WBWC Summer Marathons

[greenyo79]

Does anyone know why 88.3 WBWC is not doing their summer marathons every thursday? I always loved listening to them and they always had a good variety...I was sort of sad to see this disappear!! Almost as bad as losing the WVIZ Auction back in the day!!

 

[skiwest]

Summer marathons will be starting later this month.

I didn't realize the WVIZ auction ended. I always enjoyed watching Myron Xenos, he was funny. I worked as a volunteer for the auction a couple times many years ago when they were in the old building on Brookpark Rd.

 

[johnbasalla]

HERE IS THE WBWC 88.3 FM SUMMER MARATHON SCHEDULE FOR 2024. All Marathons are broadcast on Thursdays and are scheduled to air for 18 hours beginning at 7:03 a.m. :

June 27th: Twenty One Pilots

July 4th: Jimi Hendrix
July 11th: The Smiths
July 18th: Red Hot Chili Peppers
July 25th: Linkin' Park

August 1st: Nirvana
August 8th: The Beatles (with giveaways of recent Ringo Starr CD releases)
August 15th: The Rolling Stones
August 22nd: Social Distortion

 

[thenetwork]

Summer marathons will be starting later this month.

I didn't realize the WVIZ auction ended. I always enjoyed watching Myron Xenos, he was funny. I worked as a volunteer for the auction a couple times many years ago when they were in the old building on Brookpark Rd.

From what I heard, It was not a favorable decision to stop doing the auction. The writing was on the wall when the Auction was pared down from a 10-12 day auction to just a 2-weekend event to a single weekend event. There was a strong volunteer base who were willing to devote their time each year to be a part of the Auction either for a few hours or for the whole ordeal. Yeah, they lost many volunteers over the years due to age and other factors, but there was a new generation of volunteers willing to fill their vacancies.

I don't know if it was due to the lack of underwriters, the lack of donations, or if PBS themselves were prodding WVIZ (and other PBS stations) not to preempt the network's nightly programming schedule anymore -- Because you just can't get enough of those 50+ runnings of the 1960's oldies legend concerts with the 20-minute pre-recorded pledge pleas in between.

The Auction WAS a Cleveland tradition. It brought competing broadcast personalities together on one station. It brought out craziness and creativity to live TV as a nod to the early days of local TV. It was a chance for volunteers to see their faces and bidders to hear their names on TV. And after seeing other PBS station's auctions over the years, WVIZ's was one of the most intense and well-run of them all, if not THE best run in the nation. A lot of that success was due to Betty Cope.

Many other stations have dropped their auctions as well, again likely for one or more of the reasons mentioned above.

 

[skiwest]

And the membership pledge breaks used to be live and local, but that is no longer the case. They are all pre-recorded and done elsewhere. I wish PBS would come up with something new for membership drive. The TJ Lubinsky music specials which were recorded 20+ years ago are getting a little stale.

 

[thenetwork]

I remember it was a big thing when WVIZ had acquired a one-day liquor license in order to have a Wine Auction night during the auction. I believe they also had smaller one-night auctions elsewhere over the years -- one was totally devoted to Art, and I believe they had a separate Wine night. Those were definitely lower-keyed compared to the annual spring auction.

 

[skiwest]

WBWC website still has the 2023 summer marathon schedule listed. John, can you get the webmaster to update it?

 

[geoffpeters]

From what I heard, It was not a favorable decision to stop doing the auction. The writing was on the wall when the Auction was pared down from a 10-12 day auction to just a 2-weekend event to a single weekend event. There was a strong volunteer base who were willing to devote their time each year to be a part of the Auction either for a few hours or for the whole ordeal. Yeah, they lost many volunteers over the years due to age and other factors, but there was a new generation of volunteers willing to fill their vacancies.

I don't know if it was due to the lack of underwriters, the lack of donations, or if PBS themselves were prodding WVIZ (and other PBS stations) not to preempt the network's nightly programming schedule anymore -- Because you just can't get enough of those 50+ runnings of the 1960's oldies legend concerts with the 20-minute pre-recorded pledge pleas in between.

The Auction WAS a Cleveland tradition. It brought competing broadcast personalities together on one station. It brought out craziness and creativity to live TV as a nod to the early days of local TV. It was a chance for volunteers to see their faces and bidders to hear their names on TV. And after seeing other PBS station's auctions over the years, WVIZ's was one of the most intense and well-run of them all, if not THE best run in the nation. A lot of that success was due to Betty Cope.

Many other stations have dropped their auctions as well, again likely for one or more of the reasons mentioned above.

