Rewinding 2019 in media

  Disney Plus made the biggest splash of the year 2019 saw the end of several institutions, big media battles, and disappointing sports teams. Let’s start with the huge changes in big media, as Disney closed on its purchase of the 20th Century Fox film studio and Viacom reuniting with CBS again with a new name (ViacomCBS) as the race […]

Over and out: Tom Joyner calls it a career after five decades

Radio Hall Of Famer spent 16 years in Chicago radio A T Dog Media Think Tank When Tom Joyner signed off on December 13th, one of radio’s legendary personalities departed the medium. But his departure – announced two years ago – leaves a deep void that won’t be easy to fill. For one, Joyner did something many radio stars did […]

Bears bomb on field again, draws mixed ratings results for “Sunday Night Football”

Local fans tuned out, but telecast still drew 17 million viewers nationwide (Editor’s Note: This post has been updated with new ratings information.) The Bears’ home finale drew some interest, if not overwhelming. The Sunday Night Football matchup between Chicago’s NFL Lakefront Team and the Kansas City Chiefs drew a 22.3 household local overnight rating over NBC-owned WMAQ-TV according to […]

WGN Radio shocker: Cochran out, Sirott in

Sirott returns to morning shift; Cochran canned for second time from WGN In a week filled with numerous Chicago media changes, here’s another one and this turns out to be the biggest one of them all. As first reported by Robert Feder Friday morning, WGN-AM morning personality Steve Cochran was dropped from the station and replaced by a returning Bob […]

WXRT moves: Brehmer shifts to middays; news anchor Dixon out

Longtime Chicago rocker makes changes Adult Album Alternative rocker WXRT-FM announced some major changes Wednesday that may not sit well with its fanbase. For one, there is a huge overhaul in the morning – longtime WXRT radio personality Lin Brehmer is shifting out of the daypart and moving to middays beginning sometime in “early 2020”. “Like a veteran centerfielder who […]

CLTV to close up shop

Nexstar pulls plug on local cable news channel after a little over 25 years In a move you can blame on cord-cutting and general cost-cutting, Nexstar announced Monday the closure of local news channel Chicagoland Television, or CLTV after nearly 27 years of operation. The channel goes dark at the end of this month. In a memo from WGN-TV and […]

WGN-TV enters New Years’ Eve countdown game

Brings total number to four If you plan to stay home on New Year’s Eve this year, you’re going to have numerous local choices. As announced a few weeks ago, WGN-TV plans to produce their first-ever New Year’s Eve show called Chicago’s Very Own New Year’s Eve Blast, live from downtown Chicago where a large fireworks display over Lake Michigan […]

Bears-Cowboys a hit for Thursday Night Football

But local ratings down from last prime-time outing  The last time the Chicago Bears faced the Dallas Cowboys at Soldier Field on Thursday Night Football, the game aired only on NFL Network, was on opposite a live production of Peter Pan, and protesters denouncing the police shootings of Eric Gardner and Michael Brown were marching on Lake Shore Drive (Chicago’s […]

The Media Notepad: Univision Chicago, Chicago Reporter team to cover Latino community

Also: WLS-FM achieves historic feat; Nick Cannon to get new daytime show; MST3K canceled again Univision (branded locally as Univision Chicago) and the non-profit Chicago Reporter are teaming up to cover more of the area’s Hispanic community. As first reported by Broadcasting and Cable, the duo is forming a multi-platform news service named Latintext, and plans to cover important issues […]