Time to take “The Test”

Kirk Fox is trading in the peace, tranquility, and the small-town values of Pawnee, Ind. for baby mama drama in the big city. The Parks & Recreation star and stand-up comic has taken a rather unusual job – being a mediator in a new fall 2013 show called The Test, a conflict-resolution talk show where DNA evidence and lie-detector resolves […]

“Katie” clears 60% of U.S. for Fall ’12 launch

Disney-ABC Domestic Television Distribution’s new fall 2012 talk show strip featuring Katie Couric has now been cleared in 60 percent of the country. Titled Katie, the series has now cleared though several broadcast groups including Allbritton, Belo, Cox, Hearst, Gannett, and Scripps, in addition to the entire ABC-owned-and-operated station group (including WLS-TV here in Chicago.) To no one’s surprise, most […]

Join the dawn patrol

It looks like more and more stations are joining the extremely early morning dawn patrol. If you thought 5 a.m. was early, you haven’t seen nothing yet. In two big markets, local stations have or are in the process of expanding their morning newscasts – to 4:30 a.m. In Los Angeles, four stations already have 4:30 a.m. newscasts (compared to […]

WYCC becomes first Chicago station to dump analog

WYCC-TV (which is on Channel 20) will become Chicago’s first television station to stop broadcasting in analog on April 16, two months ahead of the June 12 transition date. The public television station (run by the City Colleges of Chicago and is based at Kennedy-King College on 63rd and Halsted) will join dozens of other stations across the country to […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: So what happens if "Oprah" exits?

With Oprah Winfrey scheduled to run her new cable network in a joint venture with Discovery beginning next year, there is increasing speculation she may discontinue her daily talk show strip when her contract with CBS Television Distribution expires in 2011. The speculation increased when Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav revealed in an earnings report a few days ago that […]

Tennis fans cry fault to WTSP

WTSP, the Gannett-owned CBS affiliate in Tampa-St. Petersburg Florida (and future home of soon-to depart-from WFLD weather person Tammie Souza), decided not to carry the re-scheduled U.S. Open Men’s Final where Roger Federer scored his fifth straight U.S Open Championship and the move angered the lob gods. It was moved instead to the station’s digital weather channel. Viewers slammed WTSP […]

Tennis fans cry fault to KSDK

You’d think KSDK-TV in St. Louis was doing the right thing when it decided to drop its Wimbledon coverage to air something they thought was more important, like a Cubs-Cardinals game. Nah. The Gannett-owned NBC affiliate shunted the Men’s Final featuring Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to a split-screen while the Cubs-Cardinals game was on and with audio, meaning tennis […]