"A city perennially desperate for something to cheer about can now let loose three hip-hip-hoorays"

 

Are you effing kidding me? What is wrong with this newspaper?!

 

I thought the same thing.

I think the story would have been better started

'Tom Hanks at the Hanna' benefits Great Lakes Theater Festival's renovations

by Tony Brown/Plain Dealer Theater Critic

Monday August 31, 2009, 5:01 AM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A theater critic desperate for something to write about to legitimize his job...

The editor probably insisted on it, otherwise it would have shown Cleveland in too positive a light

Yeah I am firing off a nice long email to the guy, the editor, and their parent corporation's regional director.

 

Isn't this the same critic that habitually rates the Symphony as lackluster?

 

_EDIT TO ADD_

Here is the text of my email.

'Tom Hanks at the Hanna' benefits Great Lakes Theater Festival's renovations

by Tony Brown/Plain Dealer Theater Critic

Monday August 31, 2009, 5:01 AM

"CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland, a city perennially desperate for something to cheer about"

 

Are you serious? Would you prefer to be somewhere else?

 

It is attitude like the one so prominently displayed in the very first sentence of your article that is driving people away from the Plain Dealer. A story that would otherwise be a glowing article about how Tom Hanks returns to help out the place where he got his start, instead is a snide attack on the city.

 

I moved to Cleveland four years ago from Oregon, and I have seen the city grow and change in so many positive ways in such a short period of time. Most people who live in and around the region really love this place and its excellent hospitals, its theater district, its world class symphony, its ever growing museum of art, its rock and roll hall of fame, its new CSU campus, and so on. Those are the quick few that I can list off the top of my head, but hundreds more exist.

 

I work in a hotel, and daily I interact with people from around the nation who are visiting Cleveland on business trips, vacations, a trip to the Cleveland Clinic, or visiting relatives. Many people come to Cleveland having only heard the "city desperate for something to cheer about/river on fire" mentality put forth by local and national media. After spending a day or two out on the town, people come back and report that Cleveland is nothing at all like the news articles and media reports. Instead they see a city that is working hard on reinventing itself after many years of economic decline and short sighted decisions. Many people are impressed with the town and look forward to coming back in the future. They see all the good things that apparently the writers and editors at the plain dealer cannot possibly understand.

 

Many people around my age - 26 - don't even bother to pick up the Plain Dealer unless it is to grab the Sunday coupons. Most of my friends wonder if the newspaper is even talking about the same Cleveland where they live, work, and play. We read coolcleveland.com, Crains Cleveland Business, and other local publications that are not actively inserting one liners about the city. I read your story today as a link on a public forum, and was freshly reminded of why I don't read the Plain Dealer.

 

-Jared Watson

Proud resident of Cleveland, Ohio

Nice!  Let us know if you get a response!  (Perhaps that is best suited for the Local News Media thread)

FYI the writer, Tony Brown, did give a response in the comments section...still very weak in my opinion...

 

http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2009/08/tom_hanks_at_the_hanna_benefit.html

Very nice response! Ill be writing something when i get home tonight as well.

What I posted on the .bomb article...

 

"@TMH:

I agree with your sentiments about Cleveland.

 

I'm not from Cleveland. I actually CHOSE to live here, and coming up on 10 years, I have no intention of ever leaving.

 

However, that said, I find that very few of my

friends, neighbors and readers - especially those actually FROM Cleveland - share that sentiment. Which is why the line, as much as you and I might dislike the fact, is entirely accurate.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading, for reading so carefully, and for taking the time to write."

 

 

 

Tony-

 

I stopped purchasing The Plain Dealer for the very reason you state-  and this is the same reason that I, and many other individuals, have ceased to support this publication. 

 

Snide remarks like the one you purposely put into this positive story about one of the region's best assets do nothing to help move the perception of this city forward to the local suburban public, or the nation. In fact, I am convinced that many readers BELIEVE the snide remarks inserted time and time again in what should be positive articles regarding the city.

