CBS FM Sports Lineup Projections/Predictions

[former interm]

I guess time will tell. I hope this new operation also goes all out with its website and bringing valued content to the website.

I was always a Peter Brown fan when he was here in Cleveland and love listening to him on Sporting News Radio (I guess Yahoo Sports Radio now) during weekends when I am in my car.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

My gut tells me that I need to lose weight. Wait, no...

I have a feeling that there are some local names we aren't hearing about, and we're all just throwing the available local talent names up against a wall and seeing what sticks.

I think they'll have more local people than we've heard so far.

I had only heard, fairly early in this process, that CBS was interested in one sports media type who's not at the Galleria. There's no indication that they've made him an offer, or that he has any interest in the offer.

But again, unless I'm just not hearing it, there's been no word that they have any interest in ANY of the current "big names" at the Galleria.

Matt Dery would be an interesting hire. Just enough outside perspective, but a Cleveland guy. He could easily kick in the ISDN from "97.1 The Ticket" for a part-time show or something, depending on if he wants to come back home...but as pointed out, he may well be in the Joe Tait Succession line.

May not be a vital point: I believe Matt recently signed up to follow the OMW Twitter account. He would certainly even, as just an observer, be interested in following all this.

Funny you should mention Peter Brown. When I floated his name in rumor form when Craig Karmazin took over 850, he nearly tripped over himself to get to my inbox.

http://ohiomediawatch.wordpress.com/2006/12/08/peter-brown-checks-in/

He declared his fondness for Cleveland, and says he met his wife here. I haven't heard from him this time around.

A lot of us - certainly including myself - are guessing. But things are eerily quiet on the CBS Cleveland FM Sports Radio front, which leads me to wonder if Andy Roth and company are getting down to brass tacks to put this thing on the air, soon.

 

[Ron Lee]

Is there any chance the new FM sports station will hire writers/columnists for their website? I know it takes some $$$, but poaching a few PD writers or some of the other papers to the website would draw attention and credibility.

Hooley on the air would be great. He is an OSU grad, but not afriad to speak the truth, plus he has a repuation of hard work with the PD and his time on Columbus radio. I still can't believe WBNS-AM got rid of him, but they are in bed with OSU. Which makes me wonder if KNR would go after him for OSU coverage.

Guys, Hooley is a clown. His irrational and unreasonable rants are why he got fired in Columbus. He was tuning off listeners, advertisers as well as "the big client" down there (OSU). He has been railing on Tressel and OSU for years, but when he went too far over the top personal attacks and "me first" attention getting tactics, he just wore out his welcome. He may have sounded fine on KNR last week, especially the usual drivel in that time slot, but a steady diet of him on a regular basis would likely go over about the same as he did there. Hooley is more about his own celebrity and his own status as being a news maker rather than discussing the athletes, coaches, games, etc...

 

[Rusty Muck]

I heard the Cleveland.com may start their own online talk station, with the same model as DSN. But having Plain Dealer writers do shows. They saw the high numbers of DSN and now they know how to do it. Plus, I would think they have to wait a while before the DSN travesty went away to start it up. So that eliminates Dennis Manoloff from consideration and Bud Shaw as well.

Now, why would the PD and Cleveland.com do that? What are they thinking???

As much as I like the writers on the PD, that looks like a sure-fire recipe for disaster. Most of DSN's success, such as it was, came off of the fact that it was a de facto competitor to WKNR. With "The Fan" in town, that is going to be far more difficult to achieve - if not utterly impossible. And can they sell the necessary advertising in order to keep said station afloat? I highly doubt it.

And it will be a damn shame if it keeps D-Man off the area radio scene.

If they feel that dealing with DSN makes them feel fit to run a radio station, then I feel capable to oversee a nuclear reactor, because, hey, I saw people run those on TV!

