Cheryl Scottt movin’ on up to 10 p.m.

Cheryl Scott promoted to 10 p.m. Jerry Taft reduces schedule, to do weather at 6 and 7 p.m. ABC-owned WLS-TV announced Wednesday it has promoted meteorologist Cheryl Scott to the 10 p.m. newscast, effective August 1. She replaces longtime veteran Jerry Taft, who in turn takes over for Scott on the 7 p.m. newscast (over WCIU) and retains his position […]

T Dog’s Media Notebook: WGN-AM extends deals for Cochran, Manley

WFLD finally launches 5 p.m. newscast ABC’s game show block off to good start Sorry, Cochran haters: As first reported by Robert Feder Monday, WGN-AM morning personality Steve Cochran has re-upped with the Tribune Media station through 2020. Cochran had been with the station off-and-on since 2000 but was off it in 2010 after being fired by former WGN program […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: ABC 7 shifts “Windy City Live” to 1 p.m.

Local news returns to ABC 7 at 11 a.m.; Dr. Oz returns for three more years; WGN-TV needs a new GM; and more. In a victory for local programming (and yet another defeat for syndicators), ABC-owned WLS-TV (ABC 7) announced Tuesday it was bringing back its 11 a.m. newscast after three years and moving current time slot occupant Windy City […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Ron Magers exits in style

WLS-TV (ABC 7) sent Ron Magers off in style Wednesday night as viewers tuned in en masse to see him anchor his final newscast, earning a time-period winning 10.0 rating in live-plus-same day households according to Robert Feder. ABC 7 Also won the May sweeps at 10 p.m., but finished behind NBC-owned WMAQ (NBC 5) at 10 in the 25-54 demo. Another […]

The 2015-16 season in a nutshell

With the upfronts a week away, it’s time to take a look at what was hot and what was not in the 2015-16 television season. This roundup not only is about primetime broadcast TV, but other programming as well from local news to local sports. These are not listed in any particular order. Winners. – Cable dramas. While the news has […]

Chicago stations to expand afternoon newscasts

    Early fringe newscasts at WMAQ, WFLD on tap Like it or not Chicagoans, get ready for more newscasts in the afternoon. As first reported by Robert Feder Monday, NBC-owned WMAQ is expected to launch a 4 p.m. newscast later this summer. WMAQ would compete with WLS-TV and WGN-TV in the time slot, with each station having a newscast […]

“Chi-Town Rising” pulls ratings victory upset

NBC 5’s upstart effort unseats ABC 7’s annual show In news no one saw coming, NBC-owned WMAQ’s freshman New Year’s Eve show beat ABC-owned WLS-TV’s in live plus-same day ratings, according to Nielsen and first reported by Robert Feder. In the quarter half-hour before the New Year began, Chi-Town Rising on WMAQ scored a 17. 1/36 household rating/share, beating WLS’ […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Bears-Packers score in ratings

Bears surprise; ABC 7 dominates November ratings; another new game show planned; Tom Joyner’s future On paper, it looked like another game against the Packers where the Bears would get blown out and the ratings would take a hit, given what happened last year. Turns out it wasn’t the case. Led by Jay Cutler, the Chicago Bears stunned their Green […]

WLS-TV, WGN-TV dominate ratings on election night

Election results means a tougher road ahead for FCC Just like what the Republicans did to the Democrats Tuesday night, both ABC-owned WLS-TV and Tribune Broadcasting’s WGN-TV steamrolled the competition. The mid-term elections saw Illinois elect a Republican governor for the first time since 1998 – venture capitalist Bruce Rauner (the man whose GTCR investment firm financed Randy Michaels’ Merlin […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Back to the future for ABC 7’s daytime lineup

– Inside Edition/Jeopardy return to old time slot – WMAQ adds 11 a.m. newscast – Chicago Little Leaguers success on and off the field – Dan McNeil, Cheryl Scott exit while Dish Nation adds a Real Housewife  – Back to the future in early fringe: as expected, ABC-owned WLS-TV is returning syndicated first-run series Inside Edition and Jeopardy to its […]

Chicago’s late newscasts continues to lose steam

              Maybe Chicago viewers are tired of hearing about all the shootings and murders. Maybe viewers are tired of the constant weather hype, even when its nice and only 75 degrees. Maybe viewers are tired of the Breaking News and Developing Story monikers every four goddamn minutes. Or maybe viewers are just tired (and […]

Viewers flee Chicago’s evening, late newscasts

Chicago’s news stations might want to rethink their news presentations. An analysis of May local news sweeps numbers in the adult 25-54 demographic in the nation’s ten largest DMAs from TVNewsCheck showed Chicago’s local newscasts losing ground faster than those in New York and Los Angeles. In fact, Chicago’s 21 percent drop overall was second only to Boston (down 23 percent.) […]

Grab Bag: CBS 2’s Jay Levine attacked in a live shot

(Editor’s note: under circumstances not under my control, the videos for Jay Levine’s story have since been removed. You’ll just have to take my word for it. – T.H.) – In the latest incident of TV news personnel being attacked on (or off camera), WBBM-TV’s Jay Levine was attacked by a crazed protester in a live shot outside a restaurant […]

WMAQ hires former “Survivor” contestant as an investigative reporter

If Tammy Leitner thought politics on a reality show was something, she hasn’t seen anything yet in regards to Chicago’s. As first reported by Robert Feder last week, Ms. Leitner has joined the investigative team of NBC-owned WMAQ-TV (known as NBC 5 Investigates) which currently employs Carol Marin, Rob Stafford, Marion Brooks, and others. Leitner started at NBC 5 Monday. […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Oh, Bethenny…

-As expected, ratings for syndication’s three new shows (The Arsenio Hall Show, Bethenny, and The Test) declined from Monday’s premiere, but Arsenio still was on top with a 1.5 overnight household rating, down from a 1.9 rating.  Bethenny slipped to a 0.9/3 household rating/share from a 1.2/4; and The Test slid to a 0.7. On Wednesday however, Arsenio was up […]