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 […]

WMAQ-TV marks 75th Anniversary

Joins ABC 7 and WGN in doing so with special segments So far, 2023 saw ABC’s WLS-TV and Nexstar’s WGN-TV mark their 75th anniversaries, the latter with a two-hour special. And now NBC-owned WMAQ-TV (branded as NBC 5 and NBC Chicago locally) is also joining the party.  Several WMAQ alumnus will be joining the station for special segments during the […]

Syndication: What’s new this fall

…or not, as reruns, court shows dominate local schedules As linear TV viewership continues to tumble, fall schedules for local television stations across the country certainly reflect the trend. Unlike last year when Sherri Shepard and Jennifer Hudson debuted with new syndicated talk shows, there is no such new programming being offered – especially with an ongoing work stoppage in […]

The Media Notepad: Judge Marliyn Milan returns to TV in a new show

Also: B96 hires Canavah’s replacement; Diamond Sports Group skips payments to Guardians and Twins; Extra renewed for season thirty  The other shoe has dropped in Warner Bros.’ decision to exit the court genre as Marilyn Milian has signed with Allen Media Group for a new hour-long court show, Justice For The People With Judge Milan, debuting this fall.  “We at […]

Warner Bros. pulls plug on long-running “Judge Mathis”, “People’s Court”

Departure of “Mathis” leaves Chicago without a nationally daily syndicated show for the first time since 1986 Warner Bros. Discovery announced late Friday it was ending long-running courtroom shows Judge Mathis and The People’s Court after 24 and 26 seasons respectively. While Court was taped in Connecticut, Judge Mathis‘ cancellation leaves Chicago without a national daily program to call home […]

The Media Notepad: ABC 7 holds on to late-night news ratings lead

Plus…DeDe McGuire returns to Chicago airwaves via syndication; Konkol returns; Judge Steve Harvey? Despite the well-publicized departure of Mark Giangreco earlier this year, viewers are still tuning in to ABC 7’s (WLS-TV) newscasts and is handily beating their competition.  Even though 25-54 numbers haven’t been released yet and the following only measures total viewers, ABC 7 easily won the 10 […]

Report: AT&T sells “TMZ” to Fox

Move adds more programs to Fox’s syndication portfolio In a surprising move reported last month, WarnerMedia parent AT&T is in talks to sell its TMZ franchise to Fox Corp. Today, the deal became official according to Deadline.  TMZ consists of the gossip website and the two syndicated television shows they spun off of, TMZ (alternatively titled TMZ on TV) and […]

Coronavirus fears forces “Wendy Williams”, others to pull live studio audiences

Syndicated, network daytime shows latest to pull audiences due to coronavirus After Sony’s decision to close tapings of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune to the public as of Monday night due to coronavirus concerns, more shows have followed suit as expected. Tuesday night, Debmar-Mercury and Wendy Williams announced they would not host audiences for their show for now: pic.twitter.com/pM3yZEitZU — […]

The state of syndication in 2018

With NATPE arriving this week, it’s nothing but slim pickings as veteran shows continue to have shows locked up Looking for something new in syndication for 2018? You might want to stop. With buyers and sellers descending to Miami this week for the 56th National Association of Television Programming Executives gathering, the syndicated marketplace for new shows is lackluster in […]

WCIU unveils new look, logo

With Weigel Broadcasting’s WCIU set to become Chicago’s only locally-owned broadcaster once Sinclair’s purchase of Tribune Media is done, the company’s two local stations are putting a fresh coat of paint on the place. On Monday, WCIU and sister station The U Too (WMEU-CD, channels 26.2 and 48.1) unveiled new on-air logos and a revamped website. The independent’s rebranding effort […]

Why is Chicago still hung up on Oprah?

A few days ago, Oprah Winfrey announced she put her Harpo Studios up for sale. The facility, which hasn’t been used much since her talk show ended in 2011, could fetch over a million bucks in the real estate market. On Thursday, the Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg slammed her for not being “Chicago” enough, or something. Great article. If it were […]