Spring 2008 book is out

In between the end of TCA and start of Comic-Con, I’m squeezing in some news regarding Chicago radio! (I know you’re excited… yeah, right. But it’s nice to talk about something local for a change.) The Spring 2008 books are out for both Chicago and Milwaukee, are you can access them by clicking here (Chicago) and here (Milwaukee), with the […]

"Idol" hit lowest ratings in four years

The seventh season premiere of American Idol averaged a 18.6 metered household rating and a 13.8 rating among adults 18-49, down 13 percent from last year. Among total viewers, Idol notched 33.2 million viewers, down 11 percent from a year ago. Still, Idol dominated prime on Fox, and should do so tonight, as the auditions head for Dallas (where I […]

Da Trends

The second set of trends for the Arbitron fall book for Chicago radio stations are out, and there is some movement on the chart among several radio stations. Thoughts… – It looks like WGN is going to be #1 for the foreseeable future. – WGCI rebounded to third place this trend, perhaps silencing critics (such as yours truly) -WLS-AM rebounded […]

Layoff lane

Cuts at Clear Channel Chicago and 65 layoffs at Oxygen, which was taken over by NBC Universal over the weekend. Among the cuts at CC Chicago: Armando Rivera, a mixer-turned-assistant program director and music director at WVAZ (V103); WGCI’s nighttime jock Victor “The Diz” Blackful; and overnighter Alexx Dupri at Top 40 WKSC-FM. The cuts at Clear Channel mirror those […]

The Pickle goes sour

Days before WCKG-FM flips its FM Talk outlet to something else, south suburban WYKT-FM in Kankakee flipped from oldies to become My 105.5 FM, a new contemporary-hit radio station yesterday morning. The move to CHR/Top 40 gives Kankakee and surrounding areas (Bradley, Bourbonnais, Manteno, and Momence, among others) a format reminiscent of the old WBUS-FM 99.9, or “The Bus”, which […]

WGN-AM sweeps Chicago summer book

A clean sweep of every major daypart kept WGN on top of the ratings in Arbitron’s summer book. WGN’s dominance started with Spike O’Dell in the mornings and went through John Williams and Cubs baseball in the afternoon. Other news of note: Mornings: – WGCI paid dearly for replacing top-rated (in 18-34) Howard McGee with syndicated Steve Harvey, with WVAZ’s […]

With her, You – Can – Go – All – The – Way!

Sun-Times relationship expert Laura Berman is joining B96’s Eddie & JoBo & Erica morning show (scroll down) every Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. to dispense advice (just be thankful it’s Laura Berman doing this and not Chris Berman.) Also on the contemporary-radio beat, a new night guy has landed at KISS (WKSC-FM) – Billy Hammond has landed the late night […]

Presenting the Spring 2007 Arbitron book

For Chicago and Milwaukee. Random thoughts: -WGCI-FM, WVAZ, and WPWX all are down from last book. The Howard McGee debacle at WGCI certainly won’t help them as they might not see No.1 for a very long time. – WBBM-FM got pummeled by WKSC-FM (Kiss), falling out of the top 10 and recording their worst numbers since 1982. Time for some […]

Winter ratings (Updated)

Arbitron released the Winter Chicago radio ratings yesterday. Analysis: * As Robert Feder points out, the stations that benefited the most were the black and Hispanic-targeted stations, taking 5 out of the top 10. WGCI-FM remains No.1 (In other words, don’t write off hip-hop yet.) *Urban AC WVAZ-FM (V103) was a big winner, moving up to fourth place. *Top 40 […]

Fall Arbitron books (Updated)

The Arbitron radio books are out today for Chicago, Milwaukee, Peoria, Rockford, South Bend, Bloomington, and The Quad Cities. Robert Feder analyzes the Chicago book for the Sun-Times, while Tim Cuprisin does the same for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Chicago Winners: Urban Contemporary WGCI-FM Chicago’s tops the fall ratings book. WLIT ought to thank Santa for its Christmas music-fueled ratings jump. […]

Chicago, Milwaukee Arbitrends out (Part 2)

From Radio and Records, the Arbs Part 2 from Chicago and Milwaukee.Thoughts: News-talk rules in this region as WGN and WTMJ top the charts. Among CHRs, WBBM-FM (B96) is tops while WKSC (Kiss 103.5) slips a little. WZZN’s oldies format is a big winner — best ratings for that frequency in 18 years. WKQX (Q101) may be headed for a […]

CLEAR CHANNEL SOLD

This has ramifications for both the television and radio industries. Details here: Clear Channel Sold for $26.7 Billion May’s Family Finds Buyers for Clear Channel, TV Stations for Sale Clear Channel Goes Private in $26.7 billion deal List of TV Stations to be sold by Clear Channel (courtesy of Michigan Buzzboard) List of radio stations to be sold by Clear […]