The Media Notepad: NBC 5’s Andy Avalos retires; Alicia Roman promoted to morning shift

Also: Young Sheldon adds TBS home; Rick Dees becomes voice of RewindTV; Dish and Sinclair avoid blackouts – for now  Veteran meteorologist Andy Avalos announced his retirement on Friday after 33 years on Chicago television. Starting on August 30, fellow NBC 5 (WMAQ) meteorologist Alicia Roman is taking over Avalos’ spot on the morning newscast from 4-7 a.m. She’s been […]

ESPN scores ratings win with “The Last Dance”

Debut of highly-anticipated documentary series doesn’t disappoint in the ratings or quality department. The premiere of the documentary chronicling the Chicago Bulls’ final championship season proved to be the draw it was supposed to be. The ten-hour series The Last Dance was originally supposed to premiere on ESPN in June, but was moved up to April as the coronavirus pandemic […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: “It’s not you, it’s me”

WPWR-CW breakup illustrates how some affiliate partnerships don’t work The major networks have enjoyed long, prosperous relationships with their affiliates. For example, Milwaukee’s WTMJ, St. Louis’ KSDK, and Cincinnati’s WLWT each has enjoyed a long relationship with NBC dating back to the late 1940s. CBS and New Orleans’ WWL have been partners since 1957. And ABC and Dallas’ WFAA go […]

DMA Report: Chicago, other big markets losing households

New DMA rankings show large markets losing population Chicago, San Diego, Indianapolis big losers; Nashville, Portland big gainers An analysis of the 2017-18 Nielsen designated market area (DMA) television household rankings shows a shift in population away from the top markets of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago to other DMAs while other big markets such as Washington D.C., Houston, […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Bulls dragging down NBA ratings

Also: ABC 7 and WGN-TV are February sweeps winners; Tribune Broadcasting update; T.D. Jakes show is canceled; Legion, Good Wife renewed; Iron Fist debuts  With the 33-37 Bulls once again struggling in the ratings locally, it comes as no surprise Chicago’s NBA team is dragging down the league’s ratings nationally. According to Nielsen via Sports Media Watch, March 12’s game on ABC […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: America is suffering from Chicago fatigue

Non-Chicagoans tired of hearing about Chicago  Will advertisers bail out of the Windy City because of negative media coverage? During NHL All-Star weekend in Los Angeles, Chicago Blackhawks stars Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, and Corey Crawford were all booed by fans at the Staples Center. Maybe because of the Kings’ rivalry with the Blackhawks? Keep in mind San Jose […]

Tough night for network TV

Unless you’re CBS After three nights of momentum, network TV slid off the rails Thursday as two programs’ premieres underwhelmed. For the record, real-life events had an effect on TV schedules – police protests in Charlotte were covered on cable news networks and spurred pre-emptions on several Charlotte TV stations; and here in Chicago, where Mayor Rahm Emanuel gave a […]

Chicago: Slipping away?

The state of the Chicago market: population loss may effect media properties  If last week’s bad census news is any indication, Chicago may be in for a rough few years. And the local media scene could be affected. Figures released by the Census Bureau last week showed the Chicago market losing more residents over the last decade than any other […]

Super Bowl 50 falls short of viewership record

But 111.9 million viewers is pretty darn good The Golden Anniversary of the Super Bowl from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. drew incredible numbers – though the game had a lot to be desired. According to Nielsen, the Super Bowl matchup between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers drew a final tally of 111.9 viewers – not a […]

“X-Files” return does it for Fox

    Strong football numbers power X-Files return (Editor’s Note: Contains spoilers.) The Truth is still out there. The X-Files‘ return Sunday night was as good as gold as the return of the Emmy-winning 1993-2002 series paid dividends for Fox. According to Nielsen, the “10th season premiere” of the series starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson scored a 15.1 household […]

Tribune, Fox headed for a Showdown In Seattle

Could have implications for Chicago’s WPWR  A brewing affiliation fight in Seattle could have implications for a local Chicago TV station. According to a story in Tuesday’s edition of the New York Post, Fox is expected to yank the affiliation from Tribune Media’s KCPQ in Seattle-Tacoma. As it was reported in local media circles over the last few weeks, Fox […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: The media fails us on Ferguson

  What can you say about the coverage of the Ferguson, Mo. disturbances from the broadcast networks and cable news networks? They dropped the ball, of course, with the lack of live coverage of the events unfolding in the St. Louis suburb over the last few nights. And if you were a journalist, you sure as hell didn’t have an […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: WLS-TV widens lead over rivals

Grab baggin’: – ABC-owned WLS-TV widened its lead over its competitors during the just-completed May sweeps, according to Nielsen. According to CRM, ABC 7 swept all local news time periods in households (25-54 demos weren’t available at press time), with a decisive victory at 10 p.m., surging 11 percent from May 2012 with a 10.0/18, leaving NBC-owned WMAQ-TV (5.9/11, +4% […]

Fox buys Charlotte combo; boots WCCB out the door

Fox Television Stations, owners of WFLD and WPWR here in Chicago, has announced an intention to purchase Capitol Broadcasting’s WJZY (CW) and WMYT (My Network TV). The sale likely ends Fox’s relationship with Bahakel Communications’ WCCB-TV after 26 years.  The deal of course, is contingent on FCC approval. Fox would likely land on WJZY, the strongest of the duopoly, meaning […]