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 […]

Rewinding 2018 in media

Year marked by scandals, futility, and other things 2018 wasn’t exactly a repeat of the last two horrendous years in the media world, but scandals and deceit still ruled the roost. Though not topping 2017’s Disney-Fox deal, 2018 had some mega transactions – though the second-biggest merger of 2017 went bust as Sinclair Broadcasting’s $4 billion deal to buy Tribune […]

Media Notepad: Jennifer Lyons returns to WGN-TV

Also… Iron Fist canceled; Sun-Times outsources its website; an old post about Ramonski Luv receiving a lot of traffic It’s kind of like WFAN host Mike Francesca’s sudden return, only more warmly received: after only a few weeks away, WGN-TV news director Jennifer Lyons has returned to the Tribune Media station as reported by Robert Feder. She originally left WGN […]

T Dog’s Four Pack – A long time coming

Been awhile since a T Dog’s Four pack was published… so, let’s create one. Now! What’s Hot: The New Orleans Saints. …and in fact, the city of New Orleans and the entire state of Louisiana. Their recent Super Bowl win was their first in the team’s 42-year history, giving a huge lift to an area devastated by Hurricane Katrina only […]

T Dog’s Four Pack

It is sad I could barely scrape up four positive items to put in this week’s four pack. It just goes to show you how bad this business has really become. T Dog’s Fab Four: – Bones. The procedural’s move to Thursday nights finally puts Fox on the map with a 3.2 A18-49 rating, defeating ABC’s Ugly Betty. – NCIS. […]

Warner Saunders, Robert Feder square off

Before I report this, I just want to mention this item was posted on Chicagoland Radio and Media on Monday night and yours truly pondered whether or not to post this story, since it was hearsay at the time and this blog can’t post gossip items which may or may not turn out not to be true, since a written […]

Warner Saunders to retire

Warner Saunders, a veteran of NBC-owned WMAQ-TV’s news team for 28 years, is expected to retire in May 2009. Saunders currently anchors the 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts with Allison Rosati, and they’ve been anchoring at 10 p.m. since 1997, when both Ron Magers and Carol Marin exited WMAQ after the Jerry Springer debacle (Marin has since returned.) Saunders […]

Warning: Local news shakeup ahead

A big news anchor shakeup is in the works at Chicago’s TV news stations. The ball got rolling last week when Mark Supplesa abruptly left WFLD-TV after rejecting a contract offer. In Feder’s column today, he put in all in perspective, with several high-profile names involved in play: – Diann Burns of WBBM-Channel 2 may lose her 10 p.m. anchor […]