Chicago ratings box

Here are some notable ratings items: – Lewis Lazare’s Sun-Times column noted ABC-owned WLS-TV’s continued ratings dominance in the month of December. According to the ratings “book”, WLS finished first at 10 p.m. in households, followed by CBS-owned WBBM-TV and NBC-owned WMAQ-TV, which continues to suffer from having Jay Leno as a news lead-in (though that may not be the […]

Tribune’s WGN-TV renews "Family Guy" – with WCIU in tow

  Soon, “Family Guy” will have TWO places to call home in Chicago. In a rather odd twist to a renewal deal, Tribune-owned WGN-TV has renewed syndicated repeats of Family Guy for a second cycle in a new four-year deal through 2015, which kicks in on September 12, 2011. But as a part of the deal, Weigel-owned independent station WCIU-TV […]

NBC affiliates buck the trend in Detroit, D.C.

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 […]

WBBM-TV 10 p.m. news soars in the ratings

Leno hampering NBC affiliates’ late news; other November “sweeps” notes ABC-owned WLS-TV dominated the ratings in households and key demos in the just concluded November “sweeps” period (do we still have those in this LPM era?) but it was the two other network O&Os who made headlines. NBC-owned WMAQ-TV slipped to third place in households at 10 p.m., behind a […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: The syndication edition

It’s a syndication edition of T Dog’s Grab Bag. Reach in! Is this a sign Oprah’s relationship with CBS Television Distribution is over? Ms. Winfrey’s production company is developing a new talk show with designing expert Nate Berkus –  and Sony Pictures Television, the company that’s syndicating Dr. Oz. with Harpo Productions. Berkus has been on The Oprah Winfrey Show […]

Anna Davlantes moves to WFLD

In a coup for Fox-owned WFLD-TV, the station landed one of Chicago’s most popular news personalities. Anna Davlantes, who spent nearly a decade at NBC-owned WMAQ until leaving the station earlier this year, has now signed a multi-year deal with WFLD, where she will be handling contributing anchor and reporting duties. The move is a plus for the struggling station, […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

For the first time in awhile, it’s time for T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag: – Congratulations to legendary Chicago radio personality Herb Kent on a new world record he set: The Guinness Book Of World Records recently honored him for having the longest career by a deejay in radio history – which spans 65 years! His achievement will be celebrated […]

Bears slide in the ratings

But the Bengals rock the ratings in Cincy No matter how much Ed Sherman of Chicago Business paints a rosy picture of it, the Chicago Bears’ ratings on Sunday were an expected disappointment given the rather unexpected 45-10 blowout of the team by the Cincinnati Bengals. The game, which started at 3:15 p.m. Central and ran until about 6:20 p.m., […]

Follow up: Is Leno killing late local news?

Remember back last December when yours truly wrote how stripping The Jay Leno Show was a creative counter-programming idea? I think I might want to retract that statement. Since it debuted September 14, The Jay Leno Show has been a hot topic of debate in television circles across the country – especially in newsrooms, where Leno leads in to late […]

KPRC changes doctors

Your station has a ratings problem. So if the person in charge of the time period isn’t doing the job of tending to it, what would you do? Change doctors. That’s what KPRC did. KPRC-TV, Post-Newsweek’s NBC affiliate in Houston, has replaced CBS Television Distribution’s Dr. Phil, with Sony Television’s new hotcomer Dr. Oz at 3 p.m., which was effective […]

Off to see the doctor… The Wonderful Doctor of Oz

The early returns for Dr. Oz have been positive and Sony Pictures Television and Harpo Productions hope Oz can lead the company down the Yellow Brick Road to riches. The three day average of Dr. Oz – a new medical talk show hosted by Mehmet Oz which premiered on Sept. 14 – had a three day average of a 1.7 […]

T Dog’s Four Pack – The Summit

There have been some conflicts in the media world lately. So let’s have a T Dog’s Four Pack Beer Summit – where we can hash out our differences and make the world a better place. Or not… A four pack worthy of Budwesier and Miller Genuine Draft – Mark Burhele’s Perfect Game. The first Chicago pitcher to throw a perfecto […]