Also: Black Chicagoans (still) not happy with media outlets; Syndicated ‘Dateline’ shifts to new local outlet; Rock 95.5 surges in ratings After just four weeks, CNN Plus is getting… subtracted. The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned service announced Thursday it was closing April 30 after launching on March 28, debuting to poor reviews and a cumbersome price of $5.99 monthly or […]
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 […]
Also: Access Hollywood adds another show; Sinclair closes on Fox RSN purchase; McHenry radio station with historic calls ceases broadcasting At long last, NBC 5 (WMAQ) is joining the local lifestyle programming game. Beginning September 6, the NBC-owned station launches Chicago Today, a weekly half-hour show featuring entertainment news, newsmakers, places around town, the latest technologies, and restaurants among other […]
Plus… big day for Bears as they beat rival; Channing Dungey heads to Netflix; Extra adds Fox stations in large markets With Steve Dahl set to depart Cumulus-owned WLS-AM this Friday, the station announced last week it was shifting Big John Howell to afternoons from mornings starting January 3, from 5 to 7 p.m. weekdays. In a statement, the thirty-year […]
New daytime show to air on NBC 5 locally; replaces Steve on NBC O&Os In a deal before the fall season begins, NBCUniversal Television Distribution has struck a deal with the NBC-owned stations to carry Kelly Clarkson’s new daytime talk show scheduled to debut exactly a year from now. The Grammy Award and first American Idol winner shot a talk […]
But Mariah Carey, Don Lemon steal New Year’s Eve spotlight (what else is new) After getting butt-whipped last year by Chi-Town Rising, WLS-TV’s Countdown Chicago reclaimed the top-spot on New Year’s Eve. According to Robert Feder – and running from 11:08 p.m. to 12:08 a.m., Countdown Chicago drew a 12.1/17 household rating/share, beating WMAQ-TV’s 6/14 for Chi-Town Rising, running from […]
Sad sack Bears, lackluster ABC and Fox lineups dampen night Note: numbers are 18-49 preliminary unless otherwise noted. And you thought Friday night television was bad. Sunday is fast becoming Tune-Out Night In America. And the lackluster Bears (and two of their oldest animated sitcoms who are like Steve Dahl and Jonathan Brandmeier – past-their-prime acts who won’t get off the […]
Ploy to keep anti-police demonstrators out? When it was announced in September, Chi-Town Rising hoped it draw more than 100,000 people and help the city ring in the New Year outdoors for the first time since the early 1980’s. But the event – originally free admission – is now ticketed and yes, you would have to pay to get in. […]
Also: WGN-TV to launch 4 p.m. newscast this fall; cooking Brisket on TV – for 13 straight hours [Editor’s Note: It has come to my attention that some of the Chicago demo numbers – notably for WFLD and WGN at 9 p.m. – are incorrect. All info from the source has been removed and the post has been rewritten. I […]
From the recently concluded March ratings period: Chicago: WLS-TV remained on top, as usual at 10 p.m., but CBS-owned WBBM-TV is up 50 percent in the same time period in households. At 9 p.m., WGN-TV’s newscast had a 43 percent advantage over an above-average WFLD-TV, despite popular Fox prime-time lead-ins. Milwaukee: And lead-ins didn’t matter here either, as NBC affiliate […]
Chicago contributes to programs’ decent start The new 2008-09 season in syndication began on Monday with the debut of five new strips – and all got off to a decent – if not spectacular start: Program RTG SHR Lead-In TP 9/07 Bonnie Hunt 1.1 3 -21% 0% Deal or No Deal 1.3 3 -13% -7% The Doctors 1.6 4 -11% […]
WMAQ-TV general manager Larry Wert has been promoted to president, Central and Western region, of the NBC Local Media Division. Among the stations Wert will be overseeing include WMAQ (which he’ll continue in his role as GM) and fellow NBC O&Os KNBC-TV Los Angeles, KXAS-TV Dallas, KNTV San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, and KNSD-TV San Diego. NBC also named a new GM […]
New weekend off-network hours that are making the rounds for syndication in 2008 have cleared Chicago stations. Boston Legal, the Emmy-award series from Twentieth Television, has cleared WLS-TV in Chicago for weekend runs next fall, as well as fellow ABC O&O’s in Los Angeles (KABC), San Francisco (KGO), and Houston (KTRK). Other stations clearing the hour include Scripps’ WXYZ-TV in […]
NBC Universal announced this morning that John Wallace will succeed Jay Ireland as president of the NBC-owned stations (Ireland took a position with GE Capital management. GE owns NBC Universal.) Wallace will report directly to NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker. NBC owns and operates ten English-language stations in New York (WNBC), Los Angeles (KNBC), Chicago (WMAQ), Philadelphia (WCAU), […]
We’re back, and we’re sweeping up from the recent February ratings period in local markets (All ratings are measured by Nielsen): New York: WABC-TV dominated the ratings and in all local news time periods as usual, but it was WCBS-TV that surged to second place overall. A bad book for WNBC-TV, which fell to third, but it was an even […]