Rewinding media in 2023

it’s Elon Musk, 2023 had No Chance In Hell to be a quiet year. (LA Times)

A year dominated by labor strife, awful Chicago sports teams, and – oh yeah, Elon 

If you watched the WWE, you remember Vince McMahon playing himself as an arrogant CEO and billionaire, ruling over anything and everything – the ultimate heel.

It’s a real-life trend we’re seeing as we close 2023. Led by billionaire Elon Musk, CEOs – whether they’re from sports teams (Jerry Reinsdorf and the McCaskeys) to media (Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav), are using their power to crush the little guy. We saw this in two labor stoppages in Hollywood. We saw this with Twitter (now X), as Musk told users if they didn’t like him or the way he does things, they could hit the highway. Studios are pulling material from streaming – finished and unfinished – so they can get tax breaks.

Goodbye Arthur Fortune, hello Vince. 

As the year closes, we may see another mega media merger as Warner and Paramount Global are discussing such a union as the bottom continues to fall out of linear TV and streaming services are piling up tremendous losses. The move could trigger more media consolidation as Wall Street and Hollywood are betting the Biden Administration – with its cool stance toward mergers, will be replaced in the White House in 2025 by a returning Donald Trump or some other Republican as the current President’s poll numbers aren’t exactly great. And already big enough local TV and radio conglomerates want even more – claiming a loss of revenue to Big Tech, though they’ve been known to use every trick in the book to show they’re losing money, thanks to “creative accounting” and hardly providing any evidence to state their case.

I can hear the No Chance In Hell music ramping up as I speak…

So without further ado, here’s the annual round-up in media: 

Chicago media

Like its peers in other cities, Chicago stations had to grapple with continuing audience decline as cord-cutting continues to take its toll. Perhaps the biggest example is the reduction of WTTW’s Chicago Tonight to just two editions a week from four, a year after losing its 7 p.m. slot and being reduced to a half-hour. Still, ABC 7 continued to dominate news ratings in Chicago among 25-54ers, except in the morning hours when WGN-TV rules.

Chicago news stations shined their brightest last summer as each provided breaking news updates regarding severe weather and possible tornadic activity. In a particularly touching moment, ABC 7’s Mark Rivera consoled a suburban business owner after he lost his building in the storm. Local stations also devoted time to the ever-changing climate in our area. News expansion slowed this year, as CBS 2 decided to air its 9-10 a.m. newscast on both its streaming and linear TV outlets in September, while WGN added another lifestyle show, Spotlight Chicago, at 3 p.m.

On the other hand, there were numerous missteps. The media’s untimely role in covering mayhem in downtown Chicago was called into question once again after teens descended into the area on a Saturday night last April, ceding coverage to social media with several users posting inaccurate and false information while some expressed their racist views through the #ChicagoScanner hashtag, which has evolved into an orgy of racist attacks against minorities with the blessing of Musk (for more on him, keep reading.) 

While other local stations did a decent job with election night coverage, WGN-TV’s was an outright embarrassment with The Triibe’s Morgan Elise Johnson being treated shabbily by the Nexstar station and the addition of right-wing commentator Pat Brady. And the local media was just as clueless as White Sox and city officials in last August’s shooting at Guaranteed Rate Field with one sports journalist suggesting a gun was smuggled in someone’s “belly fat”.

All local stations should be demerited for letting “community activist” Andrew Holmes on the air whenever someone under the age of eighteen becomes a victim in the Chicago area’s never-ending cycle of violence. While his concern is understandable given he lost his daughter to gun violence, his news conference appearances only come off as hucksterism. And while the homicide rate dropped, the city’s crime rate skyrocketed as a crew from Univision’s WGBO was robbed on the North Side last summer – proving local media wasn’t immune to the problem.

Retirements in Chicago TV saw ABC 7’s Jim Rose, WFLD/WPWR’s Mike Flannery, Corey McPherrin, and GM Dennis Welsh all calling it a career while WGN-TV’s Tom Skilling is doing so on February 28 of next year.

Chicago radio also saw a few exits including the retirement of MeTV FM’s Rick O’Dell and the departures of WGCI’s Kyle Santillan, Kendra G, PD Johnny D., and Rock 95.5’s Abe Kenan. Todd Cavanah exited Audacy and resurfaced at Cumulus’ WLS-FM as program director. Sister station Q101 hired James Kurdziel to succeed Troy Hanson who departed controversially. WLS-AM also bid adieu to “Big” John Howell but added two new local shows.

Mitch Rosen and Rachel Williamson each received promotions at Audacy, Hubbard appointed Keith Lawless as its new market manager, and Audacy’s B96 hired new afternoon personality Jordan “Dash” Orman-Weiss as the Top 40 station added more “flashbacks”, following a trend among hit music stations. 

