2016 in review: The highs and the lows…a lot of lows

“Jessica Jones” tops odd year in media – and life When you look back at 2016, there isn’t much to rave about – way too many celebrity and industry deaths (Prince, Garry Shandling, Carrie Fisher, Grant Tinker, Doug Banks, Herb Kent, etc.), the election of Donald Trump, the rise (again) of Rahm Emanuel, continuing media consolidation, and other awful things. But […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Ron Magers exits in style

WLS-TV (ABC 7) sent Ron Magers off in style Wednesday night as viewers tuned in en masse to see him anchor his final newscast, earning a time-period winning 10.0 rating in live-plus-same day households according to Robert Feder. ABC 7 Also won the May sweeps at 10 p.m., but finished behind NBC-owned WMAQ (NBC 5) at 10 in the 25-54 demo. Another […]

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 […]

Remembering Doug Banks

The legendary Chicago and nationally syndicated radio personality dies at 57 Radio lost one of its most popular personalities Monday with the sudden death of Doug Banks, stunning fans and radio industry insiders alike. Banks was found dead in his Miami home Monday morning due to complications from diabetes and kidney failure. Banks was absent from his syndicated radio program […]

He’s back: Ramonski Luv returns to Chicago radio

Also: Tom Joyner’s Dallas station changes formats Per Robert Feder, Ramonski Luv (a.k.a. Ramon Wade) is back with a new radio gig in Chicago – this time at WVAZ’s (V103) main rival. Wade has signed on with Crawford Broadcasting’s WSRB-FM (Soul 106.3) to be their new evening personality, effective December 3. Wade’s show is scheduled to air every weeknight from […]

V103 shows Ramonski Luv the door

  (Editor’s Note: a more recent story on Ramonski Luv being released from V103 can be found here in The Media Notepad, fourth item.) How about this? You finish first in your daypart and what is your reward? You get shown the door. This is exactly what happened to Ramon Wade a.k.a. Ramonski Luv, who was let go from Clear […]

V103 celebrates 20th anniversary

Back in 1988, a black radio station targeting adult demos was practically unheard of – but it took a radio consultant named Barry Mayo to change all that. He took an under-performing WBMX-FM – a station languishing behind its arch-rival WGCI-FM – and flipped it to Urban Adult Contemporary WVAZ-FM, or V103 -and turned it into a adult demo powerhouse. […]

Chicago radio’s Winter book results

The winter books are here, and according to Arbitron (click here to see daypart info): WINNERS: WGN-AM: This could be the beginning of a long reign for longtime leader WGN-AM on top of the radio hill in Chicago, as the station fended off WGCI to remain numero uno in Chicago’s Winter Arbitron book, and is expected to remain number one […]

Doug Banks returns to Chicago

A Chicago radio icon in coming home – well, at least on the air. Chicago radio veteran Doug Banks is back on the airwaves thanks to a deal with Urban Adult Contemporary WVAZ-FM (V103), which will see it become the first station to carry his new syndicated radio show, which is being distributed by ABC Radio Networks (which is actually […]