 

[AntDog152]

Confirmed via today's Press Release:

6-10am Kevin Keily & Chuck Booms
3-7pm Adam "The Bull"

 

[AntDog152]

Confirmed via today's Press Release:

6-10am Kevin Keily & Chuck Booms
3-7pm Adam "The Bull"

Via Adam The Bull's Twitter, his show now will be 2-7pm. http://twitter.com/#!/AdamtheBullFAN

 

[Rusty Muck]

Confirmed via today's Press Release:

6-10am Kevin Keily & Chuck Booms
3-7pm Adam "The Bull"

Via Adam The Bull's Twitter, his show now will be 2-7pm. http://twitter.com/#!/AdamtheBullFAN

And he also confirmed that a co-host local to Cleveland is forthcoming. Nothing alluded to it being an athlete, though.

 

[vjm]

Confirmed via today's Press Release:

6-10am Kevin Keily & Chuck Booms
3-7pm Adam "The Bull"

Via Adam The Bull's Twitter, his show now will be 2-7pm. http://twitter.com/#!/AdamtheBullFAN

And he also confirmed that a co-host local to Cleveland is forthcoming. Nothing alluded to it being an athlete, though.

If it's not an athlete, then I'm guessing it's in the Jeff Thomas/Daryl Ruiter/Dennis Manaloff range.

Somebody who's familiar to Clevelanders, and be willing to take a more secondary role, since Adam will probably be the "star" of the show.

Won't be Les Levine due to overlap with the TV Show, won't be BSK because healthwise Kendall may not be able to do 5 hours (at least for now...remember he's coming off a stroke).

 

[Rusty Muck]

Confirmed via today's Press Release:

6-10am Kevin Keily & Chuck Booms
3-7pm Adam "The Bull"

Via Adam The Bull's Twitter, his show now will be 2-7pm. http://twitter.com/#!/AdamtheBullFAN

And he also confirmed that a co-host local to Cleveland is forthcoming. Nothing alluded to it being an athlete, though.

If it's not an athlete, then I'm guessing it's in the Jeff Thomas/Daryl Ruiter/Dennis Manaloff range.

Somebody who's familiar to Clevelanders, and be willing to take a more secondary role, since Adam will probably be the "star" of the show.

Won't be Les Levine due to overlap with the TV Show, won't be BSK because healthwise Kendall may not be able to do 5 hours (at least for now...remember he's coming off a stroke).

Paul Rado's available. So is Marty Allen. And both held identical roles with Triv's show.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

My Twitter eyes were burning for a reason.

In responding to Nathan on Twitter, Adam wrote:

AdamtheBullFAN Adam the Bull
@myronfalwell Thanks, Nathan. I am glad to be here...I have enjoyed watching you and @ohiomediawatch tweet and write on the message board..
5 Aug

Time to add Adam's account to my Twitter follow list! And since he mentioned "message board", he's probably here as well.

You know, just the other day after this all hit, I was wondering if anyone connected to the new "Fan" was reading the blog, Twitter or this board, and wondered how they felt about it. This whole thing has been six shades of surreal.

It seems like he has a bunch of fans at the original "Fan", at least judging from the stuff I've read online. Plenty wishing him well here.

Adam says on that Twitter account that he has one more WFAN show (a week from today 4-7:30 PM), and that he's already hit Michael Symon's B Spot restaurant.

And he's already starting off his Cleveland sports life on a good note:

@CBusPullins I hate the Steelers.

Smart guy, he is. And he's up against Cleveland's highest profile media Steelers' fan! Roda is gonna have to be more careful about what he says, or lead Browns fans to Adam.

 

[74WIXYGrad]

Paul Rado's available. So is Marty Allen. And both held identical roles with Triv's show.

Thanks Nate. I posted on The Fan's FB page that Rado would be good in at least a part time role. One person agreed with me and another disagreed. I decided to leave my opinion about that off any message board until now because it's a known fact that Paul is considered a friend of mine.

He's a hard worker, which is evidenced by the Star Frame Bowling Challenge, and would be very much an asset to the station.

 

[kaysguy]

Confirmed via today's Press Release:

6-10am Kevin Keily & Chuck Booms
3-7pm Adam "The Bull"

Via Adam The Bull's Twitter, his show now will be 2-7pm. http://twitter.com/#!/AdamtheBullFAN

And he also confirmed that a co-host local to Cleveland is forthcoming. Nothing alluded to it being an athlete, though.

If it's not an athlete, then I'm guessing it's in the Jeff Thomas/Daryl Ruiter/Dennis Manaloff range.

