If you tuned in to WMAQ-TV’s digital 5.2 Chicago Non-stop channel this past Friday night, you were in for a pleasant surprise (or maybe not, depending on your point of view.) Former WLUP-FM (The Loop) morning personality Jonathan Brandmeier quietly returned to television Friday night with the soft launch of Brandmeier, a new weekly half-hour series featuring Johnny B taking […]
The much-hyped premiere of ABC’s new airline drama Pan Am took off on Sunday with respected sampling. Now the challenge is not to crash in the ratings and not have their membership in the mile-high club revoked. The drama – about a group of stewardess who work for the now-defunct airline in the 1960’s (which filed for bankruptcy and ceased […]
Due to my behind-the-scenes-work for the relaunch of The T Dog Media Blog, yours truly hasn’t been able to write about some of the items that has been going on. So let’s catch up: – Maybe they should change the call letters to WLLL? WWWN-FM, the new all-news station launched a few weeks ago has not gotten off to a […]
This Grab Bag is for you – that’s right. You – the people. You have the right to gripe about yet another newscast or yet another new daytime courtroom show (We The People) on the horizon. You also have the right to have an alternative to the regular crap on TV – thanks to two new diginet TV channels. You […]
As you may know – if you’ve been following on Twitter – The T Dog Media Blog is leaving Blogger and is moving to a new home as part of the new website I’m launching officially on September 19, when the sixth season of The T Dog Media Blog begins. Visit https://www.tdogmedia.com to view the progress of the site as […]
The late-night battle for viewers is quite fierce. Battling for audience – and all those ad dollars, you have Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson, George Lopez, Chelsea Handler, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Monique, and Frank Woolanski. Wait a minute… who’s Frank Woolanski?? In news first reported by CRM yesterday, Tribune-owned WGN-TV announced it […]
RTV: The R stands for “ruined”. – Good news for fans of Richard Roeper and Roe Conn – the duo at WLS-AM signed a three-year contract extension to continue their successful afternoon show through the year 2014. The move come as Cumulus is about to take over Citadel Communications, owners of WLS-AM and FM in a merger. If you want […]
If you thought the 4:30 a.m. news craze was something… wait ’til you hear about the next one in the works – the 4 a.m. news craze. Tribune’s WGN-TV announced today it is launching a new 4 a.m. newscast beginning on July 11th, becoming the first station in the Chicago market to expand into the half-hour. The move comes as […]
Aqua Fraud? In this edition of the Six Pack: The biggest Oprah Winfrey diss ever, Chicago’s news media possibly aiding and embedding a cover-up by city officials, and a sequel of a series that turned out not to be a sequel after all: Winners WFTV and Bob Jordan. WFTV news director Bob Jordan (no relation to WGN-TV’s Robert Jordan) […]
Numerous executive shake-ups in the last few days… in the offices and behind the scenes: Another protege from the Court Jester era is out the door… Tribune Broadcasting President Jerry Kersting exited on Tuesday and his position eliminated while Nils Larsen was elevated up to CEO of Broadcasting. Effective immediately, Larsen will be responsible for Tribune’s 23 television stations, cablers […]
If anyone were to tell you who dominated the ratings on the final official day of the 2010-11 television season, all they have to say is Oprah Winfrey and American Idol. – The series finale of The Oprah Winfrey Show locally on WLS-TV drew a 13.4 household rating and a 38 share, with the 11 p.m. repeat drawing a 5.7/14. […]
Local stations nationwide are wasting little time when The Oprah Winfrey Show signs off on Wednesday. And ABC-owned WLS-TV isn’t the only Chicago station making changes Beginning this Thursday (yes, this Thursday), WLS is replacing Oprah at 9 a.m.with a local effort, Windy City Live. Oprah reruns will air on WLS at 11:05 p.m. until September 9. But WCIU (26.1) […]
A lot of news and notes this week’s Grab Bag: -Management changes at Weigel. Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting announced management changes on Monday, with Neal Sabin now president of content and networks. Sabin is now responsible for all programming on Weigel stations and owned and affiliated networks; development of multiplatform content on local and national levels; strategic planning; marketing of content; […]
Walter E. Smithe Furniture recently released a two-minute commercial honoring the 22-year legacy of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Among those who appeared in the ad were local celebrities like George Wendt, Eric Ferguson from WTMX’s Eric & Kathy, fictional Alderman Ed Bus (from the 53rd Ward), and a few other Chicago dignitaries. Oh, and there were some local news […]
The Chicago journalism community is in shock after the sudden passing of WMAQ-TV sports anchor and reporter Daryl Hawks on Thursday. He was only 38 years old. Hawks was on assignment in Atlanta Thursday covering Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference Semifinal between the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks when he missed a wake-up call at 9:30 a.m. in […]
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