Allison Payne, the co-anchor of WGN-TV’s 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. newscasts, is being sidelined again for the third time this year due to complications from “mini-strokes” she has been having for quite sometime now. Ms. Payne made the decision to take some time off so she can “fully rehabilitate”. Micah Materre will fill in alongside Mark Suppelsa on the […]
CBS Television Distribution has announced it has cleared a new talk show featuring preacher T.D. Jakes on the Tribune station group beginning in September 2009.The Jakes project is being produced by Stage 29 Productions, who is headed by Jay McGraw, son of talk show host Dr. Phil. Already, Stage 29 is producing The Doctors for CBS. T.D. Jakes is a […]
As expected, Tribune Co.’s KWGN-TV announced layoffs after the station agreed to merge its operations with Local TV’s KDVR-TV. KWGN, the market’s CW affiliate, laid off “a significant amount of employees”, including its news director and veteran anchorman Ernie Bjorkman. Despite the fact both stations are under separate ownership, the stations are being run jointly, in a “local marketing agreement”- […]
It was speculated in July, it’s now official: Spike O’Dell is leaving WGN-AM morning drive effective at the end of the year. No word on a replacement, but there is speculation WGN may hire two people to replace Spike O’Dell next January. Like his predecessors (Wally Phillips and Bob Collins), Spike O’Dell’s has owned WGN’s morning slot in Chicago, finishing […]
And her name is Marty Wilke and as of today, she loses the “interim” part of her title as vice president and general manager of WGN-TV, Tribune’s CW affiliate here in Chicago. Wilkes succeeds Tom Elhamnn, who left for a similar gig at NBC-owned KXAS-TV in Dallas. Wilke has been at WGN since 1996, rising to local sales manager in […]
Local TV and Tribune Broadcasting have agreed to combine operations and certain programming under a plan to reduce overhead expenses with their respective TV stations in St. Louis and Denver, in which is being called a “virtual duopoly”. St. Louis’ KPLR (CW) and KTVI (Fox) are combining operations in their market, as is Denver’s KDVR (Fox) and KWGN (CW.) KPLR […]
WGN-TV anchor Allison Payne is headed to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for tests after dealing with a series of “mini-strokes” that kept her off the air earlier this year. Payne plans to return to WGN just in time for the launch of the station’s new 5:30 p.m. newscast, set for Monday. She apologized to viewers last month after appearing […]
Tribune has scrubbed The CW monkier off almost all of its’ affiliates websites, and its sending a message to the beleaguered network – improve your ratings. Tribune has even changed the branding of many of its CW stations. For example, WDCW-TV in Washington, D.C. goes by the name “DC 50” instead of “CW 50”. For KWGN-TV in Denver, it’s now […]
Tribune’s KPLR-TV in St. Louis is moving its half-hour 9 p.m. newscast to 7 p.m. and expanding it to a hour beginning on Sept. 8. This means CW primetime fare currently airing at 7 p.m. is shifting to 8 p.m., with KPLR taking the Mountain Time feed. For example, when 90210 airs in St. Louis (8 p.m. Central), it’ll air […]
Memo to all CW employees from Time Warner and The Church of Tisch: We have you backs. By the power and the salvation of the almighty dollar, The CW will be saved from a fate worst than anything: cancellation, thanks to Pastor Les Moonves and Deacon Dawn Ostroff. WBBM General Manager Joe Ahern will now make the rounds with the […]
Indianapolis’ popular radio duo – Bob & Tom – are headed to WGN America. The pair (which are heard locally on WRXQ-FM in southwest suburban Joliet) signed a cable deal with the network for a daily one-hour late-night show beginning in November. The late night show features highlights from its syndicated The Bob & Tom Show, which is syndicated by […]
With added competition from new freshman game show strips Trivial Pursuit: America Plays and the new weekday version of Deal or No Deal, Disney/ABC’s long running game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is getting a facelift for its seventh season in syndication, which begins on September 8. Among the changes: Time’s Up. In order to speed up the […]
Comic-Con ended on Sunday, but now the next event for San Diego is on the horizon, and it happens this Friday. For the first time in 31 years, an affiliation switch is set to take place, with founding Fox affiliate XETV heading to CW and Tribune’s KSWB-TV moving over to Fox. The deal was struck last March. Both stations are […]
Also: Tom Ehlmann out at WGN-TV Vice President and General Manager Tom Ehlmann has resigned at WGN-TV after a four-year run at the station to take a job at the same capacity at NBC-owned KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth, Tex. The move comes after WGN laid off eight staffers, including his secretary. However, his resignation and those layoffs are not directly […]
Oh boy, here we go… Kung Fu star David Carradine dropped the F-bomb on WGN Morning News today, who was immediately scolded by WGN anchor Larry Potash and apologizing on his behalf to viewers. Carradine was on the show to promote a new movie. Nothing to see here folks, move along. After all, this is Chicago…
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