Cubs ratings; Carsey-Werner comedies head to LAFF; Media Life radio survey and more The Chicago Cubs have started off the 2016 season in style and viewers are watching: Monday’s home opener against the Cincinnati Reds drew a whopping 11.4 household same-day live rating, easily finishing as the most-watched program of the evening topping ABC’s Dancing With The Stars (always popular […]
(Editor’s Note: Strong language in this piece. Reader discretion is advised. – T.H.) As you know by now, Cumulus Media made a major executive shakeup this week by tossing longtime CEOs John and Lew Dickey out the door, and replacing them with former Reader Digest exec Mary Berner. The exits took place before the start of the National Association of […]
Radio is experiencing a renaissance and television in the dumps? Welcome to the summer of the bizarro world. You’ve probably read several articles lately proclaiming radio’s resurgence, with Nielsen reporting a record reach of 245 million listeners and usage up from years past, with more reach than any other medium. Great news, indeed. But what the corporate spinmeisters won’t tell you […]
In a bold move, a local radio station has raided a rival’s cupboard. As first reported by Radio Insight, WGCI-FM raided their crosstown rival WPWX (Power 92) and nabbed two of their viable on-air personalities: midday host Frankie Robinson and afternoon host Tone Kapone, who both continue in the same daypart capacity with WGCI. This is the second WGCI stint […]
WLUP contest a scam? Nah. That’s the way things are done in the C-H-I. Only in Chicago where someone achieves a zero rating on a TV show and gets a radio deal. Yours truly is talking about human repellent Mancow Mueller, whose recent WPWR show failed to find an audience and somehow managed to snare a deal with Cumulus-run WLUP-FM […]
Is the end of Rush Limbaugh’s show near in Chicago? A report Thursday by Robert Feder stated Cumulus’ WLS-AM was looking to drop the controversial show as the station is looking to revamp its image by adding more mainstream talk. The report didn’t sit well with Cumulus execs; in fact, John Dickey, EVP of Content and Programming, said his company denied WLS […]
Big John Howell heads to WLS; Roe Conn to WGN-AM (Editor’s Note: This post was updated to add new information from WGN and to replace an incorrect Feder link in the article, as yours truly used the wrong one. T Dog Media apologizes for the errors. -T.H.) In order to attract more listeners, Cumulus’ WLS-AM and WGN-AM made moves this week, with WLS […]
As first reported by Robert Feder Monday morning, WGCI has pulled the plug on The Morning Riot after nearly six years on the air. Out are hosts Tony Sculfield and Nina Chantele, and program director Kenard Kanter, the latter after just nine months on the job. Leon Rogers is staying on in the interim and is being teamed with various […]
Gobble, gobble everyone! It’s that time of year… to celebrate (and criticize) the worst in media. It’s the 2014 T Dog Media Turkey Awards. If you’ve noticed, the first eleven items are all local, and makes up a third of the list. Just goes to show you the power of The Chicago Way. The sad part is, the Jackie Robinson West […]
Tribune Media pulls plug on The Game; retains Jonathon Brandmeier and cuts Garry Meier Robert Feder reported Thursday that Tribune Media has swung the ax of the sports talk format known as The Game (WGWG-LP), the sports station on 87.7 FM after nine months on the air. The move comes as the station was losing busloads of money on the venture. […]
When you think about Clear Channel, what usually comes to mind? Layoffs. Voice tracking. Low pay. Heavy commercial loads. The Arby’s of radio (OK, you get the drift.) Looking for a fresh start, Clear Channel announced on Tuesday it was changing the name of the company to the more audience-friendly iHeart Media, named after the successful iHeart Radio Internet platform. […]
Tim Virgin is back in; Patrick Capone, Maxwell are out Everyone knew changes were inevitable when Cumulus hired Wade Linder as WLUP-FM’s (The Loop) new operations manager/program director. Over the weekend, those changes began. On Friday, WLUP released Patrick Capone after nine years at the classic rock station. Capone broke the news on his Facebook page, thanking Chicago audiences for […]
You probably wouldn’t know it if you tuned in to the cable news networks or if you read major national or international publications lately, but Chicago isn’t the only American city dealing with an onslaught of gun violence. Somewhat similar to what Chicago’s urban stations are doing to combat the epidemic, Indianapolis’ radio stations are banding together in support of […]
(Editor’s Note: a more recent story on Ramonski Luv being released from V103 can be found here in The Media Notepad, fourth item.) How about this? You finish first in your daypart and what is your reward? You get shown the door. This is exactly what happened to Ramon Wade a.k.a. Ramonski Luv, who was let go from Clear […]
Here we go again: another Chicago radio partnership has ended in divorce. A deal that would have brought Eddie Volkman and Joe “Bohannon” Colburn to Cumulus-owned Classic Hits station WLS-FM in morning drive collapsed Saturday after Colburn turned down the deal and left Volkman fuming on Twitter. “Eddie & JoBo” were best known for their successful morning drive show at […]
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