As you know by now, Chicago is hosting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit at McCormick Place this coming Sunday and Monday. There are numerous street closures, parking restrictions, bus reroutes, and train station closures. Security is being beefed up all over town, including on public transportation and in downtown office buildings. And oh yeah… there’s going to be […]
WGN-TV anchor Mark Suppelsa released a statement Friday evening, announcing he was taking a leave of absence from the station for a month and is admitting himself to a rehabilitation facility in Minnesota to battle an alcoholism problem. To read his statement to WGN staff and to viewers, click here. Suppelsa has been co-anchoring the station’s 5 p.m. and 9 […]
Fox celebrated their 25th Anniversary in prime-time this past Sunday with a two-hour retrospective, featuring clips of past shows and a few cast reunions. While the network officially launched its primetime lineup on April 5, 1987 with three airings each of Married… With Children and The Tracey Ullman Show, the network actually launched on October 9, 1986 with The Late […]
Many tributes are being planned this weekend and in the coming week in light of Don Cornelius’ death on Wednesday: – WCIU and new diginet Bounce are both simultaneously airing a seven-hour Soul Train marathon this Saturday night starting with the first syndicated episode from October 2, 1971, which featured musical guest Gladys Knight & The Pips and his final […]
With NATPE just around the corner (it takes place in Miami later this month), here what’s making waves in the syndication business: – Twentieth Television announced a new syndicated strip titled Dish Nation, a new entertainment magazine show featuring the nation’s radio personalities dishing dirt on the hottest pop culture topics. Dish has already cleared 55 percent of the country, […]
It’s the first Six Pack of 2012 and here’s and the list of winners and losers of the new year so far: A Happy New Year Chicago Bulls. With the team off to a strong start this (abbreviated) season, ratings are already soaring for Comcast SportsNet and WGN-TV – not a good thing to hear for the major networks locally, […]
Carol Fowler bounced from station after three disastrous years In a move that was pretty much expected, Fox-owned WFLD has fired news director Carol Fowler and replaced her with Phyills Schwartz, who held the same position for five years at ABC-owned WLS-TV. The changeover is effective immediately. Schwartz was at top rated WLS-TV for thirteen years with five of them […]
Happy New Year, everyone! There will be a lot going on in 2012 – elections, international summits, the Olympics, and much, much, more! Here’s what to look for in 2012: – Look for CBS to continue their prime-time ratings domination. – With Family Guy running on empty and The Cleveland Show shifting time periods every week, look for Fox’s Animation […]
And other media misfires of note Scrubbing the commodes for you… the Toilet 10 of 2011 – the worst shows of television and media items sure to make your head stick in one. And away we go. Worst TV Shows of 2011 1. Allen Gregory (Fox). Not only this is the worst show of the year – this is the […]
A quick wrap-up of the week that was in media: Winners. WGN Radio. Jonathan Brandmeier’s arrival to the storied 720 is sure to bring back the entertainment value back to the station in the morning, a la Wally Phillips and Bob Collins. Now, just don’t screw it up. NBA Fans, TNT, and ESPN. The lockout’s over and pro basketball is […]
Remember when I wrote a think tank on WFLD’s news ratings struggles earlier this year? Well, you’ll be happy to know that things haven’t changed – if fact, they’ve gotten worse: During a report on how the struggling economy was affecting gift-giving during this holiday season on Tuesday night’s 9 p.m. newscast, WFLD co-anchor Robin Robinson obviously blurted out there […]
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 […]
It’s been awhile, so let’s do an expanded edition of T Dog’s Six Pack – with an extra item in the winners and losers column this week. It doesn’t get any better than that! Okay, yes it can… Winning. Regis Philbin. After 28 years on daytime television. Regis Philbin steeped down as co-host of the popular morning chatfest Live With […]
Jeremy Kyle renewed for a second season; Katie and Steve Harvey hit clearance highs Fox-owned WFLD has picked up Ricki Lake’s new talk show strip from Twentieth Television for next fall, finally notching a Chicago clearence days after the first deals were made as The Great Talk Show Rush of 2012 steam rolls on. Ricki Lake previously hosted a syndicated […]
Judging by the animosity between the two, you’d would never know News Corp. and DirecTV were once sister companies. On November 1, the satellite-service provider is planning to pull nineteen News Corp. cable networks from its system if they can not come to an agreement on a new deal. And now, Fox is saying all 26 of its owned stations […]
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