Robert Feder has a column in the Sun-Times today about a new book that goes behind-the-scenes of Chicago’s horror TV shows, a staple of the tube from the 1950’s through the 1980’s. Titled Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: From Shock Theater To Svengoolie, the new book details the history of the shows, from their low-budget production values to their zany […]
The second set of trends for the Arbitron fall book for Chicago radio stations are out, and there is some movement on the chart among several radio stations. Thoughts… – It looks like WGN is going to be #1 for the foreseeable future. – WGCI rebounded to third place this trend, perhaps silencing critics (such as yours truly) -WLS-AM rebounded […]
The play-by-play of last night’s Bears-Redskins game on the NFL Network (broadcast locally on My Network TV affiliate WPWR-TV) was about as bad as the play on the field. Bryant “Kermit the Frog” Gumbel was quite awful, as usual. Analyst Cris Collinsworth was sharp, and delivered the best line of the night, summing up the Bears: “There’s professional football and […]
The Chicago Blackhawks finally got on the board with the November 30 home game telecast against the Phoenix Coyotes. The game notched a 1.2 Nielsen rating (fourth item), for Comcast SportsNet, up from the 0.8 rating the last home game it aired on November 11, against the Detroit Red Wings. In other sports ratings news, the game much of the […]
Cuts at Clear Channel Chicago and 65 layoffs at Oxygen, which was taken over by NBC Universal over the weekend. Among the cuts at CC Chicago: Armando Rivera, a mixer-turned-assistant program director and music director at WVAZ (V103); WGCI’s nighttime jock Victor “The Diz” Blackful; and overnighter Alexx Dupri at Top 40 WKSC-FM. The cuts at Clear Channel mirror those […]
An article written in the Sun-Times today (how come Feder didn’t get a chance to write this?), mentions four call letters you’d better get reacquainted with – WPWR. Of course, Fox-owned WPWR-TV (Channel 50), a former UPN affiliate now-turned My Network TV affiliate has the Bears-Redskins game Thursday night, which is carried on NFL Network, which of course, you can’t […]
We’re back this week with the Worst Person in Media This Week award, after a break last week (because of the Thanksgiving holiday). Although Carson Daly (for crossing the picket line) is a worthy nominee, handing out this week’s WPIMTW award is a no-brainer… Usually we give these awards to media people and politicians who are involved in the business […]
Which paves the way for the sale of the Tribune Company to Sam Zell. Those waivers will allow it to keep the Chicago Tribune, WGN-TV and WGN-AM – permanently. As expected, both Democratic FCC commissioners voted against the waivers (never mind that most Chicago Democrats supported the deal – including Senator Dick Durbin.) If you want to tell the Trib […]
The Infinite Dial Radio Blog rated Chicago the best radio market in the country. Not exactly my opinion (that’s for sure), but at least somebody’s giving us props. As we say in Chi-Town, vote early and often…
Eddie Webb is back at WLUP and back in the afternoon time slot at the classic rocker, where he brought ratings success among men 25-54 to the Loop from 1998 to 2000. He later left for a gig at XM Satellite Radio, but returned to radio with gigs in Las Vegas and Boston. Webb begins in January, filling the slot […]
Arbitron has delayed its controversial Portable People Meter until September 2008 for several markets including New York and Chicago. The delays are being instituted because of kinks that have to be worked out in the system, including better measurement of minority audiences.
Still on holiday, but this news is important since this involves FCC action against a local TV station: WMAQ-TV, owned by NBC Universal, was hit with a $10,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission for failing to publicize the “existence and location” of its children’s TV programming reports. Click here for more details. Also on the FCC beat, former CBS […]
With the Pumpkin Pie Awards for Excellence Welcome to the second annual T Dog Media Blog Turkey Awards. Once again, we’re here to serve up the disasters in media in 2007. I have nineteen turkeys to hand out… so let’s get gobbling! And this year’s awards go to… – The Chicago Bears. A Super Bowl hangover this year. And especially Rex […]
Former WBBM-TV anchors Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson are reuniting to teach a graduate level class at Columbia College on a lecture course regarding local journalism. Starting in January, both men will serve as professors. Click on this link to see Kurtis and Jacobson speaking together at the Chicago History Museum last March, as part of the “Chicago Treasures” series […]
My apologies for just getting around to these stories, but a belated happy trails to two notable Chicagoans: Jimmy P. Stagg, a discjockey who worked at the old WCFL in the 1960’s and 1970’s, who helped shape Chicago’s Top 40 wars with WLS back in the day. He passed away last week from cancer at the age of 72. He […]
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