Rewinding 2019 in media

  Disney Plus made the biggest splash of the year 2019 saw the end of several institutions, big media battles, and disappointing sports teams. Let’s start with the huge changes in big media, as Disney closed on its purchase of the 20th Century Fox film studio and Viacom reuniting with CBS again with a new name (ViacomCBS) as the race […]

ABC 7, WGN-TV win on election night

Election, R. Kelly, Jussie Smollett stories drive viewers to local stations in February; Super Bowl and Oscars also do their part After Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced he was not running for another term, a huge political shift was in progress with a record fourteen candidates running to replace him (and no, Man Of The People’s Pat Tomasulo wasn’t one […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: The ballad of Jussie Smollett

After a surprising twist, Smollett’s case blends the issue of race, homophobia, politics, and media all into one – and we’re just getting started There’s a lot at stake after Jussie Smollett’s arrest on Thursday. As you know by now, the 36-year old Empire actor who is African-American and gay, surrendered to Chicago Police after he allegedly staged an attack […]

Clubsteppin’ becomes first local station to drop R. Kelly’s music

Move comes as controversies surrounding singer heats up The first local shoe to drop in the ongoing R. Kelly saga is a “rimshot” radio station. Clubsteppin’ 95.1 – a new Urban Adult Contemporary station launched last August, announced Thursday it is removing R. Kelly’s music from their playlist in light of allegations surrounding the singer’s alleged abuse against women, raised […]

The Media Notepad: “GMA” expansion forces “The Chew” off the road

Also: New host of Check Please is a familiar name; Chicago radio still playing R. Kelly’s music; Peoria public radio in trouble; CBC cancels arts show who visited Chicago In a mind-numbing move, ABC announced Wednesday it was expanding Good Morning America to three hours. Only problem is… the extension is airing at Noon Chicago time, 1 p.m. Eastern time […]

Kanye West puts black radio stations in a bind

Backlash over comments made by the Hip-Hop star about slavery and over Trump have some wondering what to do Urban radio programmers are waiting to see what effect Kanye West’s recent comments would have on their stations with one outlet – Detroit’s WMGC-FM (known as 105.1 The Bounce) taking action and pulling his music. The Classic Hip-Hop station became the […]

K-Hits gets KO’d by Entercom; flips to Classic-Hip-Hop

Move comes as Entercom takes over CBS Radio In a surprise major shift rocking the Chicago radio landscape, WJMK-FM flipped to Classic Hip-Hop on Friday as 104.3 Jams, replacing the Classic Hits format known as “K-Hits”. The format change happened as Entercom closed on its purchase of CBS Radio, who officially took over the company Friday. As a result, the […]

You Be ‘Iiiin’

Urban Contemporary WGCI-FM is launching a new show featuring local hip-hop and R&B artists called Go Ill.The program premieres this Saturday night at 9 p.m. and run in that time slot every week. It will also feature interviews with the artists behind the music. WGCI has often been criticized for not featuring enough local artists on its station (other than […]