T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

In celebration of post number 1400, let’s see what’s in the bag (some celebration, huh?) – How about this? With the White Sox victory over the Twins in last night’s tiebraker game for the American League Central Division Title, both the Cubs and the White Sox are in the postseason for the first time in 102 years. But if you […]

Mike North, Dan Jiggetts team up

The Monsters are back – this time on TV. Former WSCR-AM sports stars Mike North and Dan Jiggetts are teaming up to launch a new morning talk show on Comcast SportsNet titled Monsters in the Morning, debuting on the regional sports network in January. The program is scheduled to run from 6 to 9 a.m. North and Jiggetts were paired […]

Spike O’Dell exits WGN-AM

It was speculated in July, it’s now official: Spike O’Dell is leaving WGN-AM morning drive effective at the end of the year. No word on a replacement, but there is speculation WGN may hire two people to replace Spike O’Dell next January. Like his predecessors (Wally Phillips and Bob Collins), Spike O’Dell’s has owned WGN’s morning slot in Chicago, finishing […]

Steve Stone heads to TV booth – for the White Sox

Former Chicago White Sox pitcher – and Chicago Cubs analyst Steve Stone has signed a six-year deal with the White Sox to be their television analyst along side Hawk Harrison, replacing Darrin Jackson in the process. Except for a stint when Joe Carter was in the booth, Stone was the Cubs analyst alongside Haray Caray and later Chip Caray for […]

Roland Martin heads to Tom Joyner Morning Show

Roland Martin, a former editor of The Chicago Defender and current host of a morning show on News/Talk WVON-AM has exited the old Soft Sheen building on East 87th Street (right down the street from my house.) Martin has signed a deal to become a contributor to the syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show, which airs weekday mornings on WVAZ-FM […]

Seacrest comes to KISS-FM

In a move local radio insiders saw coming, Ryan Seacrest’s syndicated radio show is joining WKSC-FM (Kiss FM’s) lineup starting Monday. As a result of this move, Billy Hammond was fired, and in an unrelated move, JoAnn Genette from the DreX morning show was also let go. WKSC will air Seacrest’s morning radio show from KIIS-FM in Los Angeles from […]

Who’s in your four, Edition II

The week’s winners and losers: T Dog’s Fab Four – Michael Phelps. The best Olympian. Ever. – NBC and the Summer Olympics. The numbers posted by the event are on the pace to be the most watched Olympics. Ever. – Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. A slight revamp and an upgrade to early fringe (5 p.m.) at WGN-TV in […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag – 08/16/08

But not-so-groovy: A couple of exits to report… – Ed Sherman is out at the Tribune. The golf and sometimes media writer has accepted a buyout from the Trib and is expected to do freelance and co-author a book with Dan McNeil regarding the best and worst of Chicago sports. Best wishes to Mr. Sherman. The move comes as 30 […]

Chicago PPM July numbers

Remember, these are only in the pre-currency stage and the Portable People Meters go live in October, so here are the partial rankings among adults 25-54 and 18-34, according to All Access: Adults 25-54 1. WDRV-FM (The Drive) 2. WTMX-FM (The Mix) 3. WUSN-FM (US 99) 4. WXRT-FM 5. WLEY-FM6. WVAZ-FM (V103)7. WOJO-FM8. WLUP-FM (The Loop)9. WLS-FM (True Oldies Channel)10. […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

Some Chicago-related media news: – One coming from Oregon, one going to Oregon: Clear Channel has upped Tony Coles as vice president and operations of the company’s six-station radio cluster here in Chicago. Coles comes via Portland, Ore. where he was regional vice president of programming at Clear Channel’s Northwest cluster. He replaces Darren Davis, who was promoted to senior […]

About the new Q101 morning show…

Robert Feder mentioned the new WKQX-FM morning show hosted by Brian Sherman and Steve Tingle in his article today and didn’t exactly give it the benefit of the doubt… He says the alternative rock station is trotting out its fourth morning show in two years, and predicting doom and gloom for the show and hinted the station was better off […]

No fix for what’s left of "Morning Fix" (updated)

The exodus of personalities and personnel from Chicago media outlets continues. To no one’s surprise, WKQX-FM (Q101.1) has thrown what’s left of the Morning Fix under the bus and ran over Alan Cox and Jim Lynam in the process. The duo were axed from Q101.1 after today’s show and are being replaced by the afternoon team of Brian Sherman and […]

Pat Cassidy leaves WBBM-AM

One thing yours truly has learned about this business in recent years: There’s no summer vacation when it comes to media news (particularly in July), especially when it pertains to comings and goings. Today, yet another big name has left a media outlet. Pat Cassidy, who was co-anchor at WBBM-AM with Felicia Middlebrooks for the last eight years, has left […]

More Chicago PPM results

All Access interviewed Radio Crunch’s Anthony Acampora about the pre-currency results from Arbitron’s new Portable People Meter, which is intended to replace the diaries the company has been using for decades. Keep in mind this is based on only one month of findings. Among the findings: – Bonneville seems to be the big winner, with WDRV-FM (The Drive) surging in […]