WMAQ-TV, WTTW form partnership

NBC-owned WMAQ-TV and PBS station WTTW have teamed up to present a documentary on Italian-Americans that will premiere during the Memorial Day weekend. And They Came To Chicago: The Italian-American Legacy, a special tracing Italian-American history in Chicago, is being narrated by native son Joe Mantegna and will air on WMAQ Sunday Night at 11:05 p.m. and again on Memorial […]

Elroy Smith resigns

Elroy Smith, one of Chicago’s – and the nation’s most successful urban radio programmers – has resigned from Clear Channel Chicago after a fifteen-year run in the Windy City. Smith ran WGCI-FM until last March, when he was replaced. Smith was previously WVAZ-FM’s program director.

The Big 89 Rewind

WLS-AM is rewinding back on Memorial Day for a trip back to the days when it was “The Rock of Chicago.” The Big 89 Rewind will feature former jocks Larry Lujack, Tommy Edwards, John Landecker, Fred Winston, Chris Shibel, and Jeff Davis (hey, where’s Brant Miller?) The event will start at 5a.m. and will end at midnight. WLS-AM was the […]

Illinois lawmakers support Zell

Media activists suffered a huge blow recently as it has been learned that most Illinois politicians won’t be on their side in the battle to divest Tribune’s properties in Chicago. A letter signed by 14 Illinois lawmakers – on both sides of the political aisle – urged the FCC to waive restrictions on new Trib owner Sam Zell, who needs […]

More trouble for CBS Radio? (And for Ozzie?) (Updated)

It looks like the post-Imus effects have finally hit Chicago. And not surprisingly, A.J. Pierzynski is involved. According to Chicagoland Radio and Media, there could be trouble for Ozzie Guillen and Mike North. (The audio is available at 670thescore.com.) Mike North maybe getting a call from a Mr. Mason, and I don’t mean Perry. And I wonder how long it […]

Nine FM to do dance nightly

Dance Factory, a biweekly show spotlighting dance music that airs Friday and Saturday Nights on Nine FM, is now going to be “stripped” – seven nights a week. Starting Monday, the Newsweb-owned triplecast -WKIE/WDEK/WRZA -FM, will strip Dance Factory weeknights and Sundays at 9 p.m and Saturday Nights at 8 p.m. What’s unusual is that Dance Factory skewes younger than […]

T Dog Media Blog Think Tank: Ten years later….

Gather around my children, and let me tell you a story about when journalism jumped the shark…. A month ago, radio personality Don Imus was fired for racially insensitive comments about the mostly black Rutgers’ womens’ basketball team, and it opened a debate on race as well as an examination of the radio industry. But it was ten years ago […]

And the new Loop Rock Girl is….

April from Chicago, who is 24 years old, 5’9″, and 32-24-34. She beat out 15 other girls who particatped in the classic rock station’s annual model contest at 115 Bourbon st. in south suburban Merrionette Park (The bar is located right across the street on the border of Chicago’s Mount Greenwood neighborhood, near 115th and Homan.) April will be paid […]

Happy anniversary, B-96!

In honor of WBBM-FM’s 25th anniversary as a Contemporary Hit/Top 40 station (which flipped from a downtrodden adult contemporary format on May 3, 1982), we dug up this gem – a commercial that aired shortly after the format was launched (it adopted the “B96” moniker a little bit later…) B96 would be the station that would end the two-decades dominance […]

Who’s in your five?

Interesting notes from Feder’s column today: * The game show Let’s Play Crosswords won’t be done in Chicago after all. After the producers decided to shoot the program without a studio audience, Program Partners’ new syndicated strip will originate in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, daytime soap star Ty Treadway has been tapped as host. * The FreeFM (or FraudFM) slogan at […]

iVillage coming to Chicago

iVillage live, the fledging daily first-run strip that airs on the NBC O&O’s, is coming to Chicago to stay. NBC Universal announced today that the show is moving its production facilities from Universal Studios in Orlando to the NBC Tower here in Chicago. The interactive show will join Jerry Springer, Judge Mathis, the new Steve Wilkos show, and possibly Let’s […]

The Sun-Times is a disgrace to Chicago

On a day we have immigration marches across the country and a pending veto by President Bush on the Iraq war expected to go down today, THIS is what the Sun-Times lead with this morning: What utter crap. This paper is turning into a joke with each passing day. The way things are going, they will soon become a local […]

Winter ratings (Updated)

Arbitron released the Winter Chicago radio ratings yesterday. Analysis: * As Robert Feder points out, the stations that benefited the most were the black and Hispanic-targeted stations, taking 5 out of the top 10. WGCI-FM remains No.1 (In other words, don’t write off hip-hop yet.) *Urban AC WVAZ-FM (V103) was a big winner, moving up to fourth place. *Top 40 […]

Where’s Your Game?

Chicago sports fans are going to be in a tizzy trying to find their games tonight, as the Bulls, Cubs and White Sox are in action all at the same time. Comcast SportsNet will air Game 2 of the Bulls-Heat quarterfinal (also available on TNT), while the Cubs-Brewers game will be on CLTV (or Comcast SportsNet Plus), and the White […]

Corno promoted at Comcast SportsNet

Jim Corno has been promoted at Comcast Sportsnet Chicago to president effective immediately, from vice president and general manager. This move was a part of a management realignment at the three CSN regional sports networks. New presidents were also named at SportsNet New York (Steve Raab) and Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia (Stephanie LaFair Smith).