Kavanaugh-Ford hearings draw 20 million viewers in daytime; cable news networks benefit The big ratings story yesterday didn’t take place in primetime. Live coverage of The Kavanaugh hearings at the Senate Judiciary Committee drew an average of 20.4 million viewers across six networks Thursday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. according to Nielsen. The cable news networks drew the biggest […]
Broadcast networks continue to struggle; Empire top-rated 18-49 show of night nationally Wednesday night, NBC’s Chicago shows returned with their season premieres. But it was the Chicago Cubs who beat the Chicago-based dramas on their own home turf. Fueled by their chase for the NL Central championship, the Cubs game from Wrigley Field topped all prime-time programs in viewership in […]
But broadcast television is the winner, thanks to baseball, Bears, Tiger Despite a sunny Sunday afternoon, television turned out to be the biggest winner as viewers headed through the entrances to watch football, baseball, and Tiger Woods as homes using television (HUT) levels went through the roof. Big events certainly helped goose the numbers: in the Chicago area, you had […]
Chicago, Milwaukee viewers tune in but national ratings hit a ten-year low The excitement surrounding the changes the Chicago Bears have made this off-season – hiring Matt Nagy as the new head coach and the blockbuster trade acquiring linebacker Khalil Mack in a trade with the Oakland Raiders paid off in the local ratings in the first game of the […]
Short series ends basketball and hockey seasons early. Also: updates on “Springer”, “CrimeWatch” Even without the Chicago Blackhawks and other big-market original six teams, the NHL Stanley Cup Final was a big hit for NBC. According to Nielsen, Game 5 of the Final with the Washington Capitals clinching their first-ever title over the first-ever Las Vegas Golden Knights drew a […]
Local teams tank and so does their ratings Like the weather, winter nights turned cold for each of the United Center’s tenants. The last-place finishes for both the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks in their respective divisions this past season not only had local sports fans tuning out, but looking ahead to baseball season earlier than usual. And bearing […]
Also: Oscars notch record-low audience; Home Improvement has a new “home” A few more notes on WLUP’s demise: Not only The Loop is headed to the great radio graveyard in the sky, but so are the call letters (at least in Chicago.) According to Radio Insight, new owner Educational Media Foundation is changing the calls to WCKL-FM, currently at EMF’s […]
Also: “Harry” canceled; SyFy strikes deal with C2E2; Olympics underperform in Chicago, falling behind even Bears games With the holidays behind us, it was back to normal in the latest Chicago PPM radio ratings as Entercom’s new Classic-Hip-Hop station 104.3 Jams (WBMX) continuing to rack up strong numbers. Despite a slight decline from last month, WBMX finished third among Chicago’s […]
Plus: L.A. Times, San Diego Union-Tribune sold; Mike Flannery gets his own Fox 32 news show; This week in Chicago bashing; White Sox snubbed again (Editor’s Note: Contains strong language. Reader discretion is advised.) The opening ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics from South Korea dominated the ratings as expected for NBC, and even performed stronger than expected. According to […]
But 103.4 million viewers isn’t bad Super Bowl LII gave us what we wanted in a football game – a close contest throughout, an exciting finish, and best of all, the Philadelphia Eagles beating the favored New England Patriots for their first Super Bowl title and their first overall championship since 1960. But despite all the theatrics, it wasn’t enough […]
Also: DeCastro, Nyren return to management roles; Comic-Con HQ closes and shifts to Amazon; Mavs bottom in ratings before Bulls do Chicago’s violence epidemic is once again on the international stage – this time in Canada. Public broadcaster CBC recently aired an Chicago installment of Interrupt This Program, a series about “underground art scenes in cities under pressure and cities […]
Also: Sinclair passes on O’Reilly; Grim reaper closing in on WYCC; World Series a ratings hit; The Twilight Zone to be rebooted. Again. Given the huge number of items making news this week, it’s time for another edition of The Media Notepad: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is among those calling for the Sinclair-Tribune deal to be rejected. According to […]
Thanks to Eric Ferguson and Co., The Mix reaches number one in the last non-Christmas book of 2017 For the first time in recent memory, Hubbard Broadcasting’s WTMX-FM – known as The Mix 101.9 FM – topped the ratings charts, dethroning Urban Adult Contemporary outlet WVAZ-FM (V103). According to the Nielsen PPM “October” survey – running from September 14th to October […]
Anthem protests, weak record doesn’t deter fans Also news on a former Bears star; NBC 5; FCC (Editor’s Note: An earlier draft of this post mistakenly featured a picture of Drew Brees for the first item. Apologies. -T.H.) While ratings for the NFL have declined nationally – allegedly due to anthem protests, that is not the case in Chicago – […]
Pour one on the curb for Merlin Media. As first reported by Radio Insight, Cumulus Media announced Tuesday they have exercised their option to purchase Merlin Media’s classic rock WLUP-FM and alternative WKQX-FM. The duo had been run by Cumulus in a local marketing agreement since January 2014, regulating Merlin to strictly ownership status. Cumulus already owns and operates all talk […]
ABC ABC-Owned Stations ABC 7 Chicago American Idol CBS CBS Chicago CBS Media Ventures CBS News And Stations Chicago Bears Chicago Blackhawks Chicago Bulls Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox ESPN Family Guy FCC Fox Fox 32 Fox Television Stations Los Angeles Milwaukee NBC NBC 5 NBC Owned Television Stations NBCUniversal Syndication Studios New York City Nexstar Media Group Radio Ratings Sinclair Inc. Syndication The Big Bang Theory The CW The Simpsons Tribune Media Warner Bros. WBBM-TV Chicago WCIU Chicago WFLD Chicago WGN-TV Chicago WGN Radio WLS-AM Chicago WLS-TV Chicago WMAQ Chicago WPWR Chicago