B96 unveils new Morning Mess show; Amazon’s purchase of MGM finalized The news was tipped by Broadcasting & Cable in January 2021 and mentioned here in July 2021, but the best-kept secret in television is now out of the bag: Maury Povich and his “who’s the father” show Maury is finally ending after 31 years on the air […]
Hat trick of pink slips within 24 hours dooms shows In a bizarre occurrence, not one but three first-run syndicated strips were canceled within a span of hours Wednesday – a first in recent memory as their services were no longer needed: three-season veteran Judge Jerry from NBCUniversal Syndication Studios; Debmar-Mercury’s Nick Cannon; and Sony’s The Good Dish, a […]
With Tamron Hall and Kelly Clarkson hits, syndication’s doing well thank you very much If you’ve read this blog over the years, I usually write a “state of syndication” article around this time every year as NATPE approaches, and it often wasn’t rosy – especially this piece I wrote in 2016, Charlie Brown dozing off and all. But as we […]
New talk shows do battle this fall; former talk show host now TV’s newest judge (Editor’s Note: This post has been updated. Look in the comments section for more info regarding syndicated programming.) Even though the new broadcast prime-time network TV season doesn’t begin until September 23, syndication’s new season gets underway Monday with staggered rollouts over the next two […]
Move to WCIU takes place Sunday; rebrands as “CW 26” as WPWR returns to “My 50” Goodbye Taye Diggs, hello Vincent D’Onofrio. Beginning Sunday, WPWR reverts back to a primary My Network TV affiliate as CW programming heads to WCIU, who is rebranding as “CW 26” with WPWR returning to “My50”. The affiliation switch was officially announced April 19 as […]
Also: No Blackhawks games on free TV next season; WCIU launches new “CW 26” website and fall schedule; CBS 2 returns to DirecTV. For the first time in its history, The Drive sits on top of the Chicago radio world. The Hubbard-owned station also known as WDRV-FM finished first in the latest Chicago radio PPM rankings spanning from mid-June to […]
Weigel scores major coup In a stunning move, Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting Co. announced it has picked up The CW affiliation from Fox-owned WPWR, beginning this fall. The news was first reported by Robert Feder Thursday morning. No exact date has been set for the change, but it is expected to set off a chain reaction of programming moves within the […]
Five shows now vying for time slots as new game show joins pack In a marked reversal from the last few selling seasons, syndicators are amping up their pitches to stations as a wealth of new product is about to flood the marketplace two months before NATPE begins. The latest entry came from Twentieth Television, who announced a deal with […]
Also: Jerry Springer gets a new show; another new talk show to debut; 11 series get full-season pickups In yet another chapter of how absurd this business can be, a feud between the owners of Madison Square Garden and Entercom is having implications in Chicago and elsewhere. Madison Square Garden Entertainment has suspended any future relationships with Entercom’s radio stations […]