Rusty Muck

WOIO just can't catch a break. Now they had to respond to apparent numerous requests to drop this afternoon's Browns loss to the Bills in favor of the Steelers-Bengals matchup. [MEDIA=twitter]810496185857359873[/MEDIA]

Because it's Nexstar, I wouldn't be surprised if they invoke the Olentangy River in some way.

Have any of those divestments been cleared yet?

It's probably in Raycom's best interests to either sell or trade WOIO/WUAB to someone else. Will they? Who knows. The consolidation news operations in a market like Cleveland is still a few years away. I don't think that either one of these news departments are in immediate trouble to justify such a move. Should the economy go into recession, though... it's anyone's guess.

Can't wait to see what WCMH's new URL will be. WeAreBrutusStrong DOT com? ScarletAndGrayMatters DOT com? CaringAboutThe614 DOT com?

Not to mention that Armstrong Williams (head of pseudo-shell company Howard Stirik Holdings) is the spokesman for one Ben Carson. Grifters R' Us.

Unless the plan is for WKYC to launch a 5pm newscast (which they should, and it shocks me that they haven't), where would Denise go? Robin, outside of the April Fool's Day stunt at WKYC and her "Throwback Thursday" guest appearance at WJW last May (alongside Tim Taylor, Dick Goddard and Tony Rizzo), has mainly been absent from the local airwaves. I was somewhat surprised that she didn't make an on-air cameo during Dick Goddard's "final forecast" last month, given that the two have been friends for decades... (so much so that, when she initially left WJW in 1991 for a New York NBC daytime strip that went nowhere, Dick offered to take a pay cut for her to stay!)

Strange as it sounds, it seems like Scripps may have done the right thing in spinning off their cable networks.

Keith is doing video podcasts for GQ. It's probably the best avenue for him: he gets total editorial control and no fixed length of time... the run times range between 5-10 minutes. He wouldn't have that degree of freedom anywhere else (while he HAD control of Countdown, I don't think that he enjoyed the task of having to fill an hour with airtime; that in itself begat the "Special Comment").

It's actually not that big a surprise. Channel 24 has languished in last place since... what... the early 1970s? Had they remained under Raycom ownership, it's possible that they could have been somewhat competitive against long-dominant WTOL and WTVG. Channel 24 has been snake-bit ever since it was the (not kidding) flagship of the Overmyer/United Network. Creditors even owned it throughout the early 1980s when owner Don Overmyer defaulted on loans! It was a miracle that WTVG was bought by ABC, thus giving WNWO the NBC affiliation on a silver platter. (WXYZ would outdraw channel 24 in Toledo during the ABC years, and I wouldn't be surprised if WDIV outdraws WNWO today.)

What's the difference between that and the radio conservatalker KDNL runs at 6 and 11?

At least they are still offering something resembling a news product. S!nclair easily could have canned the newscasts entirely and run it as another KDNL.

11 and 13 own the market. Not a surprise. That makes S!nclair's retrans fight with Block/Buckeye Cable two years ago even more pointless and stupid.

How. Does. This. Happen. [MEDIA=twitter]799017010080452608[/MEDIA]

The same Dick Oliver lampooned by Bill Hader as "Herb Welch" on SNL several years ago... The original incident... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-a5B6xM5s4 ...and the parody... (which unfortunately I can't seem to embed)

Pretty much. WKYC found success in the late 90s with Ramona Robinson at 6/11 and the early evening talk duo of Ellen at 4pm and Dr. Phil at 5pm. Aside from their turnover between 2008-2012, they have shown remarkable stability. WEWS took forever to find a successor to Ted Henry, lost ratings powerhouses Oprah, WoF and J! in the span of a few months, and has been blowing up the roster of their morning show ever 15-18 months. (Note that one-time morning anchors Macie McInnis Jepson and Josh Boose are now newscasters/reporters for WTAM/1100 and iHeartMedia's 24/7 Total Traffic/News.) So in short, WKYC finally took advantage of WEWS's weaknesses and slowly ascended to #2 in the market, behind WJW.

Took them long enough for them to put the lottery ball logo on their iOS app. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's possible that ratings are a factor. WEWS seems to blow up "Good Morning Cleveland" every 12-18 months. If it weren't for WOIO/WUAB, they would be dead last.

FFS. Excuse me for a minute...

Who would buy WGBA and run it any differently? S!nclair, Nexstar and Gray already have stations in the market and are not going to trade down for what is effectively a pseuo-semi-satellite of WTMJ.

Yeesh. And I thought the "Power of 5" was silly.

Yeah, I meant expanding on their second place position. They'll effectively own 11. Which is pretty remarkable considering that WKYC has no news at 4 and 5, and their noon timeslot has a heavily sponsored infotainment show instead of a traditional newscast.

WKYC easily can slide into a solid 2nd place and make serious gains at the expense of WEWS. Should WOIO rise to third place, it will be due to inertia.

I half-expected to see Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor and Al Borland behind the anchor desk.