One day only – Six morning stars to join forces

It’s a CBS Radio celebration: Six of the markets’ morning personalities are getting together for a one time only forum titled Chicago Radio Free-For-All, which is being broadcast live from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on July 11 on the Score (WSCR-AM) from Smith & Wollinsky downtown. (And before you ask, no, Mike North is not going to be there.) […]

B96 morning show in peril?

There could be trouble brewing at WBBM-FM’s (B96) morning show after one of the co-hosts walked off the set after a bit she found lacking of taste. Erica Cobb stormed off the Eddie & JoBo & Erica show after Eddie Volkman did an impersonation of the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright during yesterday’s show. The incident happened during a discussion of […]

Chicago radio’s Winter book results

The winter books are here, and according to Arbitron (click here to see daypart info): WINNERS: WGN-AM: This could be the beginning of a long reign for longtime leader WGN-AM on top of the radio hill in Chicago, as the station fended off WGCI to remain numero uno in Chicago’s Winter Arbitron book, and is expected to remain number one […]

Brant Miller returns home

After the last few days, it’s great to announce a hiring for a change! WMAQ-TV meteorologist Brant Miller is returning to his roots at the frequency he used to work show. Miller has been hired as morning personality at Oldies outlet WZZN-FM (94.7) starting Monday, where he will hold down the 6 to 10 a.m. shift (Miller will continue in […]

Even more layoffs at CBS

This is really getting sad… – Chicago: This time, coming from the radio side: two female on-air personalities are out at WBBM-FM (B96) – overnighter Candi Gomez and midday jock Roxanne Steele, with their contracts not being renewed. A new personality from Miami is going to take Steele’s place, while the overnight position is not being filled. Anyone want to […]

AOL, CBS Radio team up

XM ends partnership with AOL, launches new online radio initiative CBS Radio and AOL struck a major deal Friday, which allows AOL to stream all CBS-owned radio stations on its Internet Radio service. The deal will mesh CBS-owned radio stations with AOL’s existing radio stations, and it also calls for CBS to create custom radio stations exclusively for the Internet. […]

"Idol" hit lowest ratings in four years

The seventh season premiere of American Idol averaged a 18.6 metered household rating and a 13.8 rating among adults 18-49, down 13 percent from last year. Among total viewers, Idol notched 33.2 million viewers, down 11 percent from a year ago. Still, Idol dominated prime on Fox, and should do so tonight, as the auditions head for Dallas (where I […]

Da Trends

The second set of trends for the Arbitron fall book for Chicago radio stations are out, and there is some movement on the chart among several radio stations. Thoughts… – It looks like WGN is going to be #1 for the foreseeable future. – WGCI rebounded to third place this trend, perhaps silencing critics (such as yours truly) -WLS-AM rebounded […]

WGN-AM sweeps Chicago summer book

A clean sweep of every major daypart kept WGN on top of the ratings in Arbitron’s summer book. WGN’s dominance started with Spike O’Dell in the mornings and went through John Williams and Cubs baseball in the afternoon. Other news of note: Mornings: – WGCI paid dearly for replacing top-rated (in 18-34) Howard McGee with syndicated Steve Harvey, with WVAZ’s […]

With her, You – Can – Go – All – The – Way!

Sun-Times relationship expert Laura Berman is joining B96’s Eddie & JoBo & Erica morning show (scroll down) every Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. to dispense advice (just be thankful it’s Laura Berman doing this and not Chris Berman.) Also on the contemporary-radio beat, a new night guy has landed at KISS (WKSC-FM) – Billy Hammond has landed the late night […]

Presenting the Spring 2007 Arbitron book

For Chicago and Milwaukee. Random thoughts: -WGCI-FM, WVAZ, and WPWX all are down from last book. The Howard McGee debacle at WGCI certainly won’t help them as they might not see No.1 for a very long time. – WBBM-FM got pummeled by WKSC-FM (Kiss), falling out of the top 10 and recording their worst numbers since 1982. Time for some […]

The craziness ends here

Robert Feder in today’s Sun-Times is reporting that “Crazy” Howard McGee will be dropped as morning host at Clear Channel urban contemporary station WGCI-FM and being replaced by Steve Harvey’s syndicated morning show. The move is expected to take place sometime around August 1. Harvey’s program had been airing on Crawford’s Urban AC outlet WSRB-FM, but Premiere Radio Networks, a […]

B 96 Summerbash bashed

Ah… the typical radio station outdoor concert… where fights break out, people mysteriously die and adult items are passed out to twelve-year olds. And yes, there was plenty of teen drinking and drug use at the bash. And this parent who was “outraged”… save your phony act for To Catch A Predator. Not to mention the biggest headliner (Akon) couldn’t […]

Happy anniversary, B-96!

In honor of WBBM-FM’s 25th anniversary as a Contemporary Hit/Top 40 station (which flipped from a downtrodden adult contemporary format on May 3, 1982), we dug up this gem – a commercial that aired shortly after the format was launched (it adopted the “B96” moniker a little bit later…) B96 would be the station that would end the two-decades dominance […]

Shelly…. you’re now on the clock

(Okay… This “on the clock” shtick is getting a bit much…) Shelly, the entertainment reporter from B-96 (WBBM-FM). I did not know she looked like Ricki Lake… I pictured her more of a blonde…. (This was taken from Chicagoland Radio and Media’s site – one of our media friends)