T Dog’s Media Notepad: Gannett pulls plug on merger with Tronc

  The proposed merger between Gannett and Tronc is now off the table. Gannett announced Tuesday it would no longer pursue a merger between the two, due to bankers pulling hteir money from the deal. Merger talks between the two was going at a snail’s pace . By comparison, the AT&T-TimeWarner proposed merger took just two days to get together. The […]

Sherman, Tingle reunite, head to The Drive

Pete McMurray & Co. out As first reported by Radio Insight, Hubbard-owned WDRV-FM, “The Drive” announced Tuesday the hiring of Brian Sherman and Steve Tingle for mornings. Though the site stated “Monday, October 21” (actually a Friday), the actual start date is October 31. The move reunites the duo at the Classic Rock outlet – the duo were at the […]

CBS Radio up for sale

It’s an end of an era. CBS Corp. announced on Tuesday it was exploring several options of its radio station group, including a sale. The stations could be spun-off, swapped, or sold outright. CBS owns several radio/TV combos in most large markets, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Detroit, Sacramento, and Baltimore. In […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: According to message board posters, “Everything Isn’t Awesome”

Constant whining about radio, TV threatens to undermine business Before social media, message boards and comment sections were basically a way to post your thoughts about a particular issue and to connect with others. But these days, message boards and comment section sections are often breeding grounds for stupidity and for people to start arguments for the sake of starting arguments. […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Bears stumble, fumble in the ratings

Haven’t done the Notepad in a while – plus, I’ve been busy with other stuff, so let’s play catchup and see  what’s going on: –The Chicago Bears are back – but apparently, someone forgot to tell the fans: September 13’s heavily hyped home opener between the Lakefront’s NFL Team and their long-time nemesis Green Bay Packers drew a surprisingly low […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Hello, SHE

Hubbard rebrands Adult Contemporary station at 100.3 ; Indy station regins with classic hip-hop; WICS anchors brawl and lose their jobs – As part of a major rebranding move at 100.3 FM, Hubbard Broadcasting announced it was changing the call letters of WILV-FM to WSHE-FM, with the new slogan “SHE”. The SHE branding, of course is to call to attention the […]

Playing what Santa doesn’t necessarily want

Hubbard’s WILV beats Clear Channel’s WLIT in Christmas music race – of sorts With the weather getting unseasonably colder across the country, many radio stations are already getting jingle fever and Chicago is no exception. Thursday morning, Hubbard Broadcasting’s WILV (a.k.a. The Pointergate Company) added several Christmas songs to its usual adult contemporary music format and called it The Christmas Blend, […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Idiocracy strikes local news again

Twin Cities’ KSTP makes gaffe, but has nothing on CBS 2’s history of making them If there’s any doubt local news is sometimes a joke, this item should cement the fact. Hubbard-owned Minneapolis-St.Paul ABC affiliate KSTP, a once-proud beacon of journalism, is involved in “pointergate”: a photo of Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges was shown in a photo joyfully exchanging pointing fingers […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: WCPT launches show targeted to LGBT community

– As first reported by Robert Feder, Newsweb WCPT-AM announced it was launching a new weekly program targeted to Chicago’s LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community. Titled Out Chicago, host Scott Duff takes on issues relevant to the LGBT community in the Windy City and surrounding area. WCPT also plans to air Out Chicago vignettes, from 6 a.m. to […]

Rewind 100.3 gains a PD, WGN Radio loses one

Also: Jim Laski ends radio comeback Monday was an active day in Chicago radio as two big personnel moves took place. Hubbard Broadcasting’s WILV-FM (aka Rewind 100.3) hired Marty Bender as the station’s new program director (PD), effective soon. Bender ran WFBQ (Q95) in Indianapolis for over two decades and also oversaw “The Bob And Tom Show”, a station staple […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Bob Brenly exits Cubs broadcast booth (updated)

Brenly becomes new Arizona Diamondbacks color analyst The latest Grab Bag is here with a possible new classic TV channel on the way, two primetime network series renewed, and more: – Bob Brenly, who has been the color analyst for Chicago Cubs broadcasts alongside Len Kasper over WGN-TV broadcasts and Comcast SportsNet since 2005 announced he’s leaving the team to […]

The Grab Bag: Chicago welcomes new Hubbard overlords

The Voice finds… its “voice”…  Looney Tunes returns… and other news of note – It’s official: the sale of Bonneville’s radio stations in Chicago and a few other cities is now complete: Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul) -based Hubbard Broadcasting has officially taken over The Mix (WTMX), The Drive (WDRV), and WILV-FM on May 2. The formats and management who served […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Pigskin!

Today’s six-pack has somewhat of a football theme in honor of today’s big game! Time for kickoff… Touchdown! WFLD. Yes, you read this right! According to Chicago Business, Fox-owned WFLD scored a whopping 43.2 household rating for last Sunday’s Divisional Playoff between the Seattle Seahawks and the Chicago Bears, and the number should certainly go higher for this Sunday’s NFC […]

Bonneville sells WTMX, others to Hubbard

Bonneville also sells Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Washington D.C. stations In the first major shocker move of 2011 involving local media, Salt Lake City-based Bonneville International has sold its Chicago cluster of radio stations to Minneapolis-St. Paul-based Hubbard Broadcasting for $505 million. The deal also includes thirteen others: six stations in Washington D.C., and four stations each in Cincinnati and […]