 

Hopefully, more readers will learn that The Plain Dealer does not care about the perception they put forth regarding the City of Cleveland.  I thank you for clarifying this.   

No pun intended but BRAVO to those of you who called Tony Brown out, I honestly do not understand how that made it past the editors first glance.  Susan you have alot of work to do!

No pun intended but BRAVO to those of you who called Tony Brown out, I honestly do not understand how that made it past the editors first glance.  Susan you have alot of work to do!

 

The article has not been updated. 

 

I'm not from Cleveland. I actually CHOSE to live here, and coming up on 10 years, I have no intention of ever leaving.

 

However, that said, I find that very few of my

friends, neighbors and readers - especially those actually FROM Cleveland - share that sentiment. Which is why the line, as much as you and I might dislike the fact, is entirely accurate.

 

 

This is such a B.S. response by Tony Brown. As long as people at the Pee Dee continue to drive this crap into the thick skulls of the negative nancy's in NEO nothing is going to change.

http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2009/08/tom_hanks_at_the_hanna_benefit.html

 

'Tom Hanks at the Hanna' benefits Great Lakes Theater Festival's renovations

by Tony Brown/Plain Dealer Theater Critic

Monday August 31, 2009, 5:01 AM

 

Great Lakes Theater Festival

Tom Hanks won a Cleveland Critics Circle Award playing Proteus, one of the gents in "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" at Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in 1978.

 

 

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio Cleveland, a city perennially desperate for something to cheer about can now let loose three hip-hip-hoorays, for Great Lakes Theater Festival, PlayhouseSquare and Tom Hanks.

 

The world's most bankable movie star will return to his Buckeye roots on Monday, Oct. 12, to perform "Tom Hanks at the Hanna" at PlayhouseSquare's historic Hanna Theatre as a fund-raiser for his alma mater, Great Lakes.

 

Top tickets, priced at $250 and including dinner with Hanks, go on sale today. Cheaper seats, at $75, will be available later. Proceeds will go toward raising the last $600,000 in Great Lakes' $18.3 million campaign to pay for the Hanna's renovation.

 

 

 

The reporter defended the way he started that article, saying he chooses to live here but that his article's lede was still correct. That made me realize there are other ways he could have started his article, be correct and still be unnecessarily negative (by the way, are the editors asleep -- you don't use the same city's name from the dateline in the first sentence, called the lede).....

___________________

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio Cleveland, a Rust Belt city that sees more snow than the Sun Belt, the Grain Belt or the Bible Belt, can now let loose three hip-hip-hoorays, for Great Lakes Theater Festival, PlayhouseSquare and Tom Hanks.

___________________

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio Cleveland, a city that had its river catch fire numerous times and its mayor's hair catch fire one too many times, can now let loose three hip-hip-hoorays, for Great Lakes Theater Festival, PlayhouseSquare and Tom Hanks.

___________________

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio Cleveland, which has seen numerous manufacturing jobs leave but were replaced by service sector opportunities that are sometimes lower-paying (and if they aren't, we at the PD will make sure that we will portray it in a way that is Positively Demoralizing), can now let loose three hip-hip-hoorays, for Great Lakes Theater Festival, PlayhouseSquare and Tom Hanks.

___________________

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio Cleveland, which has an active downtown compared to peer cities but needs to be portrayed as a vacant wasteland because depressing news has to start causing increased newspaper sales someday, can now let loose three hip-hip-hoorays, for Great Lakes Theater Festival, PlayhouseSquare and Tom Hanks.

 

And that's the way it is, on this day, Sept. 1, 2009. I'm KJP. Good night and good luck.

I think we should just start recording all of the PD's one-liners and then send the editors a giant e-mail after a few months.  Maybe then they'll realize the scope of their badmouthing the city.

i've been doing that for a few years...

i've been doing that for a few years...

 

Have you sent them a giant e-mail with all of their headline sentences?

