The Media Notepad: 101.9 The Mix, The Drive dominate Chicago radio ratings

Also: Decades finds new station group; FCC votes to modify kidvid rules and strike down San Francisco apartment broadband law Hubbard Broadcasting continued its dominance of local Chicago radio in the recently released May PPM Nielsen rankings. As reported by Robert Feder, WTMX finished first again, with sister station The Drive (WDRV-FM) finishing a strong second.  The Minnepaolis-based company also […]

Bethenny and Khloe take broadcast media

          Yeah, you’re going to need a lot of liquor when you read this news. Man, you really got to weep for the media business these days. Tuesday was clearly a dark day for those who still care about the integrity of the business as two (more) dark clouds are descending on the horizon. One cloud […]

Hallmark cancels “The Martha Stewart Show”

I guess this isn’t a good thing. Hallmark Channel announced the cancellation of the low-rated The Martha Stewart Show after two low-rated seasons. Part of the reason for the program’s demise was due to the series’ high production costs, which included renting an expensive studio to shoot the show in New York City. This story was first reported on Wednesday […]

Analysis: The real winners and losers in the CoCo lottery

The drawing in the Conan O’Brien lottery took place Monday, and it was Turner Broadcasting who turned up the lucky winner. So what does TBS actually win? Young demos. A proven name. An increased profile. And a new car – advertiser or two. But it seems a lot of players in this saga appear to winners – TBS, Conan O’Brien, […]

Sirius-XM continues to sink like a rock

So much so, a rock is actually worth more than their stock. Sirius-XM’s shares tumbled to an all-time low of 5 cents per share on reports the satcaster is headed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Sirius-XM is in talks with Echostar, the owner of Dish Network about a buyout, since the company assumed some of Sirius-XM’s debt. It is also in […]

Report: Sony cancels "Judge David Young" and "Judge Karen"

Broadcasting & Cable is reporting that two Sony-distributed courtroom strips (Judge David Young and Judge Karen) are expected to be canceled soon. Young will exit after two seasons and Karen after only one. The possible moves come as the tough economy has taken a toll on the first-run syndication business, as ratings and revenue coming in are very low for […]

Warner Bros. scores a hat trick

This is the 1,200th post. Hurray for the blog! Three syndicated freshman strips from Warner – Two and a Half Men, TMZ, and George Lopez scored gains in the just-concluded May sweeps, according to Nielsen. Men ranked as the top off-network sitcom in syndication last month, while Lopez surprised everyone by finishing fifth among all off-net sitcoms, jumping up 41 […]

More NATPE News

– Twentieth Television has renewed The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet for a second season the Fox O&O’s, including WFLD-TV in Chicago. The program has done on many stations, especially in southern markets such as Birmingham (WBRC) and Greensboro, N.C. (WGHP). Other pickups include San Francisco (KTVU), Seattle (KCPQ-TV), and Portland, Ore. (KPTV). – Mighty Oak’s Whacked Out Sports […]