Tribune staffers call for 24-hour strike Thursday

Call for fair wages, equal pay ignored by hedge fund The Chicago Tribune Guild, the union who oversees the journalists working at the Alden-owned newspaper, is going on a 24-hour strike beginning Thursday at 5 a.m. This is our open letter to Alden Global Capital explaining why we are going on strike tomorrow @chicagotribune pic.twitter.com/HDkutMeWlc — Gregory Royal Pratt (@royalpratt) […]

Poll: Chicagoans have lote-hate relationship with their native shows

Though viewers are proud of their homegrown shows, their portrayal of Chicago often brings headaches While Chicago viewers tune in every week to see how their shows portray their city to the world, some are concerned about how they shape the perception of the city on the world stage. Chicago-based The Harris Poll CEO Will Johnson recently penned a piece […]

Chicago White Sox name John Schriffen as new play-by-play man

Becomes first Black play-by-play voice for the team as the White Sox may be looking at a new stadium in the South Loop. In a rare positive move for the often-beleaguered team, the Chicago White Sox announced Thursday the hiring of John Schriffen as their new play-by-play voice, replacing Jason Benetti who departed for the Detroit Tigers in the same […]

The Media Notepad: “Judy Justice” adds linear TV run this fall

Also: Cubs PA announcer looking to become next talk show host; A new MeTV FM hire; the former Trump Country recently became an all-Taylor Swift station  Just what we need – even more of Judy.  As expected, repeats of Judy Sheindlin’s new Freevee court show Judy Justice is a firm go in syndication this fall with nearly 400 episodes never […]

Netflix bodyslams competition to grab WWE Raw

Major acquisition is a game changer for streaming In a major move signaling a tremendous shift for streaming – and continued dominance over its studio peers for some time to come, Netflix and the WWE announced the company’s flagship Raw program will be moving to the streamer in January 2025 in a ten-year, $5 billion deal. This means Raw is […]

“True Crime News”, Jaleel White game show set to premiere in fall

Fox, CBS stations commit to new projects, respectively While Ken Jeong’s talk show project couldn’t get off the ground, two others did on Monday, scoring much-needed station group anchor deals. Warner Bros. Television Group announced Monday a new hour-long strip called True Crime News, hosted by ABC News’ 20/20 contributor Ana Garcia, who also hosts a podcast called True Crime […]

Former Q101 radio personality sues Cumulus over harassment

Accusations include rude sexually charged comments and discrimination  As first reported by Radio Insight Friday evening, former Q101 (WKQX-FM) radio personality and producer Justin Nettlebeck has filed a lawsuit against the station’s owner Cumulus Media for sexual and other kinds of harassment. The lawsuit states Nettlebeck was “subjected to harassment and discriminatory treatment based on his gender, including sexual harassment, […]

Amazon, Bally Sports announce partnership

Amazon to invest in Bally parent Diamond; could save RSN It looks like Bally Sports, targeted for extinction this fall due to bankruptcy, may be saved after all. On Wednesday, Amazon announced they were taking a minority stake in Bally Sports parent Diamond Sports as part of a bankruptcy restructuring agreement. This means Amazon could potentially stream Bally’s teams on […]

The Media Notepad: Fox 32, NewsNation rearrange anchor lineups

Also: a WBIG sale; CBS 2 to launch NextGen signal Fox-owned WFLD or Fox 32, announced anchor lineup changes last week for the AM news show Good Day Chicago as they are bringing in a fresh face to the fold with Chicago native Brian Jackson coming in from sister station KCPQ Seattle, co-anchoring the 7-10 a.m. block with Natalie Bomke. […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: No class fans ruin special night at United Center

Booing of Bulls GM Jerry Krause is yet another embarrassment to our city What happened Friday night at the United Center during the Ring Of Honor ceremony honoring the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls season was as vile as anything I have seen in the nearly 52 years I’ve lived in Chicago. And I’ve been through the racially-tinged Council Wars when our […]

Audacy files for Chapter 11

Move was expected; no immediate effects  With all the headlines focused lately on linear TV’s decline, there is another traditional communications medium who is also struggling, though it doesn’t generate the exact number of headlines.  Audacy – who owns and operates more than 200 radio stations in the U.S., including several in the Chicago area, officially filed for Chapter 11 […]

Sinclair charges up Charge for more upgrades

Replace Circle in some markets, including Chicago’s WBBM-TV Sinclair’s digital subchannel Charge returns to the Chicago area, landing at CBS-owned WBBM-TV as part of a deal with the CBS News And Stations Group, who saw several stations also take sci-fi-based channel Comet.  “We are thrilled to announce the expansion of our networks’ distribution and the strengthening of our impactful partnership […]