^ If you say something enough times...people start to believe it. Hitler and Bush and many others figured that one out....  In Cleveland/N.E. Ohio, there is an inferiority complex....almost as if parents teach their kids to hate it here. They don't know why... They don't know why they have to move either.. They were just told this...and they heard it enough times so they start jumping on the bandwagon to believe it.

 

Cleveland's worst enemies come from within....and are typically those who cannot find one positive thing to say about their city/region....and usually those who never set foot outside the realm of the 'gray area' A.K.A. a lot of what entails post WW2 suburban world.

 

Many people here have such a low self esteem.....they feel the same about their city....then project this repeated image over and over again until others---who may have never even been here, or have no opinion about it either good or bad----end up believing what these turds-in-the punch bowl repeatedly project. Point? People start seeing you for what you project....and if what we project is a "Schleprock...woe-is-me....wousy, wousy wooo  wooo" attitude...then that will be how we are seen.

 

The PD does all it can do to perpetuate that attitude to give angry frightened suburbanites verification in ink, of their often sordid opinions of their city. They play on the fear and this formula sells a lot of newspapers.

 

Those who move away from here and like to get on PD blogs and post comments about how glad they are they left....seem to be almost jealous that others are actually trying to make a difference here....are successful here.....and have made it. It is almost as if they have failed...and then have to blame their failure on the city itself.

 

These are just my observations....  But indeed, the negative images are by and large self generated...Mostly.  My friend was here from Australia....  Sydney...and was really enjoying herself, seeing the great, the bad, and the ugly of the whole region....but could not, for the life of here, understand why anyone would ask her..... who was from here....a question like... "Oh, why did you come to Cleveland?" (with a scouring look on their face)  Instead of saying something like "Welcome...  how do you like it? What have you been doing here so far? Did you go to???..etc"

 

I was really embarrassed of many of the locals dismal peasant-like attitude...especially when she lives in Sydney where civic pride is everywhere. This pride is FREE and it does wonders to generate a mentality that will produce citizens who will not allow their city to be dragged down to the point  where things happen to make it a place people want to move away from.

 

I think more Clevelanders need to try that logic on for size, starting with the PD and their sensationalist style (as echoed in the Don Henley song "Dirty Laundry"). Bottom line... you act like and project POOP...people will think you're POOP!

Awesome, a "Dirty Laundry" reference.  So true.  We all need to bail on the PD, as it bailed on us years ago.  Eventually we will outnumber these people... and even if we don't, our positivity can drown them out.  What's important is keeping our counter-message as close to the forefront as possible.  After all, the other side has a major newspaper at its disposal.     

Maybe Urban Ohio can start a new newspaper. When I win some cash... I will fund its get go! Here is the new Plain Dealer theme song...

 

 

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

i keep a running word document on my desktop and any time the pd throws in one of its infamous one liners i copy and paste the title, date, author... and the quote.  every few months i compose an email with all of them referenced.

 

....These are just my observations....  But indeed, the negative images are by and large self generated...Mostly.   My friend was here from Australia....  Sydney...and was really enjoying herself, seeing the great, the bad, and the ugly of the whole region....but could not, for the life of here, understand why anyone would ask her..... who was from here....a question like... "Oh, why did you come to Cleveland?" (with a scouring look on their face)  Instead of saying something like "Welcome...  how do you like it? What have you been doing here so far? Did you go to???..etc"

 

I was really embarrassed of many of the locals dismal peasant-like attitude...especially when she lives in Sydney where civic pride is everywhere. This pride is FREE and it does wonders to generate a mentality that will produce citizens who will not allow their city to be dragged down to the point  where things happen to make it a place people want to move away from.

 

 

very well said and i certainly agree with everything you wrote, but i just wanted to point out the sydney guy's experience isnt exclusive to cle, for example i found the exact same thing everywhere when i visited in el paso, texas too. locals in the more quirky, interesting cities just dont always seem to grasp what they have very well.

