Giants win net Giant ratings Wow! The NFC Championship Game pitting the New York Giants at the Green Bay Packers notched a whopping 54 million viewers, making it the highest-rated non-Super Bowl program since the 1998 Seinfeld finale, which drew 76.3 million viewers. In Milwaukee, the game notched a 58.5 household rating and a 78 share for Fox-owned (and soon […]
Here are your radio Fall Arbs (+12) for: Chicago Quick analysis: Tribune’s WGN is first, but stumbled. Clear Channel’s Urban Contemporary WGCI is back in second place, while sister Urban AC WVAZ fell from fifth place to eighth (they announced a huge schedule change today – more on that later, so watch the blog.) CC’s WLIT surged to fifth place*, […]
News Corp. had made good on its promise to sell eight of its Fox TV stations, and it did to the newly-formed Local TV group headed by private equity firm Oak Hill Partners for $1.1 billion. The proceeds from the sale gives News Corp. the cash it needs to purchase the Wall Street Journal. In a separate development, Tribune and […]
Milwaukee CBS affiliate WDJT-TV, owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting (owner of WCIU and WWME), is launching a 9 p.m. newscast on its independent sister sation, WMLW-TV beginning Jan.1. The newscast is to compete with Fox-owned WITI’s newscast, which airs at the same time. Sinclair’s CW affiliate WVTV had a 9 p.m. newscast from 1989-94 and again from 2003-06, but low […]
A melancholy happy trails to John Drury. The former WBBM-TV, WLS-TV and WGN-TV news anchor who retired in 2002, lost his battle with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He died last night at the age of 80. Drury got his started in television at Milwaukee’s WTMJ, where he was a staff announcer. He began anchoring the news at the station […]
WCKG planned to switch to Christmas music at 7 p.m. tonight. That is, until WLIT launched its all-Christmas format at 8:30 this morning. Speculation centered on two Christmas formats competing for listenership. But late this afternoon, WCKG abandoned that plan at the last minute. Instead, they are running Dahl clips, as they have been doing all week long, until at […]
News-talk WTMJ-AM is much like WGN-AM in Chicago – news, talk, community connections – and the uncanny ability to stay at number one. WTMJ finished first overall in Milwaukee’s summer book, but fourth in adults 25-54 – the crown in that all-important demo went to country station WMIL-FM. To see the complete list, click here. By the way, WGN finished […]
The merger of two of the largest beer makers (behind Anheuser-Busch) will create a huge No. 2 presence in the beer industry, and will have a tremendous impact on buying and selling ad time for major sporting events – not the mention the Chicago based ad agencies who create the spots.
Some things I guess you can’t blame on NBC’s prime-time lineup: Journal Broadcasting’s WTMJ-TV replaced Mark Strachota with a returning Steve Wexler as general manager. This comes as once-dominant WTMJ is coming under siege in the ratings from ABC affiliate WISN-TV. Those two Milwaukee stations have been neck-and-neck in the ratings. And don’t expect a return to the glory days […]
The television ratings show there was nothing “incredible” about WJJA-TV Channel 49 (in which they called themselves Incredible 49), so Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting is doing something about it – they’re buying the station from Joel Kinlow Sr. for $7 million. WJJA is one of the few TV stations in the United States to be owned by an African-American. Weigel already […]
Remember when I said NBC stations get no help from their network lead-ins, hurting them? Turns out they don’t need them. NBC stations in Boston, Milwaukee, and Baltimore won the 11 p.m. late news races, according to recent July numbers from Nielsen. Among the highlights: Boston: NBC affiliate WHDH won the 11p.m. news race, but finished behind ABC affiliate WCVB-TV […]
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 […]
News Corp. has announced it will sell nine of its Fox owned-and-operated stations in these markets: Cleveland (WJW), Denver (KDVR), St. Louis (KTVI), Kansas City (WDAF), Milwaukee (WITI), Salt Lake City (KSTU), Birmingham (WBRC), Memphis (WHBQ), and Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point (WGHP). This is part of a trend in which major networks are selling their O&Os in smaller markets. CBS and NBC […]
Nineteen TV stations in Chicago and Milwaukee won vindication from the FCC after the agency rejected another bogus complaint from a media activist group. This time it was the Chicago Media Action and the Milwaukee Public Interest Media Collation, fronts for the Media Access Project, who claims that the stations ignored non-federal races in a month leading up to the […]
WISN-TV, Hearst-Argyle’s ABC affiliate in Milwaukee, beat NBC affiliate WTMJ-TV at 10 p.m. for the first time in seven years in the recent May sweeps, proving once again that prime time on NBC these days is a drag on its local stations. Meanwhile, Bart is also watching The King of Queens in Milwaukee, because the off-network sitcom beat The Simpsons […]
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