T Dog’s Grab Bag: Syndication special

Also: WLS-TV dominates November ratings With the NATPE gathering just weeks away, syndicators are gearing up their sales teams to pitch new projects for the fall of 2014, including Celebrity Name Game (see below) and The Real – both recently receiving “firm gos”. Several freshman and sophomore series are on the bubble including Queen Latifah, The Arsenio Hall Show, Katie, […]

Katie Couric exits ABC News to join Yahoo

Pending deal has no effect on daytime talk show, which is still on bubble Katie Couric’s stint at ABC News is coming to a close. But her syndicated talk show could be another story. As first reported by The Hollywood reporter Friday evening, Ms. Couric is taking take a position at Yahoo!, the internet portal which was a huge player […]

Remembering Jerry G. Bishop

When you think of Svengoolie these days, you think of Rich Koz, the personality behind the character. But to a generation of Chicago TV viewers back in the 1970’s, Svengoolie went by the person who originally created and played the character for Screaming Yellow Theater: Jerry G. Bishop. Bishop, whose real name was Jerry Ghan, died Sunday in San Diego at […]

Analysis: “Simpsons” finally headed to cable

What this means for fans of the long-running franchise, its syndicator and the show itself In news first reported by TV Guide’s Michael Schneider Monday, the longest-running series in primetime TV history is expected to be sold by Twentieth Television to a cable network this year for airing in the fall of 2014. Possible cable contenders include Turner Broadcasting (TBS, […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Don’t come back, y’all

Jacobson loses lawsuit; Rover gets busted; Birmingham format flip goes awry – As first reported by the Chicago Tribune Wednesday evening, a Cook County Judge threw out a lawsuit from WIND-AM morning co-host Amy Jacobson against CBS. She was fired from NBC-owned WMAQ-TV in 2007 after a cameraman from WBBM-TV caught Jacobson at a pool party at Craig Stebic’s Plainfield […]

Tribune buys Local TV LLC for $2.7 billion

    Tribune adds stations from Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Memphis to its stable About a year or so ago, there was speculation on whether or not Tribune Broadcasting, planning to exit Chapter 11, would stay in the broadcast business. Consider this a definite answer. Chicago-based Tribune announced Monday it was acquiring Newport, Ky.-based Local TV LLC for $2.7 billion. The […]

Rewind 100.3 gains a PD, WGN Radio loses one

Also: Jim Laski ends radio comeback Monday was an active day in Chicago radio as two big personnel moves took place. Hubbard Broadcasting’s WILV-FM (aka Rewind 100.3) hired Marty Bender as the station’s new program director (PD), effective soon. Bender ran WFBQ (Q95) in Indianapolis for over two decades and also oversaw “The Bob And Tom Show”, a station staple […]

Fallon to succeed Leno as host of “The Tonight Show”

Here we go again. After weeks of speculation, NBC made it official last week: it was handing the hosting duties of The Tonight Show to Jimmy Fallon, replacing Jay Leno in the role. In addition, NBC is moving production of The Tonight Show to New York City, returning to the Big Apple for the first time in 42 years. Excluding […]

Local ratings box: WLS-TV returns to dominance at 10

– WLS-TV returns to the top of the late news heap – American Idol continues to slide With the Olympics over and done with, normal viewing patterns have resumed – good news for ABC-owned WLS-TV, which saw its 10 p.m. news dominance temporarily usurped by NBC-owned WMAQ. In March, WLS returned to the top spot at 10 with a 9.0 […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Harry Teinowitz out at ESPN 1000

– I guess he ain’t “winning” anymore: Harry Teinowitz is out as afternoon co-host at ESPN 1000 (WMVP). Teinowitz, who was paired up with John “Jurko” Jurkovic and Carmen DeFalco for the 2-6 afternoon shift, was given his walking papers Thursday after twelve years at the ESPN-owned radio station. Jurko and Carmen will continue with the show for the time […]

CBS, “Grey’s Anatomy” run ripshod over competition

Remember when Thursday night belonged to NBC? Seems so long ago, doesn’t it? The Tiffany network won the first Thursday night of the 2012-13 season in households, total viewers, and in adults 18-49 (Fox won in adults 18-34) thanks to the season premieres of The Big Bang Theory, Two And A Half Men, and the series premiere of Elementary. All […]

Sports, tech snafus zap media coverage of teachers’ strike

As Chicago teachers head for the picket line, media coverage of the strike has been filled with some miscues and some frustration from local news stations due to sports overruns.  If you watched ABC 7’s (WLS-TV’s) newscast Sunday night, technical snafus took place as video from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s press conference at the Harold Washington Library often looked choppy and […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Topsy turvy

The Six Pack is back, but this edition is straight out of bizarro world: perennial loser NBC in the winner’s circle while top-ranked WLS-TV is in loserland? As Vince Lombardi would say, “What’s going on here?” Well, WIQI is the loser’s circle again, so it’s all not that unusual… the week’s winners and losers: Winners – NBC. Belated congrats to […]