Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

By Frank Macek  WKYC's Wall of Honor At WKYC, storytelling has always been at the heart of everything we do—on air, online, and behind the scenes. That commitment to excellence doesn’t happen by chance. It’s built on the passion, integrity, and hard work of the many individuals who’ve made their mark over the years. Now, we’re taking time to recognize those contributions in a lasting and meaningful way. Recently, WKYC officially unveiled its new Wall of Honor, a permanent installation inside the station that pays tribute to standout employees whose legacies helped shape the culture and success of Channel 3. The Wall of Honor represents the best of who we are—and who we’ve been. It's more than plaques on a wall; it’s a powerful reminder of our shared history, our commitment to public service, and the unforgettable personalities who’ve walked our halls. Two of the inaugural inductees are names familiar to anyone who's followed Cleveland television and radio: Jim Donovan and J...

Special to the Director's Cut Blog from wkyc.com Cheers to 35 years! On Thursday's What's Next, WKYC Studios paid tribute to one of our own. The month of February marks Jim Donovan's 35th year at WKYC. Growing up in South Boston, Jimmy had a love for sports, especially the Bruins, watching games alongside his father. Jimmy graduated from Boston University in 1978, shortly after taking jobs in Vermont and Minnesota. In 1985, as a curly haired sportscaster, he began his journey here in Cleveland. Jimmy arrived in Cleveland and never looked back. His life was hectic, covering all areas of Cleveland Sports from the Browns, Cavs and Indians to the Cleveland Marathon and even Soap Box Derby. His work eventually landed him a job with the NBC Network, travelling all over the country calling NFL games every Sunday. In 1999, Jimmy was named the "Radio Voice of the Cleveland Browns." As he prepares for his 22nd season, think about this: the browns have had ...

By Frank Macek @maceknewsnation Check out these classic promos featuring the Channel 3 News Team featuring the main talent of Tim White, Romona Robinson, Mark Nolan and Jim Donovan from 2007. How many of these do you remember on the air? Our special thanks to David Hrvatin at WKYC for digitizing these promos here at WKYC Studios.

By Dave "Dino" DeNatale Special to the Director's Cut Blog Jim Donovan This is a story that I'm pleased to get to write. On Monday, the National Sports Media Association announced its nominations for their 2019 awards. At the state level, 3News sports anchor and the radio play-by-play voice of the Cleveland Browns, Jim Donovan, is one of three finalists for Ohio Sportscaster of the Year. Jimmy was nominated alongside the voice of the Cincinnati Bengals, Dan Hoard, as well as Jim Day, who serves as the television pregame and postgame show host for the Cincinnati Reds. Voting will take place from December 1 through December 31 by members of the National Sports Media Association. Winners will be announced during the second week of January, then honored at a June awards celebration in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Amazingly enough, in his 35 years of sportscasting in Northeast Ohio, Jimmy has never won the award. However, prior to coming to WKYC Studios ...

Since it's a Victory Monday for the Browns, let's check out some flashback pictures of our Monday night show that aired on October 8, 2007 called "The Point After" when Channel 3 was the television home of the Cleveland Browns The show aired every Monday night at 7 pm with the radio voices of the Cleveland Browns Jim Donovan and Doug Dieken, plus Tony Grossi of the the Plain Dealer and former Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano. The show was directed by current WKYC Studios Production Manager Allen Wohl and produced by sports director Jeff Yakawiak.  

CLEVELAND - WKYC is proud to have been named Cleveland Scene's Best Local Newscast. According to Scene, WKYC's lineup of talent, clean graphics and sharp reporting has snagged us the top honors this year. We're also proud to call our Jim Donovan Cleveland Scene's Best Sports Reporter. Scene likes Jimmy's infamous radio calls on Sundays, as well as his energetic personality during the 7 p.m. nightly newscast.  The nominations are part of Scene's annual "Best of Cleveland" awards, which honor Cleveland's greats, from newscasts to pizza and artists. Click  here  to see all the nominations.

Betsy Kling & Jim Donovan The results are in! You voted for your favorite people and places in Cleveland Scene's annual Best of Cleveland survey. Among them, WKYC's took some top spots. Betsy Kling won the Best Meteorologist and Jim Donovan grabbed title of Best Sports Reporter. Places that made the list include Tremont, voted the Best Neighborhood, while Punch Bowl Social in The Flats was crowned the "Best Place for Grown-Ups Birthday Party." Just in time before the Republican National Convention, Public Square gets the Best Renovation Project. Voters decided Lakewood was the Best Place to Buy a House. View the other results here.

