WFLD cancels "The Ten"

WWOR in New York also drops 10 p.m. newscast, but moves it to 11 p.m. Time’s up for The Ten. Fox-owned WFLD is dropping its 10 p.m. newscast titled The Ten after two uneventful years and will remove it from its schedule on September 18 (this blog’s birthday.) On September 21, WFLD will air off-network repeats of The Office in […]

Bob Sirott out at Channel 5

Longtime media personality and fill-in anchor Bob Sirott and NBC-owned WMAQ-TV parted ways today, apparently over money regarding a contractual provision stating he would succeed retiring 10 p.m. anchor Warner Saunders, which would lead to an increase in salary. WMAQ tried to renegotiate Sirott’s contract to short the multi-year deal, so Sirott and WMAQ decided to end their relationship. This […]

Chicago TV news & notes

So many local TV items today, so we’ll just stick them here in one post: – Fox-owned WFLD-TV announced the elimination of six full-time jobs today as well as a dozen vacation relief positions. This comes as ad revenues for the station plunged thirty percent from a year ago, reflecting general weakness in the economy and the lack of ad […]

Chicago TV outlets to share raw news video

Well, I suppose its a sign of the times… Chicago’s news outlets announced they will pool their raw video in order to keep expenses down. The news-sharing model was adopted by NBC-owned WMAQ-TV and Fox-owned WFLD-TV last fall (along with sharing a job), but now they have invited CBS-owned WBBM-TV and CW affiliate WGN-TV to join in. This means a […]

Sweeping up

From the recently concluded March ratings period: Chicago: WLS-TV remained on top, as usual at 10 p.m., but CBS-owned WBBM-TV is up 50 percent in the same time period in households. At 9 p.m., WGN-TV’s newscast had a 43 percent advantage over an above-average WFLD-TV, despite popular Fox prime-time lead-ins. Milwaukee: And lead-ins didn’t matter here either, as NBC affiliate […]

Could Channel 2 dump its street-side studio?

If you’re one of those who waives to the few people watching Channel 2’s newscasts through the window of its street-side studio, time may be running out. CBS-owned WBBM-TV is considering moving its newscasts from the street-level studio it occupies along Dearborn Street at Daley Plaza to the second floor. Nothing is definite yet, but the station is considering moving […]

WFLD hires Fowler as news director

Fox-owned WFLD-TV has hired former WBBM-TV news director Carol Fowler to work in the same capacity. Fowler replaces Andrew Finlayson, who today took a job with News Corp. as director for online content and business for the Fox Television Stations Group. Fowler was news director at CBS-owned WBBM for six years before being fired last fall in a newsroom shakeup. […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

Inauguration ratings; Litton clears Street Court in New York and Chicago; Erica Cobb has a new gig. – The Inauguration of Barack Obama scored in the ratings yesterday, with the most watched swearing-in ceremony since President Reagan in 1981, with a 29.2 rating in the 56 markets metered by Nielsen on an “overnight” basis. In Chicago, here’s how the household […]

Chicago Fox duopoly lays off seven

The rumors of Fox-owned local stations laying off appear to be true: WFLD-TV and WPWR-TV recently eliminated seven positions, including the vice president of programming and promotions position, which was held by longtime Chicago TV veteran Dominic Mancuso. Mancusco departed on January 7, though the announcement of the layoffs came on Wedensday. Ironically, Mancuso’s last position before working for Fox […]

Report: Sony cancels "Judge David Young" and "Judge Karen"

Broadcasting & Cable is reporting that two Sony-distributed courtroom strips (Judge David Young and Judge Karen) are expected to be canceled soon. Young will exit after two seasons and Karen after only one. The possible moves come as the tough economy has taken a toll on the first-run syndication business, as ratings and revenue coming in are very low for […]

WFLD, WBBM-AM scores with Blago coverage

Score one for Chicago’s perennial news underdog: Fox-owned WFLD-TV’s coverage of the arrest of Governor Arrogant finished first in the ratings among adults 18-49 and second in adults 25-54 with its continuous coverage from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Moreover, they beat archrival WGN-TV at noon in adults 18-49. Also, all-news WBBM-AM’s website surged on Tuesday with page views jumping […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

– Fox O&Os, including WFLD-TV here in Chicago, have renewed Warner Bros.’ TMZ on TV nightly strip through the 2010-11 season. So more celebrity paparazzi junk from producer and alleged lawyer Lionel Hutz – I mean, Harvey Levin. – Check out Battlestar Galactica’s new promo for its’ fourth-season premiere, coming in January. – The first broadcast station sale of Twentieth’s […]

WLS-TV, ABC dominate Election Night

ABC and its O&O in Chicago (WLS-TV) took home the ratings crown on Election Night, a night where Barack Obama was elected the nation’s first African-American president. ABC led all networks on a national basis with 13.6 million viewers. Locally, ABC’s coverage led with WLS-TV leading the 10 p.m. hour (when Obama gave his victory speech) with a 17.6 household […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

Some Chicago-related media news: – One coming from Oregon, one going to Oregon: Clear Channel has upped Tony Coles as vice president and operations of the company’s six-station radio cluster here in Chicago. Coles comes via Portland, Ore. where he was regional vice president of programming at Clear Channel’s Northwest cluster. He replaces Darren Davis, who was promoted to senior […]

WMYD to launch new newscast

Detroit-area residents finally now have another news operation. Granite-owned WMYD-TV, a My Network TV affiliate, is launching a new 10 p.m. newscast beginning on Monday titled TV 20 News at 10. The half-hour newscast is going head-to-head with Fox-owned WJBK-TV’s long established 10 p.m. show. This marks the first time there has been a competing newscast at 10 since 2005, […]