Cumulus seeks to end contracts with Merlin Media, Bulls, White Sox

Chapter 11 forces company to dump pricey agreements. At last, I can sum up the sorry state of Chicago sports AND Chicago radio all in one post. In news breaking Friday and first reported by Robert Feder, Cumulus announced it was seeking to get out of money-losing contracts of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox in a filing with […]

“Will & Grace” shines in return; NFL, Bears fall flat

Strong start for veteran sitcom – and oh yeah…Chicago’s NFL Lakefront Team was also in action The return of Will & Grace to NBC Thursday night went better than expected. The “season nine” comedy – starring Eric McCormick and Debra Messing premiered with a 3.0 adults 18-49 rating – better than any season eight episode eleven seasons ago (in 2005-06) […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: WCIU finally launches new morning show “The Jam”

Also: Chicago White Sox gets a ratings boost; Discovery merges with Scripps; Chicago R&B star to appear in new daily show. If you blinked, you might have missed the premiere of The Jam, WCIU’s new morning show premiering Monday with little fanfare. Announced back in June, The Jam unveiled its format and its hosts: Jordan Cornette, Felicia Lawrence, and Danielle […]

Chicago Crosstown Cup baseball games draws viewers

(Editor’s Note: This story was originally posted on Tumblr July 27 due to a site outage and has been updated from the original. Contains strong language – reader discretion is advised. – T.H.)  You can always count on the Crosstown Cup to draw viewers in Chicago. No matter what side you’re on (disclosure: yours truly is a fan of the […]

Cubs, White Sox ratings stumble into All-Star break

Lackluster play continues trend of declining sports ratings locally With the Cubs’ shockingly poor play and the White Sox’s rebuild (there’s that word again), it isn’t any surprise the ratings for both Chicago baseball teams are down from last year as both teams resume play after the All-Star break. According to Crain’s Danny Ecker, the Cubs – who were 2016 […]

Sinclair to buy Tribune Media for $4 billion 

Mega deal is the biggest in television history: 42 station-group sold to Maryland-based broadcaster Ends local ownership of WGN-TV and WGN Radio after more than 60 years Sinclair’s purchase of Tribune Media will change the landscape of local television as we know it. For one, Tribune – with roots in television going back to 1948 as the WGN Continental Broadcasting […]

Chicago’s NBC, Fox stations sell spectrum

If you are an over-the-air customer in Chicago – or anywhere for that matter, get ready for some big changes as six local stations relocate. The FCC released a list Thursday of how many stations across the country sold their spectrum to wireless companies – and several big-market stations are on the list – including Chicago. Six local TV stations […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: CSN to stream Cubs, White Sox games

  Also: Eric and Kathy reup; Blackhawks continue to slide in ratings; CW changes stations in San Diego…again; This is Us renewed two years; Esquire Network closes   In good news for Chicago baseball fans, Comcast SportsNet Chicago and Major League Baseball Thursday announced a live streaming deal for Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox games beginning with the 2017 season, […]

2016 in review: The highs and the lows…a lot of lows

“Jessica Jones” tops odd year in media – and life When you look back at 2016, there isn’t much to rave about – way too many celebrity and industry deaths (Prince, Garry Shandling, Carrie Fisher, Grant Tinker, Doug Banks, Herb Kent, etc.), the election of Donald Trump, the rise (again) of Rahm Emanuel, continuing media consolidation, and other awful things. But […]

Bob Sirottt, Marianne Murciano head to WLS-AM

It’s a homecoming for Sirott, who was at the Big 89 in the ’70’s Chicago radio and TV personalities Bob Sirott and Marianne Murciano are on the move once again, this time being added to WLS-AM’s morning lineup. Beginning January 2, the husband-and-wife duo surfaces in the 10:00 a.m. to noon time slot on the Cumulus Media-owned station. The news […]

The 2016 T Dog Media Turkey Awards

(Editor’s Note: This is T Dog Media’s 3,000th post!)  Welcome to the 11th annual T Dog Media Turkey Awards – celebrating the worst in media, sports, and life in general. There were many nominees this year, but I don’t think you want to be here all day. Thus, yours truly whittled it down to nineteen recipients this year. Let’s get gobblin’! […]

Cubs World Series’ victory is also one for all involved

Fox, WFLD, MLB, advertisers also have reason to pop out the bubbly The Chicago Cubs’ World Series win is historic in many ways – and not just for the team. Wednesday night’s achievement – the first championship for the team since 1908, brought dividends for Fox, advertisers, the game of baseball, and over-the-air television in general. For one – the edge-of-your-seat, […]

World Series rolls on with the Cubs

First two games show massive viewership increases as Chicago viewers turn out in droves As expected, the Chicago Cubs’ appearance in the World Series gave a lift to Fox and drew throngs of viewers to Fox-owned WFLD-TV. According to Nielsen, game two of the Cubs-Indians series drew a local 35.4 live-plus-same day household rating, up from the 34.1 drew the […]