WARNING! WARNING! Don’t ask for much, but yours truly wants to make a simple request to the readers of this very blog: Several recent incidents here and a few other media-related sites in the blogosphere has led yours truly to crack down on commenters who are out there just to cause trouble and have no interest in the subject whatsoever. […]
The new version of local TV – you know, the one in which advertisers pay money to have their product or service plugged on the show – has taken a hit with the dissolvement of Kansas City Live, KSHB-TV’s low-rated one-hour infotainment program. The Hour Magazine clone, which airs at 10 a.m. on the Scripps-owned NBC affiliate, is being replaced […]
In a poll conducted by Pepperdine University, 63 percent of the public are backing the writers in their dispute with the studios, who had only 4 percent. 33 percent of the people surveyed in the poll were unsure. In other strike news: – NBC has pulled out of the upcoming Television Critics Association tour in January because of the strike […]
While Two and a Half Men tied the weekly CSI: Miami for top off-network show, there is a surprise strong performer in the race: Warner Bros.’ other new off-net sitcom, The George Lopez Show. The sitcom, which aired on ABC until this past season, averaged a season-high 2.7 household rating in the latest Nielsen report. Lopez’s performance is strong thanks […]
My apologies for just getting around to these stories, but a belated happy trails to two notable Chicagoans: Jimmy P. Stagg, a discjockey who worked at the old WCFL in the 1960’s and 1970’s, who helped shape Chicago’s Top 40 wars with WLS back in the day. He passed away last week from cancer at the age of 72. He […]
New weekend off-network hours that are making the rounds for syndication in 2008 have cleared Chicago stations. Boston Legal, the Emmy-award series from Twentieth Television, has cleared WLS-TV in Chicago for weekend runs next fall, as well as fellow ABC O&O’s in Los Angeles (KABC), San Francisco (KGO), and Houston (KTRK). Other stations clearing the hour include Scripps’ WXYZ-TV in […]
Usually don’t report on trends, but WGCI is continuing to pay for dropping Howard McGee and replacing it with Steve Harvey’s morning show. It was a bad trend for Clear Channel, with just two of its stations showing an increase and WLIT bottoming out to an all-time low. The station recently flipped to Christmas music. But the unlikely winner was […]
In the top 20 markets. And as predicted, all hell is breaking loose. Meanwhile, the Tribune co. may get short-term waivers to keep its TV stations and newspapers in Chicago and other markets.
To: Our Readers Over the last fourteen months, I have had the pleasure of writing about TV and radio to you, and we’ve had some fun along the way. But let me tell you something. When people – notably those who hate the media business (radio and TV) and say I’m wasting my time writing this blog, I say to […]
Last night’s first Chicago Blackhawks home game against the Detroit Red Wings averaged a household rating of 0.8, according to Nielsen Media Research. While that number seems disappointing (after all, it’s hockey), it was an improvement over the 0.4 rating it has averaged so far this season, it tied an October 31 game against Dallas for the season high (0.8), […]
An item on James Hibberd’s blog on the writer’s strike has turned the comments section to a free-for-all, attacking writers and bloggers, and yours truly in particular: Fred: Wow, T Dog, is that professional writing? It is so impressive. Question: If a script falls in the forest and no one hears it it does it deserve a residual? Yours truly […]
Lincoln TV, the former Jefferson-Pilot station group, was sold to Raycom for $583 million. The group includes CBS affiliates WBTV in Charlotte and WCSC in Charelston, S.C., and NBC affiliate WWBT in Richmond, Va. Lincoln’s sports production unit was also sold, and will be folded into Raycom Sports. Lincoln (and its predecessor Jefferson-Pilot), was responsible for syndicating a package of […]
Rich Pegram has resigned from NBC affiliate WTHR-TV in Indianapolis after 13 years. The move comes as WTHR is trying to fend off rival CBS affiliate WISH-TV for the number one slot. During his tenure, WTHR went from a fourth-place laughingstock (a stigma it had since it signed on in 1957) to a top-rated news leader, a move that was […]
Note: If you didn’t see this show, don’t click on the link, as it contains a major spoiler. All right, Stewie didn’t kill Lois. But somebody did die on another show on Fox’s Sunday night animation block.
The current writer’s strike in Hollywood may further hurt TV stations’ bottom lines, which are already reeling from a soft ad market and tight spot ad inventory. Stations, especially network affiliates, need fresh programming in the last hour of prime time to lead into their late local newscasts. With network programming likely to go into reruns the longer the strike […]
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