FCC approves purchases; deals close It’s a Holiday Week edition of the Grab Bag – will it be presents or several lumps of coal? Let’s find out: Both Gannett and Tribune received presents in their stockings thanks to the FCC approving their deals on December 20. Gannett purchased Belo last summer, while Tribune announced their takeover of Local TV, LLC […]
Pending deal has no effect on daytime talk show, which is still on bubble Katie Couric’s stint at ABC News is coming to a close. But her syndicated talk show could be another story. As first reported by The Hollywood reporter Friday evening, Ms. Couric is taking take a position at Yahoo!, the internet portal which was a huge player […]
Grab baggin’: – ABC-owned WLS-TV widened its lead over its competitors during the just-completed May sweeps, according to Nielsen. According to CRM, ABC 7 swept all local news time periods in households (25-54 demos weren’t available at press time), with a decisive victory at 10 p.m., surging 11 percent from May 2012 with a 10.0/18, leaving NBC-owned WMAQ-TV (5.9/11, +4% […]
Hey Katie, the old school’s got a message for you: we can draw an audience, too. That was the vibe sent Monday while Katie Couric posted strong numbers of her debut Monday – but returning talkers also posted good numbers for their season premieres, despite pre-emptions from tennis on some CBS stations. Warner Bros.’ Ellen tenth season premiere drew a […]
Grab Bag time: Pan Am closes up shop; Kevin Matthews joins Steve Dahl’s podcast venture; and a former Philadelphian lands a radio gig here in Chicago… while a current Philadelphian loses one: Kev heads to Dahland. Former Chicago radio personality Kevin Matthews – who was part of WLUP-AM/FM back in the day – is joining Steve Dahl in the podcast […]
Local stations nationwide are wasting little time when The Oprah Winfrey Show signs off on Wednesday. And ABC-owned WLS-TV isn’t the only Chicago station making changes Beginning this Thursday (yes, this Thursday), WLS is replacing Oprah at 9 a.m.with a local effort, Windy City Live. Oprah reruns will air on WLS at 11:05 p.m. until September 9. But WCIU (26.1) […]
Another person has left Fox-owned WFLD’s news department: It’s Mark Saxenmeyer, who’s been with the station since 1993. The reporter’s contract with the station expires in a few weeks, and is not being renewed. Also likely on the way out is meteorologist Amy Freeze, whose contract expires in February. Sources say her replacement is Tammie Souza, whose was meteorologist at […]
With the second cycle sale of Two and a Half Men to the Tribune and Sinclair station groups for seven – count ‘em – seven years, and mega deals by Fox O&Os for The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family, you think syndicators would celebrate the return of the big pay day they reaped back in the day. Right? Think […]
It’s not a good thing: “Golden Girls” reruns had more viewers than Martha’s relocated show on Hallmark. The new crop of first-run and off-network/cable fare has gotten off to a slow start with the The Nate Berkus Show leading the pack with a 1.2 household Nielsen Overnight rating in its first two days. How low is this number? Back in […]
Stations are hoping to strike it rich with “The Nate Berkus Show”. While the official start of the 2010-11 television season is only a week away, syndicators rolled out their new programs this week per tradition, with several new faces. One is interior designer Nate Berkus, who hosts his own talk show courtesy of Sony Pictures Television. A lot of […]
In a long due overhaul, Fox-owned WFLD-TV has decided to revamp its low-rated Good Day Chicago morning news program with the announcement of two new anchors to take over the show – reporter Anna Davlantes and sports anchor Corey McPherrin, effective August 2. News of a possible anchor change first surfaced on July 14 in Robert Feder’s blog at Vocalo […]
Here’s what going on: – WGN-AM’s Garry Meier is starring in his own TV special, set to air on WCIU July 11 at 10:30 p.m, titled The Garry Meier Special. Among the featured interviews: George Wendt (Cheers), Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper, Richard Lewis (Anything But Love), Tim Kazurinsky, and the lady who pick the lottery numbers. This sounds awfully like […]
But Fox loses show to KABC in Los Angeles In moves that come off somewhat surprising, Fox Television Stations has renewed Sony’s Dr. Oz through the 2013-14 season on WNYW New York and WFLD Chicago, which keeps the show from jumping to competing stations. In addition, it secured Oz for WTXF in Philadelphia, stealing the show from CBS-owned KYW-TV in […]
In what can be described as very good news for the NBC owned-and-operated stations, the group acquired Sony’s new daytime talk show from Nate Berkus for airing this fall. The deal includes WMAQ-TV locally. According to the New York Times, all ten NBC-owned stations are carrying the show. The move is part of a huge shakeup of the NBC O&Os […]
Believe it or not, there are places where NBC affiliates actually won late news despite having The Jay Leno Show as its lead-in. What’s notable is these two NBC affiliates – WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. and WDIV in Detroit, rose in the ratings ranks as recently as ten years ago, when NBC was enjoying ratings dominance – surpassing former market […]
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