By Jim Knippenberg
Enquirer staff writer

Here's an idea whose time has come: Weddings, Cincinnati Style, a televised version of the traditional bridal show. The locally-produced show with host Toni Ragone airs at 9:30 a.m. Sundays on Channel 64.

The idea, says Mindy Dawson, co-producer with Jeff Sindiong, is to shoot the show - there will be 13 episodes - at a different wedding venue each week and to include segments on all aspects of planning, along with experts giving tips.

Traditional venues - Cincinnati Club, hotel ballrooms - are a big part of the mix, but so are the nontraditional ones. This morning and afternoon, for example, they're in Mason shooting a future show at the Beach, which is hosting an afternoon wedding.

Today's show, third in the series, was shot at the Newport Aquarium. Upcoming locations include the newly - and lushly - renovated Holiday Inn North, Union Terminal and Cincinnati Zoo.

"We're getting a lot of response, and we're excited about that. Advertisers are actually calling us," Dawson said.

And here's another idea whose time has come: All shows will be posted on www.weddingscincinnatistyle.com in the near future, Dawson says.

A perfect proposal

The Learning Channel was tooling around town last week. A crew from the wedding show Perfect Proposal (1 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays) was shooting Cincinnati sights - Fountain Square, lots of downtown, Hyde Park Square, the Riverfront to find, well, the perfect place to propose.

The program, which regularly shows people popping the question in unusual circumstances, shot downtown Wednesday night at the Classical Music Hall of Fame, says Hall president Stefan Skirtz. Rob Thornton and Kendra Hull were there for a charity art auction - fake charity auction - where one of Hull's pieces was being auctioned off.

And whaddaya know? Just as the piece was sold, Thornton popped the question. Right there for the Learning Channel's cameras and a whole cast of family and friends hiding in a stairwell and watching on monitors. There's no airdate for the show yet, but it should be late October-early November.

And yeah, she said yes.

Local honors

Former Cincinnatian Mike West, a 1989 graduate of St. Xavier High School was recently nominated for an Emmy.

The Northwestern University grad and former TV news reporter (he also wrote concert reviews for the Enquirer) is nominated in a new category - Outstanding Nonfiction Series - for co-producing "The Green River Killer" episode of Cold Case Files on A&E for Kurtis Productions.

In an e-mail to parents Sue and Mike West, he called his nomination the dark horse because he's up against, among others, Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues, Inside the Actors Studio, and A&E's Biography.

The Emmys are telecast Sept. 19 on ABC (Channel 9).

New in print

A new publication is about to debut in Cincinnati. AllOut Magazine, a 24-page free entertainment guide for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, hits the streets Thursday.

The guide, which will be updated every two weeks, will include gay and gay-friendly bars, clubs, restaurants and retail stores with listings on all their activities. Bands, fashion shows, karaoke nights, DJs and fund-raisers will also be included, along with a map of the hotspots.

Owner and publisher John "JP" Pennell, formerly of Hamburger Mary's, is starting AllOut to "promote the community and all it has to offer. I felt I needed to give something back to a community that had supported me these last two years."

The book will be distributed free in gay and gay-friendly establishments.

'MOH at 60

Hamilton's WMOH-AM (1480) is celebrating its 60th birthday. The station, all ESPN sports except for the morning show, has an illustrious history.

In the '50s and '60s 'MOH and WSAI-AM were the rock 'n' roll stations in the area. 'MOH was especially strong in Cincinnati's northern suburbs.

Channel 12 morning anchor Cammy Dierking, Reds broadcaster Joe Nuxhall and the late Bob Braun were all affiliated with the station at one time or another. It's doing a couple of things in honor of the 60th, says general manager and morning co-host Kert Radel, and one of them is a time warp.

"We found some old programs on 78s and, with the help of Xavier University, transferred them to CDs," Radel says. "There are remotes from LeSourdsville Lake (Americana), county fairs, old newscasts, classic baseball games, things like that. We'll be playing them all week during the morning show (6-9 a.m.) with me, Steve Vaughn and Chris Theiss.

"I'll also be getting Cammy and Nux on tape reminiscing. We'll play that Wednesday through Friday. And our listeners will be calling in with their reminisces."

Big hit

Going to prove once again, hope springs eternal: A gang of writers from Queen City Forum Magazine (www.queencityforum.com) , remembering Adam Dunn's 535-foot home run from Tuesday night, sat in a canoe out in the middle of the river Wednesday night, hoping to catch the next one he plunked into the river.

No luck.

E-mail jknippenberg@enquirer.com