Reilly back in the game at Fox
Fox has hired Kevin Reilly as Entertainment President of their broadcast network – the same job he was fired from at NBC. He will report to Fox chairman Peter Ligouri. Both worked together at FX.
Dan Patrick leaves ESPN
He hasn’t been on the TV version of ESPN much lately, if hardly at all, so we didn’t see this coming? As rumored last week, Dan Patrick is leaving his radio show at “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” (or as some would put it, “The Worldwide Leader in B.S.”) on August 17. In Chicago, Patrick airs on WMVP-AM from noon […]
"Insider" moves east
CBS Television’s nightly syndicated magazine show The Insider will have Los Angeles-based host Pat O’Brien move to New York to join Laura Spencer at the program’s Times Square studios. The program will also get an updated look comes Sept. 10, when the show begins its fourth season. The program has seen some good luck lately, with The Insider in New […]
More on the "crazy" situation
More information on Howard McGee’s axing at WGCI came out in a place you wouldn’t expect it: a party. It was McGee who made an unexpected appearance at Elroy Smith’s going away bash at the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Chicago Friday night, honoring the soon-to-be OM at Radio One’s urban AC and gospel stations in Philadelphia for his fifteen years […]
National Bingo Night to return? WTF?
Latest B&C TV critics poll gives top honors to Sopranos, Heroes, and Office; National Bingo Night voted worst show. Despite the fact that National Bingo Night bombed in the ratings, ABC is giving the moribund show another chance, this time stripping the show five nights a week, beginning December 17, for that week only. ABC officials claim that the shows’ […]
Hit the road, Jack
WCBS-FM is expected to switch back to oldies next week, if this article in the New York Daily News is any indication. This rights a wrong made two years ago when it dumped the longtime oldies format for the adult hits format known as Jack-FM. Ratings for WCBS-FM dropped like a rock and has not recovered. WCBS-FM became an oldies […]
Elroy Smith is back – in Philadelphia
Elroy Smith, who recently resigned as program director at Clear Channel’s WVAZ-FM (V103), has now got a new gig: Operations manager of Radio One-owned WRNB-FM, an urban AC-formatted station, and WPPZ-FM, a gospel-formatted station, both in Philadelphia.
The craziness ends here
Robert Feder in today’s Sun-Times is reporting that “Crazy” Howard McGee will be dropped as morning host at Clear Channel urban contemporary station WGCI-FM and being replaced by Steve Harvey’s syndicated morning show. The move is expected to take place sometime around August 1. Harvey’s program had been airing on Crawford’s Urban AC outlet WSRB-FM, but Premiere Radio Networks, a […]
WCIU upgrades "Insider", "King of Queens"
WCIU-TV has upgraded CBS’ entertainment magazine (and ET/Hard Copy clone) The Insider and Sony’s off-network King of Queens into access. The moves are being made so WCIU can become more competitive with other stations in town, as WGN-TV is ready to roll out Family Guy and Two And A Half Men this fall, and Everybody Loves Raymond shifts to WFLD-TV […]
NBC cutting originals on Fridays?
Is NBC getting ready to dump original programming on Fridays? NBC entertainment co-chairman Marc Graboff says in an interview with Fortune that declining ratings and increasing costs may force the network to dump original programming on Fridays, where HUT levels on that night have been declining for years. Friday nights are the second-least watched of the week, behind Saturday, which […]
Oh Thank Heaven for the Kwik-E-Mart
Twelve 7-Eleven convenience stores – including one here in Chicago – have converted themselves into “Kwik-E-Marts” – the real-life prototype of the store Apu runs on The Simpsons. In the stores you will find prototypes of products that are seen on the animated show, including Buzz Cola, Krusty O’s, and Squishees (really Slurpees). But you won’t find four week-old hot […]
She’s gone, so now we can gossip about her
Is this one of the the reasons Vanessa Minnillo is now a former correspondent for Entertainment Tonight? (another may be those controversial photos with gal pal Lindsey Lohan…) Interesting how she and boy toy Nick Lachey blast the tabloids – by speaking to one.
Charter latest to pull plug on analog
First it was Comcast switching to all-digital in Chicago, now its Charter Communications that is dumping the old cable analog boxes in St. Louis. Charter, the dominant cable provider in the St. Louis area, will no longer service analog cable boxes as of July 17th. Unlike what Comcast did last month in Chicago, in which it shut off its analog […]
Burns lawsuit nearing end
WBBM-TV anchor Diann Burns’ lawsuit against an contractor may be nearing an end. The anchor and her husband, Marc Watts, sued the contractor for shoddy work done to their $3 million home in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood – and because they were African-American. The contractor contersued for the racism allegations. The parties will meet with a Cook County judge on […]
"Kimmel" to finally air in Charlotte and Atlanta
Cox’s ABC stations in Atlanta (WSB) and Charlotte (WSOC) have finally agreed to clear The Jimmy Kimmel Show effective July 10 in Atlanta and July 17 in Charlotte at 12:05 a.m. after Nightline. Now if only WLS-TV – an ABC O&O – can move Kimmel to its rightful 11:05 p.m. Central Time slot… Do we really need an Oprah repeat?