Shocking news: Former Chicago Bull and broadcast personality Norm Van Lier died in his Chicago home today at the age of 61. He was found unresponsive at 1 p.m. in his South Loop home. The cause of death is not known at this time. Van Lier has been a long time in-studio analyst for Chicago Bulls broadcasts on Comcast SportsNet […]
Chicago radio personality and frequent house husband Garry Meier will be getting out of the crib more in the next week – and hoping it leads to a full-time radio job. Meier has signed on to do the 1 to 4 p.m. shift on WGN-AM next week, in a “test drive”. If the stint is successful, Meier could land the […]
WBBM-AM big winner These are based on Persons 6+ numbers. Winners: WBBM-AM, WLS-AM and FM, Love FM (WILV-FM), WGRB-AM, The Drive (WDRV-FM), US99 (WUSN-FM) Honorable Mention: The Mix (WTMX-FM), WOJO-FM, The Loop (WLUP-FM), JACK FM (WJMK-FM) Down, but potent: Lite FM (WLIT-FM), V103 (WVAZ-FM) Losers: B96 (WBBM-FM), WGCI-FM, Q101 (WKQX-FM), Fresh (WCFS-FM) Analysis: All news WBBM-AM – with its coverage […]
News on Heroes, WGN, and The CW. – Stick a fork in them, they’re done: NBC’s Heroes hit a series low Monday night, finishing fourth in total viewers (7 million) and a weak third in adults 18-49 behind sitcom repeats on CBS and The Bachelor on ABC – not to mention landing in the loser’s circle in Marc Berman’s Programming […]
Sunday at the Allegro, a group of journalists, reporters, and media personalities gathered together for a tailgate on the future of Journalism in Chicago. It was basically a clash between old media (newspapers, television, radio) and new media (The Internet, iPhone, iPods.) Representing the “old school” were John Callaway, Carol Marin, Robert Feder, and Eric Zorn, among others, and repping […]
Dark Knight who? Or is that your Final Answer? The 81st Annual Academy Awards were up in household overnight ratings, total viewers, and 18-49 demo from last year. The increases come despite the lack of a big name in the Best Picture category, which Slumdog Millionaire won – as well as seven other Academy Awards. The movie of course, revolves […]
Didn’t do one last week, so this is for the last two weeks: The winners and losers… Fab Four – Survivor. Another winning edition of Survivor, both in the ratings and in quality. And it drew more viewers in the 18-49 demo than its’ lead-out, CSI Thursday night – a first. – The Simpsons in HD. Had the look and […]
The Worldwide Leader in Sports is going local. ESPN announced it will plan to launch a new Chicago-themed sports site in April named ESPNChicago.com. It will feature local breaking sports news and original content, including three-to-five minute local SportsCenter video segments. Also, ESPN Chicago plans to add social networking to the site as well. Already, MillerCoors is on board as […]
It looks like Sirius-XM received a bailout plan of its own: and it’s not from the government…. Liberty Media (headed by John Malone) has come to the rescue of the beleaguered satellite radio operator, with a $530 million dollar investment. The money will come in two phases – both in the form of loans. One of the phases is being […]
A Cook County judge is allowing a lawsuit filed by former WMAQ-TV reporter Amy Jacobson against CBS and its O&O here (WBBM-TV) to go forward after the station videotaped her at Craig Stebic’s house in July 2007. The tape aired on the station and cost Ms. Jacobson her job. Stebic is a suspect in the disappearence of his wife, who […]
Syndication switcheroo; Universal Sports add more clearances; Young files Chapter 11. – With another ratings period ahead, two Chicago stations have made some major changes to their syndicated lineups: * Beginning today, WCIU-TV is swapping time periods with Warner Bros.’ The People’s Court and Sony’s now-canceled Judge Karen. With Karen now out of production, WCIU has moved the show to […]
Second of two parts. A new morning show which debuted on Comcast SportsNet last month pairing up former WSCR-AM (Score) partners Mike North and Dan Jiggetts titled Monsters in the Morning. While the three-hour program offers up sports news and weather every morning from 6 to 9 a.m., the deal on how the show got on the air – is […]
The Simpsons finally went HD starting with tonight’s episode, which also included an all-new revamp of the opening credit sequence, which has been used in various forms since the series debuted in 1990. On February 8, King of the Hill went HD, as does Comedy Central’s South Park when it returns for its season premiere on March 11. Tonight’s episode […]
The alternative title is being used to describe today’s News & Notes, as there is sad news to report: – Chicago Defender sports journalist Larry Gross passed away Wednesday at the age of 59 due to complications from lung cancer. Gross covered mostly local sports for the paper, including Chicago Public School Prep action. The wake will be held Feb. […]
Updated story The FCC has rejected an application for all of the stations in the Rockford-Freeport area (northwest of Chicago) to switch to all-digital broadcasting. The stations: CBS affiliate WIFR, NBC affiliate WREX, ABC affiliate WTVO, and Fox affiliate WQRF were among four of 123 stations whose applications to change over on the original switchover date (Feb. 17.) Those stations […]