The legendary Chicago and nationally syndicated radio personality dies at 57 Radio lost one of its most popular personalities Monday with the sudden death of Doug Banks, stunning fans and radio industry insiders alike. Banks was found dead in his Miami home Monday morning due to complications from diabetes and kidney failure. Banks was absent from his syndicated radio program […]
The state of the Chicago market: population loss may effect media properties If last week’s bad census news is any indication, Chicago may be in for a rough few years. And the local media scene could be affected. Figures released by the Census Bureau last week showed the Chicago market losing more residents over the last decade than any other […]
Constant whining about radio, TV threatens to undermine business Before social media, message boards and comment sections were basically a way to post your thoughts about a particular issue and to connect with others. But these days, message boards and comment section sections are often breeding grounds for stupidity and for people to start arguments for the sake of starting arguments. […]
WBBM news woes continue; CBS criticized for Mentalist reruns to replace Letterman; former Chicago FM call letters find a new home – As first reported by Robert Feder Wednesday, Soul 106.3 (WSRB) evening radio personality Ramonski Luv was released by the station after only a few months on the air. Luv, whose real name is Ramon Wade, was paired with […]
Ty Wansley, a St. Louis native who rose through the ranks of Chicago urban radio, died Wednesday at the age of 63 due to congestive heart failure. Wansley was a fixture in Chicago radio for decades, most recently serving as Information Director for iHeart Media’s three African-American targeted radio stations: WGCI, WVAZ (V103) and WGRB. Wansley started out as a […]
Gobble, gobble everyone! It’s that time of year… to celebrate (and criticize) the worst in media. It’s the 2014 T Dog Media Turkey Awards. If you’ve noticed, the first eleven items are all local, and makes up a third of the list. Just goes to show you the power of The Chicago Way. The sad part is, the Jackie Robinson West […]
When you think about Clear Channel, what usually comes to mind? Layoffs. Voice tracking. Low pay. Heavy commercial loads. The Arby’s of radio (OK, you get the drift.) Looking for a fresh start, Clear Channel announced on Tuesday it was changing the name of the company to the more audience-friendly iHeart Media, named after the successful iHeart Radio Internet platform. […]
You probably wouldn’t know it if you tuned in to the cable news networks or if you read major national or international publications lately, but Chicago isn’t the only American city dealing with an onslaught of gun violence. Somewhat similar to what Chicago’s urban stations are doing to combat the epidemic, Indianapolis’ radio stations are banding together in support of […]
(Editor’s Note: a more recent story on Ramonski Luv being released from V103 can be found here in The Media Notepad, fourth item.) How about this? You finish first in your daypart and what is your reward? You get shown the door. This is exactly what happened to Ramon Wade a.k.a. Ramonski Luv, who was let go from Clear […]
Also: Tyra Banks plans returns to daytime TV – Good news for fans of WCIU’s You and Me in The Morning (and for local television overall): the two-hour morning strip hosted by former Chicago radio personalities Melissa Forman and Jeanne Sparrow is expanding to a third hour in September. Now airing from 6 to 8 a.m. weekdays, the show is extending […]
Will it work? While urban radio station Hot 97 in New York City is having fun with their new, hot, ridiculous “docudrama” cable TV show, it is a far different environment involving urban radio in Chicago. The atmosphere is far from festive – and the drama is real. As first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times’ Fran Spelman nearly two weeks […]
Plus: Divorce Court to stick around; and a new first-run syndicated drama on tap – Nielsen Radio’s March PPM ratings period just concluded and it shows the new sports radio talker WGWG-FM, or The Game stalled at the starting gate. The station tied for 37th place overall with a measly 0.3 rating, far behind competitors WSCR […]
* The first shot has been fired in the Chicago’s new sports-talk wars: Robert Feder reports that Tribune’s new Game has stolen Ben Finfer away from CBS’ The Score (WSCR), where he’ll serve as producer – but also as show host, being paired with David Kaplan at Noon and then joins Alex Quigley and Howard Griffith from 1-3 p.m. Finfer […]
Eddie & JoBo, Glenn Cosby, Effie Rolfe join ranks of radio’s unemployed For the second time this year, one-day mass layoffs have rocked the radio industry (and just like before, the layoffs happened… on a Thursday.) And similar to last March when they laid off more than 70 employees, Clear Channel was front and center of these mass layoffs: an estimated […]
Another all-local edition of the Grab Bag… including an item on a possible sale of some downstate TV stations: – Julian Nieh, one half of the duo of B96’s (WBBM-FM’s) The JNiice & Julian Morning Show, exited the station on Wednesday to pursue other interests. The seven-year veteran of the contemporary-hit station was paired with Jamar “JNiice” McNeil in January […]
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