T Dog’s Media Notepad: A Tronc war breaks out

Can’t we all get along: With the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, leave it to those idiots at  Tronc to ignite a war between the two cities’ newspapers – given the company runs newspapers in both cities. On Friday, overrated Chicago Tribune columnist Rex Huppke wrote a column bashing Los Angeles, saying the city is a […]

Brandmeier’s syndicated radio show to end

Cumulus pulls plug Sometimes, you can’t relieve your former glory. Ask Arsenio Hall, who saw his late-night revival effort go down in flames after a year on the air. Now Jonathon Brandmeier, who rode to success as a morning personality for WLUP-FM in the 1980’s and 1990’s, is seeing his radio comeback once again cut short. Cumulus Radio canceled his […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: T Dog Media at 10

Happy anniversary to T Dog Media! It’s a different media world today than it was when I started this. As we mark the ten-year anniversary of T Dog Media this weekend, I would like to take a look back – not at dopey posts from the early years such as these (really bad idea)…or getting involved in feuds (Wil Wheaton and […]

Think Tank Express: Cumulus needs a lesson in customer relations

Once again, Cumulus is clueless on customer service Usually on this blog, yours truly often laments the state of Chicago radio, with some of the stations run by clueless idiots who make managers at your local Arby’s more competent by comparison. But when it involves Cumulus… no market – large or small – is safe. Take what happened last week at […]

White Sox changes stadium name to Guarantee Rate Field

The new name for the second coming of Comiskey is a guaranteed flop with fans Nine alternative names for the ballpark With news like this, you’d wish Jay Leno and David Letterman weren’t retired. The Chicago White Sox announced Wednesday it has entered into a new naming rights agreement with a mortgage lending company, renaming their Guaranteed Rate Field, replacing teleco […]

Think Tank Express: Time to fire radio host Joe Walsh

WIND should fire controversial former politician for a tweet featuring racist comments and threatening the President. If not, yank the damn license. Enough is enough. Former politician-turned-talk show host Joe Walsh (not to be confused with the Eagles guitarist) should be terminated for his comments he posted on Twitter calling for President Obama and police brutality protesters to be attacked. As you […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Cubs outslug singers and dancers

Cubs ratings; Carsey-Werner comedies head to LAFF; Media Life radio survey and more The Chicago Cubs have started off the 2016 season in style and viewers are watching: Monday’s home opener against the Cincinnati Reds drew a whopping 11.4 household same-day live rating, easily finishing as the most-watched program of the evening topping ABC’s Dancing With The Stars (always popular […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: WGN Radio adds Wood, Dempster to lineup

WGN adds Wood and Dempster, plus Manley’s idiotic comment Media Life magazine article on iHeart causing a stir Empire roars back BET to add “Soul Train” WGN-AM has recruited former Cubs pitchers Kerry Wood and Ryan Dempster to provide weekly baseball analysis on Thursdays for the Tribune Broadcasting-owned radio station. Beginning this week, Ryan Dempster will talk baseball with Steve Cochran […]

Chicago: Slipping away?

The state of the Chicago market: population loss may effect media properties  If last week’s bad census news is any indication, Chicago may be in for a rough few years. And the local media scene could be affected. Figures released by the Census Bureau last week showed the Chicago market losing more residents over the last decade than any other […]

CBS Radio up for sale

It’s an end of an era. CBS Corp. announced on Tuesday it was exploring several options of its radio station group, including a sale. The stations could be spun-off, swapped, or sold outright. CBS owns several radio/TV combos in most large markets, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Detroit, Sacramento, and Baltimore. In […]

The 2015 T Dog Media Turkey Awards

It’s that time of year again! Welcome to the 10th annual T Dog Media Turkey Awards – awarding the worst in media, sports, and life in general. We have 22 turkeys to hand out, so let’s get going! Chicago Media. Here’s an idea! Let’s run the video of the police shooting of Laquan McDonald over and over again so we […]

Cumulus shifts radio stations to NBC Tower

It’s an end of an era at the Merchandise Mart. Cumulus Media, the owner of WLS-AM/FM and operator of WLUP-FM and WKQX-FM announced Wednesday they are consolidating their operations in their new home at the NBC Tower next year, as first reported by Robert Feder. Both WLS stations are at 190 N. State St, where they have been for 25 […]

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 […]

Cumulus fires Jan Jeffries

It’s nice to have friends in high places… until they leave you in the lurch. That’s what exactly happened to Jan Jeffries, the one-time radio personality who rose through ranks to an executive position at one of America’s largest radio chains. Cumulus fired Jeffries Tuesday, only three months after he relocated to Washington D.C. to run ratings-challenged Hot Adult Contemporary outlet […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: According to message board posters, “Everything Isn’t Awesome”

Constant whining about radio, TV threatens to undermine business Before social media, message boards and comment sections were basically a way to post your thoughts about a particular issue and to connect with others. But these days, message boards and comment section sections are often breeding grounds for stupidity and for people to start arguments for the sake of starting arguments. […]