Somebody who's familiar to Clevelanders, and be willing to take a more secondary role, since Adam will probably be the "star" of the show.

Won't be Les Levine due to overlap with the TV Show, won't be BSK because healthwise Kendall may not be able to do 5 hours (at least for now...remember he's coming off a stroke).

Paul Rado's available. So is Marty Allen. And both held identical roles with Triv's show.

I could see Rado as a second banana. He was the most professional sounding member of the Triv show (of course, when I first heard Triv's show, I wondered why WTAM was allowing amateur radio).

 

[Tim]

Have chuckled when I've read a couple tweets from 92.3 The Fan employees asking for suggestions for the new station.

Here's a big one...reconsider putting the station on 98.5....a signal that can actually be heard all over the 5-county Cleveland metro survey area....not the very marginal (even in mono) 92.3 that misses up to half the metro, and has terrible reception in homes/buildings in a lot of the metro.

Forgive me, please, fellow Radio-Info.com posters and readers: even a few days after the official announcement I'm still stunned such a big company like CBS would make such an potentially huge error in judgement.

Just why is it the 92.3 frequency has had, what? 7 or 8 different owners, over a dozen different formats over the past 50 YEARS, and none have been long-term, financial successes? Could it be the lack of coverage? Hello?????

I've got to be missing something. What is it?

 

[AntDog152]

Have chuckled when I've read a couple tweets from 92.3 The Fan employees asking for suggestions for the new station.

Here's a big one...reconsider putting the station on 98.5....a signal that can actually be heard all over the 5-county Cleveland metro survey area....not the very marginal (even in mono) 92.3 that misses up to half the metro, and has terrible reception in homes/buildings in a lot of the metro.

Forgive me, please, fellow Radio-Info.com posters and readers: even a few days after the official announcement I'm still stunned such a big company like CBS would make such an potentially huge error in judgement.

Just why is it the 92.3 frequency has had, what? 7 or 8 different owners, over a dozen different formats over the past 50 YEARS, and none have been long-term, financial successes? Could it be the lack of coverage? Hello?????

I've got to be missing something. What is it?

The only thing I can think of is that CBS wants this to be a low-risk move. If this station succeeds within the next 3-4 years and they can get a local PBP, maybe then they switch with 98.5 or do a double Flagship. If this station fails (it won't, but just in case), atleast none of the other CBS Cleveland stations were affected. Maybe CBS Corporate in New York was not as knowledgeable about the lack of strength in the 92.3 frequency as we do.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Have chuckled when I've read a couple tweets from 92.3 The Fan employees asking for suggestions for the new station.

Here's a big one...reconsider putting the station on 98.5....a signal that can actually be heard all over the 5-county Cleveland metro survey area....not the very marginal (even in mono) 92.3 that misses up to half the metro, and has terrible reception in homes/buildings in a lot of the metro.

Forgive me, please, fellow Radio-Info.com posters and readers: even a few days after the official announcement I'm still stunned such a big company like CBS would make such an potentially huge error in judgement.

Just why is it the 92.3 frequency has had, what? 7 or 8 different owners, over a dozen different formats over the past 50 YEARS, and none have been long-term, financial successes? Could it be the lack of coverage? Hello?????

I've got to be missing something. What is it?

Without directly talking to the management at the Halle, I'd like to offer the theory that selecting 92.3 couldn't please everyone right now, but it's better off than immediately angering EVERYONE.

The axing of "radio 92.3" has got many of their listeners ticked off. So just imagine the hue and outcry that would have taken place had "The Fan" replaced WNCX outright instead, or took WNCX's spot, with the classic rock format being moved over to the poorer signal of 92.3 in place of "radio 92.3" - all at the same time. Remember that because of WNCX's ridiculous stability over the past 24 years in terms of on-air talent and music, their listener base is very, and deeply, loyal.

Suddenly, not just one group of listeners are angry at CBS, now you have two distinct groups angry at CBS.

And the latter - the WNCX base - is most likely to be tuning into "The Fan" anyway (it would be a shock if "The Fan" wasn't heavily cross-promoted on WNCX, and vice versa). "radio 92.3" and it's other previous monikers were merely complementary to WNCX; "The Fan" is deeply compatible with WNCX. Which, as the "Fan" builds a listener base, would make it more palatable when 92.3 and 98.5 make the swap.

