The 2013 T Dog Media Turkey Awards

It’s a blizzard of turkeys! Welcome to the 2013 T Dog Media Turkey Awards, where every Thanksgiving, we serve up turkeys of bad TV, bad radio, and bad decision making in media for the eighth consecutive year. This year, we have 24 turkeys to hand out. So batten down everyone, because here they come! Crowd Goes Wild. Fox Sports 1’s […]

Is minority content being targeted for indecency?

Content targeting Black, Hispanic audiences come under scrutiny after FCC fines Spanish broadcaster for indecent content  Believe it or not, the next indecency battleground could be in Chicago’s African-American community. A group of activists calling themselves The Clear The Airwaves Project are targeting Crawford’s WPWX-FM (Power 92) and Clear Channel’s WGCI-FM for playing salacious hip-hop and rap music targeting children […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: It’s another episode of “Everybody Loves Mancow”

[Editor’s Note: The first item contains profanity. Reader discretion is advised.] In the latest episode of the sitcom that never ends – Everybody Loves Mancow – the IQ-deficient shit jock in a Chicago Tribune interview Monday announced he sold his Lincoln Park condo and is moving to the suburb of Wilmette. He called the city “unlivable” and ripped the city’s […]

TCA: CBS tries to stay on top

It was CBS’ turn at the mic at the Television Critics Association press tour last Tuesday, and it featured a surprise cameo appearance from CEO Les Moonves, who filled in for Entertainment president Nina Tassler at the last minute. – Moonves didn’t really get into details regarding the retrans dispute between CBS and Time Warner Cable, hoping it would be […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Tony Malatia out at WBEZ

Chicago Public Media needs a new chief. Tribune to sell a few stations. Fox launches new Saturday night animation block.  – As first reported by Robert Feder on Friday, Torey Malatia resigned from his post as Chicago Public Media CEO and from the Board of Director after approximately twenty years. During Malatia’s watch, WBEZ created successful radio programs such as […]

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 […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Internet trolls aren’t Boston strong

Leave it to wingnuts, trolls, and the FCC Chairman to ruin a feelgood moment. The Boston Red Sox played their first game at Fenway Park Saturday afternoon against the Kansas City Royals after deadly bombings ripped through the Boston Marathon’s finish line Monday, killing three people and injured more than one hundred. Before the game, Red Sox slugger David Ortiz […]

NBC, Tribune appoint new executives

Also: Colin Cowherd comes to Chicago A pair of exec hires were announced on Tuesday: – David Doebler was named president and general manager of WMAQ-TV here, replacing Larry Wert, who is now head of Tribune’s station group. Doebler comes over from sister NBC-owned station WVIT in Hartford-New Haven Conn. During his eight-year tenure, WVIT (on Channel 30) was competitive […]

Chicago radio sinks to a new low – again – WIND to hire Walsh

I guess in Chicago media, you don’t need a degree to get a job. Just look pretty. Or be dumb. Or be an unfunny, talentless hack. Or just yell a lot. Welcome to the Chicago media freak show, former Representative Joe Walsh. In a town whose media outlets hired embarrassments such as Randy Michaels, Jim Laski, Jenny McCarthy, Jim Belushi, […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Chicago Tribune on the sales block

The Tribune Co. Unofficially puts its papers on the block; Oscar viewership is up over a year ago; and more Mancow is headed to your TV: – It looks like the Chicago Tribune is up for sale. As first reported by CNBC on Monday, the 166-year old paper and others in the chain are on the block by creditors who […]

Don & Roma wade exit WLS-AM

Ready or not, here comes Bruce & Dan Longtime radio morning team (and husband and wife) Don & Roma Wade are stepping down from their post at WLS-AM and are being replaced by interim hosts Bruce Wolf and Dan Proft, and this comes as the Wade’s contract is set to expire at the end of this month. The change is […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: All Chicago, all the time

This is a double blue-striped, four red-star edition of the Grab Bag, containing nothing but local items! So fly the Chicago flag high over Rahm’s head and let’s get cracking: – As first reported by Robert Feder at Time Out Chicago earlier this week, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West – who were recently ousted by WBEZ on September 30 – […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Associating with Mariotti sends the wrong message

Look what washed up on the shores on the beaches of L.A. after all these years…: it’s the human garbage disposal: Jay Mariotti. Two weeks ago, the former Chicago Sun-Times columnist and Around The Horn panelist on ESPN – and who twice pleaded no contest to misdemeanor domestic abuse – wrote a not-so-glowing piece on Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler […]

Sports, tech snafus zap media coverage of teachers’ strike

As Chicago teachers head for the picket line, media coverage of the strike has been filled with some miscues and some frustration from local news stations due to sports overruns.  If you watched ABC 7’s (WLS-TV’s) newscast Sunday night, technical snafus took place as video from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s press conference at the Harold Washington Library often looked choppy and […]

Chicago TV sinks to a new low – they hire Mancow

Chicago’s worst-run television duopoly meets Chicago’s worst radio personality. Confirming news that was speculated since July, local Fox executives have signed radio personality Erich “Mancow” Mueller to a deal, simulcasting two hours of his nationally syndicated radio show on WPWR-TV every weekday from 6 to 8 a.m., in a story first reported by Robert Channick in the Chicago Tribune. Specifics […]