Cubs score one for the record books

Cubs destroy competition off the field, including the once-mighty NFL – setting a cable TV record in the process Despite loss, Cubs clinch NL Central Even with a loss last night against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs continue to roll with a dominant ratings performance on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. According to a press release, the Brewers-Cubs telecast Thursday night on […]

T Dog”s Media Notepad: Introducing MeTV Music

WCIU to air Bears game Monday night MeTV launches Internet stream Chi-Town Rising gets another run Tribune renews Fox affiliations in six markets As first reported by Robert Feder Monday, Weigel’s MeTV is launching a separate Internet stream of its terrestrial radio station at WRME-LP (87.7 FM). “MeTV Music brings back so many of the artists and songs that terrestrial radio has […]

Ratings roundup: “Harry” off to decent start

Cubs score; NFL slides a bit (Editor’s Note: The YouTube video in this post was deleted.) With the new season a week away, new programming is already popping up – and getting decent sampling. The launch of Harry Connick Jr.’s daytime talk show Monday met ratings expectations, drawing a 1.4 household rating/4 share in 56 metered markets, according to Nielsen. […]

The CW exchanges WGN-TV for WPWR

WGN-TV to drop CW affiliation in September; moves to Fox-owned WPWR Tribune Broadcasting renews agreement to carry CW programming in twelve markets Tribune Broadcasting finally renewed its CW affiliations this weekend. But in a surprise move, it didn’t renew its affiliation with WGN-TV in Chicago. Where The CW affiliation wound up is a even bigger surprise. As first reported by Robert […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Bears-Packers score in ratings

Bears surprise; ABC 7 dominates November ratings; another new game show planned; Tom Joyner’s future On paper, it looked like another game against the Packers where the Bears would get blown out and the ratings would take a hit, given what happened last year. Turns out it wasn’t the case. Led by Jay Cutler, the Chicago Bears stunned their Green […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: WMAQ may add more news

Formerly known as T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag, T Dog’s Grab Bag and The Grab Bag and maybe 100 other ridiculous names – Is WMAQ looking to add a 4 p.m. newscast? A report on FTVLive.com Monday suggests several NBC-owned stations may be looking to add another hour of news at 4 p.m. in 2016 in order to take advantage […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Bears stumble, fumble in the ratings

Haven’t done the Notepad in a while – plus, I’ve been busy with other stuff, so let’s play catchup and see  what’s going on: –The Chicago Bears are back – but apparently, someone forgot to tell the fans: September 13’s heavily hyped home opener between the Lakefront’s NFL Team and their long-time nemesis Green Bay Packers drew a surprisingly low […]

Think Tank Express: Media’s bizarro summer

Radio is experiencing a renaissance  and television in the dumps? Welcome to the summer of the bizarro world. You’ve probably read several articles lately proclaiming radio’s resurgence, with Nielsen reporting a record reach of 245 million listeners and usage up from years past, with more reach than any other medium. Great news, indeed. But what the corporate spinmeisters won’t tell you […]

NFL punts on blackouts for 2015 season

For those hoping Bears fans would stay away from Soldier Field in order to keep Jay Cutler off their TV sets, you’re out of luck. The NFL decided Monday to suspend their television blackout policy for the upcoming 2015 season only, and it would be reviewed again after the season. This means all games will be available to TV viewers, […]

Super Bowl XLIX: One for the record books

The last-minute nail biter between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots becomes the most-watched program of all time and the tenth-highest rated Chicago pulls in higher number for Super Bowl XLIX than the Bears’ Super Bowl XLII appearance Super Bowl XLIX between Seattle and New England set several ratings records as Americans plopped down in front of their couches […]

The best and worst content of 2014

Instead of an “Excellent 10” and “Toilet 10” TV show list like yours truly has done in the past, this year I’m breaking it down as “Best Content” and “Worst Content” of 2014, because let’s face it – media content isn’t just on TV anymore… it’s on other platforms such as Amazon, Netflix, and the Internet in general (and plus, the monikers […]

Peter Pan gets pummeled by Bears

Bears-Cowboys game beats live production of Peter Pan both locally and nationally The Bears haven’t done much this season on the field, but at least they beat an opponent. Unfortunately, it wasn’t on the field. In the battle of train-wreck programming, the Chicago Bears game against the Dallas Cowboys on the NFL Network (and WBBM-Ch. 2 locally) won out over […]

The 2014 T Dog Media Turkey Awards

Gobble, gobble everyone! It’s that time of year… to celebrate (and criticize) the worst in media. It’s the 2014 T Dog Media Turkey Awards. If you’ve noticed, the first eleven items are all local, and makes up a third of the list. Just goes to show you the power of The Chicago Way. The sad part is, the Jackie Robinson West […]

Bears get sacked by Pack and ratings take hit

Also: Walking Dead, Simpsons, Real Housewives are night’s ratings winners This is likely the last Bears TV ratings report you will see this season (hold your applause) because reporting on them – and writing about the team itself – is no longer interesting. But given the way the Bears have been playing, the butt-whopping the Green Bay Packers put on […]