Also: Jim Laski ends radio comeback Monday was an active day in Chicago radio as two big personnel moves took place. Hubbard Broadcasting’s WILV-FM (aka Rewind 100.3) hired Marty Bender as the station’s new program director (PD), effective soon. Bender ran WFBQ (Q95) in Indianapolis for over two decades and also oversaw “The Bob And Tom Show”, a station staple […]
– In a stunning move, the Chicago Sun-Times fired almost all of its photography staff on Thursday, which left 28 people out of work. The Wrapports -owned paper instead plans to train reports to take pictures with smartphones. Yes, smartphones. Among those who were laid off include 35-year veteran Pulitzer-prize winning photographer John H. White, one of the first African-American […]
Grab baggin’: – ABC-owned WLS-TV widened its lead over its competitors during the just-completed May sweeps, according to Nielsen. According to CRM, ABC 7 swept all local news time periods in households (25-54 demos weren’t available at press time), with a decisive victory at 10 p.m., surging 11 percent from May 2012 with a 10.0/18, leaving NBC-owned WMAQ-TV (5.9/11, +4% […]
In a move that is being praised by many media observers, former Evergreen Media exec Jimmy de Castro has been named president and general manager of Tribune Broadcasting’s WGN-AM (720), effective June 3. He will report to Tribune President of local programming Larry Wert – the same Wert who reported to DeCastro at WLUP-AM/FM in the 1990’s. de Castro succeeds […]
Also: CBS 2 dumps Susan Carlson; Right This Minute finally clears Chicago; Idol’s finale ratings tank as expected; special on Chicago violence doesn’t resonate in ratings While the TV and media world were focusing on the new lineups unveiled by the networks during the upfronts last week in New York, there were other headlines made as well: – The local […]
The next time someone tells you a playoff game doesn’t resonate in Chicago – even when the hometown team is down 3-to-1 in a series – don’t believe them. According to Ed Sherman on his Sherman Report blog, Game 5 of the Chicago Bulls-Miami Heat NBA playoff series drew a surprisingly strong 8.9 household rating locally for TNT, despite the […]
It looks like ol’ Uncle Rupert is opening up the vault… Fox released its 2013-14 season slate Monday morning ahead of its upfront presentation later in the day, and announced nine new series consisting of five new comedies and four new dramas – not to mention a form of television that hasn’t been mentioned in ages: the mini-series (a.k.a. “limited […]
With the network upfronts a few days away, the bubble has burst for those “bubble shows”: – NBC canceled four series: freshmen series 1600 Penn and Guys With Kids, and two others: Whitney (no surprise) and Up All Night, which was supposed to be retooled, but the idea never materialized. On Wednesday, NBC canceled Deception after one poorly-rated season. – […]
This season is certainly one to forget for American Idol in the ratings department. But its a different story altogether when it comes to African-American audiences. While ratings have declined significantly for Idol overall, the opposite is true among black viewers. In fact, most weeks, Idol is either ranked at or near the top in African-American homes. According to Nielsen […]
An update to Friday’s story regarding Susannah Collins: As speculated, Collins’ firing was indeed ordered by Blackhawks’ owner Rocky Wirtz who, according to Robert Channick of the Chicago Tribune Saturday, sent a letter to CSN Chicago, showing his concern about those SportsNutz videos she was in during 2009 and 2010. The copy of the letter was cc’ed to Jerry Reinsdorf […]
WLS-AM’s Jim Johnson calls it a career; Bob Newhart hits out of the park; Bob’s Burgers sold in off-network to Adult swim – Jim Johnson is calling it a career: after 45 amazing years as a newsman for WLS-AM, Johnson announced his retirement earlier this week, officially departing when his contract expires in June. Johnson joined The Big 89 in […]
– Good Friday was a month ago, but it was really a Good Friday for several bubble shows on network schedules as eight shows were officially picked up for next season: NBC’s Parenthood, Chicago Fire, Revolution, Grimm, and Law & Order: SVU; CW’s Hart Of Dixie and Beauty And The Beast; and CBS’ Two And A Half Men, though without […]
Is this legitimate? Or nothing more than an empty threat? Who’d thought something as small as a dime-sized antenna would cause this much trouble? The industry was a buzz about on Monday at the annual National Association of Broadcasters gathering in Las Vegas after comments made by News Corp. president and COO Chase Carey in the opening session, threatening to remove Fox […]
– WLS-TV returns to the top of the late news heap – American Idol continues to slide With the Olympics over and done with, normal viewing patterns have resumed – good news for ABC-owned WLS-TV, which saw its 10 p.m. news dominance temporarily usurped by NBC-owned WMAQ. In March, WLS returned to the top spot at 10 with a 9.0 […]
How do American Idol, X Factor, and Voice compare to one another? When American Idol debuted on Fox in the summer of 2002, no one knew what a phenomenon the series would turn out to be. Along the way, it spawned successes (X Factor, created by former Idol judge Simon Cowell and NBC’s The Voice) and some flops (The One.) […]
ABC ABC-Owned Stations ABC 7 Chicago American Idol CBS CBS Chicago CBS Media Ventures CBS News And Stations Chicago Bears Chicago Blackhawks Chicago Bulls Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox ESPN Family Guy FCC Fox Fox 32 Fox Television Stations Los Angeles Milwaukee NBC NBC 5 NBC Owned Television Stations NBCUniversal Syndication Studios New York City Nexstar Media Group Radio Ratings Sinclair Inc. Syndication The Big Bang Theory The CW The Simpsons Tribune Media Warner Bros. WBBM-TV Chicago WCIU Chicago WFLD Chicago WGN-TV Chicago WGN Radio WLS-AM Chicago WLS-TV Chicago WMAQ Chicago WPWR Chicago