After struggling to attract visitors for years, the Museum of Broadcast Communications closed its River North location last spring, but a proposal was made to house migrants in its former building as Texas Governor Greg Abbott decided to bus them to Chicago and other “sanctuary cities” in one of the biggest non-media stories this year.

Chicago wasn’t immune to retrans battle as Nexstar stations – WGN-TV included – were off of DirecTV in July and August. And three Chicago stations celebrated their 75th Anniversaries this year.

MeTV’s Svengoolie just kept rolling along as he introduced the Sven Squad to his Saturday night movie showcase and expanded its distribution, adding DirecTV (it’s already available through the satellite provider in the Chicago area through WWME-CA.)

National TV scene

2023 was not a good year for television, as dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes shut Hollywood down for months and forced the major broadcast networks – who were already struggling with declining audiences – to air schlocky programming, The Golden Bachelor and Raid The Cage included and The Price Is Right at Night almost every night.

But there were exceptions: Expanded 90-minute editions of Survivor capped off another fantastic season with a ratings increase among young viewers on traditionally ancient CBS while Dancing With The Stars had a triumphant return to ABC after a year of being banished at Disney Plus.

The economics of television caught up with a couple of shows, as Bob Hearts Abisola and Young Sheldon announced the end of their long runs, as did Blue Bloods after fourteen seasons.

In syndication, Ryan Seacrest exited Live With Kelly and Ryan (who was replaced by Ripa’s husband Mark Consuelos) and was named the new host of Wheel Of Fortune, replacing a retiring Pat Sajak while Mayim Bialik was dropped from Jeopardy!, leaving Ken Jennings as sole host. Both shows’ futures were secured as the ABC-owned stations (including ABC 7 here) renewed each through 2028, while Debmar-Mercury renewed Family Feud through 2026 and scored an access upgrade in September when WFLD moved the show to 6 p.m. to replace The Big Bang Theory as Sheldon, Leonard, and the gang defected to WGN-TV as Fox’s owned stations declined to renew the expensive off-network sitcom for another cycle.

Ratings for Chicago native Jennifer Hudson’s talk show continued to grow, while Rachael Ray and Dr. Phil each called it a career – though the latter is coming back next year with the new Merit Street Network. And despite decent ratings, the writer’s strike helped put an end to the expensive You Bet Your Life With Jay Leno, as Fox First-Run decided to bench it permanently in favor of cheaper game shows. Leno also lost his CNBC car show as the financial news network yet underwent another dramatic change in primetime programming, meaning….yep, even more Shark Tank reruns.

Chicago lost its final nationally syndicated show with Warner Bros. pulling the plug on Greg Mathis’ long-running court show, as did Marilyn Milan’s The People’s Court. Both have since found a new home with Byron Allen’s production company.

And perhaps in the ultimate sense of satisfaction – and despite being put behind a paid streaming service, Snoopy is more popular than ever – especially with the Gen Z crowd while Scooby-Doo got fired from his show.

The business of media

One name dominated the conversation this year and that was Elon Musk. The self-proclaimed “world’s richest man” dramatically overhauled Twitter by changing its name to X and appealing more to the right-wing crowd by allowing banned accounts back, embracing white supremacy, and promoting anti-Semitic ideals. When advertisers bailed out of the platform due to anti-Semitic and racist content, Musk responded (and of course, we’re paraphrasing here) by saying he didn’t need them.

Bob Iger made waves this year by hinting in a CNBC interview he may be selling Disney’s linear assets including ABC, its owned stations, and several cable networks – fueling speculation ABC stations in big markets could be bought by their Nexstar counterparts or someone else but at the end of the day, Iger backed down.

Meanwhile, his company and Charter got into a retrans spat, with the former pulling all of their channels from Spectrum, Charter’s name for their broadband products. Both came to a landmark agreement days later, with several of Disney’s cable channels permanently banished.

The digital subchannel space was shaken up with Weigel’s Decades evolving into Catchy Comedy and the abrupt overhaul of Dabl into a sitcom channel targeting Black female audiences. Circle and Twist are closing effective December 31 (is anyone surprised given Twist features mostly awful reality shows?) Stadium bowed out last fall after being taken over by Silver Chalice Media and is, for now, a FAST channel. 

And speaking of FAST channels, the free ad-supported streaming networks grew by leaps and bounds this year with new channels from Ebony, Conan O’Brien, the NFL, and dozens and dozens more.

