WBBM-TV plans newscast overhaul

CBS O&O WBBM-TV plans to overhaul its news operation. Again.According to this article at B&C, WBBM General manager Bruno Cohen plans to once again remake the station’s newscasts, which ratingswise, lag behind others in the market. Cohen, who came from sister station KOVR-TV in Sacramento, said the station is underperforming in many time slots. Despite the fact the station airs […]

Chicago TV outlets to share raw news video

Well, I suppose its a sign of the times… Chicago’s news outlets announced they will pool their raw video in order to keep expenses down. The news-sharing model was adopted by NBC-owned WMAQ-TV and Fox-owned WFLD-TV last fall (along with sharing a job), but now they have invited CBS-owned WBBM-TV and CW affiliate WGN-TV to join in. This means a […]

Sweeping up

From the recently concluded March ratings period: Chicago: WLS-TV remained on top, as usual at 10 p.m., but CBS-owned WBBM-TV is up 50 percent in the same time period in households. At 9 p.m., WGN-TV’s newscast had a 43 percent advantage over an above-average WFLD-TV, despite popular Fox prime-time lead-ins. Milwaukee: And lead-ins didn’t matter here either, as NBC affiliate […]

James Ward dies

Thursday was a tough day in Chicago media, as it was announced another well-known personality had died. Retired WLS-TV restaurant critic James Ward died on Thursday afternoon after a long battle with cancer. He was 76 – the same age as Johnny “Red” Kerr, who died the same day. Also passing on Thursday was Chicago Bull legend Norm Van Lier, […]

"Lost" loses steam in the ratings

The fifth season-premiere of Lost didn’t gain viewers as the event notched its lowest-rated season-premiere to date. Lost averaged a 5.0 rating and 12 share among adults 18-49 and drew 10 million viewers for ABC in the 8-10 p.m. (Central) time slot Wednesday night for ABC. While the results were still pretty good, it’s still down from the fourth-season premiere […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

Inauguration ratings; Litton clears Street Court in New York and Chicago; Erica Cobb has a new gig. – The Inauguration of Barack Obama scored in the ratings yesterday, with the most watched swearing-in ceremony since President Reagan in 1981, with a 29.2 rating in the 56 markets metered by Nielsen on an “overnight” basis. In Chicago, here’s how the household […]

Andy Shaw retires

Longtime political reporter Andy Shaw is retiring from ABC-owned WLS-TV after 25 years.Shaw has covered the political beat at WLS since 1983, when he covered Harold Washington’s rise to history when he became Chicago’s first African-American mayor and ending with Barack Obama becoming the first African-American President – not to mention the fall of Governor Rod. Shaw began his television […]

WLS-TV, ABC dominate Election Night

ABC and its O&O in Chicago (WLS-TV) took home the ratings crown on Election Night, a night where Barack Obama was elected the nation’s first African-American president. ABC led all networks on a national basis with 13.6 million viewers. Locally, ABC’s coverage led with WLS-TV leading the 10 p.m. hour (when Obama gave his victory speech) with a 17.6 household […]

Minneapolis, Cleveland TV stations worry about LPMs

If you think radio stations in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles are worrying about Arbitron’s Portable People Meters – then you haven’t seen anything yet. Television executives in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Cleveland are sweating it out over the next several months as Local People Meters – or LPMs, become the standard of measurement for television ratings measured by Nielsen. […]

Suppelsa and Sanders

It looks like Mark Suppelsa’s move to Tribune-owned CW affiliate WGN-TV is all but a certainty, while handling Steve Sanders’ situation could be dicey, according to this article from Robert Feder in today’s Sun-Times. WGN is expected to sign Suppelsa to a contract after June 17, the day WFLD’s option to match any offer a competitor may have expires. If […]

WLS sweeps May, but WMAQ shines in demos at 10

Staying on the subject of local news, it was a good May book for all of Chicago’s news outlets -(second item) despite the fact the networks lost audience share due to the after-effects of the recent writer’s strike with something for everyone to crow about: ABC-owned WLS-TV’s newscasts won the May sweeps in households (second item) – however, NBC-owned WMAQ-TV […]

WLS-TV to host another special on youth violence

ABC-owned WLS-TV will host another summit on youth violence this Thursday. The station plans to air Stop the Violence: Conflicts and Solutions in HD at 6:30 p.m. The special is being hosted by Ron Magers and Cheryl Burton, and is being joined by reporters Charles Thomas and Paul Meincke. WLS aired a similar special last spring after 16 year-old Blair […]

"I wanted to be on the news"

That’s what the driver of the van said after he crashed it into WLS-TV’s studios on Sunday night during the station’s newscast. He has been charged with criminal damage to property over $100,000. Man, that phrase is so 1976. Son, have you ever heard of YouTube?