While Barack Obama was being sworn in as our 44th President, something else was going on. And it wasn’t good. Clear Channel made what is perhaps the biggest one-day layoff of any media company in history by axing around 1,850 jobs nationwide from Chicago to Atlanta, from Detroit to San Francisco, and everywhere in between. Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays […]
Jeff Kiernan has been named the new news director at CBS-owned WBBM-TV (CBS 2), being charged of cleaning up the mess former news director Carol Fowler left. Kiernam is a native of nearby Munster, Ind., and has been in charge of news operations for CBS O&Os stations in Minneapolis (WCCO-TV) and Boston (WBZ-TV.) While at WCCO, Kiernan kept WCCO competitve […]
– The ALCS Game 7 between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays on TBS last night drew a record-setting 13.4 million viewers, making it the highest-rated baseball game in cable TV history. Boston made a historic comeback in Game 5 being down 7-0 and winning the game 8-7, and winning Game 6. But the Rays beat Boston […]
If you think radio stations in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles are worrying about Arbitron’s Portable People Meters – then you haven’t seen anything yet. Television executives in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Cleveland are sweating it out over the next several months as Local People Meters – or LPMs, become the standard of measurement for television ratings measured by Nielsen. […]
The CW scored its highest ratings ever with the two-hour premiere of 90210 Tuesday night, the anticipated sequel to Beverly Hills 90210, which ran on Fox for ten seasons (1990-2000.) Courtesy of PIFeedback.com, here are the results: – Households (3.9/6, #3); Adults 18-34 (3.0/9, #1); Women 18-34 (4.3/12, #1); Adults 18-49 (2.6/7, #1); Women 18-49 (3.6/9, #1); persons 12-34 (2.7/8, […]
Is the off-network sitcom drought about to come to an end in syndication? It very well may be. But stations may have other ideas. This story from TVNewsday reports on the off-network sitcom drought this coming season and the number of sitcoms coming down the pike in September 2009. For the first time in recent memory, there are no fresh […]
Burns, Childers, Malone out at Channel 2; layoffs at other CBS O&Os The ax fell at CBS-owned WBBM-TV on Monday, with eighteen people either laid off or their contracts not being renewed. The causalities include on-air veterans Mary Ann Childers, Diann Burns, and Mark Malone. Burns was the highest-paid anchor at the station, making a reported $2 million per year. […]
The latest from the convention: WCIU picks up Judge Penny: Independent WCIU-TV in Chicago picks up its first-ever syndicated program from Program Partners by acquiring the company’s new first-run courtroom strip Family Court with Judge Penny. The program has cleared 70 percent of the country, including Fox-owned stations in New York and Los Angeles. Additional clearances include CBS/CW stations in […]
A month after acquiring the syndication rights to air American Idol Rewind from now-defunct Tribune Entertainment, Trifecta has sold the series’ third season to thirteen Fox O&O markets. That means Idol Rewind in Chicago will switch this October from Tribune-owned WGN-TV to Fox-owned WFLD-TV and WPWR-TV. The program will also shift from Tribune to Fox stations in New York, Los […]
Happy New Year! This is The T Dog Media Blog. Welcome Back. Took a New Year’s breather, so let’s catch up on what’s been going on: – Giants-Patriots draws large audience: The NFL triplecast of the New England Patriots – New York Giants game Saturday Night, in which the Patriots beat the Giants to become the first team in NFL […]
Hawks also looking for over-the-air broadcast partner The Chicago Blackhawks and Comcast SportsNet held a press conference yesterday to announce the home-game schedule that will air on the regional sports net. Click here to view the official press release and the schedule. The first of these games airs this Sunday, with the Hawks hosting the Detroit Red Wings at 6 […]
CBS Television Distribution has cleared a spin-off of Dr. Phil called The Doctors in 50 percent of the country. Among station groups clearing the show include CBS, Belo, Gannett, Scripps, and Cox. Stations grabbing the strip include WCBS-TV in New York, KCAL-TV in Los Angeles, KYW-TV in Philadelphia, KTVU-TV in San Francisco, WSB-TV in Atlanta (which will likely replace Montel […]
Buffalo: CBS affiliate WIVB-TV and independent WNLO continue to dominate news viewing, according to Nielsen numbers for the July sweeps. WIVB won 5, 6, and 11 p.m. news ratings, while WNLO scored a 6.3 rating at 10 p.m. for its news – among the best in the country. NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV did pull a surprise in the morning news race, […]
Local television stations in the nation’s fifteenth largest market sprung into action shortly after a bridge collapse at Interstate 35W over the Mississippi river, the main link between the eastern downtown portion of Minneapolis to the University/Northeast sections of the city. According to Broadcasting & Cable, ABC affiliate KSTP was first on the scene just minutes after the bridge collapse, […]
… in Minneapolis, that is. KTTB-FM, or B96 in Minneapolis was sold by Radio One to Northern Lights Broadcasting for $28 million. Like our B96 (WBBM-FM) here in Chicago, Minneapolis-St.Paul’s B96 is an rhythmic/CHR outlet, but it is the only station in the market (or the state for that matter) to have a hip-hop/urban music format. Radio One, which targets […]