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Columbus

N

ncincy1

RadiOhio is yanking the format on hot AC WBNS-FM (Mix 97.1)/Columbus, Ohio, today (Jan. 26) at 4 p.m. and simulcasting sports clusterbuddy WBNS-AM, transforming it into "97.1 the Fan." The entire airstaff has been blown out, including morning co-hosts Charley Wasson and Kate Burdett, midday goddess Sue Leighton, afternoon driver Mark Dantzer and late-night guy Buzz Fitzgerald; the sales staff was also let go. Mix PD Jay Taylor will remain in the building, since he's also director of programming and operations of the cluster.


"97.1 The Fan is built on premium sports programming from ESPN, play-by-play for Ohio State football and basketball, Columbus Blue Jackets and the Cleveland Indians," says a letter sent out to local advertisers. "Our local programming features nationally known celebrities Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Spielman, as well as local favorites Bruce Hooley, Scott Torgerson and Mike Ricordati. Now, all of the Central Ohio region will receive this nation's best sports programming with a clear and clean signal 24 hours a day at 97.1 on the FM dial."




Yes. I know this is not the Columubus Board - but interesting.
Could FM sports work in Cincinnati? Probably - free up the AM's for something else?
 
WNNF could be a possibility of making such a move to sports on FM now that it's a Cumulus property. I doubt that it will happen though since CC has all of the Cinicinnati sports both Professional and College, on WLW and it's other properties.
 
I have the flip on tape for 97.1...It was horrendous! The last song played was Linkin Park's "Leave Out All the Rest", then commercials, then into a mix of an Ohio State song and Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl", then at 4 PM, they did a mock press conference with OSU Football head coach Jim Tressel where they spliced him answering questions at an old press conference and made it seem that he was answering the imaging guy's questions. After that, brief reaction from the show that was airing on the AM, and that was it. No more Hot AC in Columbus. I wonder how long that will last(Until then, there's always WNCI, which plays most of the songs that 97.1 played). Also, with the 1230 WYTS flip, I am wondering when they're going to fly in a giant jock strap and lower it onto the steps at the Statehouse, seeing that Columbus is now the Jock Talk Capital of the World. :mad:
 
The Wolfe family there continues to allow their radio people to make boneheaded decisions. I wonder if Dave Van Stone, er "Chief Bonehead", is still there? Why Herbstreit never moved to TVN is beyond belief.
 
Van Stone is indeed the GM. I hear the board meetings are excruciating. Could be the Wolfes are starting to feel the same kind of pressure other newspaper owners have been getting of late. (See that Carlos Slim 14% loan to the NY Times?) Maybe Obama will bail the Wolfes out :)
 
Inventor989 said:
Van Stone is indeed the GM. I hear the board meetings are excruciating. Could be the Wolfes are starting to feel the same kind of pressure other newspaper owners have been getting of late. (See that Carlos Slim 14% loan to the NY Times?) Maybe Obama will bail the Wolfes out :)
Click to expand...

Everything is down, and much like Carl Lindner they lost a sh#tload of money on their National City stock (which merged with Wolfe-owned BancOhio in the 1980's) and their Skybus Investment. The Columbus Blue Jackets can't be doing too well in this economy, either. OTOH, they own some of the prime-est of real estate in and around Columbus so I wouldn't worry too much about them.

Here are a couple of quotes I've gleaned over the years.

"Having no private stock and no debt means "more cash around for more things," he says."
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/02/14/daily.17/

"“Dispatch treats it (WTHR) more like a top 10 market than a top 25 market,” says Tellus, formerly the station's news director. “I have a bigger news budget now than I had [at a previous job] in Seattle. It makes a big difference to be owned by a family-owned company that's not leveraged.”"
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/112909-WTHR_Laps_Competition.php
 
ncincy1 said:
RadiOhio is yanking the format on hot AC WBNS-FM (Mix 97.1)/Columbus, Ohio, today (Jan. 26) at 4 p.m. and simulcasting sports clusterbuddy WBNS-AM, transforming it into "97.1 the Fan." The entire airstaff has been blown out, including morning co-hosts Charley Wasson and Kate Burdett, midday goddess Sue Leighton, afternoon driver Mark Dantzer and late-night guy Buzz Fitzgerald; the sales staff was also let go. Mix PD Jay Taylor will remain in the building, since he's also director of programming and operations of the cluster.
Click to expand...

This just goes to show you what a bunch of idiots run the radio business these days.
 
At least something is happening up the road in Columbus - when will we get a "shake up" or "shake out" in local radio and some possible format changes/switch?
Whether or not you agree with the changes in Columbus, at least change is happening.
Here - well.....it's still boring!!
 
Inventor989 said:
Huh???!!!

With all the swaps and ownership flips in the last two years, you must be joking.
Click to expand...

I think he's talking about more recent radio history. Sure we had WOFX and WNNF switch owners, but they didn't change formats or anything yet. The only other event I can think of recently was WYGY and WSWD switching frequencies. Nothing really earth-shattering.
 
ncincy1 said:
Exactly! Format changes like crazy in Columbus - nothing here for a long time.
Click to expand...
What are you guys smoking? Really? A lot of people are out of work this week in Columbus thanks to all of these crazy format changes. Is this what you want for Cincy/Dayton? All we need are more good people out of work. Some I knew. Godspeed to them all.
97.1's flip was TERRIBLE. At least Hot AC did find a new home-on the sorry 107.9 signal that isn't even half as powerful as 97.1 was(107.9 is 2600 compared to 20000 at 97.1). I guess Saga now owns the AC format in Columbus. If you want to know how challenging that 107.9 signal is, just ask Jason Roberts, who was PD when it was 80s Oldies Star 107.9. The station DOES sound good...i've listened to it online over the last couple of days. The website is www.themix1079.com.
 
I have to say I am happy for Columbus (as that is where I'm from) and they don't get a shakeup like that often. Dayton doesn't either... but Columbus needs it especially due to it being a bigger market. The new MIX is ALRIGHT but I liked the old MIX better and it had a much better signal. Sorry to see it go. We'll see what Saga can come up with.
 
ncincy1 said:
At least something is happening up the road in Columbus - when will we get a "shake up" or "shake out" in local radio and some possible format changes/switch?
Whether or not you agree with the changes in Columbus, at least change is happening.
Here - well.....it's still boring!!
Click to expand...

Hasn't Cincinnati had a "shake up" or "shake" out or two in the last couple of years? This hasn't happened in Columbus radio since I've lived here for ten years. Also, I don't think we have seen the last of the changes here.
 
Chill! Of course, no one wants to see anyone out of work - especially in these challenging economic times inan industry we all enjoy - radio.
It just that this market could use some format switches to possibly make it more listenable instead of the "same old, same old"....geesh.
It was only a comparision between COL and CINCY to current events.
 
microbob said:
What's up with Cumulus? Both websites for 94.1 and 92.5 are showing nothing going on 2 weeks.
Click to expand...

I was wondering that today. Are they keeping those formats? I also heard from a guy who worked at Cumulus... their stations are VERY corporate-controlled. For example, HOT 102 in Lexington has only Kidd Kraddick and the PD Tabatha left. Their music is controlled by a guy in Atlanta telling Tabatha what to move, add, drop. How pathetic. Would I really want a Cumulus CHR to enter Cincy now? Nah.
 
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