Another all-local edition of the Grab Bag… including an item on a possible sale of some downstate TV stations: – Julian Nieh, one half of the duo of B96’s (WBBM-FM’s) The JNiice & Julian Morning Show, exited the station on Wednesday to pursue other interests. The seven-year veteran of the contemporary-hit station was paired with Jamar “JNiice” McNeil in January […]
Once again, Bruce DuMont was played the fool – and this time by one of the biggest names in all of entertainment. I’m talking about Howard Stern’s “induction” into The Radio Hall Of Fame by the Chicago-based Museum of Broadcast Communications, located in the city’s River North neighborhood, finally making it in after four tries. You’d think he’d be happy, […]
This is a double blue-striped, four red-star edition of the Grab Bag, containing nothing but local items! So fly the Chicago flag high over Rahm’s head and let’s get cracking: – As first reported by Robert Feder at Time Out Chicago earlier this week, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West – who were recently ousted by WBEZ on September 30 – […]
In what may be the first of many changes inside Tribune Tower in a post-bankruptcy world, Tribune Broadcasting’s WGN Radio announced the departure yesterday of General Manager Tom Langmyer after seven years at the station. The move comes as Tribune is expected to exit bankruptcy in the next few weeks as the company may be looking to sell many of […]
Brenly becomes new Arizona Diamondbacks color analyst The latest Grab Bag is here with a possible new classic TV channel on the way, two primetime network series renewed, and more: – Bob Brenly, who has been the color analyst for Chicago Cubs broadcasts alongside Len Kasper over WGN-TV broadcasts and Comcast SportsNet since 2005 announced he’s leaving the team to […]
Oh, its on. And it its due to Chicago Public Media turning Tavis Smiley off. The PBS late-night talk show host slammed Chicago Public Media and its President-CEO in a letter to him and made publicly available after WBEZ-FM dropped Smiley & West from its Sunday afternoon lineup on September 30 after two seasons on the air. Distributed by Public […]
It’s a done deal: after a successful six-week test run at a few Fox-owned stations this summer, Bethenny Frankel’s new talk show from Warner Bros. has been cleared on the rest of the group in seventeen markets, including WFLD-TV in Chicago and is now going forward with a national launch in 2013. The former Real Housewives star was tested in […]
Today’s Bag O’ Stuff includes new deals for Major League Baseball and Tom Skilling: – Fox and TBS have renewed their deals for Major League Baseball, but under some slightly different terms. Under the new deal, Fox retains the Saturday Game Of The Week, in addition to one League Championship Series a year (with Turner retaining the other half.) Fox […]
Hey Katie, the old school’s got a message for you: we can draw an audience, too. That was the vibe sent Monday while Katie Couric posted strong numbers of her debut Monday – but returning talkers also posted good numbers for their season premieres, despite pre-emptions from tennis on some CBS stations. Warner Bros.’ Ellen tenth season premiere drew a […]
From last week, here is the cable portion of Television Critics Association press tour from Los Angeles – three days, and lots of cable networks… Wednesday/Thursday portion Starz Exec session: On Thursday, CEO Chris Albrecht spoke about the end of Spartacus, saying the series had run its course. Albrecht also gave updates on the series Starz had in production – […]
It’s safe to say this now: FM News 101.1 is the biggest bomb in the history of Chicago radio. But you knew that already, right? Merlin Media pulled the plug on its all-news stations Tuesday at WIQI-FM (101.1) here in Chicago and WEMP-FM (101.9) in New York City, nearly a year after their underwhelming debuts, which saw them still stalled […]
Notes and news – in this mostly local edition of the Grab Bag: – As mentioned briefly in the Tribune bankruptcy post on Saturday, the Chicago Tribune was recently caught using fake bylines and plagiarizing and fabricating stories in TribLocal, the paper’s hyperlocal network of websites and print properties serving Chicago’s suburbs. On Friday, the Tribune announced it was parting […]
Sean Valentine, we hardly knew ye. Correcting yet another mistake in the all-important morning drive slot, Adult Contemporary WLIT – the official music station of your local office and drugstore (and your official Christmas music station during the months of November and December) – will launch a brand new local morning show featuring Jeff Corder being paired with news anchor […]
A bunch of items in this week’s Grab Bag: – Is Robin Robinson on her way out at Fox-owned WFLD? Sure looks like it: According to a report surfacing a little over a week ago at Chicagoland Radio and Media, Robinson is expected to depart when her contract expires later this year. Robinson is the longest-tenured anchor at WFLD, being […]
CBS’ “press release” sounds awfully familiar to letter Merlin Media sent to them last year It appears CBS has borrowed a trick from Randy Michaels’ playbook. On the heels of CBS unsuccessfully trying to stop ABC from airing Big Brother rip-off Glass House, The Church Of Tisch sent out a mock press release on Wednesday, unveiling the “upcoming launch of […]
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