Plus other news of note, including Rosie Show results; Brandmeier’s return; and a new game show in an unusual time slot. – Viewers welcomed back Tim Allen to network TV Tuesday night with open arms with strong sampling of his new sitcom Last Man Standing. On Tuesday, the series opened with 13.1 million viewers and grew […]
I guess this is what happens when you use winning call letters without Charlie Sheen? The first full Arbitron PPM survey for September is out for Merlin Media all-news station WWWN shows the station is clearly not “winning”. In fact – it’s losing. Big. According to the PPM report, WWWN finished an astonishing low 48th place with […]
Last week, Chicago did not have FM all-news stations. As of 8:10 a.m., we had not just one – but two as the race between the Court Jester and The Church of Tisch for all-news supremacy begins. On Friday, WWWN-FM (101.1 FM) dropped all music from its airwaves and became all-news, with Merlin Media making the announcement official on Sunday […]
Meet Merlin Media’s new mascot. Don’t let the Florida Marlins garb fool you. Ladies and gentlemen… grab a ringside seat because it’s time for the Chicago radio smackdown between old standby The Church Of Tisch and newcomer Merlin Media! In what promises to be the first of many clashes between CBS and Merlin, the two exchanged not-so-friendly letters to each […]
Numerous executive shake-ups in the last few days… in the offices and behind the scenes: Another protege from the Court Jester era is out the door… Tribune Broadcasting President Jerry Kersting exited on Tuesday and his position eliminated while Nils Larsen was elevated up to CEO of Broadcasting. Effective immediately, Larsen will be responsible for Tribune’s 23 television stations, cablers […]
A lot of news and notes this week’s Grab Bag: -Management changes at Weigel. Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting announced management changes on Monday, with Neal Sabin now president of content and networks. Sabin is now responsible for all programming on Weigel stations and owned and affiliated networks; development of multiplatform content on local and national levels; strategic planning; marketing of content; […]
Want more Two and a Half Men in syndication? You got it. But if you want more crazy Charlie Sheen going ape in a hotel room moments, you’ll have to wait – those come at random. In a story Broadcasting & Cable broke Wednesday, Tribune Broadcasting and Sinclair Broadcasting announced they has renewed Two and a Half Men for a […]
Cue the cute sitcom laugh track: Awwww….. (Photo courtesy of Robert Feder) This farce starring Randy “Court Jester” Michaels and Kevin “Pig Virus” Metheny running WGN Radio would equal a sitcom where everyone is a boob and feature a laugh track. In fact, there was such a sitcom: WKRP in Cincinnati was certainly one of the best sitcoms of its […]
It was a tumulus past week in the media world, highlighted by the exit of Tribune Court Jester Randy Michaels and the possibly of the Parents Television Council going bust. Is that a cause for celebration, or what? Winners Robert Feder. His coverage of the saga at Tribune Tower was exceptional work – truly a wonderful job by Chicago’s best […]
With Randy Michaels’ forced exit from Tribune as Chief Operating Officer, here’s a little background on him in this post from December 20, 2007 titled Randy Michaels Joins Tribune, which details how he saved WFLZ from extinction and how he cleverly did battle with Top 40 rival WRBQ (Q-105). Of course, he did not repeat his success in Chicago with […]
Randy Michaels has all but resigned as CEO of the Tribune Co. after a tumulus two-and-a-half years marred with allegations of sexual harassment, and comes a week after Chief “Innovation” Officer Lee Abrams resigned over an e-mail memo he sent containing profanity and racy videos. Reports of Michaels’ resignation first surfaced in the New York Times’ website Monday night – […]
The resignation of Tribune executive Lee Abrams on Friday was pretty much expected, and came as no surprise. Abrams sent a company-wide e-mail on Monday featuring Not Safe for Work videos and angering employees company-wide, and was suspended Wednesday for doing so. Some of the videos featured stuff you would normally find on a Girls Gone Wild DVD. And all […]
Once again, Chicago is living up to its media freak show reputation. Nearly a week after a damaging New York Times article was published on the frat-boy antics at Tribune Tower, Chief “Innovation” Officer Lee Abrams sent out a company-wide e-mail on Monday, which continued several inapporiate videos, including one labled “Sluts”. Ironically, the story broke Tuesday afternoon – on […]
The New York Times today made national what was reported in Chicago media circles for months regarding the frat house antics at Tribune Tower. David Carr had a front-page story in the newspaper regarding the dysfunctional nature that has become the Tribune Co., since Sam Zell bought the company in an ill-fated $8.2 million buyout in 2007 with Tribune Chump […]
..and other media news of note: – Kevin Manno is exiting his afternoon gig at alt-rock WKQX-FM (Q101) to take a job hosting a yet-to-be named weekday show on MTV according to CRM. The new show debuts on September 20 and is scheduled to air weekdays at 5 p.m. Manno’s old shift is being filled temporarily by James VanOdsol. This […]
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