The Grab Bag: Ricki returns (and unfortunately, so does Paul Reiser)

Twentieth’s game shows canceled, and other news of note  For the first time in a long time, it’s time for The Grab Bag – items not good enough for individual posts – but good enough to be written here: – Ricki returns. In a report confirmed by B&C and TVNewscheck, Ricki Lake signed a deal with Twentieth Television to launch […]

Casey Kasem’s "American Top 40" returns to Chicago radio

Casey is counting them down again – only this time in rerun form. As reported by Robert Feder on his blog at Time Out Chicago Wednesday, WLS-FM will begin running Casey Kasem’s American Top 40: The ’70’s on Sunday mornings from 7 to 10 a.m. from Premiere Radio Networks, effective this weekend. The countdowns are primarily from 1970 (when the […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Needing some extra “support”

Ah, lucky Providence, R.I. They get to see women in bras in the prime access hour. We Chicagoans get Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson. You know, it’s hard to be a bra salesman these days in Providence when you have the Internet… and now you have infomercials running as early as 7 p.m.! Is it no surprise that 25% of […]

Goodbye to you, “Jack”; Hello “K-Hits”

The JACK FM era in Chicago ended around 12:35 p.m. with a whimper as WJMK-FM played the rather bland “Goodbye to You”, a forgettable chart hit by the 1980’s band Scandal instead of Ray Charles “Hit The Road Jack”, as in JACK FM. Forgettable is what you can describe JACK FM’s six-year tenure in the Chicago market. Today was the […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Winning and Losing

Harry Teinowitz: “I’m winning.”  Okay, so Charlie Sheen is “winning” – if your definition of winning is being fired off a hit show, having police raid your house, and jumping the shark on Twitter after only a week. But the winners and losers this week are for real: They’re really winning and losing, not some dopey sham job Sheen is […]

Jacked out: WJMK dumps Variety Hits format

Eddie & JoBo return to Chicago radio to new “K-Hits”, which replaces JACK-FM. WJMK will not be “jacking” their body any longer. In news that was circulating ferociously for the last 48 hours, it is now official: CBS Radio’s WJMK-FM – known for the last six years as rock-leaning Variety Hits (a.k.a. Adult Hits) JACK FM – is flipping to […]

Report: Axe to swing on one of CBS Radio’s Chicago FM properties

Yeah, but not for long….  The axe is waiting to swing on one of CBS Radio’s two struggling properties in Chicago. Industry website Radio Insight reported today that CBS Radio registered a domain under the name KHitsChicago.com, meaning a format flip for WJMK-FM (JACK FM, 104.3 FM) is imminent. Also mentioned as a possible target is WCFS-FM (Fresh 105.9 FM), […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Snowed under

Yes, February has been one hell of the month, with a historic blizzard (the most snowfall ever recorded at one time for the month) and late-season cold snap that paralyzed Chicago earlier in the month. Even The T Dog Media Blog didn’t escape winter’s fury as the world headquarters went without both heat and power for 20 hours at the […]

Cumulus buys WLS-AM/FM owner

WLS-AM and WLS-FM have new owners in the form of Atlanta-based Cumulus Broadcasting, Inc., which acquired the troubled Citadel radio group for $2.4 billion in cash and stock, with Cumulus paying $37 a share to Citadel. While Citadel wasn’t officially up for sale, it was being pursued by both Cumulus and Bala Cynwyd, Pa. –based Entercom Communications. Cumulus made several […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Win or go home

The Bears didn’t win. And they went home.  (Photo: Scott Strazzante/Chicago Tribune.) The Packers went to the Super Bowl and the Bears went home with a quarterback who has an iffy knee who gets blasted on Twitter while Chicago’s long-time rocker thinks you’re not getting enough Steve Miller Band in your listening diet. Yep, this week that was in the […]

Bonneville sells WTMX, others to Hubbard

Bonneville also sells Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Washington D.C. stations In the first major shocker move of 2011 involving local media, Salt Lake City-based Bonneville International has sold its Chicago cluster of radio stations to Minneapolis-St. Paul-based Hubbard Broadcasting for $505 million. The deal also includes thirteen others: six stations in Washington D.C., and four stations each in Cincinnati and […]

It’s Brotha Fred’s Show

The radio personality pictured above is about to trade in his fishin’ pole and his 45 of the Andy Griffith Show theme for a snow shovel and some Kanye West CDs. Two days after Clear Channel’s WKSC-FM (Kiss) dropped morning personality Kevin “DreX” Buchar from its lineup, the station hired Christopher Frederick, a.k.a. “Brotha’ Fred” from sister station WIHT-FM (Channel […]

DreXed out

In a surprise move – or maybe not considering his ratings were declining, Clear Channel’s Contemporary Hit WKSC-FM (103.5 FM, better known as Kiss FM) dropped its morning personality Drex (Kevin Buchar) after a seven-year run at the station. Also out are his co-hosts Mel T and Angi Taylor, though they may be asked to stay if there is a […]

The Grab Bag: Mark, Mancow, Mr. Sunshine, and more

Another person has left Fox-owned WFLD’s news department: It’s Mark Saxenmeyer, who’s been with the station since 1993. The reporter’s contract with the station expires in a few weeks, and is not being renewed. Also likely on the way out is meteorologist Amy Freeze, whose contract expires in February. Sources say her replacement is Tammie Souza, whose was meteorologist at […]