T Dog’s Think Tank: “You Got Shteirized”

On Sunday, New York Times reviewer Rachel Shteir reviewed three Chicago based books. But the reviews were less about the books in question and more about Chicago itself. In her review, Shteir – who is also a professor at DePaul University and moved to Chicago thirteen years ago – talked about “poor Chicago” and used every stereotypical crack associated with […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Harry Teinowitz out at ESPN 1000

– I guess he ain’t “winning” anymore: Harry Teinowitz is out as afternoon co-host at ESPN 1000 (WMVP). Teinowitz, who was paired up with John “Jurko” Jurkovic and Carmen DeFalco for the 2-6 afternoon shift, was given his walking papers Thursday after twelve years at the ESPN-owned radio station. Jurko and Carmen will continue with the show for the time […]

Confirmed: “Queen Latifah” to CBS 2… and WCIU

As reported here and on other trade sites last week, Queen Latifah’s return to daytime TV snared its first major deal with Sony Pictures Television: CBS’ owned and operated TV stations signed on for the show in sixteen markets. According to an article in Broadcasting & Cable last Monday, Latifah’s show will in fact, be shown on WBBM-TV next fall, […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Topsy turvy

The Six Pack is back, but this edition is straight out of bizarro world: perennial loser NBC in the winner’s circle while top-ranked WLS-TV is in loserland? As Vince Lombardi would say, “What’s going on here?” Well, WIQI is the loser’s circle again, so it’s all not that unusual… the week’s winners and losers: Winners – NBC. Belated congrats to […]

WCIU, CBS O&Os acquire “Hot in Cleveland”

The CBS-Weigel collation has struck again. CBS Television Distribution cleared TV Land’s off-cable Hot In Cleveland in 65 percent of the country for fall 2014, including WCIU in Chicago and several CBS-owned stations in the nation’s largest markets. This is the same collation that acquired Warner Bros.’ Mike & Molly and 2 Broke Girls for off-network syndication in 2014 and […]

Andy Griffith dies

Fans are mourning the loss of television legend Andy Griffith, who died in his North Carolina home on Tuesday at the age of 86. His career spans multiple decades, several movies, and two long-running TV shows. Griffith was born in Mount Airy, N.C. – the town that provided the inspiration for fictional Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show. Griffith got […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Robin Robinson likely out at WFLD

A bunch of items in this week’s Grab Bag: – Is Robin Robinson on her way out at Fox-owned WFLD? Sure looks like it: According to a report surfacing a little over a week ago at Chicagoland Radio and Media, Robinson is expected to depart when her contract expires later this year. Robinson is the longest-tenured anchor at WFLD, being […]

NFL agrees to new deals with CBS, NBC, and Fox

The National Football League has secured deals with three of its network partners to keep football on over-the-air broadcast TV for the next decade. The deals keeps everything status quo – Fox continues to broadcast the NFC package it has held since 1994; CBS retains the AFC package it has held since 1998; and NBC keeps the Sunday night package […]

Stations make post- "Oprah" moves

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) […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Opposites Attract

This week in The Six Pack: Chicago media takes two steps forward and a few steps back – as usual. No, it’s not Paula Abdul dancing with an animated cat (or dead celebrities dancing with vacuum cleaners) but there is some animation, classic TV, and even a classic radio show in this week’s roundup: Winners Bob’s Burgers. In a surprise […]

Local newscasts return to St. Louis’ KDNL

In Chicago, ABC-owned WLS-TV’s newscast have topped the charts for more than 20 years, completely dominating their time periods – and the same can be said for other ABC stations, including WABC in New York, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, WPVI in Philadelphia, WFTV in Orlando, and WSB-TV in Atlanta. KDNL-TV in St. Louis? Not so much. In fact, it doesn’t […]

The Grab Bag: “Wendy Williams” renewed through 2014

Wendy Williams has gotten a new lease on life on her syndicated talk show: Debmar-Mercury announced Monday that the three-season old daytime talk show strip has been renewed by Fox O&Os currently carrying the show through 2014, including WFLD-TV, which airs the show at 10 a.m. and at midnight. Williams has been stronger in markets with large African-American audiences such […]

Fox affiliates drift away from off-net sitcoms in early fringe and access

Yours truly had to do a double take when John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported last week that Fox affiliate WXIX-TV in Cincinnati was dumping off-network sitcoms Seinfeld and Family Guy for… Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy? It is indeed true – the Raycom-owned station in Cincinnati has purchased the older-skewing game shows for airing beginning in September 2012, […]

Tribune launches Antenna TV

Well, we have our first blatant ripoff of Chicago’s MeTV and Retro Television Network. Tribune announced today it is launching a new classic TV digital network titled Antenna TV on January 3, 2011. The network plans to air classic series from the Sony library and from syndicator D.L. Taffner, Ltd., which (still!) holds the rights to sitcoms Three’s Company and […]

4:30 a.m. news: The sensation that’s sweeping the nation

It’s no longer a rush to get into the 4:30 a.m. news business – it’s a stampede. Consider this – a recent search of TVNewsCheck of “4:30” turned up a whopping 115 items., with most of the stories featuring stations starting 4:30 a.m. newscasts in the past year, or so. This isn’t a rush – it’s a stampede. Get the […]