 

i really wish someone would buy the peedee, flip the script and skew it rah rah for a decade or so. you just wonder what a simple change in approach could do for the region and a generation of readers.

 

 

I don't want the PD to be rah rah, I just want them to stop crapping on anything good that happens in this town.

I don't want the PD to be rah rah, I just want them to stop crapping on anything good that happens in this town.

 

I'd settle for fair and accurate reporting by reporters, writers, critics and employees who live in and care about the city and region.

i keep a running word document on my desktop and any time the pd throws in one of its infamous one liners i copy and paste the title, date, author... and the quote.  every few months i compose an email with all of them referenced.

 

Great idea!  Haha!!!  When you collect enough of those...you should send it back to the PD and ask if they can please get a little more creative in their writing and quit with these beaten down comments that are just plain tired...and as BAD as is the image they portray of Cleveland.

 

 

By the way, all of the above discussion is part of the reason I am working on beginning an online radio station for the city..the neighborhoods and all that is a plus... I will eventually come out with the announcement here.

i keep a running word document on my desktop and any time the pd throws in one of its infamous one liners i copy and paste the title, date, author... and the quote.  every few months i compose an email with all of them referenced.

 

Great idea!  Haha!!!  When you collect enough of those...you should send it back to the PD and ask if they can please get a little more creative in their writing and quit with these beaten down comments that are just plain tired...and as BAD as is the image they portray of Cleveland.

 

We all need to do it!

 

This could be a great creative project for one of your store fronts. ;)

^ Actually... you just may have a brilliant idea. So... Please save all the comments.... I can get them on a banner...and implement them into an art display with a theme that maybe could help the PD straighten up their act... Something like..  "No wonder we often have a negative self image"...Then all the quotes. So, McCleveland... Indeed..save each and every one. I sense a way to softly and tastefully embarrass the paper...

 

The North East Ohio inferiority complex kills us socially, environmentally, and economically...  And just because we want to be positive... does not mean that we are not wanting to hear the truths about matters that matter... and instead...only all the light and fluffy that is.. It is simply how the PD delivers that sort of thing with the Don Henley approach....and yet offers no solutions, other side to the story....Nor do they really ever cover a lot of the positives that are going on. I had to come here to find this and other sources.

^ Actually... you just may have a brilliant idea. So... Please save all the comments.... I can get them on a banner...and implement them into an art display with a theme that maybe could help the PD straighten up their act... Something like.. "No wonder we often have a negative self image"...Then all the quotes. So, McCleveland... Indeed..save each and every one. I sense a way to softly and tastefully embarrass the paper...

 

OMG I love it, as long as we do it like you say, softly and tastefully.

^ Actually... you just may have a brilliant idea. So... Please save all the comments.... I can get them on a banner...and implement them into an art display with a theme that maybe could help the PD straighten up their act... Something like..  "No wonder we often have a negative self image"...Then all the quotes. So, McCleveland... Indeed..save each and every one. I sense a way to softly and tastefully embarrass the paper...

 

Hey..I'm calculating and twisted!!  (insert ghoulish laugh)

^ Yes, definitely... The key is to get a laugh and evoke some thoughts... without anyone not wanting it in their window.

^ Actually... you just may have a brilliant idea. So... Please save all the comments.... I can get them on a banner...and implement them into an art display with a theme that maybe could help the PD straighten up their act... Something like..  "No wonder we often have a negative self image"...Then all the quotes. So, McCleveland... Indeed..save each and every one. I sense a way to softly and tastefully embarrass the paper...

 

The North East Ohio inferiority complex kills us socially, environmentally, and economically...  And just because we want to be positive... does not mean that we are not wanting to hear the truths about matters that matter... all the light and fluffy that is.. It is simply how the PD delivers that sort of thing with the Don Henley approach....and yet offers no solutions, other side to the story....Nor do they really ever cover a lot of the positives that are going on. I had to come here to find this and other sources.

