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WEOL-Elyria: dumping Mitch Albom for Sean Hannity?

N

nate81

Guest
I had to come back. Because I've got BIG NEWS...

WEOL looks to be finally dropping Mitch Albom after three years. And they're replacing him with ABC's Sean Hannity. Which would make complete a lineup that includes Les Sekely, Glenn Beck, Clark Howard, FSR and Jim Bohannon.

To hint at this change, the following is on www.weol.com's front page:

<center>
guesswho.jpg


<font face=arial>Guess who's coming to WEOL?</font></center>

My hunch is he's live from 3p-5p, followed by the 5pm newshour, then Sean's third hour taped after 6pm as a lead into the Indians and Cavs. Oh, well. I kinda agreed with KJCB with sticking in "Big Ed" Schultz in that same position. 930 couldn't have gone wrong either way with either one, IMHO.

As for disaffected Albom fans (myself included), he'll still be on WJR/760 in Detroit, which can be picked up in Elyria clear as a bell.

- Nathan Obral
 
> I had to come back. Because I've got BIG NEWS...

> WEOL looks to be finally dropping Mitch Albom after three
> years. And they're replacing him with ABC's Sean Hannity.
> Which would make complete a lineup that includes Les Sekely,
> Glenn Beck, Clark Howard, FSR and Jim Bohannon.
>
> To hint at this change, the following is on www.weol.com's
> front page:

They need to come up with harder hints. :0

Good to see you back, Nate.

> My hunch is he's live from 3p-5p, followed by the 5pm
> newshour, then Sean's third hour taped after 6pm as a lead
> into the Indians and Cavs. Oh, well. I kinda agreed with
> KJCB with sticking in "Big Ed" Schultz in that same
> position. 930 couldn't have gone wrong either way with
> either one, IMHO.

I think Mitch Albom may have a regional following, although Elyria is certainly part of Cleveland as opposed to Toledo which could be argued as Detroit. And this will mean that Hannity will now be heard in, AFAIK, all 100 markets counting WEOL as a Cleveland affil.

From having lived all around Cleveland and in Lorain County, I think Schultz would fit WEOL and the audience there like a glove. With the advent of alternative medias like satradio, internet, wifi, etc., stations with the attitude WEOL has will succeed. But I do think they could make a few improvements, including losing Clark Howard (I've suggested Dr. Laura not out of a huge affinity for her, but as a big name that's been heard in the market before) and Fox Sports. There's plenty of sports coverage from 'KNR and the Big One, and the fact that the Indians and Cavs are on WEOL seems to do more for keeping people's dials locked on 930 all the time than it does for area listeners would could hear the games on the wire hangers in their basement coat closets on WTAM.

A more mainstream Hannity, provided they keep the local 5 o'clock show, will move the station more toward the goal I suggested of being a localized WTAM-lite... "Lorain County's News, Weather, and Traffic station". I might still serve the moderate democrat audience with a DBed Lionel from 1-4am and Doug Stephen or the like until 5. Convince people to listen with a quality local product and they will; although those Academic Challenges that even I appeared on not to long ago might be taking it a little too far.
 
> They need to come up with harder hints. :0
>
> Good to see you back, Nate.

And indeed, Nate is the one who tipped Your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) about this item.

<a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/2005/12/elyrialorain-talker-picking-up-another.html>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/2005/12/elyrialorain-talker-picking-up-another.html</a>

> There's plenty of sports coverage from 'KNR and the Big One,
> and the fact that the Indians and Cavs are on WEOL seems to
> do more for keeping people's dials locked on 930 all the
> time than it does for area listeners would could hear the
> games on the wire hangers in their basement coat closets on
> WTAM.

As mentioned, this could well be another reason for Albom's apparent downfall on WEOL. His home station has nearly the same signal strength in Lorain/Elyria as WTAM does, thanks to that 50,000 watt low-band signal booming directly across Lake Erie from Detroit. I'm not all that familiar with Lorain County, but I suspect that WJR may have a better daytime signal in parts of the county than WEOL does!

