The Chicago Blackhawks are back on top in the hockey world – and in the ratings. This was quite a year for the Blackhawks, who saw some ups (the 23-game unbeaten streak) and some downs (the late start due to the lockout and Susannah Collins’ controversial firing.) But it was Dave Bolland’s game-winning goal against the Boston Bruins – one […]
From the station where bad ideas usually flourish: A few months ago, Fox-owned WFLD introduced editorials at the end of their 9 p.m. newscasts on occasion featuring General Manager Mike Renda, who now runs sis station WJBK in Detroit, with former WOFL/WRBW GM Dennis Welsh, as his replacement. Well, Welsh has continued the practice and thus far appeared in two […]
– In a stunning move, the Chicago Sun-Times fired almost all of its photography staff on Thursday, which left 28 people out of work. The Wrapports -owned paper instead plans to train reports to take pictures with smartphones. Yes, smartphones. Among those who were laid off include 35-year veteran Pulitzer-prize winning photographer John H. White, one of the first African-American […]
On Sunday, New York Times reviewer Rachel Shteir reviewed three Chicago based books. But the reviews were less about the books in question and more about Chicago itself. In her review, Shteir – who is also a professor at DePaul University and moved to Chicago thirteen years ago – talked about “poor Chicago” and used every stereotypical crack associated with […]
It looks like its back to the beach for Phyllis Schwartz. The WFLD vice president and news director exited the station Tuesday after nearly a year. She replaced Carol Fowler in the same capacity on January 6. A former WLS-TV and WMAQ-TV executive, Schwartz returned to Chicago from San Diego where she ran her own consulting company and was previously […]
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 […]
Another all-local edition of the Grab Bag… including an item on a possible sale of some downstate TV stations: – Julian Nieh, one half of the duo of B96’s (WBBM-FM’s) The JNiice & Julian Morning Show, exited the station on Wednesday to pursue other interests. The seven-year veteran of the contemporary-hit station was paired with Jamar “JNiice” McNeil in January […]
In the 27 years yours truly has followed the media business, I’ve never encountered anyone who is arrogant, incompetent, and stupid – aside from Randy “Court Jester” Michaels and his minions – in running a radio or TV station as Fox-owned WFLD and WPWR General Manager Mike Renda. On Friday, Fox management – which is proven to be every bit […]
As reported here and on other trade sites last week, Queen Latifah’s return to daytime TV snared its first major deal with Sony Pictures Television: CBS’ owned and operated TV stations signed on for the show in sixteen markets. According to an article in Broadcasting & Cable last Monday, Latifah’s show will in fact, be shown on WBBM-TV next fall, […]
News on The Insider, Howie Mandel, The World Series, and more: – OMG! OMG! OMG! Can you stand the excitement?!!! In a bid to lure younger viewers, CBS Television Distribution’s The Insider is adding an OMG to its name and beginning in January, will be known as OMG! Insider! Exclamation points!!!! (all right, calm down bucko.) Originally, the series was […]
Election day isn’t for another two weeks, but Chicagoland viewers already had a tough choice to make Monday night – the Lions-Bears game or the third Obama-Romney Presidential Debate? Turns out Chicagoans preferred Obama and Romney over Jay Cutler and Ndamukong Suh. But it was close, according to Nielsen Media Research. Monday night, the Bears-Lions game delivered a 16.8 household rating […]
Ricki Lake changes EPs on her newly relaunched show WFLD and four other Fox-owned stations announced they were slotting Warner Bros.’ TMZ Live, a spin-off of the popular half-hour strip beginning Monday. TMZ Live features TMZ creator and executive producer Harvey Levin talking to his staff about the day’s entertainment stories in an expanded, hour-long format. Launched in 2007 as […]
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 […]
London Olympics is the most watched event of all time For seventeen days, we shared a moment with the world. Unfortunately, Chicagoans for the most part, chose not to. Average household ratings are out for the entire 2012 London Summer Olympics, and it showed Chicago tied for 26th place with four other markets: New York, Phoenix, Knoxville, and Tulsa with […]
Chicago ranks 25th in Olympic ratings When it comes to the Summer Olympics, Chicagoans haven’t really been too excited about the games (perhaps we still have a hangover from losing the 2016 Olympics bid to Rio?) The games of the XXX Olympiad from across the pond in London has drawn an average of 32.8 million viewers in primetime for the […]
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