Yeah, we knew this was coming: News director Carol Fowler of CBS-owned WBBM-TV was fired today after six years. She was brought in as a stooge of former general manager Joe Ahern, who was fired last month. During her tenure news ratings failed to move upward and still placed behind most of their rivals, including ABC-owned WLS-TV and CW affiliate […]
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 […]
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. […]
As what Amy Jacobson did a few weeks ago, the Stebic family has now followed “suit” with a suit of their own. Craig Stebic and his family filed suit against CBS and its owned TV station here (WBBM-TV) and a couple of principals involved, including GM Joe Ahern and news director Carol Fowler. Also named in the suit was anchor […]
The Chicago Chapter of The Church of Tisch opens its new location on Monday. CBS-owned WBBM-TV opens its new “block 37” location in the loop on Monday, a new broadcast facility with its newscasts broadcast in HD. The new 22 West Washington St. location is dubbed “Heart of Chicago”. Sun-Times columnist Rob Feder noted today he didn’t get an invitation […]
CBS-owned WBBM-TV has decided to shuffle the anchor chairs again at its low-rated morning newscast – with the return of Roseanne Tellez from maternity leave, she will return anchoring the news at 5 and 11 a.m., paired up with weatherman Don Schwennker. They replace Jim Willams (who goes back to weekends) and Kristyn Hartman. Tellez, who co-anchored the station’s 5 […]
Former WMAQ-TV reporter Amy Jacobson has sued CBS Corp. and its owned-and-operated station here in Chicago (WBBM-TV) for airing a video of her last year in the backyard of Craig Stebic’s house, wearing nothing but a bikini top and a towel around her waist. Craig Stebic is the husband of missing woman Lisa Stebic, who vanished over a year ago, […]
An investigative report regarding a series of large security loopholes at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport – which resulted in a number of arrests and spurred a federal investigation – is being inducted along with 22 other local specials into the William Paley Center. The television museum, located in both New York and Los Angeles, is screening WBBM-TV’s investigative report Fly […]
CBS-owned WBBM-TV has delayed its move to its new Washington St. headquarters in the Loop at Block 37 until further notice because of technical problems at the facility. Station officials hoped they could move their operations from their long-time home at McClurg Court this summer, but because of those technical and operational issues, station officials decided to postpone their move […]
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 […]
This story in the Tribune Sunday features the impending move of CBS-owned WBBM-TV from its longtime home at 630 McClurg Court on the North Side’s Streeterville neighborhood to Block 37 in the heart of The Loop. McClurg Court has been home to WBBM-AM-FM-TV since 1956 and was home to the nation’s first televised debate between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon […]
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 […]
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 […]
CBS-owned WBBM-TV and WBBM-AM are teaming up to air a town hall meeting on Saturday, May 10 called Speaking Truth: A Town Hall Meeting On Violence, which airs on both WBBM-TV and WBBM-AM (Newsradio 780) from 10 p.m to 11:30 p.m., with Channel 2 preempting their local newscast for this night only. The special is being held to call attention […]
CBS-owned WBBM’s 10 p.m. ratings after the recent anchor changes have remained flat from February, according to today’s Sun-Times. Despite the moves, the station is still in its third-place behind its other network O&O rivals. However, Channel 2 points out it has received positive e-mails and phone calls from viewers about the changes. Today begins the May sweeps period, which […]
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