 

That would be GREAT!!!  I love it!

Ok, let's make a little contest....  Think of a header...a catchy one that would be followed by all the headlines McCleveland was talking about...    Maybe as I suggested...  Let's get the ideas going and let's see if I can make them a reality in a window.

^ Actually... you just may have a brilliant idea. So... Please save all the comments.... I can get them on a banner...and implement them into an art display with a theme that maybe could help the PD straighten up their act... Something like..  "No wonder we often have a negative self image"...Then all the quotes. So, McCleveland... Indeed..save each and every one. I sense a way to softly and tastefully embarrass the paper...

 

Hey..I'm calculating and twisted!!  (insert ghoulish laugh)

 

 

Ok, let's make a little contest....  Think of a header...a catchy one that would be followed by all the headlines McCleveland was talking about...    Maybe as I suggested...  Let's get the ideas going and let's see if I can make them a reality in a window.

 

We would need to see the list of headlines and their dates.

 

which window exactly is this?

I picture a window theme that has all the best of the worst headlines and over-repeated phrases...rephrased with the same meaning and so on....  With "Hey...No wonder we have an inferiority complex!!!" posted at the top.... Surrounded by some of only the best Cleveland art and photography showcasing Cleveland and the area....All in an area of downtown that is really nice...  When people read this...they might think.... "Why does their paper do this..it is not so bad here...it is actually kind of nice and has a lot of potential"

 

Urban Ohio can also be advertised to direct people to a more progressive forum. How is that for starters gang?

 

 

By the way, if anyone has happened to NOT have ever heard the Don Henley song... Have a listen and listen to the lyrics carefully..  Is this NOT what the PD does to this city most of the time?

I picture a window theme that has all the best of the worst headlines and over-repeated phrases...rephrased with the same meaning and so on....  With "Hey...No wonder we have an inferiority complex!!!" posted at the top.... Surrounded by some of only the best Cleveland art and photography showcasing Cleveland and the area....All in an area of downtown that is really nice...  When people read this...they might think.... "Why does their paper do this..it is not so bad here...it is actually kind of nice and has a lot of potential"

 

Urban Ohio can also be advertised to direct people to a more progressive forum. How is that for starters gang?

 

You don't want to slander the PD, that defeats your "visual" purpose.

 

Do it in newspaper mode/print.  That will be the "connection" need for people to know it's the PD.

 

One visual image that should be made is:

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

I suggest you go "off line" for further discussion since Plain Dealer employees post and lurk here.

 

 

 

I don't even think we will have to mention the PD at all....  There will be no slandering. Posting  something they posted and made available for the public for all to see isn't slandering them. This is no more slander than it is to write an opinion to the paper openly criticizing them. This isn't even that harsh. But the paper format is good....  I don't even know that I want to even say their name...  Maybe something like "The Plane Duller"  Just kicking around ideas. Plane, as in airplane! :-)

I don't even think we will have to mention the PD at all....  There will be no slandering. Posting  something they posted and made available for the public for all to see isn't slandering them. This is no more slander than it is to write an opinion to the paper openly criticizing them. This isn't even that harsh. But the paper format is good....  I don't even know that I want to even say their name...  Maybe something like "The Plane Duller"  Just kicking around ideas. Plane, as in airplane! :)

 

Look at the examples I posted.  The paper current stance on the city and it's negative tone stem from what I posted.  It should be VERY obvious.

We'll see...  Nothing will be presented without all approval. I just think the idea is worthy and should be integrated into the project. If anyone can come up with those 'paper format headliners' ....large enough for a window...that would be a help.

Just so we're all clear, does anyone understand what I posted and why I posted it?

Just so we're all clear, does anyone understand what I posted and why I posted it?

 

That it went from the "Cleveland Plain Dealer" to "The Plain Dealer"?

Just so we're all clear, does anyone understand what I posted and why I posted it?

 

That it went from the "Cleveland Plain Dealer" to "The Plain Dealer"?

