-brainer.?
The new agreement means that Browns games will not be carried on Clear Channel's WTAM-AM for the first time since the expansion era began in 1999.
To learn how to make money from this exciting format join Radio Ink in Miami on May 14 and 15 at The Biltmore Hotel for our 2013 Sports Radio Conference
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2-20-13
Clear Channel Cleveland elevates Kristin Foley from Sales Manager to Vice President of Sales. She will now oversee sales for six stations in Cleveland. In 2006, Foley joined the Sales Management team and most recently oversaw WMMS-FM, KISS-FM, and 99X. In 2008, Foley received Clear Channel's National Pinnacle Award for Excellence, recognizing her as one of the top sales performers within the company.
1-31-1013
Clear Channel says George Allen will run its Raleigh operation immediately, moving over from Clear Channel's Cleveland cluster where he was D.O.S. Allen also served as Local Sales Manager and General Sales Manager for various stations in the Cleveland market. About the promotion, Allen said, ?I could not be more thrilled to join such a dynamic market and work with such great brands. I am really looking forward to getting to know the people of Raleigh and developing strong business partnerships within the local community.?
9-18-2012
More proof that the sports format is one radio owners want in as many cities as possible. Cleveland.com is reporting that Clear Channel and CBS are bidding for the rights to air play-by-play for baseball's Cleveland Indians. Clear Channel has had the Indians on WTAM since 1998 and the current deal to air the games expires after the 2012 season.
CBS owns WKRK and wants the Indians. WTAM is a 50K AM that also carries Browns football and the NBA's Cavaliers. All Sports WKRK is on the FM dial. Read the entire article HERE
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4-30-2012
A GM's nightmare becomes reality in Cleveland. How do you manage a situation when one of your employees does something to offend an entire community and puts you in "limit the damage" mode. Market Manager Gary Mincer is in charge of managing some Cleveland drama when when extremely offensive comments were made by morning man Dominic Dieter (pictured).
Dieter, reportedly received an email from a parent who caught his teenage daughter kissing another girl. In response, Dieter, while in the air, said to the father, "You should get one of your friends to screw your daughter straight."
It was so shocking that other members of the morning show were critical of Dieter. As far as we can tell Dieter is off the air for now but has not been fired. Mincer sent a statement to Radio Ink about the incident. "WMMS is aware of the complaint regarding a recent comment made by Dominic Dieter that aired this past Friday. We take matters of this nature very seriously; his comment was thoughtless and unacceptable, and we apologize to those who were offended. We can assure you the appropriate disciplinary action has been taken, and Dieter has since apologized on air and is fully aware that what he said was unacceptable."
"We also want you to be aware that during Friday?s broadcast, he was in fact immediately criticized on-air by the other hosts of the show, and the rest of the segment was dedicated to a productive discussion about the acceptance of all lifestyles. It included call-ins and commentary from members and friends of the gay community. WMMS supports the gay community and again, we deeply apologize."
Here is a transcript of Dieter's apology:
"I just wanted to say that, I know on the show this past Friday I made some comments that people found?considered to be offensive. And I just wanted to say, I understand why people are angry. I want to genuinely apologize to anyone who may have been offended by what I said. I regret what I did say. My comments were inappropriate. They were inexcusable, and just downright stupid. And I want to make it clear; there was absolutely no intention to promote physical or sexual violence. And I?m truly, truly sorry by my poor choice of words that led people to believe otherwise."
If Dieter was your morning man what would you do?
Leave your comments below.
(5/1/2012 11:02:55 PM)
Bunch of cry babies.... if you don't like what you heard, don't listen. The guy made an attempt to be funny and people took it the wrong way. The show wasn't even live. It was a bunch of replay from previous years. If you wanted to make a big deal about it should have been addressed months ago when it was actually said.
(5/1/2012 6:59:38 PM)
Or, as John Edwards said, "I'm so straight, I want to be a lesbian. Can I count on your vote?" (Okay. He didn't say that. I made it up.)
Meanwhile and since this situation is now real, how 'bout station management issues an apology. Something along the lines of: "Given the context of the call and the caller, we are sorry for forcing our man to apologize. Part of the reason we hired him is because he can also get raunchy. We urge any listener who is offended to turn him off. While we read listener complaints, we are not obliged to respond or take any actions whatsoever."
In other words: If station management can't listen to their own programming, they're at the wrong station.
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