Disney Plus made the biggest splash of the year 2019 saw the end of several institutions, big media battles, and disappointing sports teams. Let’s start with the huge changes in big media, as Disney closed on its purchase of the 20th Century Fox film studio and Viacom reuniting with CBS again with a new name (ViacomCBS) as the race […]
Radio Hall Of Famer spent 16 years in Chicago radio A T Dog Media Think Tank When Tom Joyner signed off on December 13th, one of radio’s legendary personalities departed the medium. But his departure – announced two years ago – leaves a deep void that won’t be easy to fill. For one, Joyner did something many radio stars did […]
Sirott returns to morning shift; Cochran canned for second time from WGN In a week filled with numerous Chicago media changes, here’s another one and this turns out to be the biggest one of them all. As first reported by Robert Feder Friday morning, WGN-AM morning personality Steve Cochran was dropped from the station and replaced by a returning Bob […]
Rickey Smiley is announced as the heir to his throne In a move that will ramifications for local stations Power 92 and Clubsteppin’ 95.1, Tom Joyner announced on his show Friday morning he will hand the reigns over to Rickey Smiley beginning on January 2, 2020. Joyner announced his retirement in 2017. Currently, Smiley has his own syndicated program The […]
The “Crazy” is back after more than a decade off the airwaves It was back in July 2007 when a stunning development took place – in what would be a symbol of what was wrong with the industry at the time, a top-rated local radio personality was fired from his morning gig, replaced by a syndicated show. Now a dozen […]
Move comes as controversies surrounding singer heats up The first local shoe to drop in the ongoing R. Kelly saga is a “rimshot” radio station. Clubsteppin’ 95.1 – a new Urban Adult Contemporary station launched last August, announced Thursday it is removing R. Kelly’s music from their playlist in light of allegations surrounding the singer’s alleged abuse against women, raised […]
Also: New host of Check Please is a familiar name; Chicago radio still playing R. Kelly’s music; Peoria public radio in trouble; CBC cancels arts show who visited Chicago In a mind-numbing move, ABC announced Wednesday it was expanding Good Morning America to three hours. Only problem is… the extension is airing at Noon Chicago time, 1 p.m. Eastern time […]
Backlash over comments made by the Hip-Hop star about slavery and over Trump have some wondering what to do Urban radio programmers are waiting to see what effect Kanye West’s recent comments would have on their stations with one outlet – Detroit’s WMGC-FM (known as 105.1 The Bounce) taking action and pulling his music. The Classic Hip-Hop station became the […]
Also: Tom Joyner loses home in Atlanta; Chicago sports hit a rough spot; the Crowd disbands; In yet another media merger, Meredith Corp. announced its acquisition of Time Inc. for $2.8 billion. The union brings together Time’s magazines (Time, Sports Illustrated, People, Entertainment Weekly, Fortune) with Meredith’s (Better Homes And Gardens, Family Circle, Midwest Living, etc.) Headquartered in Des Moines, […]
Tom Joyner announces retirement – in 2019 One of radio’s most venerable personalities is calling it a career as Tom Joyner announced Tuesday he is stepping down from his radio gig in 2019, as reported by several publications, including Radio Insight and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Posting to BlackAmericaWeb.com Tuesday morning, Joyner didn’t specifically mention the “R” word, but laid out […]
Also: Dennis Welsh wades into soda tax controversy while his station profits off pro-soda tax ads; Tom Joyner returns to Dallas as Classic Hip-Hop format’s future is questionable; Fox’s late night plans may not include off-network sitcoms The star has fallen: organizers of New Year’s Eve celebration Chi-Town Rising threw in the towel Thursday and announced they would not bring […]
Also: WGN-TV unveils new set and logo; Jon Kelley gets a new gig as host of a syndicated game show; Kathy Hart still MIA; “Wheel” celebrates Chicago In another huge blow to his nationally syndicated radio show, Crawford Broadcasting-owned Soul 106.3 (WSRB-FM) announced Tuesday it was grounding the “flyjock” the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show after eight years due to […]
Dr. Phil and his son Jay bring the UK’s Daily Mail to TV stateside Also: Harry officially returns for season two Leave it to Dr. Phil and son Jay to bring a show based on a crap tabloid newspaper to TV. But that’s what we have in Daily Mail, a project being peddled by CBS Television Distribution and found suckers […]
Bears surprise; ABC 7 dominates November ratings; another new game show planned; Tom Joyner’s future On paper, it looked like another game against the Packers where the Bears would get blown out and the ratings would take a hit, given what happened last year. Turns out it wasn’t the case. Led by Jay Cutler, the Chicago Bears stunned their Green […]
Is the end of Rush Limbaugh’s show near in Chicago? A report Thursday by Robert Feder stated Cumulus’ WLS-AM was looking to drop the controversial show as the station is looking to revamp its image by adding more mainstream talk. The report didn’t sit well with Cumulus execs; in fact, John Dickey, EVP of Content and Programming, said his company denied WLS […]