Also: NBC 5/Telemundo to award nonprofits; Sherri Shepard to succeed Wendy Williams; Introducing Ion Mystery Is WGN-AM staging a return to the top? The first PPM numbers released for 2022 shows the Nexstar-owned station placing fourth overall, up 49 percent from the last survey – marking their highest ranking since October 2008 at the dawn of the PPM era. Leading […]
Failure to disclose romantic relationship with staff member leads to his demise In the sixteen years of writing this blog, there have been a number of media executives I’ve written about who came off as total assholes – Sam Zell, Randy Michaels, Jimmy deCastro, Michael Ferro, Jan Jeffries, Les Moonves, Marv Nyren, Larry Tisch, and probably more, enough to […]
Plans to merge assets with WarnerMedia to spinoff to own company Here we go again. Sunday morning, Bloomberg published a report stating Discovery Communications and AT&T’s WarnerMedia would be merging assets, marrying Bugs Bunny and Friends with Oprah Winfrey and Chip and Joanna Gaines. The news was made official Monday, with AT&T spinning off those assets into a new, […]
Steve Edwards departs for a non-media role In a major realignment at one of Chicago’s major radio stations, WBEZ-FM (91.5 FM) named Tracy Brown as Chief Content Officer of the public radio station last Friday, who is replacing Steve Edwards (no relation to the former WLS-AM and KTTV Los Angeles personality) in the role as he departs for an executive […]
Blockbuster pacts include new deals for streaming Just a week after the NHL announced a return to ESPN/ABC, the NFL announced Thursday it completed its television deals. While nothing really earth-shattering (Fox stunning the world in 1994 by grabbing the NFL from CBS or Monday Night Football moving to cable), the new deals does send a message – streamers have […]
NBCUniversal to shift events to USA Network and streamer Peacock In a move some pundits were predicting, it’s the end of the road for NBC Sports Network – or NBCSN, as the cable sports channel announced Friday it was closing its doors by the end of the year. NBCSN is currently the home of the NHL, NASCAR, Premier League Soccer, […]
Chicago’s news media under fire for coverage of African-American communities Even though a Tribune article published Friday fell short in describing the tense relationship between the local news media and the Black community, it did bring up valid points needing to be addressed. In a sub-headline titled “Black Chicagoans, white media at odds”, writer Christen Johnson reported on the frail […]
NBC 5, Telemundo also announce layoffs At a time when the Covid pandemic has hammered advertising revenues, it isn’t surprising media companies are making cuts. And it hit home today with Comcast’s NBCUniversal division announcing layoffs with NBC Sports’ regional sports networks taking the hardest hits. NBC Sports Chicago laid off several personnel Tuesday on-air and off as Leah Rahimi […]
NBCUniversal launches new streaming service with reboots and reruns The bird is the word: joining in the streaming wars, NBCUniversal announced Tuesday the launch of its long-awaited streaming service called Peacock, referring to the bird that represents the iconic NBC logo. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, NBC used Peacock in its slogan Proud As A Peacock, though […]
Warner Media unveils new streaming service name, but little else As anticipated for months, Warner Media (the former TimeWarner) unveiled the new name for its new streaming service: HBO Max. The new streaming service not only features HBO content past and present, but also most content Warner Media has to offer from its numerous brands such as DC, Cartoon Network, […]
NBC hopes to keep momentum as the top network With the 2018-19 television season set to get underway on Monday, there is a major shake-up at NBC. Robert Greenblatt announced last week he was stepping down as chairman of NBC Entertainment, effective at the end of Monday. Today, NBC announced not one, but two people will run the entertainment division: […]
Springer officially canceled Also: Eddie Olczyk joins Kap and Co.; Disney boosts bid for Fox to $71 billion Welcome back to the family: to replace the canceled ABC sitcom Roseanne, ABC has ordered a ten episode straight-to-series spinoff with the working title The Conner Family, though more likely, The Conners. The series is to star everyone involved in Roseanne with […]
Short series ends basketball and hockey seasons early. Also: updates on “Springer”, “CrimeWatch” Even without the Chicago Blackhawks and other big-market original six teams, the NHL Stanley Cup Final was a big hit for NBC. According to Nielsen, Game 5 of the Final with the Washington Capitals clinching their first-ever title over the first-ever Las Vegas Golden Knights drew a […]
Fox and NBC save shows; why do the networks cancel all these shows in a three-day window? The Bubble didn’t just burst on Friday for several on-the-fence shows…it exploded. According to TV Line, a total of nineteen shows were canceled in twenty-four hours’ time between Thursday and Friday – not unusual for this time of year as the major networks […]
The original is still the best: WBBM-AM (Newsradio 78) celebrated fifty years in the all-news format this week, with the anniversary of the switch taking place May 6. Believe it or not at one time, WBBM was known for something other than news: the station launched in 1924 , with the calls standing for World’s Best Battery Maker as the […]
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