From what I have heard, they just weren't getting the kinds of donations they had in the past, and it was reaching the point that it was more effort than it was worth.., but it certainly did a lot to raise the station's visibilty with the public. Given the size of the staff, it seems odd to how little WVIZ actually does when it comes to local programming. They are involved in the production of Anisfield-
Wolf awards show, but outside of "News Depth" ( a kid's show) " and "Applause" which only features around one local segment per show...what do they do? Other stations seem to be hosting the political debates, they don't produce any kind of documentaries any more...not sure what's going on there these days....

 

[johnbasalla]

HERE IS THE WBWC 88.3 FM SUMMER MARATHON SCHEDULE FOR 2024. All Marathons are broadcast on Thursdays and are scheduled to air for 18 hours beginning at 7:03 a.m. :

June 27th: Twenty One Pilots

July 4th: Jimi Hendrix
July 11th: The Smiths
July 18th: Red Hot Chili Peppers
July 25th: Linkin' Park

August 1st: Nirvana
August 8th: The Beatles (with giveaways of recent Ringo Starr CD releases)
August 15th: The Rolling Stones
August 22nd: Social Distortion

Also on The Beatles Marathon, there will be giveaways of CD and 7", 45 rpm vinyl copies of the very last Beatles new recording "Now and Then", released in 2023. Additionally, we've also got a couple of 12" Record Store Day copies of Ringo Starr's new EP, "Crooked Boy" for lucky listeners. Ringo has been on a recording tear these days. Along with the "Crooked Boy" 4-song EP that came out in 2024, we've also got his 4-song EP "Rewind Forward", which was released in 2023, after last years "Beatles Marathon". So that means we have 8 new Ringo recordings to play on the show...basically a new album! We'll play one new Ringo track per hour on the show.

 

[skiwest]

WBWC website still has the 2023 summer marathon schedule listed. John, can you get the webmaster to update it?

In fact, the entire website could use an overhaul.

 

[skiwest]

From what I have heard, they just weren't getting the kinds of donations they had in the past, and it was reaching the point that it was more effort than it was worth.., but it certainly did a lot to raise the station's visibility with the public. Given the size of the staff, it seems odd to how little WVIZ actually does when it comes to local programming. They are involved in the production of Anisfield-
Wolf awards show, but outside of "News Depth" ( a kid's show) " and "Applause" which only features around one local segment per show...what do they do? Other stations seem to be hosting the political debates, they don't produce any kind of documentaries any more...not sure what's going on there these days....

Admittedly, I don't watch WVIZ as much as I used to due to other OTA options that have become available in recent years. But when I do, I never see any local folks or local programming. I know Kent Geist retired a few years ago, There were others - Peg Neeson, Julie Henry, Mark Rosenberger - not sure if they are still around. Did things change at WVIZ due to Kent's departure of did Kent depart due to things changing at WVIZ?

 

[geoffpeters]

Admittedly, I don't watch WVIZ as much as I used to due to other OTA options that have become available in recent years. But when I do, I never see any local folks or local programming. I know Kent Geist retired a few years ago, There were others - Peg Neeson, Julie Henry, Mark Rosenberger - not sure if they are still around. Did things change at WVIZ due to Kent's departure of did Kent depart due to things changing at WVIZ?

From I what I heard, Kent was just ready to retire, as was Peg. Julie moved onto other opportunities. Not sure why the de-emphasis on local stuff, but it sure is noticeable.

 

[Santa fe]

WVIZ faces the same challenges as other local TV stations, declining revenue, shrinking market, increased competition from other sources and changing audience habits. Since its absorption by Ideastream they have done the same as the others, cut staff, costs, expenses and that means less local presence. Public TVs in other, not always bigger, towns have access to more funding, often associated with major educational institutions, and they can do more. IMO, Betty Cope's determination to remain independent cost WVIZ such local affiliations early on.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Admittedly, I don't watch WVIZ as much as I used to due to other OTA options that have become available in recent years. But when I do, I never see any local folks or local programming. I know Kent Geist retired a few years ago, There were others - Peg Neeson, Julie Henry, Mark Rosenberger - not sure if they are still around. Did things change at WVIZ due to Kent's departure of did Kent depart due to things changing at WVIZ?

From I what I heard, Kent was just ready to retire, as was Peg. Julie moved onto other opportunities. Not sure why the de-emphasis on local stuff, but it sure is noticeable.

Rosenberger is still there and he's been Ideastream’s chief content manager since 2018.

Given how much public broadcasters have stumbled and struggled with digital and side ventures (WAMU with DCist, WBEZ with Vocalo and the Sun-Times) it’s probably a blessing in disguise that Ideastream didn’t go all in on digital like they could have. But public media as a whole has been hurting.

 

[radiofollower]

Sorry to say, Betty Cope held WVIZ back for years. For a public TV station in a big market, WVIZ produced almost nothing except some classroom programming.