Though calling WEOL a "Cleveland" affiliate for either Hannity or Beck is the kind of stretch normally reserved for network affiliate lists, I'm sure ABC lobbied them hard to run Hannity. Lorain County IS in the Cleveland Metro Arbitron market, but it's kind of like Portage County in the Akron market...though WEOL is certainly a better AM signal into Cleveland than Kent's WJMP/1520 is into Akron.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
> Though calling WEOL a "Cleveland" affiliate for either
> Hannity or Beck is the kind of stretch normally reserved for
> network affiliate lists, I'm sure ABC lobbied them hard to
> run Hannity. Lorain County IS in the Cleveland Metro
> Arbitron market, but it's kind of like Portage County in the
> Akron market...though WEOL is certainly a better AM signal
> into Cleveland than Kent's WJMP/1520 is into Akron.

Right; in reality, any one station in Hannity's, Rush's, et al network is meaningless, even WABC. The Cleveland designation allows them to say "100% top-25 market coverage" and have an extra line on the sell sheets. Considering that WEOL does penetrate parts of Cuyahoga county, it's a lot more reasonable than Alan Colmes, who claims WWOW as his "Cleveland" affiliate. That's about as much Cleveland as me setting up a part 15 transmitter at the Grand Canyon and hoping to hear it in downtown Phoenix.
 
> I'm not all that familiar with
> Lorain County, but I suspect that WJR may have a better
> daytime signal in parts of the county than WEOL does!

From inside my home in North Ridgeville, I can hear WEOL and WJR about the same. And I live roughly down the street from the WEOL tower site.

> Though calling WEOL a "Cleveland" affiliate for either
> Hannity or Beck is the kind of stretch normally reserved for
> network affiliate lists, I'm sure ABC lobbied them hard to
> run Hannity. Lorain County IS in the Cleveland Metro
> Arbitron market, but it's kind of like Portage County in the
> Akron market...though WEOL is certainly a better AM signal
> into Cleveland than Kent's WJMP/1520 is into Akron.

At least you can hear WEOL in some parts of Cuyahoga County. Once you get near I-71 and definetly near I-77, hearing WEOL is a strech. But it's better than nothing! At that point you can probably get WHLO decently. I know WHLO comes in okay on many parts of the east side of Cleveland.

Cheers!

The Jock Formerly Known as Jake
 
It's a funny thing...you can't get EOL in downtown Cleveland (at least I cant'), but if you go east, say Shaker Heights, you can get it clear as a bell most of the time. Last time I passed through Independence...nice and clear too.

> > I'm not all that familiar with
> > Lorain County, but I suspect that WJR may have a better
> > daytime signal in parts of the county than WEOL does!
>
> From inside my home in North Ridgeville, I can hear WEOL and
> WJR about the same. And I live roughly down the street from
> the WEOL tower site.
>
> > Though calling WEOL a "Cleveland" affiliate for either
> > Hannity or Beck is the kind of stretch normally reserved
> for
> > network affiliate lists, I'm sure ABC lobbied them hard to
>
> > run Hannity. Lorain County IS in the Cleveland Metro
> > Arbitron market, but it's kind of like Portage County in
> the
> > Akron market...though WEOL is certainly a better AM signal
>
> > into Cleveland than Kent's WJMP/1520 is into Akron.
>
> At least you can hear WEOL in some parts of Cuyahoga County.
> Once you get near I-71 and definetly near I-77, hearing
> WEOL is a strech. But it's better than nothing! At that
> point you can probably get WHLO decently. I know WHLO comes
> in okay on many parts of the east side of Cleveland.
>
> Cheers!
>
> The Jock Formerly Known as Jake
>
 
> Considering that
> WEOL does penetrate parts of Cuyahoga county, it's a lot
> more reasonable than Alan Colmes, who claims WWOW as his
> "Cleveland" affiliate. That's about as much Cleveland as me
> setting up a part 15 transmitter at the Grand Canyon and
> hoping to hear it in downtown Phoenix.

Or perhaps, a Part 15 AM operation in Flagstaff that might be running Fox Sports Radio? :)

If Alan Colmes is still claiming WWOW/1360 as a Cleveland, or even Conneaut, affiliate, they need to update his list. WWOW has been running ABC's "True Oldies Channel" (with a local AMD show) since Memorial Day 2005.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
> Or perhaps, a Part 15 AM operation in Flagstaff that might
> be running Fox Sports Radio? :)

What an operation that is! But it doesn't sound too bad in the car. Mind you, someone gave my directions to a place "across town" and it took me two minutes to drive there, so the area isn't exactly huge for two Rangemasters.
 
