Sinclair to divest WGN-TV? Not so fast

Sinclair selling off WPIX, WGN to win approval? Meet the Shell Answer Man. During the eight years I worked at the Better Business Bureau, yours truly has seen plenty of scams perpetrated onto by the public the organization had to warn about. But even those can’t compare to what Sinclair and the FCC are pulling. In a filing revealed on […]

Mark Konkol out as editor of Chicago Reader

Pulitzer-prize winning columnist out after less than two weeks Back some time ago, if there was a TV show so poorly received by critics and the viewing public, it would be off the air in three weeks. Mark Konkol lasted less than two weeks running a newspaper. In a move praised by many, the Chicago Sun-Times fired the Pulitzer-prize winning […]

The CW returns to Sunday nights

After nearly a decade, The CW is back in the Sunday night race Signaling they are not going anywhere, The CW announced Wednesday their intentions to return to programming Sunday nights after a nine-year hiatus. The expansion gives the network twelve hours a week to program, all in primetime beginning this fall. The move comes as The CW has received […]

Chicago White Sox head to WGN-AM

Baseball team scores rights deal with Tribune-owned station Tribune Media announced Wednesday it signed a three-year deal to carry Chicago White Sox games over WGN-AM (720) starting this year. The news was highly anticipated as the baseball team’s and the Bulls’ deal with Cumulus’ WLS-AM fell apart after the Atlanta-based radio chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year. The […]

Another embarrassing graphics gaffe at ABC 7

The flub is the third in three years – happened during Saturday morning newscast Yet again, another on-air graphics mix-up occurred at Chicago’s top-rated news operation. This time, it was a graphic slide put up during ABC 7’s Saturday morning newscast while anchor Mark Rivera was reporting on a story about the unification of North and South Korea’s Olympic teams […]

The Media Notepad: NBC scores with Olympic opening ceremonies

Plus: L.A. Times, San Diego Union-Tribune sold; Mike Flannery gets his own Fox 32 news show; This week in Chicago bashing; White Sox snubbed again (Editor’s Note: Contains strong language. Reader discretion is advised.) The opening ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics from South Korea dominated the ratings as expected for NBC, and even performed stronger than expected. According to […]

Super Bowl LII ratings couldn’t match last year’s

But 103.4 million viewers isn’t bad Super Bowl LII gave us what we wanted in a football game – a close contest throughout, an exciting finish, and best of all, the Philadelphia Eagles beating the favored New England Patriots for their first Super Bowl title and their first overall championship since 1960. But despite all the theatrics, it wasn’t enough […]

Fox signs five-year deal for Thursday Night Football

Fox doubles down on football despite declining ratings, financial losses In a blockbuster deal, Fox announced Wednesday it has acquired the NFL’s Thursday Night Football package in a five-year, $3 billion pact, roughly $550 million a year. Effective next season, Fox replaces CBS and NBC as the primary broadcasters. The deal calls for Fox to produce the entire slate (eighteen […]