Today’s six-pack has somewhat of a football theme in honor of today’s big game! Time for kickoff… Touchdown! WFLD. Yes, you read this right! According to Chicago Business, Fox-owned WFLD scored a whopping 43.2 household rating for last Sunday’s Divisional Playoff between the Seattle Seahawks and the Chicago Bears, and the number should certainly go higher for this Sunday’s NFC […]
Emmis-owned WLUP-FM (The Loop, 97.9) announced Saturday it was making a format adjustment to its playlist, dropping all current and most recent rock titles and playing classic rock from the 1970’s and 1980’s exclusively. The adjustment puts the station in direct competition with Bonneville-owned WDRV/WWDV-FM (The Drive, 97.1), which it and two other stations were sold this week to Minneapolis-based […]
Bonneville also sells Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Washington D.C. stations In the first major shocker move of 2011 involving local media, Salt Lake City-based Bonneville International has sold its Chicago cluster of radio stations to Minneapolis-St. Paul-based Hubbard Broadcasting for $505 million. The deal also includes thirteen others: six stations in Washington D.C., and four stations each in Cincinnati and […]
And other misfires of note What were the worst programs of 2010? They’re all below – and most are future T Dog Media Blog TV Hall of Shame nominees (one is already a member.:) Just don’t forget to flush twice… 1. The Marriage Ref (NBC). An “A-list project” from Jerry Seinfeld turned out to be one of those D-level programs […]
This trophy was well represented in the countdown of the best media items of 2010. Here we go with the annual list of the best media-related items of 2010 – a list of not just the best shows (isn’t everyone doing those?) but the best events as well. If you notice (excluding sports), cable is well-represented in this countdown, with […]
Santa’s been good to these guys: David Kaplan (left), with Chicago Blackhawk Johnathan Toews (Courtesy CSN) Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Everyone! Santa Dog here with presents for those who were nice and coal and maybe some cyanide for those who were naughty (NaOnka, Pig Virus, and Randy “Court Jester” Michaels – I’m looking at you!) Ho! Ho! Ho! Time to […]
The radio personality pictured above is about to trade in his fishin’ pole and his 45 of the Andy Griffith Show theme for a snow shovel and some Kanye West CDs. Two days after Clear Channel’s WKSC-FM (Kiss) dropped morning personality Kevin “DreX” Buchar from its lineup, the station hired Christopher Frederick, a.k.a. “Brotha’ Fred” from sister station WIHT-FM (Channel […]
Hoffin’ around in TV Hell. Notes and notables from the past week: – One of Chicago’s best media columnists has a new home: Robert Feder has joined Time Out Chicago as the magazine’s media blogger. Beginning next month, Feder will have a blog (just like the one he had at WBEZ under the Vocalo name) on the Time Out website. […]
In a surprise move – or maybe not considering his ratings were declining, Clear Channel’s Contemporary Hit WKSC-FM (103.5 FM, better known as Kiss FM) dropped its morning personality Drex (Kevin Buchar) after a seven-year run at the station. Also out are his co-hosts Mel T and Angi Taylor, though they may be asked to stay if there is a […]
MeTV goes national on December 15 Brace yourself “U” and “Me” viewers – you’re going to be in for a lot of changes. Beginning on December 15 – a Wednesday (a rather odd day of the week to begin programming changes since Mondays are usually more ideal) – four of Weigel’s channels are ushering in new schedules […]
Another person has left Fox-owned WFLD’s news department: It’s Mark Saxenmeyer, who’s been with the station since 1993. The reporter’s contract with the station expires in a few weeks, and is not being renewed. Also likely on the way out is meteorologist Amy Freeze, whose contract expires in February. Sources say her replacement is Tammie Souza, whose was meteorologist at […]
ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was Chicago’s top entertainment (non-sports) program in November. November sweeps came and went and as usual, ABC- owned WLS-TV won the 10pm news race, and also dominated the market overall (thank you Oprah and Dancing With The Stars.) While household numbers were only available at this time, look for WLS to dominate in all key […]
With the second cycle sale of Two and a Half Men to the Tribune and Sinclair station groups for seven – count ‘em – seven years, and mega deals by Fox O&Os for The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family, you think syndicators would celebrate the return of the big pay day they reaped back in the day. Right? Think […]
In a humongous move, Weigel Broadcasting sent out a teaser on major changes coming to MeTV and MeToo, the company’s local classic TV channels. In like… MeTV is going national. Weigel plans to announce on Tuesday it will seek to distribute the MeTV concept nationally via a digital subchannel. Weigel’s forthcoming announcement means they are throwing their hat in the […]
The first changes since the departure of Kevin “Pig Virus” Metheny has already taken place. In his goodwill mission to win back listeners, WGN Radio boss Tom Langmyer is bringing back Sports Central, and fired two weekend hosts, among other changes. In Phil Rosenthal’s Tower Ticker blog, Langmyer stated: “The goal of WGN weekends is to make our programming more […]
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