Jim Donovan Special to the Director's Cut Blog By  Matthew Florjancic Sometimes, all a person needs to do is dream. WKYC Sports Anchor Jim Donovan always dreamed of being a sportscaster like the ones he grew up listening to and emulating in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. And through the nurturing of his father and an intense drive to succeed mixed with a passion for sports, Donovan has been living out his dream for more than 30 years, a career that will be honored at the 16th annual Greater Cleveland Sports Awards Thursday night. STARTING WITH A DREAM Donovan’s journey to the top of his profession started long before he ever moved to Cleveland. In fact, it started with a dream growing up in his hometown of Boston, where he and his father, Jim Donovan Jr., had season tickets to the Bruins’ hockey games, and a Christmas wish for a tape recorder. “At first, when they gave me a tape recorder, I was doing the games off the television set and I turned the volu...

By Frank Macek The announcement last week about the return of basketball superstar LeBron James to the Cleveland Cavaliers has generated plenty of buzz worldwide, to say the least. Friday's announcement is the biggest sports story for 2014. Channel 3 News devoted non-stop, team coverage of the announcement from the time the story broke during our noon broadcast until the end of Channel 3 News at 6 p.m. After NBC Nightly News, WKYC also presented our viewers with another hour long special from 7 to 8 p.m. and expanded coverage on Channel 3 News at 11 p.m. that night. Jim Donovan on NBC Nightly News National media from coast to coast contacted Channel 3 wanting interviews and insight from our news team of how important the impact will be on the city that just days earlier won the Republican National Convention in 2016. Channel 3 News wall to wall coverage was carried by the NBC Newschannel for any affiliate who wished to air parts of our coverage live. WKYC Sports Ancho...

WKYC Sports Anchor and radio voice of the Cleveland Browns, Jim Donovan, spent this Thanksgiving with his family. And, that family got a little bit bigger this year. This weekend, Jim got to say thanks in person for the first time to the man who saved his life — his bone marrow donor.   Click to watch this heartwarming story of a new connection...a new bond for life.

The Akron Aeros announced today WKYC-TV’s Jim Donovan is the winner in the television category of its first Media Madness Bobblehead Election. Donovan is scheduled to make a special appearance at Canal Park on Saturday, June 8 when his bobblehead, sponsored by Distillata, will be given out to the first 1,000 fans before the Aeros host the Portland Sea Dogs at 7:05 p.m. Donovan has been with WKYC since 1985 and is the station’s nightly news and sports anchor. He has been the play-by-play voice of the Cleveland Browns since 1999 and has covered a variety of sporting events over the years, including the World Cup and the Olympics.  Donovan also served one season as the play-by-play announcer for the Vermont Reds, the original franchise team that would eventually become Canton-Akron Indians in 1989 and the Akron Aeros in 1997. “We are very excited Jim Donovan won the television bobblehead election and we can’t wait to have him and his giveaway at Canal Park next Saturday,” said...

By Frank Macek It's time for another "behind the scenes" look at what's happening inside the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. We are just wrapping up a week of one of the busiest news stories of recent memory with the "Miracle in Cleveland." For four days, WKYC brought viewers expanded coverage of this story since it broke Monday night. Our reporters and entire Channel 3 News devoted all of our resources to cover every angle of the story. Many of our stories went national and several of our reporters appeared on national broadcasts with updates and web stories. WKYC also tapped the vast resources of Gannett Broadcasting and welcomed several journalists to help us cover the story from our stations in Knoxville; Buffalo; Columbia; South Carolina and Washington D.C. who brought their own perspectives on how Clevelanders reacted to this story. And while a large part of this story has played out, we'll continue to follow developments in the coming weeks ...

Jim Donovan Jim Donovan, long-time WKYC Sports Anchor, will join co-anchor Robin Swoboda for Channel 3 News @ 7pm. He will continue to bring Northeast Ohio the most experienced and thoughtful sports coverage at 6 and 11pm, but will expand his role into the anchor position at 7. “Jimmy is more than sports, he’s a great storyteller and an astute interviewer,” stated Brooke Spectorsky, President and General Manager of WKYC. “Channel 3 viewers across the region love his quick wit and passion for his work.” “Now it’s time for Jim to bring all that energy to a wider range of subjects,” remarked News Director Rita Andolsen. “Jim has always been a news junkie, now he’ll have the chance to expound on that knowledge and cover a lot of big issues facing Northeast Ohio.” “I’m happy to take on a new challenge,” added Donovan. “We’re going to do some interesting and different things with the 7pm show, and I look forward to working on some very special projects.” Donovan is returning to a ...

