T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

Some Chicago-related media news: – One coming from Oregon, one going to Oregon: Clear Channel has upped Tony Coles as vice president and operations of the company’s six-station radio cluster here in Chicago. Coles comes via Portland, Ore. where he was regional vice president of programming at Clear Channel’s Northwest cluster. He replaces Darren Davis, who was promoted to senior […]

More Chicago PPM results

All Access interviewed Radio Crunch’s Anthony Acampora about the pre-currency results from Arbitron’s new Portable People Meter, which is intended to replace the diaries the company has been using for decades. Keep in mind this is based on only one month of findings. Among the findings: – Bonneville seems to be the big winner, with WDRV-FM (The Drive) surging in […]

Illinois’ other Arbitron books released

Here are the Arbitron rating books for other markets in Illinois, plus South Bend-Elkhart. Quad Cities – Clear Channel’s country outlet (WLLR-FM) dominated the market, with a share that doubles its’ nearest competitor. Peoria – Will AC plays in Peoria? You bet, as Triad’s WSWT-FM finished a dominant first. Rockford – A CHR outlet finished first here, with Cumulus’ WZOK-FM […]

WGCI stops the hits to address Chicago violence

Doing what they should be doing when a community in is crisis, WGCI-FM abruptly stopped playing music this afternoon and evening to address the shootings and killings that has plagued Chicago’s minority communities over the past week. The impromptu move came after five people were gunned down inside a house on Chicago’s South Side this afternoon. WGCI invited leaders from […]

The Fall Arbitron books, Part II

Wondering how the recently-released Fall Arbs fared demographically? Well, here you go, courtesy of All Access (As a bonus, you get San Diego numbers in the article, too!): – Urban contemporary WGCI-FM swept the adults 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54 categories by finishing first. -Thanks to Christmas music, WLIT soared back into the top ten in key 18-49 and 25-54 demos. […]

Doug Banks returns to Chicago

A Chicago radio icon in coming home – well, at least on the air. Chicago radio veteran Doug Banks is back on the airwaves thanks to a deal with Urban Adult Contemporary WVAZ-FM (V103), which will see it become the first station to carry his new syndicated radio show, which is being distributed by ABC Radio Networks (which is actually […]

The Fall Arbitron books

Here are your radio Fall Arbs (+12) for: Chicago Quick analysis: Tribune’s WGN is first, but stumbled. Clear Channel’s Urban Contemporary WGCI is back in second place, while sister Urban AC WVAZ fell from fifth place to eighth (they announced a huge schedule change today – more on that later, so watch the blog.) CC’s WLIT surged to fifth place*, […]

You Be ‘Iiiin’

Urban Contemporary WGCI-FM is launching a new show featuring local hip-hop and R&B artists called Go Ill.The program premieres this Saturday night at 9 p.m. and run in that time slot every week. It will also feature interviews with the artists behind the music. WGCI has often been criticized for not featuring enough local artists on its station (other than […]

What if Oprah ran radio?

Inside Radio founder Jerry del Colliano thinks Oprah Winfrey could be just the person to turn around the radio business if she had the chance (as long if it’s her and not Tyra Banks.) It’s a great post, and one every radio programmer should read (especially those at Clear Channel.) Read the comments section below on the post. An absolute […]

Layoff lane

Cuts at Clear Channel Chicago and 65 layoffs at Oxygen, which was taken over by NBC Universal over the weekend. Among the cuts at CC Chicago: Armando Rivera, a mixer-turned-assistant program director and music director at WVAZ (V103); WGCI’s nighttime jock Victor “The Diz” Blackful; and overnighter Alexx Dupri at Top 40 WKSC-FM. The cuts at Clear Channel mirror those […]

The 2007 T Dog Media Blog Turkey Awards

With the Pumpkin Pie Awards for Excellence Welcome to the second annual T Dog Media Blog Turkey Awards. Once again, we’re here to serve up the disasters in media in 2007. I have nineteen turkeys to hand out… so let’s get gobbling! And this year’s awards go to… – The Chicago Bears. A Super Bowl hangover this year. And especially Rex […]

WGCI drops to 5th in first fall Arbitrend

Usually don’t report on trends, but WGCI is continuing to pay for dropping Howard McGee and replacing it with Steve Harvey’s morning show. It was a bad trend for Clear Channel, with just two of its stations showing an increase and WLIT bottoming out to an all-time low. The station recently flipped to Christmas music. But the unlikely winner was […]

Delilah out at the Lite

Syndicated radio personality Delilah is out at WLIT-FM after seven years at the station. Her last show was on Monday. Her replacement is John Symons, late of WILV-FM and its predecessor, WNND-FM. He is bringing his Love Notes show to the station beginning on Thursday. Love Notes originated on WNND in 1997. Symons will host Love Notes live Monday through […]

Whoopi’s out; Forman’s in

Clear Channel-owned WLIT-FM (The Lite) in Chicago has axed Whoopi Goldberg’s poorly-rated syndicated morning show and has reinstated Melissa Forman as morning personality. Since August 2006, when Melissa Forman was replaced by Whoopi, the morning drive ratings dropped like a rock. Among adults 25-54, the daypart went from 11th place with Forman to 19th place with Goldberg. Forman was let […]