It looks like WGN Radio has finally gotten its wish to land on an FM outlet – even if its temporary. As first reported by Robert Feder Friday afternoon, Tribune Broadcasting has struck a deal to lease the 87.7 FM frequency from Venture Technologies Group, effective Monday (Feb. 17) at 1:02 p.m. – one minute after its deal with WKQX […]
News briefs from Chicago and beyond: – Cumulus-owned WLS-AM has been fined $44,000 from the Federal Communications Commission for failing to disclose eleven news items it broadcast were advertisements. The “news items” aired on WLS between March and May 2009 (during the ownership reign of Citadel, Inc.), for Workers Independent News, who pretended to interview a local politician. Workers failed […]
It’s official: the alternative rock format, which vanished from the 101.1 frequency in 2011 after Merlin Media took over, returned Friday morning at 9 a.m. prompt, simulcasting sister station WKQX/87.7 FM for a period of 30-45 days. The move came a week after Cumulus announced it was taking over operations of three Merlin Media stations in Chicago. According to Radio […]
While 2013 is over and done with, its time to focus on what’s going to happen in 2014. Here are the top ten things to look for, in Chicago and beyond: 1. Aereo. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide this month whether or not they would hear the lawsuit brought by the major broadcast networks against the two-year old tech […]
The reign and terror of Randy “Court Jester” Michaels in radio has finally come to an end. In a blockbuster move, Cumulus announced Friday morning it was taking over operations of Merlin Media’s two remaining stations immediately: classic rocker WLUP-FM (97.9) and Variety Hits WIQI-FM (101.1), which was once home to the failed “FM News” experiment. The deal also gives […]
The latest Quick Hits and Bits contains a lot of good stuff, so here we go! – Even though the Chicago Bulls lost Saturday night to the Philadelphia 76ers, the first WGN-TV regular season game featuring Derrick Rose’s return scored gangbuster ratings for the Tribune-owned station – even on a night notorious for low HUT levels. The game earned a […]
Don Wade, one half of the Don & Roma Morning Show passed away Friday at the age of 72, nearly one year after battling brain cancer. Wade began his Chicago radio career at WUSN-FM in 1982 before joining WLS-AM in 1985, when the station still had a contemporary-hit music format. A year later, he was joined by his wife Roma. […]
Ready or not, here comes Bruce & Dan Longtime radio morning team (and husband and wife) Don & Roma Wade are stepping down from their post at WLS-AM and are being replaced by interim hosts Bruce Wolf and Dan Proft, and this comes as the Wade’s contract is set to expire at the end of this month. The change is […]
Eddie & JoBo, Glenn Cosby, Effie Rolfe join ranks of radio’s unemployed For the second time this year, one-day mass layoffs have rocked the radio industry (and just like before, the layoffs happened… on a Thursday.) And similar to last March when they laid off more than 70 employees, Clear Channel was front and center of these mass layoffs: an estimated […]
Get the cranberry sauce ready: it’s time for the 7th annual T Dog Media Turkey Awards where every Thanksgiving, yours truly honors the worst in the media business for the year and 2012 is filled with so many media turkeys! Without further ado, here are this year’s, um… “winners”: Animal Practice. Premiering after the Summer Olympics (or more aptly put, […]
Once again, Bruce DuMont was played the fool – and this time by one of the biggest names in all of entertainment. I’m talking about Howard Stern’s “induction” into The Radio Hall Of Fame by the Chicago-based Museum of Broadcast Communications, located in the city’s River North neighborhood, finally making it in after four tries. You’d think he’d be happy, […]
Brenly becomes new Arizona Diamondbacks color analyst The latest Grab Bag is here with a possible new classic TV channel on the way, two primetime network series renewed, and more: – Bob Brenly, who has been the color analyst for Chicago Cubs broadcasts alongside Len Kasper over WGN-TV broadcasts and Comcast SportsNet since 2005 announced he’s leaving the team to […]
In a huge sweeping change, Cumulus’ WLS-FM (94.7) has undergone a format change – the first in approximately seven years – from Oldies to Classic Hits, focusing on more 1970’s and 1980’s rock songs. In addition, WLS-FM program director Jan Jeffries realigned the DJ shifts, replacing previously morning personality Dave Fogel (who was let go last Thursday) with a returning […]
Notes and news – in this mostly local edition of the Grab Bag: – As mentioned briefly in the Tribune bankruptcy post on Saturday, the Chicago Tribune was recently caught using fake bylines and plagiarizing and fabricating stories in TribLocal, the paper’s hyperlocal network of websites and print properties serving Chicago’s suburbs. On Friday, the Tribune announced it was parting […]
It’s a phrase we’ve been hearing for the last couple of years: it’s not a good day to be in the radio business. And no day was as brutal as this past Thursday. In addition to Cumulus cutting loose Chicago radio veteran Michael Damsky after four years at WLS-AM/FM, Clear Channel had to come and announce scores of layoffs – […]
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