Isn't that the guy from the Original Mattress Factory ads?
 
> Isn't that the guy from the Original Mattress Factory ads?
>
the original mattress guy is ron trczinski--david5258
 
> > I had to come back. Because I've got BIG NEWS...
>
> > WEOL looks to be finally dropping Mitch Albom after three
> > years. And they're replacing him with ABC's Sean Hannity.
> > Which would make complete a lineup that includes Les
> Sekely,
> > Glenn Beck, Clark Howard, FSR and Jim Bohannon.
> >
> > To hint at this change, the following is on www.weol.com's
>
> > front page:
>
> They need to come up with harder hints. :0
>
> Good to see you back, Nate.

Thanks.

> > My hunch is he's live from 3p-5p, followed by the 5pm
> > newshour, then Sean's third hour taped after 6pm as a lead
>
> > into the Indians and Cavs. Oh, well. I kinda agreed with
> > KJCB with sticking in "Big Ed" Schultz in that same
> > position. 930 couldn't have gone wrong either way with
> > either one, IMHO.
>
> I think Mitch Albom may have a regional following, although
> Elyria is certainly part of Cleveland as opposed to Toledo
> which could be argued as Detroit. And this will mean that
> Hannity will now be heard in, AFAIK, all 100 markets
> counting WEOL as a Cleveland affil.
>
> From having lived all around Cleveland and in Lorain County,
> I think Schultz would fit WEOL and the audience there like a
> glove. With the advent of alternative medias like satradio,
> internet, wifi, etc., stations with the attitude WEOL has
> will succeed. But I do think they could make a few
> improvements, including losing Clark Howard (I've suggested
> Dr. Laura not out of a huge affinity for her, but as a big
> name that's been heard in the market before) and Fox Sports.
> There's plenty of sports coverage from 'KNR and the Big One,
> and the fact that the Indians and Cavs are on WEOL seems to
> do more for keeping people's dials locked on 930 all the
> time than it does for area listeners would could hear the
> games on the wire hangers in their basement coat closets on
> WTAM.

There WAS a reason FSR lost 1350/Akron, and picked up WJMP, WEOL and WTAM (the latter only for a market clearance and as a last-minute fill-in...)

Sometimes it seems to me that FSR was really a last-minute deal, considering that AP ANR would be lost. Heck, they could've VT'ed MOR music. I guess it's all relative.

I'd take it on blind faith that WEOL will slowly add different programming to the weekend lineup... for example, WW1's Glenn Haege has been cleared on Sunday mornings. But they need to do more. Why not "When Radio Was" on Sundays 1a-6a? Or Kim Kommando? Or poach Joe Rossman's "Auto Talk" from the soon-to-be-urban talk WERE for a local show?

In any effect, the last hour of FSR's lowly "The Drive" would have to be blown away (6p-7p) by this move. When the Indians re-start, FSR would be nothing but a weeknight placeholder.

> A more mainstream Hannity, provided they keep the local 5
> o'clock show, will move the station more toward the goal I
> suggested of being a localized WTAM-lite... "Lorain County's
> News, Weather, and Traffic station".

I've thought of this same thing. WEOL still has the AP ANR "News Station" positioner, but only on sparse promos and the TOH ID. Why not go for "News/Talk 930 WEOL: Lorain County's 24-Hour News, Traffic, Weather and Sports Station"?

> I might still serve the
> moderate democrat audience with a DBed Lionel from 1-4am and
> Doug Stephen or the like until 5.

Ideally, I'd take Phil Hendrie 7p-10p (provided if WEOL ever lost the Indians rights, Lionel live 10p-1a, and a delayed Jim Bohannon 1a-5a.

> Convince people to listen
> with a quality local product and they will; although those
> Academic Challenges that even I appeared on not to long ago
> might be taking it a little too far.

Some of my classmates appeared on those aformentioned "Jim Meherling Scholastic Games." And they lost badly. But our school felt very proud, regardless.

- Nathan Obral
 
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