White Sox local ratings collapse into basement

Rebuilding team has trouble drawing viewers; Cubs’ ratings grow; Cardinals top MLB In a signal the “rebuild” isn’t chugging along as it should, the Chicago White Sox’s season ratings fell into a ravine this season. According to Nielsen and Forbes, the White Sox fell into last place among Major League Baseball’s 29 teams, averaging a 0.68 household rating on NBC […]

Friday ratings roundup: “TGIF” smushed by Fox

Meanwhile, Chicago stations pre-empt regular programming for Jason Van Dyke verdict Note: All numbers are preliminary adult 18-49 demos, unless otherwise noted. Friday night saw the return (again) of “TGIF” brand to ABC, the beloved staple from the 1990s with family-friendly comedies and a game show. But the third time apparently isn’t the charm. Using TGIF for the first time […]

Monday ratings roundup: Viewers flood “Neighborhood”

ESPN scores with MNF, tiebreaker baseball Note: All numbers are adult 18-49, unless noted CBS premiered two new multi-cam sitcoms Monday night with the heavily promoted The Neighborhood and Happy Together as part of their effort to retool their Monday night lineup. The results were positive for Neighborhood with the Cedric The Entertainer vehicle earning a 1.3 rating/6 share, while […]

Wednesday ratings roundup: Cubs clincher also a win in ratings

Empire tops in national ratings (Editor’s Note: Excluding the Cubs number, these are final adults 18-49 ratings.)  While yours truly should talk about Wednesday night’s prime-time ratings race, you can’t ignore the fact the Chicago Cubs’ return to the postseason is going to have an impact on the broadcast networks. TBS is happy given they have rights to the NLDS […]

Quick Hits and Bits: Dahl, Meier feuding again?

Welcome to the second edition of Quick Hits and Bits! – Oh God, here we go again… another radio legend has turned down Bruce DuMont’s invite to the Radio Hall Of Fame ceremony – this time its Steve Dahl, who he and Garry Meier who are being inducted November 9. Like Howard Stern last year, Dahl reportedly was not happy […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Internet trolls aren’t Boston strong

Leave it to wingnuts, trolls, and the FCC Chairman to ruin a feelgood moment. The Boston Red Sox played their first game at Fenway Park Saturday afternoon against the Kansas City Royals after deadly bombings ripped through the Boston Marathon’s finish line Monday, killing three people and injured more than one hundred. Before the game, Red Sox slugger David Ortiz […]

The classiest front page ever

Usually, this website takes well-deserved shots at Chicago and national media outlets. But the Chicago Tribune’s salute to Boston in Tuesday’s sports section (see the photo to the left – click to enlarge) was the epitome of class. As you certainly know by now, two bombs went off near the finish line at the Boston Marathon Monday, killing three people […]

Sunday ratings: NFL, Ryder Cup rules

Now that’s more like it. The first Sunday night is in the books as footabll ruled prime-time once again as the New York Giants took on the Philadelphia Eagles in the city of Brotherly Love (or hate.) Meanwhile, NBC also got ratings mileage Sunday afternoon thanks in part to the historic collapse of the U.S. team in the Ryder Cup […]

ESPN re-ups with Major League Baseball

(Editor’s note: the wrong draft of this article was posted earlier. This is the correct version. -T.H.) It’s been the mantra for the last couple of years now: whatever ESPN wants, ESPN gets. I guess there are some benefits to being The Worldwide Leader in B.S. ESPN announced on Tuesday a renewal deal with Major League Baseball, with the sports […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: The Pyramid of Fun

            Welcome to The Six Pack Pyramid and here’s your host… Terence! All right, we have three contestants in the Winner’s Circle this week and let’s see who’s in the Loser’s Circle … Wow! Another waiting line? Why is it that there are always more eligible losers than winners in these six packs? Does the […]

T Dog’s Fridge Pack: The twelve items that made the decade

In his 2008 speeches, President Barack Obama talked about change. Well, in the media world, change arrived in the 2000s. And boy, did it ever! When the decade started, who knew we would be watching clips on YouTube, or friending people on Facebook, or watching network TV shows online? Or how broadcast television and terrestrial radio would both have trouble […]

Chicago’s baseball teams did better on the tube than on the field

While Chicago’ baseball teams did not have a successful season on the field, they had some success on the tube. Sports Business Journal ranked the 2009 regular season of thirty teams, and the Chicago Cubs finished ninth among regional sports networks, with a 4.1 household rating – but this number was down 16% from 2008 numbers. Meanwhile, the Chicago White […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

– The ALCS Game 7 between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays on TBS last night drew a record-setting 13.4 million viewers, making it the highest-rated baseball game in cable TV history. Boston made a historic comeback in Game 5 being down 7-0 and winning the game 8-7, and winning Game 6. But the Rays beat Boston […]

2007 World Series second-lowest ever

Hold the celebration Fox – the 2007 World Series between the Red Sox and the Rockies turned out to be the second-lowest rated World Series ever, only above last year’s World Series between Detroit and St. Louis. Earlier this year, the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals recorded record-low numbers. Still, the World Series was up 5 percent from […]