Tribune to go ahead with "Big Willie"

CBS to launch The Talk to replace As The World Turns Despite anemic ratings, poor reviews, and Twitters unanimously dissing it, Tribune Broadcasting is apparently going ahead with Bill Cunningham’s new talk show, which is now targeted for a Fall 2011 launch. During the four-day test, the program averaged an 1.1 Nielsen household rating in seven markets, including Chicago. While […]

Tribune and The CW: Culture Clash?

While the Tribune Co. is struggling with the antics of CEO Randy Michaels and Chapter 11 bankruptcy, its TV division is actually taking care of its own business – despite the struggles of The CW – the network which thirteen of its stations (including WPIX in New York, KTLA in Los Angeles and WGN-TV in Chicago) are aligned with, in […]

Local Feburary "sweeps" good as Gold for WMAQ and WCIU

NBC-owned WMAQ-TV won the Gold when it came to Olympic ratings, but it was WLS-TV that grabbed the medal where it really counts: late news. And WCIU-TV came home with some Gold itself. The February “sweeps” period ended on Wednesday, but this ratings period won’t be as important because of the heavy skew of the Winter Olympics. Some stations (notably […]

NBC O&Os get daytime act together

Chicago’s WMAQ fares better than New York and Los Angeles counterparts The NBC-owned-and-operated stations are blowing up their daytime schedules this fall, with two new programs (and possibly a third) coming this fall while three shows are exiting. NBC Local Media chief John Wallace explains in a recent TVNewscheck article on how the station group is preparing for the massive […]

T Dog’s Four Pack

The past week’s winners and losers… Kool-Aid Man style. Oh, yeah. Roe Conn. Roe Conn? Yes, you read right. Despite less-than-stellar numbers, Roe Conn is expected to sign a contract renewal with WLS-AM for a lower salary, despite parent company Citadel becoming the latest media company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. In […]

For Leno, it’s time to put up – or shut up

You’ve heard about this for the last nine months. And it arrives tomorrow night. For the first time in the history of television (and excluding special stunts, like Millionaire or Deal or No Deal), there is a five night a week strip in prime-time on a major broadcast network on a regular basis. The Jay Leno Show debuts Monday night […]