T Dog’s Media Notepad: “Supergirl” could fly to CW

With the upfronts a little over a week away, reports are surfacing on not if Supergirl is coming back next season but where: The Wrap is reporting Warner Bros. Television is discussing a plan to move the freshman drama from CBS to The CW next year, where CBS and Warner Bros. have a 50/50 interest. There are concerns if the […]

The CW renews…everything

Historic move brings back every scripted show on the network for 2016-17 season In an unprecedented move, The CW has renewed ALL of its scripted series for the 2016-17 season – showing quite a bit of stability for the network, leaving practically no shows on the bubble. This marks the first time in memory a broadcast network has renewed all […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Back in the saddle again

Hello, and welcome back to T Dog Media! Here are some notable news and notes from the last two weeks: Tom Doerr has resigned as news director of Fox-owned WFLD-TV here in Chicago after just three years and six years overall at the station. Doerr is heading back to Florida to deal with personal family issues. During his tenure, ratings […]

Tribune, CW relationship in fragile condition

          Network, station group may split; CW considering OTT option Can this marriage be saved? In a possible blow to The CW, Tribune Broadcasting has reached an impasse with the network on a renewal deal, which could have ramifications for the TV industry. According to TV Newscheck, Tribune – owner of thirteen CW affiliates, is balking at […]

2016: A look ahead

  With 2015 in the rearview mirror, here are the stories to look for in 2016: 1. The spectrum auction. The upcoming – and complicated – spectrum auction the FCC is holding is likely to change the face of television as we know it. Some over-the-air stations could pack it in and call it a career as the FCC plans […]

WGN-TV takes heat for on-air offensive screw-up

Tribune Media’s WGN-TV was getting hammered on social media for putting up a graphic during Tuesday night’s newscast demeaning to the Jewish community. WGN-TV was doing a story on Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday celebrated in late September. While fill-in anchor Tom Negovan was reading a story on the holiday, a Gold emblem graphic appeared on-screen. Problem is, the graphic […]

Bob Sirott, Marianne Murciano out at WGN

The married duo exits amid a programming squeeze WGN Radio’s early afternoon husband-and-wife team of Bob Sirott and Marriane Murciano were squeezed out of their slot amid programming changes the Tribune-owned station announced Wednesday, resulting in the exit of the duo after just two years. The pair’s final show is Friday. The change is being made to accommodate the expansion […]

WGN-TV returns news to 10 p.m.

Expands to 10 p.m. to compete with Big Three Here we grow again: WGN-TV’s popular local newscasts are adding yet another half-hour – and this time, the Tribune Media-owned station is taking on the Big Three owned-and-operated stations with the launch of a local half-hour newscast at 10 p.m. beginning October 5. WGN’s current 9 p.m. anchor team – Mark Suppelsa, Micah […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: “Monopoly Millionaires'” heads to WGN

Sinclair realigns newscasts downstate; talent shows to hit syndication; No one is “asking America” – Remember back in  October when yours truly asked if new weekly hour-long game show Monopoly Millionaires’ Club would air in Chicago because Illinois was not participating in the related lottery game? Well, here’s your answer: WGN-TV picked up the new Monopoly game  hosted by Mike & Molly’s […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Bulls score in ratings despite slump

Also: Rentrak signs Tribune stations; Grudge Match eyes return; Shout! launches online TV channel – Despite a lackluster January where the Chicago Bulls went 8-9, the team scored a winning ratings record on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. The RSN scored a 4.8 Nielsen household rating in January – up a whopping 65 percent from last year, when the team was without […]

NATPE 2015 is off and running

The 53rd annual gathering of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) got underway at the Fontainbleau Resort in Miami on Tuesday as syndicators, producers, and content creators converged for the three day conference, which ends on Thursday. There were some programming announcements made at or just prior to NATPE’s start: – Disney-ABC Domestic Television announced updated clearance information for new Tyra […]

WGN Radio, WLS-AM make huge changes (Updated)

Big John Howell heads to WLS; Roe Conn to WGN-AM (Editor’s Note: This post was updated to add new information from WGN and to replace an incorrect Feder link in the article, as yours truly used the wrong one.  T Dog Media apologizes for the errors. -T.H.) In order to attract more listeners, Cumulus’ WLS-AM and WGN-AM made moves this week, with WLS […]

Indianapolis’ WISH to join the CW

Soon-to-be former CBS affiliate WISH-TV will have a new network affiliation at the first of the new year – with The CW. The Media General-owned station announced Monday it was joining the upstart young skewing network, months after it lost its longtime CBS affiliation to WTTV, ending a relationship dating back to 1956. Created by the merger between The WB […]

Game Over

Tribune Media pulls plug on The Game; retains Jonathon Brandmeier and cuts Garry Meier Robert Feder reported Thursday that Tribune Media has swung the ax of the sports talk format known as The Game (WGWG-LP), the sports station on 87.7 FM after nine months on the air. The move comes as the station was losing busloads of money on the venture. […]