It looks like Wall Street isn’t high on the sale of the Tribune Co. to Sam Zell, given Tribune’s sinking sale price. And yours truly is having second thoughts about the sale, which would keep all the properties (except the Cubs) together, even though this blog voiced support for the sale and to keep the media properties intact – but […]
That’s the question TVnewsday’s Steve Passwaiter is asking (registration may be required.) With the sitcom drought on the networks, the reliable comedies needed for stations not affiliated with the big three networks to fill non-prime time periods are fading away, and there is nothing coming in to replace them. Many stations are using the time slots that were once reserved […]
To the tune of 17.2 million viewers for the Disney Channel last night, according to Nielsen, topping the 7.8 million viewers the original had. Not only that, it broke ratings records in kids 6-11 and the highest Friday viewership for any show – broadcast and cable – in the last five years. One word to describe this: Phenomenon.
According to Media Life. But media buyers are saying, “So? The data is more accurate.” And those Portable People Meters are being rolled out in the top ten largest radio markets in the next year, including New York in October and Chicago in January.
Some things I guess you can’t blame on NBC’s prime-time lineup: Journal Broadcasting’s WTMJ-TV replaced Mark Strachota with a returning Steve Wexler as general manager. This comes as once-dominant WTMJ is coming under siege in the ratings from ABC affiliate WISN-TV. Those two Milwaukee stations have been neck-and-neck in the ratings. And don’t expect a return to the glory days […]
It’s dated two weeks ago, but Chicago rapper Twista fires back at his critics in his Red Eye column – namely Rev. Pflager, who applauded McDonalds for dropping him from a Chicago concert sponsored by the food chain. The bigger question is, what the heck Twista’s doing having a column in Red Eye to begin with (and not the Chicago […]
The Half Hour News Hour is becoming the NO Hour News Hour – Fox News dumped the right-wing satire news show after 15 episodes – much longer than Cavemen would probably last. The program was co-created by the producers of 24. Yes, that 24. See, there’s the problem. The producers obviously didn’t know anything about comedy, or drama for that […]
This one just outside of Houston, where bullets from a drive-by shooting hit non-commercial KPFT-FM’s studios on Monday. The bullets went through the door and into the DJ booth. Fortunately, no one was injured. This is the second time in a week a radio station’s facilities were targeted by shooters. On Friday, a shooter took aim at a Peoria radio […]
And Boomer Esasion takes over his former morning drive-time slot, along with some guy named Craig Carton from a New Jersey radio station, who is built in the Michael Savage mold.
This didn’t happen in New York City, but in all places, Peoria: According to All Access, someone shot up the transmitter of Rhythmic outlet WZPW-FM in Peoria early Friday morning, effectively taking the station off the air. WZPW returned to the air Saturday afternoon, but is still running at reduced power.
HBO dumped its ratings and critically challenged drama series John From Cincinnati, effectively sending John back to the land of Oinco Cinco, where Jerry Springer was once mayor, Pete Rose was once a hero, and Les Nessman gave hog reports.
The full fall schedule isn’t out yet, but WGN-TV in Chicago has announced that new-to- syndication repeats of Family Guy and Two and a Half Men will air in prime access starting Sept. 10. Family Guy will air at 6:30 and at 10, replacing Everybody Loves Raymond and Sex and the City, respectively. The Family Guy slotting at 10 is […]
Star Trek’s weekly run to get better time slot in the NYC This despite the fact that The CW renewed the sitcom for another season on Monday nights (it’s not on WWOR’s weekday fall schedule – scroll down to see). CBS Paramount has decided to end local station deals on Sept. 7, meaning it’s going to be buried on BET’s […]
So viewers can now ignore it on another cable network. Maybe they can acquire the NHL next? Meanwhile, Nick’s Noggin (the pre-school outlet) and The N (a teen-targeted outlet), which shared space on one channel, will be spitting up into two separate 24-hour operations on Dec. 31, with Noggin taking over the channel space now occupied by Nick GAS (Games […]
Silly skits. Implausible plot lines. Terrible lines. Subpar acting. What you usually expect from sitcoms ‘Til Death and According To Jim you’re finding in Rescue Me, according to Advertising Age’s Brian Steinberg. With ratings down and critical acclaim now almost non-existent, maybe it’s time for Denis Leary to hang up his fireman’s hat.
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