T Dog’s Six Pack: Short and to the point

A quick wrap-up of the week that was in media: Winners. WGN Radio. Jonathan Brandmeier’s arrival to the storied 720 is sure to bring back the entertainment value back to the station in the morning, a la Wally Phillips and Bob Collins. Now, just don’t screw it up. NBA Fans, TNT, and ESPN. The lockout’s over and pro basketball is […]

T Dog’s Six (Nine) Pack: Upfronts edition

It’s an special edition of T Dog’s Six Pack – a supersized one with nine items related to last week’s upfronts in New York as advertisers, media buyers, and the networks  now have the hardest job ahead of them – negotiations. Here are the hits and misses from last week’s presentations: Epic successes:The return of the sitcom. Just when you’ve […]

Tuesday night fights: Bulls stumble on the court and in the ratings

Courtesy: NBA/Getty Images “Dancing” dominates broadcast channels in Chicago; “Idol” takes ratings hit Tuesday was a rather competitive night for television both locally and nationally with the final two performing on American Idol and the season finale of Dancing With The Stars. But national viewers preferred the dancers and wannabe signers as opposed to Derrick Rose and LeBron James. According […]

CSN Chicago, Philadelphia set records

Despite tougher competition from the broadcast networks Tuesday night, Comcast SportsNet dominated the ratings in prime-time thanks to Game 5 of the Chicago Bulls-Indiana Pacers series and a deciding Game 7 of the Chicago Blackhawks-Vancouver Canucks tilt. Comcast SportsNet scored a 8.4 household household rating and a 6.8 ratings in the 25-54 demo from 5:30 P.m. to 1:30 a.m., topping […]

Playoff fever: Catch it!

Bulls’ and Blackhawks’ victories not just limited to the arena Forget Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, the top prime time star as far as Chicago is concerned is Derrick Rose. Comcast SportsNet dominated the ratings with an iron first Thursday night with a Quarterfinal doubleheader featuring both the Chicago Bulls and the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, setting records […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Needing some extra “support”

Ah, lucky Providence, R.I. They get to see women in bras in the prime access hour. We Chicagoans get Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson. You know, it’s hard to be a bra salesman these days in Providence when you have the Internet… and now you have infomercials running as early as 7 p.m.! Is it no surprise that 25% of […]

4:30 a.m. news: The sensation that’s sweeping the nation

It’s no longer a rush to get into the 4:30 a.m. news business – it’s a stampede. Consider this – a recent search of TVNewsCheck of “4:30” turned up a whopping 115 items., with most of the stories featuring stations starting 4:30 a.m. newscasts in the past year, or so. This isn’t a rush – it’s a stampede. Get the […]

Turner announces 2010-11 sked

It’s the 2010-11 Turner upfront presentation, and you know who is the man of the hour. I’m talking about Conan O’Brien, TBS’ new late night star, who stopped yesterday at the event to say hi to media buyers (and to convince him he’s the real deal in a daypart dominated by David Letterman and Jay Leno.) O’Brien woke the quasi-sleepy […]

NBC cancels "Law & Order"

The bid for Law and Order to surpass Gunsmoke as the longest-running television drama in history in the United States has fallen short. The network has pulled the plug on Dick Wolf’s crime drama after twenty seasons. Law and Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and won numerous Emmy Awards, and spun-off three series, with a fourth one coming up […]

FlashForward… to your demise – for real this time

Law & Order’s fate hanging in the balance It was a day for cancellations. In a move that does not surprise anyone, The Thursday night science-fiction series’ ratings declined significantly throughout the season in the key adults 18-49 demographic. Last Thursday’s airing of FlashForward finished in last place among adults 18-49 in its time period, even behind CW’s Vampire Diaries, […]

CBS and Turner grab NCAA Tournament

CBS and Turner Broadcasting announced a mega-deal that will keep at least some of the NCAA Tournament on the Tiffany network – but much of it is moving to cable. In an eye-popping 14-year, $10.8 billion deal struck on Wednesday, CBS and Turner’s family of networks – TNT, TBS, and TruTV (formerly CourtTV) will carry both the preliminary and second […]

T Dog’s Four Pack – We’ll have a grand old time

It’s been two weeks, so a T Dog Media Blog Four Pack is long overdue… with a little bit of a Flintstones twist… Hanging out with Fred and Barney. Yabba Dabba Doo! -V103. The most (and only) surprising item in the recently concluded Arbitron PPM November survey is the strong performance of Urban AC WVAZ-FM, who ranked second in 12+ […]

Turner gets aggressive with broadcast networks

CW is turning into the All-Drama Channel. Another is already there. Only difference is they actually know drama. Turner networks unveiled their new programs at the network upfronts with TNT’s focus on dramas and TBS’ focus on comedies and sitcoms – and a new weeknight talk show hosted by George Lopez. TNT, one of the top-rated cable networks, trotted out […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag- The Sports Edition

A lot of sports-related news today: – CBS and Fox have extended their deals with the NFL until 2014 with CBS getting rights to carry Super Bowl XLVII (47) in 2013 while Fox has Super Bowl XLVIII (48) in 2014. – The NFL has also agreed to bury the hatchet with Comcast over the NFL Network. The two struck an […]