You can't alienate everyone at the same time. And I think that's what caused CBS to blink (sorry!) and take it step-by-step. Launch "The Fan" at 92.3, displace the alt-rock, and then in a year, make the swap between "The Fan" and WNCX. Again, it's not a matter of IF, it's a matter of WHEN.

Besides, remember that even with 92.3's poor signal performance, it still affords far better coverage than WKNR's God-awful 1959-era night pattern, which is utterly inaudible in a good chuck of the Cleveland metro.

 

[Rusty Muck]

The only thing I can think of is that CBS wants this to be a low-risk move. If this station succeeds within the next 3-4 years and they can get a local PBP, maybe then they switch with 98.5 or do a double Flagship. If this station fails (it won't, but just in case), atleast none of the other CBS Cleveland stations were affected. Maybe CBS Corporate in New York was not as knowledgeable about the lack of strength in the 92.3 frequency as we do.

It's possible. But with the criticism WKNR continually gets over program content, signal issues, and other asides, "The Fan" will easily vault ahead over 850/1540 even with the marginal coverage 92.3 affords. Give people good content, and they will make any effort to listen.

The inevitable move to 98.5 will come when CBS is finally ready to play with "the big boys," i.e., competing with CC for any of the "big three" contracts. If they somehow nab the Indians PBP away from WTAM (turns out, that could be the first one available) "The Fan" will HAVE to move to 98.5.

 

[Tim]

Thanks, Nathan & others. Really appreciate your feedback.

I believe you're right: the Indians contract with WTAM, I believe too, is first to expire in a year or two.

By the way, all 3 Cleveland pro teams "own" their own broadcast rites. They took those rites "in-house" a few years ago.

That means the teams themselves totally control their announce team, which stations are on their networks....and the teams have their own advertising teams to sell network commercials...nolonger the Cleveland affilliate who used to do it all and just send the team a huge check for the right to control it all.

Really, the Cleveland station that carries each team isn't really a "flagship" per se...as much as simply the Cleveland-market affilliate....if that makes any sense.

Oh...a buddy who left for a trip this morning drove through North Royalton on the turnpike...and was "trying" to listen to 92.3 and got such constant fluttering from another station on 92.3, he gave up after a few minutes of listening (probably Detroit or Columbus). North Royalton is a pretty close-in Cleveland suburb.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Oh...a buddy who left for a trip this morning drove through North Royalton on the turnpike...and was "trying" to listen to 92.3 and got such constant fluttering from another station on 92.3, he gave up after a few minutes of listening (probably Detroit or Columbus). North Royalton is a pretty close-in Cleveland suburb.

As noted in another thread, FM trop is really, really active this week. Someone even posted a map - it looked like a big blob covering both Detroit and Cleveland that could easily mess things up.

Not that 92.3 doesn't have its problems in that direction...we've already talked about it. But your buddy could have been experiencing worse conditions than even I encountered out west a week or two back.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Can someone figure out all the expirations of the pro teams?

I thought the Browns were first (2012, one year option to 2013). I didn't know when the Indians are up, or the Cavaliers. I don't think it's even in my archives.

WFNYScott is right in that tweet. CBS aggressively goes after the NFL if the station doesn't already have it. They already had the Lions on 97.1 in Detroit, and already have the Eagles on WYSP in Philly, if they flip that to a WIP simulcast.

I am sure they will go after the Indians aggressively, but I keep hearing they'll pursue the Browns rights to the ends of the earth. Or at least the ends of Cuyahoga County.

 

[vjm]

OK...here's where we stand with 92.3 The Fan based on what has been made public, along with some educated guesses:

6 - 10 a.m. - Kiley and Booms
10 a.m. - 2 p.m. - Local host(s) TBD
2 - 7 p.m. - Adam the Bull with Local cohost TBD
7 - 10 p.m. - Local host(s) TBD
10 p.m. - 1 a.m. - Tony Bruno (FSR)
1 - 6 a.m. - J.T. The Brick (FSR)