Going “Beyond The Gates”

Majority-Black cast looking to resurrect daytime serials and daytime TV It’s been 25 years since a daytime serial debuted on television when Passions premiered on NBC.  Since then, the soap opera genre has lost steam through the 1990s and 2000s, as younger viewers defected toward the more real-life (if you can call it that) drama of daytime talk shows such […]

USA-Canada 4 Nations Face-Off finale a fantastic smash hit

Viewership high in U.S. but fails to outdraw Super Bowl in Canada The United States may have lost in overtime to Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off in overtime Thursday night but did beat them in another metric: the ratings.  The hotly contested series between the two countries drew an eye-popping 9.25 million viewers on ESPN, marking the most-watched hockey […]

The 4 Nations Face-Off fights its way to the top of the ratings

  Sock ’em robots match a hit with viewers  [Editor’s Note: This piece does contain profanity. Reader discretion is advised.] Remember when some guy named Terence initially dismissed the 4 Four Nations Face-Off as a quick money grab and would flop hard on the ice? I have never made such a miscalculation in the 19-year run of T Dog Media […]

Super Bowl ratings: One for the record books (again)

Super Bowl numbers break own record set last year while racial divide is a factor in halftime show  [Editor’s Note: This was updated from an earlier post to add more rating information. Updated again Feb. 13 to add even more rating information.]  It turns out “Chiefs fatigue” wasn’t a thing. The game wasn’t much, but viewers poured into the entrances […]

NHL Winter Classic flops with viewers, fans

Blackhawks get pummeled at Wrigley Field and in the ratings as classic moved to New Year’s Eve It’s fitting that the awful year in Chicago sports was topped off by the Blackhawks playing nothing resembling hockey in the NHL Winter Classic.  As first reported by Sports Media Watch, the NHL Winter Classic’s move a day earlier from New Year’s Day […]

Election night ratings: Fox News stomps all over competition

Trump returns to the White House in a landslide and made huge gains in traditionally blue Chicago [This article has been updated. See below.] Fox News prevailed over its competitors on election night as Donald J. Trump was re-elected as President after a four-year break.  According to Nielsen’s final national numbers, Fox News led all networks – broadcast, cable, and […]

NASCAR Chicago Street Race’s fate unknown for 2025

Declining attendance, mixed audience numbers, and less TV exposure could spell doom for event [Editor’s note: This post was updated on July 12 with updated ratings information.] The Chicago Street Race (The Loop 110 and The Grant Park 165) sped through its second edition this past weekend through downtown and DuSable Lake Shore Drive. But it seems the bloom is […]

The 2024 Oscars a big hit with viewers

Ratings surge despite earlier start time, change to Daylight Savings Time In an era where ratings for almost everything outside of sports are declining, the early numbers for the 96th Annual Academy Awards are certainly encouraging. According to Nielsen estimates, the Oscars drew 19.5 million viewers – up four percent from last year’s telecast and the highest numbers since the […]

Super Bowl LVIII ratings: One for the record books

Kansas City Chiefs were not the only winners; so were CBS, Univision, and Paramount Global For the first time in nearly two decades, we have a repeat Super Bowl champion as the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII in a thrilling game against the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime – the second overtime game in Super Bowl history. […]

MLB local ratings roundup for 2023: Cubs up, White Sox down

But the South Side team isn’t the league’s worst-rated Even though neither the Cubs and the White Sox made the playoffs this year, at least one team managed to score a victory in the ratings department.  According to final 2023 regular-season ratings released Tuesday (see below), the Cubs scored an increase for a season where they played better than they […]

Bears flounder on the field and in the ratings

Bears sink in ratings locally despite gains for football – pro and collegiate elsewhere Last year, Chicago football fans had hope the Bears would drastically improve as they finished 3-14 and earning the first draft pick, whom they traded to the Carolina Panthers to get even more draft picks and acquiring a few standout veterans such as DJ Moore and […]

Chicago radio ratings: 93.9 LiteFM continues to lead

WXRT finishes third overall; WOJO wins key demos  iHeartMedia’s 93.9 LiteFM (WLIT) is not only Chicago’s top-rated radio station during the holiday season, but now it’s aiming for dominance year-around. The Gold AC station finished on top of Chicago’s radio ratings for the seventh straight time, finishing up a tenth of a point from last month ahead of The Drive […]

Super Bowl LVII Super for Fox

This year’s Super Bowl was the second most-watched of all time Super Bowl LVII was indeed super in the ratings department, although it fell short on the one-yard line toward the record books.  In the big game this this year were the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, with each looking to win their second Super Bowl title in […]

The Media Notepad: Thanks to Santa, WLIT soars with record ratings

Also: Fox re-ups Animation Domination as White Sox voices Jason Benetti and Steve Stone get reneweals, too; DirecTV adds a NewsMax replacement; Blackhawks’ ratings sag as does the rest of the NHL  Even though it’s a ratings period most radio stations not playing Christmas music ignore, the “Holiday” book for iHeartMedia’s 93.9 FM The Lite dominated to no one’s surprise […]

The Media Notepad: WBBM Newsradio names Craig Schwalb news director

Also: Mayoral debates scheduled; CBS-owned stations to rebrand news properties Audacy’s all-news WBBM-AM/WCFS-FM announced last week the hire of Craig Schwalb as brand manager and news director of the station effective January 23. He succeeds Ron Gleason, who retired last month.  Schwalb comes from Hubbard’s dominant all-news station WTOP in Washington, D.C., a station who typically leads the country in […]