 

No more calls, we have a winner.  That should be one of the most important and pronounced items on display.  When Cleveland was removed the paper sort of removed itself from the fabric of the city.

Just so we're all clear, does anyone understand what I posted and why I posted it?

 

That it went from the "Cleveland Plain Dealer" to "The Plain Dealer"?

 

It would be good to show that contrast too. In how they dropped "Cleveland"

 

I just received a call from two more fronts who want this program started.

 

Again, if there is anyone out there who can gather these headlines and get them printed out...this would be a great contribution. I can get this done, but I am trying to not shove too much work on one person.

I like the idea of this kind of display, but aren't storefront owners going to be reluctant to do something that's rather ... political. Believe me, I'm a fan of the idea and your project ... I just haven't to date witnessed art-filled storefronts anywhere yet that have really pushed the envelope within a social or thematic context. Don't want to see you lose your baby prematurely.

 

That being said, the paper has been informed over and over and over about these issues. In fairness to them, it does seem like the amount of non-biased coverage has increase in the past several months. That being said, enough of these one-liners slip through to lead me to believe that they haven't established a company-wide policy on when it's appropriate to include such a line (e.g. in certain editorial content) and when it is most certainly not (e.g. in any news story that is not directly related to the attitude they're describing). Here, this was a news story on participation by a famous actor in a series of fundraisers for a local theatre ... I don't think that one-liner would meet even the loosest of relevance or objectivity standards ... if they had them in place. It seems like a pretty simple fix ... IF THEY WOULD JUST STICK TO SUCH A QUALITY STANDARD!

I like the idea of this kind of display, but aren't storefront owners going to be reluctant to do something that's rather ... political. Believe me, I'm a fan of the idea and your project ... I just haven't to date witnessed art-filled storefronts anywhere yet that have really pushed the envelope within a social or thematic context. Don't want to see you lose your baby prematurely.

 

That being said, the paper has been informed over and over and over about these issues. In fairness to them, it does seem like the amount of non-biased coverage has increase in the past several months. That being said, enough of these one-liners slip through to lead me to believe that they haven't established a company-wide policy on when it's appropriate to include such a line (e.g. in certain editorial content) and when it is most certainly not (e.g. in any news story that is not directly related to the attitude they're describing). Here, this was a news story on participation by a famous actor in a series of fundraisers for a local theatre ... I don't think that one-liner would meet even the loosest of relevance or objectivity standards ... if they had them in place. It seems like a pretty simple fix ... IF THEY WOULD JUST STICK TO SUCH A QUALITY STANDARD!

 

I was thinking the same thing - it's going to take a very specific building owner to pull off this particular art display.  I'm sure we can find one eventually, though.

I like the idea of this kind of display, but aren't storefront owners going to be reluctant to do something that's rather ... political. Believe me, I'm a fan of the idea and your project ... I just haven't to date witnessed art-filled storefronts anywhere yet that have really pushed the envelope within a social or thematic context. Don't want to see you lose your baby prematurely.

 

That being said, the paper has been informed over and over and over about these issues. In fairness to them, it does seem like the amount of non-biased coverage has increase in the past several months. That being said, enough of these one-liners slip through to lead me to believe that they haven't established a company-wide policy on when it's appropriate to include such a line (e.g. in certain editorial content) and when it is most certainly not (e.g. in any news story that is not directly related to the attitude they're describing). Here, this was a news story on participation by a famous actor in a series of fundraisers for a local theatre ... I don't think that one-liner would meet even the loosest of relevance or objectivity standards ... if they had them in place. It seems like a pretty simple fix ... IF THEY WOULD JUST STICK TO SUCH A QUALITY STANDARD!

 

the question/issue is larger than just the Plain Dealer.  Why isn't Playhouse Square, GLTF or downtown CDCs involved and as upset?? 

 

That article makes it appear that even those places/venues are not successfull, profitable or doing well as leaders in their industry.