President Biden finally got his fifth FCC commissioner in Anna Gomez, but not before 43 Republican senators voted against her, the largest number of no votes for a nomination in recent memory. With a 3-2 majority, the FCC plans to bring back net neutrality, whereas a legal challenge is likely. A mandate to install AM receivers in electric cars stalled in Congress after Republican Rand Paul from Kentucky put a hold on the bill, saying the subsidies to build such vehicles should be eliminated instead.

The CW made its transition from a teen-young adult hangout to a more mature place for viewers, shredding expensive dramas as Nexstar continues to put its stamp on the network. The suburban Dallas-based broadcaster started moving The CW to its owned stations and others after eight CBS outlets cut ties with the network after its 50 percent stake shrunk to 12.5 percent. While the transition went smoothly, it didn’t happen that way in Detroit, where The CW lasted all of two months at WADL-TV as the owner and Nexstar got into a heated dispute.

Sports and Sports Media

If you thought 2022 was a bad year in Chicago sports, 2023 was even worse as all of Chicago’s pro sports teams floundered in one way or another, with none of the five male pro teams making the playoffs. And the one team who did (Chicago Sky) didn’t win a single game.

But no one had it worse than the White Sox as not only the aforementioned shooting at their ballpark give the organization – and the city another black eye when it came to crime but also had to put up with the antics of now-former teammate and once-rising star Tim Anderson and its 101-loss record – not to mention a possible move to Nashville when its lease is up and play-by-play Jason Benetti wisely bailing out of the organization to join the Detroit Tigers in the same capacity.

But hope for the future does look bright for the Chicago Blackhawks as rookie phenom Connor Bedard dazzled in his freshman season in the NHL (that’s it. That’s all I got.)

The words “sell the team” became the quote of the year – not only from White Sox and Bears fans but also those of the soon-to-relocate Oakland A’s and the Detroit Pistons, who as of this writing lost 27 games in a row (at least Chicago teams don’t have that kind of distinction- at least not yet.)

In sports media, the saga of Bally Sports has almost concluded, with the bankrupt chain likely closing its doors next year as barring any further developments, rights to MLB and NHL games revert to their respective leagues. A few teams already bailed out of Bally, including the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres. The decline of the RSN also saw AT&T SportsNet close, with the Utah Jazz and (Las) Vegas Golden Knights finding new homes in an over-the-air/streaming hybrid, joining the Phoenix Suns in that capacity.

Marquee launched a new direct-to-consumer product, meaning Cubs fans can finally watch games without a cable or satellite TV subscription.

The Denver Nuggets won their first NBA title in a decently-rated final, but the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and the Golden Knights was just as forgettable as the ratings were.

The CW entered the sports business for the first time under new Nexstar ownership, became the home of the controversial LIV Golf tournaments, and then acquired ACC Sports and NASCAR’s Xfinity Series races starting in 2025. In a surprise move, WGN-TV became the home for such programming instead of Weigel’s WCIU, thanks to the independent station being under common ownership with Nexstar.

And speaking of NASCAR, the first-ever Chicago Street Race was a smash hit with viewers and racing fans alike and will be back in Chicago next year.

Daytime cable sports talk shows continued to annoy us in 2023 with the addition of Pat McAfee and the elevation of First Take’s Chris Russo, proving cord-cutting has yet to reach its full impact.

In Memoriam

Chicago lost two popular and iconic radio personalities this year: WXRT’s Lin Brehmer and Dick Biondi, last heard on WLS-FM. Also passing away was WLS-AM host Jay Marvin, and Tampa Bay Rays broadcaster Dave Wills, who had ties to the Chicago area with his past work with the White Sox.

In local television, observers were shocked and saddened by the death of syndicated talk show host Jerry Springer, who died in April at 79. Other local TV figures who died this year include WGN and WCIU’s Jack Taylor and WBBM-TV/WLS-TV anchor/reporter Harry Porterfield, who was best known for his Someone You Should Know segments.

Other notable figures who passed in 2023 include former FCC chairman Newton Minow; Tribune owner Sam Zell; Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz;  local TV critic Clifford Terry; former WMAQ-TV GM Monte Newman; Bears linebacker and actor Dick Butkus; Blackhawks legend Bobby Hull; WCBS-TV New York meteorologist Elise French; and William Dilday, the nation’s first Black television executive.

National figures include former first lady Rosalynn Carter; CBN founder Pat Robertson; actor Matthew Perry; Chicago native and actor Andre Braugher; singers Tina Turner and Sinead O’Connor; actress Suzanne Somers; former Pee-Wee’s Playhouse host Paul Reubens; Dancing With The Stars judge Len Goodman; game show host Bob Barker; and Norman Lear. 

And on a personal note – my father – Henry Henderson Sr., who died at the age of 86 on December 15.

Thank you for reading all year long, and I’ll see you in 2024.