Also: Black Chicagoans (still) not happy with media outlets; Syndicated ‘Dateline’ shifts to new local outlet; Rock 95.5 surges in ratings After just four weeks, CNN Plus is getting… subtracted. The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned service announced Thursday it was closing April 30 after launching on March 28, debuting to poor reviews and a cumbersome price of $5.99 monthly or […]
B96 unveils new Morning Mess show; Amazon’s purchase of MGM finalized The news was tipped by Broadcasting & Cable in January 2021 and mentioned here in July 2021, but the best-kept secret in television is now out of the bag: Maury Povich and his “who’s the father” show Maury is finally ending after 31 years on the air […]
Low ratings cited as factor; Eric Ferguson off the air until end of month Get ready for changes at two local radio stations in morning drive, and one of them involves Chicago’s highest-paid radio personality. For starters, there are big changes in store for Audacy’s WBBM-FM/B96 in the morning. The incumbent show on the contemporary-hit radio station is expected to […]
The country’s second-biggest radio owner rebrands It’s not exactly atrocious as Tegna or Tronc, but Entercom’s name change to Audacy is meant to reflect radio’s future. Or something like that. On Tuesday, Entercom disposed of its corporate name after 53 years and became Audacy, whatever it means. Also gone is the Radio.com name. “We have transformed into a fundamentally different […]
Thanks to coronavirus pandemic, tough times for radio just got together Two of radio’s biggest chains announce layoffs and furloughs as the economy continues to collapse amid the coronavirus epidemic infecting the globe with Entercom and iHeartMedia announcing a reduction of their workforce, suspension of 401k contributions and pay cuts. Entercom announced Thursday morning numerous layoffs across its clusters nationwide, […]
Exiting Entercom after just two years on job The Deacon has left the building. As first reported by Robert Feder Friday, Entercom Chicago senior vice president and market manager Jimmy deCastro is retiring after a little over two years being appointed to the position. A replacement will be named next week, with deCastro exiting December 13. The longtime Chicago radio […]
Plus: WGN replaces This with Court; Bears slide in the ratings; PlaystationVue to close Hubbard-owned WTMX-FM (101.9 The Mix) bounce back from sixth place back into first place is certain to raise more question than answers. After falling out of the top five last month, the hot AC station “miraculously” surged back to the top spot in the last survey, […]
Hubbard Hot AC station puts on a clinic The May Chicago radio book showed perhaps for the first time since WGN’s glory days as a local radio station totally dominated, completely bulldozing the competition. As reported by Robert Feeder Tuesday morning, Hubbard’s WTMX-FM (101.9 The Mix) put on a clinic during the just-completed May PPM survey – not only finishing first […]
Co-hosts Gabe Ramirez and Nina Hajian take over as of Monday After ten months, DreX is out at B96. As first reported by Robert Feder Friday, Entercom-owned WBBM-FM pulled the plug on the low-rated morning program. However, two of DreX’s co-hosts remain: Gabe Ramirez and Nina Hajian take over the morning slot effective on Monday. Ramirez was a holdover from […]
Howard hopes to take cluster to new level There isn’t much going on in D.C. these days with the government shutdown, but one radio programmer is hoping to inject some excitement in the Chicago radio scene. As first reported by Radio Insight last week, iHeartMedia Chicago has hired James Howard to become Senior Vice President of Programming for the six-station […]
Year marked by scandals, futility, and other things 2018 wasn’t exactly a repeat of the last two horrendous years in the media world, but scandals and deceit still ruled the roost. Though not topping 2017’s Disney-Fox deal, 2018 had some mega transactions – though the second-biggest merger of 2017 went bust as Sinclair Broadcasting’s $4 billion deal to buy Tribune […]
Welcome to the 13th annual T Dog Media Turkey Awards – celebrating the worst in media, sports, and life in general. We have 20 recipients this year just waiting to get their hands on these Golden Gobblers. And the losers are: President Trump. Well, duh. Megyn Kelly. NBC signed this former Fox News star for $69 million to get her […]
Also: Jerry Springer gets a new show; another new talk show to debut; 11 series get full-season pickups In yet another chapter of how absurd this business can be, a feud between the owners of Madison Square Garden and Entercom is having implications in Chicago and elsewhere. Madison Square Garden Entertainment has suspended any future relationships with Entercom’s radio stations […]
Break out the leg warmers and Rubik’s Cubes : WDRV, WLS-FM score record ratings There must be gold in retro music – because it is paying dividends for several Chicago radio stations. And it is for two stations in particular: Hubbard’s Classic Rock WDRV-FM (The Drive) and Cumulus’ Classic Hits WLS-FM both scored their highest rankings ever and their highest […]
As yet another report showing the Chicago area’s African-American population on the decline, the market’s black-targeted radio stations seem to be holding their own. Even the entrance of classic Hip-Hop/R&B station 104.3 Jams (WBMX) didn’t have much of an impact on the overall share of African-Americans listening to radio in the Chicago market, though WBMX reportedly had taken audience away […]