Also: All CHGO launches; two network TV shows canceled; restaurant with a sitcom connection burns down Much has been made about the lackluster Winter Olympics ratings, but one angle wasn’t talked about much – their effect on NBC affiliates – or lack thereof. And no one experienced a bigger disappointment than Chicago’s NBC 5 (WMAQ.) As reported by Robert Feder […]
CW sale, political races, on tap Even though it’s January 14, it’s never too late to look ahead to see what could happen in media for the remaining 351 days left in the year. So let’s look in the crystal ball and see what to expect. As always, we’ll check back at the end of the year to see how […]
A year ago, T Dog Media laid out the predictions on what to look for in the media business for 2021. So how did we do? Well, we got the answers right here: 1. MeTV’s Toon In With Me. So far, the new Bill Leff-hosted retro cartoon show on MeTV – reminiscent of such fare in the 1960s and 1970s, has gotten […]
New year, new administration brings changes When 2021 started, we had hope in a new year. But it looks like we’re going to spending a lot of time cleaning up the messes of 2020. For one, we had an insurrection in Washington D.C. just six days in the new year, as white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups descended on the Capitol […]
Year marked by scandals, futility, and other things 2018 wasn’t exactly a repeat of the last two horrendous years in the media world, but scandals and deceit still ruled the roost. Though not topping 2017’s Disney-Fox deal, 2018 had some mega transactions – though the second-biggest merger of 2017 went bust as Sinclair Broadcasting’s $4 billion deal to buy Tribune […]
Local teams tank and so does their ratings Like the weather, winter nights turned cold for each of the United Center’s tenants. The last-place finishes for both the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks in their respective divisions this past season not only had local sports fans tuning out, but looking ahead to baseball season earlier than usual. And bearing […]
Also: “Harry” canceled; SyFy strikes deal with C2E2; Olympics underperform in Chicago, falling behind even Bears games With the holidays behind us, it was back to normal in the latest Chicago PPM radio ratings as Entercom’s new Classic-Hip-Hop station 104.3 Jams (WBMX) continuing to rack up strong numbers. Despite a slight decline from last month, WBMX finished third among Chicago’s […]
The flub is the third in three years – happened during Saturday morning newscast Yet again, another on-air graphics mix-up occurred at Chicago’s top-rated news operation. This time, it was a graphic slide put up during ABC 7’s Saturday morning newscast while anchor Mark Rivera was reporting on a story about the unification of North and South Korea’s Olympic teams […]
Plus: L.A. Times, San Diego Union-Tribune sold; Mike Flannery gets his own Fox 32 news show; This week in Chicago bashing; White Sox snubbed again (Editor’s Note: Contains strong language. Reader discretion is advised.) The opening ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics from South Korea dominated the ratings as expected for NBC, and even performed stronger than expected. According to […]
Opening ceremonies ranked fourth; Twin Cities gets ratings gold For a city who is basically sick of winter by now (and who isn’t), it doesn’t our interest in the Winter Olympics had been dampened – not by a long shot. Friday marked the Opening Ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Despite being tape-delayed for nine hours (one, […]
NBC opened the network leg of The Television Critics Association press tour recently, taking place at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles. – Executive session: NBC Entertainment President (and Rockford native) Robert Greenblatt talked to the press, coming off a yo-yo season (first in adults 18-49 in November to fifth in February), and looked ahead to the future – […]
After a season which went through extremes (first place in November 2012 in adults 18-49 to fifth in February 2013), NBC is completely overhauling its primetime slate in 2013-14, with eight new dramas, five new comedies, and three “alternative” reality series. The new schedule was announced Sunday afternoon, a day before NBC’s upfront presentation. Only eight series from this past season […]
– WLS-TV returns to the top of the late news heap – American Idol continues to slide With the Olympics over and done with, normal viewing patterns have resumed – good news for ABC-owned WLS-TV, which saw its 10 p.m. news dominance temporarily usurped by NBC-owned WMAQ. In March, WLS returned to the top spot at 10 with a 9.0 […]
Get the cranberry sauce ready: it’s time for the 7th annual T Dog Media Turkey Awards where every Thanksgiving, yours truly honors the worst in the media business for the year and 2012 is filled with so many media turkeys! Without further ado, here are this year’s, um… “winners”: Animal Practice. Premiering after the Summer Olympics (or more aptly put, […]
The Six Pack is back, but this edition is straight out of bizarro world: perennial loser NBC in the winner’s circle while top-ranked WLS-TV is in loserland? As Vince Lombardi would say, “What’s going on here?” Well, WIQI is the loser’s circle again, so it’s all not that unusual… the week’s winners and losers: Winners – NBC. Belated congrats to […]