ABC wins ratings war in tamer New Year’s Eve derby

Ratings down nationally but “Rockin’ Eve” still tops New Year’s 2020 didn’t have Mariah Carey being confused on stage or Don Lemon hitting a bong, but viewers still tuned in to count down to the new decade. And local viewers got to saw Mark Giangreco in drag. Yes, really. Oh, dear God #countdownchicago pic.twitter.com/uEfdiXfU43 — Kori Rumore Finley (@rumormill) January […]

WGN-TV enters New Years’ Eve countdown game

Brings total number to four If you plan to stay home on New Year’s Eve this year, you’re going to have numerous local choices. As announced a few weeks ago, WGN-TV plans to produce their first-ever New Year’s Eve show called Chicago’s Very Own New Year’s Eve Blast, live from downtown Chicago where a large fireworks display over Lake Michigan […]

New Year’s Eve programming: Same as last year

Networks, local stations remain status quo as hosts return There’s nothing like ringing in 2019 than watching the same people who did so with 2018. No major changes are expected in New Year’s Eve programming December 31, both nationally and locally as viewers will same the same familiar faces they saw last year. The stability is a nod to the […]

Michael Ferro steps down from Tronc

He “retires” shortly before Fortune publishes a story about him sexually harassing two women In news shocking everyone, tronc chairman Michael Ferro resigned Monday morning and ceded control of the company to CEO Justin Dearborn. But later in the day, Fortune published an expose of Ferro – with two women accusing him of sexual harassment. The moves comes as tronc […]

No contest: ABC, WLS-TV dominate New Year’s Eve programming

NBC 5, other networks could not compete Like the New England Patriots bumrushing over everyone in the NFL, the competition was no match for the Mouse House with Ryan Seacrest, Jenny McCarthy, Janet Davies, and Cheryl Scott. ABC and its owned-and-operated station in Chicago on New Year’s Eve  on Sunday night performed a ratings clinic – a complete total domination […]

Welcome to The Tronc

Michael Ferro rebrands Tribune Company into something we don’t even know As Hank Hill would say, “What in the Hell”? In probably the most inane decision I have ever seen from a media executive, Tribune Publishing Chairman Michael W. Ferro announced Thursday he was changing the name of the company who publishes the Chicago Tribune from Tribune Publishing to “tronc”. […]

“Chi-Town Rising” pulls ratings victory upset

NBC 5’s upstart effort unseats ABC 7’s annual show In news no one saw coming, NBC-owned WMAQ’s freshman New Year’s Eve show beat ABC-owned WLS-TV’s in live plus-same day ratings, according to Nielsen and first reported by Robert Feder. In the quarter half-hour before the New Year began, Chi-Town Rising on WMAQ scored a 17. 1/36 household rating/share, beating WLS’ […]

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. […]

Think Tank Daily: The Sun-Times throws in the towel

Might as well write your obituary for the Chicago Sun-Times as the people running the paper have all but given up. As of Wednesday, the beleaguered newspaper decided to outsource national and international news to USA Today, retaining only its local columnists to do local stories. This is a huge mistake. Even though yours truly doesn’t think much of the […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: When radio personalities attack

The recent confrontation between WLS-AM host Bruce Wolf and African-American traffic reporter Kelli Walker just goes to show you what a complete embarrassment Chicago radio is, and the media industry is in general. In case you haven’t heard (and that’s most of you), Walker “threw some shade” at Wolf on the morning of November 18 over the issue of racism on the air […]

Playing media catch-up

Man, how long has it been since yours truly has written a post around here? Well, this is what happens when you get sick and have Writer’s Block at the same time (or, yours truly has just been lazy.) Anyway, yours truly is revved up (or more like riled up) and ready to go – here are some thoughts on […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Sun-Times fires entire photography staff

– In a stunning move, the Chicago Sun-Times fired almost all of its photography staff on Thursday, which left 28 people out of work. The Wrapports -owned paper instead plans to train reports to take pictures with smartphones. Yes, smartphones. Among those who were laid off include 35-year veteran Pulitzer-prize winning photographer John H. White, one of the first African-American […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: “You Got Shteirized”

On Sunday, New York Times reviewer Rachel Shteir reviewed three Chicago based books. But the reviews were less about the books in question and more about Chicago itself. In her review, Shteir – who is also a professor at DePaul University and moved to Chicago thirteen years ago – talked about “poor Chicago” and used every stereotypical crack associated with […]