From the station where bad ideas usually flourish: A few months ago, Fox-owned WFLD introduced editorials at the end of their 9 p.m. newscasts on occasion featuring General Manager Mike Renda, who now runs sis station WJBK in Detroit, with former WOFL/WRBW GM Dennis Welsh, as his replacement. Well, Welsh has continued the practice and thus far appeared in two […]
It looks like its back to the beach for Phyllis Schwartz. The WFLD vice president and news director exited the station Tuesday after nearly a year. She replaced Carol Fowler in the same capacity on January 6. A former WLS-TV and WMAQ-TV executive, Schwartz returned to Chicago from San Diego where she ran her own consulting company and was previously […]
In the 27 years yours truly has followed the media business, I’ve never encountered anyone who is arrogant, incompetent, and stupid – aside from Randy “Court Jester” Michaels and his minions – in running a radio or TV station as Fox-owned WFLD and WPWR General Manager Mike Renda. On Friday, Fox management – which is proven to be every bit […]
It’s a four-for-one-special in this edition of T Dog’s Think Tank – thoughts on four subjects in one post. What a deal! – Is Fox’s incompetence at its local Chicago stations spreading to the network? Last week, the network scheduled X Factor to Wednesday, but game three of the NLCS between San Francisco and St. Louis (which started earlier in […]
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 […]
A bunch of items in this week’s Grab Bag: – Is Robin Robinson on her way out at Fox-owned WFLD? Sure looks like it: According to a report surfacing a little over a week ago at Chicagoland Radio and Media, Robinson is expected to depart when her contract expires later this year. Robinson is the longest-tenured anchor at WFLD, being […]
Happy New Year, everyone! There will be a lot going on in 2012 – elections, international summits, the Olympics, and much, much, more! Here’s what to look for in 2012: – Look for CBS to continue their prime-time ratings domination. – With Family Guy running on empty and The Cleveland Show shifting time periods every week, look for Fox’s Animation […]
Remember when I wrote a think tank on WFLD’s news ratings struggles earlier this year? Well, you’ll be happy to know that things haven’t changed – if fact, they’ve gotten worse: During a report on how the struggling economy was affecting gift-giving during this holiday season on Tuesday night’s 9 p.m. newscast, WFLD co-anchor Robin Robinson obviously blurted out there […]
It’s been awhile, so let’s do an expanded edition of T Dog’s Six Pack – with an extra item in the winners and losers column this week. It doesn’t get any better than that! Okay, yes it can… Winning. Regis Philbin. After 28 years on daytime television. Regis Philbin steeped down as co-host of the popular morning chatfest Live With […]
Allen Gregory: Worst. Sitcom. Ever. Welcome to the 6th annual T Dog Media Turkey Awards! Every year around Thanksgiving, yours truly hashes out the worst in the media business – in television, radio, and sports. So bring out the stale stuffing and expired cranberry sauce! It’s time to go gobbling! And the “winners” are… […]
As you may know – if you’ve been following on Twitter – The T Dog Media Blog is leaving Blogger and is moving to a new home as part of the new website I’m launching officially on September 19, when the sixth season of The T Dog Media Blog begins. Visit http://www.tdogmedia.com to view the progress of the site as […]
Your official mascot for Fox Chicago News. A little over two weeks ago, yours truly was channel surfing on the night the earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit in Japan and landed on Fox-owned WFLD-TV around 9:02 p.m. or so. While almost every news organization in the world led off with the disaster in the far eastern country, what did Fox […]
In a long due overhaul, Fox-owned WFLD-TV has decided to revamp its low-rated Good Day Chicago morning news program with the announcement of two new anchors to take over the show – reporter Anna Davlantes and sports anchor Corey McPherrin, effective August 2. News of a possible anchor change first surfaced on July 14 in Robert Feder’s blog at Vocalo […]
Another GM shake-up at Fox-owned WFLD-TV and WPWR-TV has led Pat Mullen out the door after three rather unproductive years at the duopoly, and was replaced by Michael Renda of sister station WTXF-TV in Philadelphia, which is also a Fox O&O. In turn, Patrick Paolini takes over the WTXF job after his stint as vice president and director of sales […]