The 2008 T Dog Blog Turkey Awards

Well, it’s that time of year again… It’s Thanksgiving… and it’s time for the third annual T Dog Media Blog Turkey Awards, celebrating the worst in media. Gobble, gobble… – Media Rights Capital’s Sunday lineup on CW. The network leases its Sunday lineup to MRC, and programs it with junk like Valentine and Easy Money. The results? CW’s ratings go […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

– Fox O&Os, including WFLD-TV here in Chicago, have renewed Warner Bros.’ TMZ on TV nightly strip through the 2010-11 season. So more celebrity paparazzi junk from producer and alleged lawyer Lionel Hutz – I mean, Harvey Levin. – Check out Battlestar Galactica’s new promo for its’ fourth-season premiere, coming in January. – The first broadcast station sale of Twentieth’s […]

Fox drops Saturday cartoons – for infomercials

Foxhas announced it is trading in Sonic the Hedgehog – for a bunch of people riding around in Hoveround chairs. In a move that ends children’s programming on Fox after 18 years, the network announced it is dropping the 4KidsTV block it had been airing on Saturday mornings. This comes after 4Kids sued Fox for a refund, alleging it owed […]

John Willams to succede Spike O’Dell

It’s official: Radio-info is reporting on its front page right now of the promotion of afternoon host John Willams to mornings on WGN-AM after current host Spike O’Dell retires on December 12. Willams take over the following Monday (December 15.) No word yet on who will take over Willams’ spot in the afternoons. More from Phil Rosenthal in his Tower […]

B96 thanks Eddie & JoBo & Erica (updated)

WBBM-FM has a note on their website saying “thanks” to Eddie Volkman, Joe Bohannon, and Erica Cobb for their years of hard work and dedication on their morning show. As you all know by now, the trio were let go Friday. In an interview with Phil Rosenthal of the Tribune, Volkman talked about the harsh realities facing the radio business […]

"The Tyra Banks Show" moves to CW

In a move that comes as a bit of a surprise, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution announced Thursday the move of The Tyra Banks Show to CW from first-run syndication – giving the network two hours to fill in its daytime lineup starting next September. CW, home already to Ms. Banks’ America’s Next Top Model, acquired the program to run […]

Eddie & JoBo out at B96

Note: This is a longer version of a story posted yesterday at 7:01 p.m. Not exactly a shocker (as some would claim), given how the radio business has changed since these two signed a multi-year deal in 2002, but with high-salaries becoming a thing of the past in radio – as well as TV – and so is Eddie & […]

Jonathan Brandmeier returns to TV

Seventeen years after Jonathan Brandmeier’s syndicated TV show came – and went – quickly, he’s taking another stab at the small screen. NBC-owned WMAQ-TV is set to air two half-hour specials featuring Brandmeier on Dec. 6 at 1:05 a.m. (that’s Saturday morning, not Saturday night) and the other airing a week later on Sunday night, after Sports Sunday. It is […]

CW, MRC part ways

It was a idea that was bad as the shows themselves… Independent studio Media Rights capital and The CW have agreed to part ways after the Sunday night lineup the company programmed tanked in the ratings. The CW has took back the night and plans to program it with reruns of Everybody Hates Chris and The Game, off-network repeats of […]

Syndication Update

Here’s a look at some of the new syndicated programs and how they are faring thus far, based on info culled from Broadcasting & Cable and TV Week: Legend of the Seeker. Disney-ABC’s first syndicated scripted hour in a decade has made a strong impression in the ratings, with a 2.9 Nielsen household rating and 4.2 million viewers for its […]

Fox dumps BCS; heads for ESPN

Chalk up another victory for The Worldwide Leader in B.S. And the coup involves an organization that put the B.S. in BCS. After Fox Sports rejected to match an offer, the Bowl Championship Series – or BCS – is headed for ESPN beginning in 2011 in a four-year, $500 million deal. The deal means the Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar […]

V103 celebrates 20th anniversary

Back in 1988, a black radio station targeting adult demos was practically unheard of – but it took a radio consultant named Barry Mayo to change all that. He took an under-performing WBMX-FM – a station languishing behind its arch-rival WGCI-FM – and flipped it to Urban Adult Contemporary WVAZ-FM, or V103 -and turned it into a adult demo powerhouse. […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

– With all the high-price radio personality deals a thing of the past (especially in this economy) Don and Roma Wade have signed a new deal with Citadel-owned WLS-AM to keep their morning show on the air for the next four years. Don and Roma have been on WLS since 1985 (when the station still had a CHR/Top 40 format!) […]

Carol Fowler out at Channel 2

Yeah, we knew this was coming: News director Carol Fowler of CBS-owned WBBM-TV was fired today after six years. She was brought in as a stooge of former general manager Joe Ahern, who was fired last month. During her tenure news ratings failed to move upward and still placed behind most of their rivals, including ABC-owned WLS-TV and CW affiliate […]