Spencer signs 2-year deal at 24

2/26/2007

Chief meteorologist Bill Spencer has signed a two-year contract extension with WNWO-TV, Channel 24.

The deal runs through May, 2009.

I m very happy NBC 24 wants to keep our solid weather forecasting team together, Spencer said. Norm [Van Ness] and Michael [Schlesinger] are great forecasters and a pleasure to work with.

Spencer, known as Blizzard Bill, is beginning his second decade as the top weather man at the NBC affiliate, working on the 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscasts Monday-Friday.

He also operates a private forecast radio network that provides weather for several stations in Kansas and Nebraska.

In other news:

• Joe Stoll, the assignments manager at WTVG-TV, Channel 13, will leave the ABC affiliate in two weeks to accept a position as a weekend anchor/reporter at the CBS affiliate, WTHI-TV, in Terre Haute, Ind. Stoll periodically did some reporting for WTVG, but he was not a staff reporter.

• Skip Schmidt just completed his second week as market manager at Cumulus Media Toledo. Schmidt, who has more than 34 years of experience in the radio industry, comes here from Norfolk, Va.

He says he is in the process of interviewing candidates for the various openings at WTWR-FM, 98.3. He is looking for replacements for morning talk-show host Johny D, his executive producer, Jeremy Baumhower, and midday host Crystal Harris. They were let go last month by previous market manager, Chris Taylor, who left to take a sales position with Cumulus in Harrisburg, Pa.

Schmidt plans to stick with WTWR s current pop contemporary hits format.

We d like to get everything taken care of as soon as possible, he said. There are a lot of options, a lot of opportunities out there. We have some plans in place.

We re in talks with several people. Obviously, we re not going to shortchange that radio station. It s very important to us, and very important to the community.