Report: WGN America to dump Chicago sports

Also: WBBM-AM nears deal to land Cubs telecasts Back in 1978, WGN-TV in Chicago joined WTBS in Atlanta and WOR-TV in New York (now WWOR) and uplinked their signal to a satellite to deliver their signal throughout the country as a “superstation”. In 2014, the “superstation” era is nearing the end. In a report surfacing on Crain’s Chicago Business website Friday, […]

Garry Meier’s move to Internet radio won’t revolutionize it

If one thought positively about Garry Meier’s move from WGN-AM to WGN’s Internet feed, one could think he would do for Internet Radio what Howard Stern has done for satellite radio. It could be “revolutionary”. Um, no. WGN’s decision to move Meier from its AM terristial station to WGN.FM could rank as one of the biggest blunders in Chicago radio […]

WGN Radio changes: Williams in, Meier out

Williams returns to 720; Meier sent to WGN.FM With the season finale of Survivor Wednesday night, Tribune’s WGN-AM decided to play its own version of the popular CBS show earlier in the day with Radio Tribal Council. And at the end, it was Garry Meier who was sent packing and sent to WGN’s version of Redemption Island – WGN.FM. In […]

Chicago radio stations asking listeners to “put the guns down”

Will it work? While urban radio station Hot 97 in New York City is having fun with their new, hot, ridiculous “docudrama” cable TV show, it is a far different environment involving urban radio in Chicago. The atmosphere is far from festive – and the drama is real. As first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times’ Fran Spelman nearly two weeks […]

“Chicagoland” strikes out with critics, viewers

  With horrible ratings, Chicagoland ranks among one of television’s biggest flops Did Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration manipulate scenes?   I guess Chicago would’ve been better off if we were attacked by a Sharknado. When the dust clears, CNN’s Chicagoland will go down as one of the biggest bombs in the history of television – and one of the worst […]

Grab Bag: Craig Ferguson exits “Late Late Show”

– The other shoe has dropped: Craig Ferguson announced Monday he was stepping down as host of CBS’ Late Late Show, effective at the end of 2014. The news comes as David Letterman (who is the executive producer of the show and controls the 11:35 p.m. weeknight time slot), announced his retirement three weeks ago. With this move, he also […]

Grab Bag: “The Game” loses in its first PPM matchup

        Plus: Divorce Court to stick around; and a new first-run syndicated drama on tap – Nielsen Radio’s March PPM ratings period just concluded and it shows the new sports radio talker WGWG-FM, or The Game stalled at the starting gate. The station tied for 37th place overall with a measly 0.3 rating, far behind competitors WSCR […]

WGN-TV looks Easterly for new GM hire

A man named Easterly is heading west to become WGN-TV’s new general manager. Tribune Broadcasting announced Monday the hiring of Greg Easterly as president and general manager of WGN-TV, moving over from the same capacity at WJW-TV in Cleveland effective April 14. Easterly is a seventeen-year veteran of the Cleveland Fox affiliate, with a news background. He spent the first […]

English-language programming returns to WGBO…somewhat

For the first time in twenty years, WGBO-TV is once again airing English-language programming. Well, somewhat. Spanish-language WGBO and other Univision-owned stations agreed a few months ago to carry a new English-language – yes, English-language digital subchannel network called Get TV from Sony Pictures Television, mainly featuring pre-1970 classic films from the Columbia Pictures Library, which Sony owns. Classic movies […]

Playing media catch-up

Man, how long has it been since yours truly has written a post around here? Well, this is what happens when you get sick and have Writer’s Block at the same time (or, yours truly has just been lazy.) Anyway, yours truly is revved up (or more like riled up) and ready to go – here are some thoughts on […]

CNN’s “Chicagoland” stalls at the starting gate

The first episode of Robert Redford’s eight-episode documentary didn’t attract much of an audience Reviews mixed, but Chicago viewers’ reception is more positive Chicago is in the spotlight once again thanks to a new eight-hour documentary Chicagoland, which premiered Thursday on CNN and is running at 9 p.m. for the next eight weeks. Produced by Robert Redford, Mark Levin, and […]

Ratings Box: Ellen gives boost to Oscars

* The Academy awards telecast on ABC Sunday night with Ellen DeGeneres as host scored the biggest ratings in fourteen years: the gala drew 43.74 million viewers and a 13.1/33 among adults 18-49, easily ranking as the highest-rated entertainment program of the year, up 0.7 percent from the 13/33 final numbers last year, and was up 8 percent in total […]

WMAQ hires former “Survivor” contestant as an investigative reporter

If Tammy Leitner thought politics on a reality show was something, she hasn’t seen anything yet in regards to Chicago’s. As first reported by Robert Feder last week, Ms. Leitner has joined the investigative team of NBC-owned WMAQ-TV (known as NBC 5 Investigates) which currently employs Carol Marin, Rob Stafford, Marion Brooks, and others. Leitner started at NBC 5 Monday. […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: “Arsenio” to return for second season

Grab Baggin’- * It’s like good prevailing over evil: CBS Television Distribution announced the renewal of The Arsenio Hall Show for a second season Wednesday evening, with former Tonight Show host Jay Leno delivering the news to Arsenio in person (see above.) This comes as Arsenio has the youngest median age of any late night talk show amid a recent ratings […]