MOUNT VERNON — A more concentrated effort on local programming and news reports was launched the morning of Aug. 27 when 1300 WMVO introduced a new programming lineup. Announcing the new changes was general manager Doug Berg.
A 20-year veteran in the broadcasting industry, Berg came to WMVO on June 1, working previously at stations in Columbus and Newark and also starting up the Ohio News Network in 1997.
New nationally-syndicated talk programs which have been added during the weekday include the Mike Huckabee Show from noon to 3 p.m., the Dennis Prager Show from 3 to 6 p.m. and the Hugh Hewitt Show from 6 to 9 p.m.
Open Debate with Dave Bevington has been moved to 11 a.m. to noon, and AM Knox County now runs from 10 to 11 a.m. The lineup of new programs will lean to the conservative side, according to Berg.
High school sports will remain on the regular rotation as will Cincinnati Bengals football, Cleveland Indians baseball and Ohio State Buckeyes football and basketball.
“One thing that we’re really excited about is the opportunity to have more local news at the top of each hour from noon to 6 p.m.,” said Berg. This expands from the previous format of newscasts at noon and 5 p.m.
“This change has been discussed for a long period of time; but what really made my decision is the power outages from the storm that blew through here the last week of June,” said Berg. “This kind of cemented my decision to do more news coverage.”
New to the staff is news reporter Laura Chase. “Laura brings a ton of experience; we’re very excited to have her on board,” said Berg, explaining that Chase will also be covering numerous public events around the community. No other personnel were affected with the recent changes. WMVO currently employs 12 full-time and three part-time employees.
“Our focus is we want to be live and local,” said Berg. “Our increased local and state news coverage at the top of every hour is a good move as far as providing more information to the community.”
When it came down to making a change in program format, “We wanted to be more consistent with our programming,” said Berg. “We were doing news talk in the morning which was very popular. Then we flipped to oldies in the afternoon and then many days would go to high school sports in the evening. So we weren’t really consistent with the image and the brand.”
With WMVO adopting its many changes, the only difference at sister station 93.7 WQIO will be the addition of some oldies added to the music mix during the morning drive. “We kind of wanted to make up for the fact we were losing oldies on the AM,” said Berg.
“With the new newstalk format, we’ll have more opportunities on the weekends for local programming. We do have more plans after the football season and into the first quarter of next year for more local programming,” said Berg.
“I think this is very positive,” said News/Sports Director Dave Bevington. “People love not to just listen but to participate. News talk radio is big.”
WMVO listeners can also catch the live talk shows streaming live on the Internet by going to www.wmvo.com.