 

Those articles/one liners affect their businesses and employees as well.

This whole theme for a display is just a concept that has just been formulated on this discussion today. There is nothing made/carved in stone saying it will manifest. However, I am sure there are some people who would love such a display in their window. The key is to find that person. If this idea happens, it is not getting too political to simply do something as described here earlier. Again, if it happens, we'll run it through UO for a review. Still there is no hiding the obvious that they have beaten the same old..same old into the ground on many occasions. Maybe more people should write to their opinion section about that.

 

How about the use of THE "PAIN" DEALER as a name of a paper? We're not saying Plain Dealer....  Anyway, don't panic anyone...  We're not going to hurt anything or ruin the project. I promise. It would be good, though....if more people  held their local paper accountable for some of the crap spewed out over and over again. This one scares away investment and interest in this town.

I love channel 19.

 

I don't know why, but I visited their website today and was greeted by screaming headlines like:

 

BEWARE!

CLEVELAND POLICE ADD EXTRA PATROLS THIS WEEKEND

 

IT'S HERE!

PARENTS TELL SCHOOL OFFICIALS THEIR DAUGHTER HAS H1N1

 

TRAGIC

PICK-UP TRUCK RAMS BUGGY, KILLS TWO TEENS AND CRITICALLY INJURES ANOTHER

 

"Fear TV" strikes again...

Old news ,but not many people may not have heard about it.

 

WNWV "The Wave" to flip format from smooth jazz to adult album alternative

By Julie Washington, The Plain Dealer

December 23, 2009, 8:50PM

 

WNWV "The Wave" is going "Boom!"

The locally owned FM station, based in Elyria, is waving goodbye to its smooth-jazz format and its nickname, "The Wave." Instead, it will play Adult Album Alternative music, called Triple A in the radio business, and bill itself as "107.3 Boom!," according to Lonnie Gronek, vice president and general manager of Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting, which owns WNWV.

 

More: http://www.cleveland.com/tv/index.ssf/2009/12/wnwv_the_wave_soon_to_flip_for.html

 

And from their website:

 

Welcome 107.3 Boom, The Wave goes online, HD

 

Staff at WNWV 107.3 FM switched over at noon today from The Wave’s smooth jazz format to 107.3 Boom!, a new alternative and classic rock “Triple-A” format. The new Triple-A format promises a diverse playlist blending emerging artists with alternative rock and classic rock stars. A statement on The Wave’s Web site says, “After more than 20 years of providing smooth jazz to Northeast Ohio, we’re unable to sustain the format any longer due to a change in Ratings Service methodology. … Simply put, lower measurement equals lower ratings. Consequently, we cannot sustain the overhead associated with bringing you the music you love.” Wave fans can still hear smooth jazz live online at www.wnwv.com or on an HD radio at 107.3 HD2. The new 107.3 Boom! can be heard live online as well www.1073boom.com. Direct comments regarding the new format to station General Manager Lonnie Gronek, (440) 322-3761. Contact Rona Proudfoot at (440) 329-7124 or [email protected].

 

http://weol.northcoastnow.com/2009/12/28/welcome-1073-boom-the-wave-goes-online-hd/

Here's a kind of ridiculous post, but a friend and I were getting some building supplies at the Steelyard Home Depot back in November or December.  An employee was helping us with carpet, and another employee came and said there was an emergency and that he needed his coworker to come with him. 

 

We overheard the one employee say that the emergency was that Sharon Reed from 19 Action News was looking at appliances between newscasts, and all of the guys were checking her out.  But she did look really hot in person, and when we were walking by, she was super, super nice to the girl that was helping her.  Pretty cool she shops at Steelyard, too.

Smartest career move I have ever seen someone make was Sharon's "show all" piece :)

I too am a Sharon Reed admirer.  I can't hardly stand to watch their broadcast, because it sounds like they're promoting a monster truck show, but I do think 19's on-air talent is the best we have here.