The Media Notepad: WBBM Newsradio names Geoff Buchholz as new political editor

Also: Fox One to cost $20 a month; Top 25 largest broadcast station groups revealed 

Audacy announced on Tuesday that it tapped Geoff Buchholz as WBBM Newsradio’s (780 AM/105.9 FM) new political editor, succeeding the now-retired Craig Dellimore, who spent 41 years in the same position. 

“Chicago and Illinois are entering a critical era, and it’s more important than ever that our audience understands how the actions at City Hall, in Springfield and Washington affect their lives.”, Buchholz said in a statement. “I’m so grateful for our listeners’ trust, and I’m looking forward to being our station’s politics-to-English translator and excited to get to work.”

A Peabody, Emmy, and Murrow award winner, Buchholz has been with WBBM for a dozen years, producing the station’s election night coverage among other things. He also spent a dozen years at Fox-owned WFLD-TV’s news operations in numerous roles, including executive producer and senior manager. He succeeds Dellimore, who arrived at WBBM in 1983, when Harold Washington was elected Chicago’s first Black mayor, and became political editor in 2001, succeeding Bob Crawford, who joined in 1968 when WBBM transitioned to its all-news format. Dellimore was honored by the Chicago City Council in June, whom he covered through several mayoral administrations and colorful aldermen from Dorothy Tillman to Ray Lopez. 

“Chicago’s City Hall has all the twists, power plays and tension of a great detective story”, said WBBM Brand Manager Craig Schwalb, about Buchholz’s promotion. “It takes someone who is an exceptional journalist with seasoned and sharp instincts like Geoff to follow the plot. I’m excited to see how he continues to build on the legacy that Craig Dellimore left behind and how his presence strengthens our multi-platform political coverage to better serve our Chicago area listeners.”

Three months after unveiling a new streaming service at its upfront presentation, Fox Corporation announced the pricing for Fox One, which combines its cable properties with local Fox affiliates.

Scheduled to launch August 21, it will charge consumers $19.99 per month, or $199.99 a year (higher with sales taxes, depending on where your live) to access the Fox broadcast network, Fox News, Fox Business Fox Deportes, Fox Weather, FS1, FS2, and Big Ten Network, and would be made available to participating cable and satellite subscribers for free. For an extra five dollars, viewers can also add the paid streaming portal Fox Nation. Also available are FAST channels LiveNow From Fox and TMZ. 

“We’re eager to launch FOX One in just a few weeks and super serve our viewers with the best in live news, sports and entertainment content all in one place,” said Pete Distad, who is Fox’s direct-to-consumer CEO. “In bringing together the full power of the FOX content portfolio in one service, we have created a great value proposition and user experience that will appeal to the cord-cutter and cord-never fans currently not served by conventional pay TV packages.”

Viewers can also access the live feed of their local Fox station (in Chicago, that’s WFLD and WPWR, known as Fox 32 and Fox Chicago Plus, respectively), plus content from the Fox Local app. Viewers can also watch selected Fox content on demand and receive personalized, AI-powered recommendations. One thing that viewers won’t see is exclusive content to the service outside of podcasts and short videos, unlike other streamers who invested millions in original programming to showcase exclusively. 

The last several weeks haven’t been great if you are a Cartoon Network fan – past or present, as the Warner Bros. Discovery cable channel’s content is increasingly becoming hard to find. 

Last week, Comcast announced they were shifting the 33-year-old Cartoon Network to a higher, more expensive tier (More Sports & Entertainment) that will cost viewers an extra $9.95 a month starting August 12. This comes as Cartoon Network’s original content has dwindled in recent years, as the channel is known for Powerpuff Girls, Adventure Time, and Regular Show. CN was shifted to the Ultimate Tier sometime ago, where the Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network will be moving to this fall, after the Cubs’ regular season ends. In 2023, CN was available in only 66 million cable homes, a number that is certain to decline. 

And if you are looking to HBO Max to find your Cartoon Network favorites, you’re going to take a hit there, too – even if you’re not a Comcast subscriber as the streamer announced days later it was in the process of removing all classic CN content from its service, with former Kids WB’ series What’s New Scooby-Doo and CN’s Ed, Edd, and Eddy exiting August 1, leaving HBO Max with only a handful of CN series left as of this writing. This comes as HBO Max is reducing kids’ content and classic animation series as they are focusing more on older, more mature audiences as opposed to those who are family-friendly. Recently, HBO Max removed the entire Looney Tunes library. 

This comes as Warner Bros. Discovery was the latest media conglomerate to split its studio and cable properties into two separate, publicly-traded companies, following the lead of NBCUniversal earlier this year. Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and other former Turner and current Discovery cable channels are being transferred to Discovery Global, with Warner Bros. retaining its studio operations, as well as its film and television divisions, including HBO, HBO Max, and Cinemax. Additionally, Warner Bros. will keep its 12.5 percent stake in The CW. 

Fans of CN’s earlier programming will have to do some searching to find their favorites, as they’re spread out among other streaming services, including Hulu, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. Chalk it up to the changing economics of the television business, where outside of Disney Plus, the youngest viewers and family-friendly programming aren’t being prioritized.