Leila Rahimi out at NBC 5

No replacement has been named as of yet If you’re wondering where Leila Rahimi’s been regarding her nightly sports anchor position, well, wonder no more. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Rahimi left NBC 5 (WMAQ-TV) a few weeks ago, leaving Mike Berman as the only sports person on staff at the NBC-owned station. Rahimi’s exit follows Ruthie Polinsky’s last month […]

Hubbard Chicago lays off two on-air personalities

Podrumedic, Kotsy exit as ratings fall The sting of media layoffs has arrived in Chicago. Minneapolis-based Hubbard Radio announced two departures from its Chicago cluster this week. On Thursday, 101.9 The Mix’s Violeta Podrumedic exited the station’s morning show after six years. “I will keep everyone posted with updates, and I know this is change and change can be somewhat […]

Scripps News scales back; eliminates over-the-air network

  Cites declining ad revenue, political polarization  Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps announced it is significantly scaling back Scripps News and is dropping its over-the-air channel.  As a result, 200+ jobs are being eliminated with about 50 retained in Scripps’ Washington D.C. Bureau to report for their local stations. Scripps News’ streaming platform is being left intact but is being significantly paired […]

WGN-TV owner Nexstar ends live streaming of local news and programs

Cites loyalty to cable and satellite providers (Editor’s Note: It appears this order does not affect WGN-TV and a few big-market Nexstar stations. The last paragraph of this story – relating to the city delaying scanner information a half-hour – was deleted as it is no longer relevant to this story. Updated as of August 3. – T.H.)  In an unusual […]

Newsy to become Scripps News

Rebrand comes only a year after re-launching news channel  Continuing a trend of station groups expanding their news footprint, Scripps announced Thursday the rebranding of their 24/7 news channel Newsy to Scripps News effective January 1. The name change comes as the company is merging its national news resources into a single national news division and approximately one year after […]

Rewinding media in 2021: You just can’t explain it

  Popularity isn’t exactly overrated as 2021 ends a wild year in media Like mystery of the sphinx or crop circles, you just can’t explain the continued popularity of certain things despite questionable changes. After the firing of Mark Giangreco and seemingly public disdain for one of her former co-anchors, ABC 7 remains on top of local Chicago news ratings, […]

It’s Newsy

Scripps’ digital news service relaunched October 1 as an all-news channel, targeting cord cutters  Another all-news channel has launched. But this one – called Newsy, isn’t entirely new.  But Scripps is revamping the network to add to their growing stable of digital subchannels, with one joining a space now dominated by CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and others – but targeted […]