This is a group of classic Channel 3 Promos from the 1980s and early 1990s thanks to Dan Klintworth, a former WKYC colleague, who is currently Marketing Director at WBTW-TV in South Carolina. This latest batch includes cameos from Jim Donovan, Steve Browne & Terry Burhans, Paul Orlousky and our "3 Believes Campaign." Feel free to post your own comments and share your memories. Just click on the videos to watch. If you can't view them on this page, CLICK HERE

CLEVELAND -- WKYC's sports anchor, Jim Donovan, as well as managing editor, Dick Russ, will be among those formally inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame at a dinner reception this evening in Westlake. Former WKYC investigative reporter, Paul Sciria as well as columnist, Regina Brett, and photographer William Wynne from The Plain Dealer are the other inductees. Jim Donovan came to Northeast Ohio as a weekend sports anchor in 1985 and has gone on to be arguable Cleveland's most prominent voice in sports. Donovan has been the radio play-by-play announcer for the Browns since their return to the NFL in 1999. He has covered the Summer Olympics in 1992 and 1996 and World Cup soccer in 1994. Dick Russ has proven to be one of Northeast Ohio's most versatile broadcasters. He has worked as a reporter, anchor and now managing editor at WKYC-TV 3. Colleagues say Russ' talent with words has always set him apart from his peers. Russ is also a member of the Oh...

By Frank Macek Time for another edition of "Notes from the Newsroom" as your blogger shares some of thoughts on our little corner of local television. --- Congratulations to several WKYC staffers who take top honors in Cleveland Magazine's annual "Best of Cleveland" poll. This year's winners include Romona Robinson for best female anchor, Mark Nolan for best male anchor and Jim Donovan for best sports anchor in Cleveland. Also, SportsTime Ohio's Design Director Greg Goyla and his 80's cover band the "Spazmatics" were recognized for rocking 80's music like no other local group. They have even performed for former President George W. Bush. The "Best of Cleveland" party will be held on Friday, October 16th at 7 p.m. at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. WKYC.COM has launched a new project called "Tributes" that uses the power of wkyc.com to spread the word about the passing of our local residents through ...

Special to the Director's Cut By Kim Wendel CLEVELAND -- The Press Club of Cleveland announced that WKYC-TV's Managing Editor Dick Russ and WKYC-TV Sports Director Jim Donovan, along with former WKYC-TV investigative reporter Paul Sciria, will be the 2009 inductees into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame. The inductions will take place Oct. 28 at LaCenter in Westlake. "It's a remarkable accomplishment and speaks to the tremendous talent pool here at Channel 3 to have three of five inductees in this year's Hall of Fame class," said WKYC News Director Rita Andolsen. "The induction of Dick Russ, Jimmy Donovan and Paul Sciria into the Press Club of Cleveland's Journalism Hall of Fame is a testament to Channel 3's long history of a commitment to excellence in broadcast journalism," said Ed Byers, president of the Press Club. Two-time Pulitzer finalist for commentary Regina Brett of The Plain Dealer and former Plain Dealer photographer William W...

Congratulations to several of WKYC's main weekday anchors for being singled out by readers in Cleveland Magazine's "Best of Cleveland" poll in the magazine's October edition. They include the following: *Best Female News Anchor: Romona Robinson *Best Male News Anchor: Tim White *Best Sports Anchor: Jim Donovan All winners will be honored on Friday, October 10th at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Logo courtesy: clevelandmagazine.com

From: Bill in Cleveland Q: I never see Jim Donovan on your newscasts anymore...Why? A: Jimmy is around, but his duties have him spread between Channel 3 News, Sportstime Ohio and the Cleveland Browns Radio Network. Because many of these anchoring duties require him during the day or on the weekends, he's not on the weekday 11 pm newscast as much during Browns season. Plus the poor guy needs a day or two off to regroup - like the rest of us! In January, you'll be seeing more of him - that is, unless the Browns head to the Superbowl - then all bets are off. You can email your questions to me: fmacek@wkyc.com

Updated: 10/25/07 Tonight was the awards ceremony at the Rock Hall for Cleveland Magazine's "Best of Cleveland". Pictured at the event is WKYC Anchor Romona Robinson (left), WKYC News Director Rita Andolsen and WKYC Sports Anchor Jim Donovan. To watch video of tonight's gathernig, CLICK HERE ------ Original article below from October 10th: Congratulations to the following Channel 3 personalities for winning their respective categories in the annual Cleveland Magazine "The Best of Cleveland 2007 Reader's Poll" Local Male Anchor - Tim White (tied with David Wittman) Local Female Anchor - Romona Robinson Sports Anchor - Jim Donovan All this year's winners will be honored at a Rock Hall ceremony.