Steve Edwards departs for a non-media role In a major realignment at one of Chicago’s major radio stations, WBEZ-FM (91.5 FM) named Tracy Brown as Chief Content Officer of the public radio station last Friday, who is replacing Steve Edwards (no relation to the former WLS-AM and KTTV Los Angeles personality) in the role as he departs for an executive […]
Also: Charlie Brown returns; Fox renews syndicated shows; Sinclair to rebrand RSNs after Bally’s Chicago Public Media’s WBEZ-FM has filled its open midday position. Her name is Sasha Anne-Simons and she’ll take over from the since-departed Jenn White on December 14 as host of Reset, which aired weekdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. For the last few months, the […]
Station remains on top as Felicia Middlebrooks departs The first PPM survey released in the Covid-19 era showed Entercom’s WBBM-AM dominating the ratings as listeners are tuning in to the latest coronavirus-related information. With the period covering March 26 to April 22, the station swept all dayparts (with the exception of middays, where WBBM finished second to WDRV-FM/The Drive.) Also […]
Longtime WXRT news person returns at a new station After being let go from Entercom’s Adult Album Alternative rock outlet WXRT, Mary Dixon has quickly landed on her feet at Chicago Public Media’s news/talk WBEZ-FM. Beginning next month, the 54 year-old news veteran becomes the station’s new morning news anchor and local host of NPR Morning Edition. She will be […]
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 […]
Local stations to carry speech In what has to be a first in recent memory, a sitting Chicago Mayor will address the city’s financial problems in a prime-time speech. Mayor Lori Lightfoot will address those concerns Thursday night in a speech airing on most of the Chicago area’s media outlets, including TV and radio stations. Even though some have billed […]
Move stuns WBEZ staffers and listeners In news that shocked everyone who follows Chicago media, Chicago Public Media CEO Goli Sheikholeslami announced Wednesday she is stepping down from the role and taking a similar position at New York City Public Radio. As the new head of New York City Public Radio, Sheikholeslami will oversee properties including news/talk WNYC-AM and FM; […]
Also: WLS-AM announces new PD; WBBM reigns supreme; New York’s WPIX sold One of Chicago’s prominent sports radio hosts has a new contract – and a new weekday slot. Longtime WSCR-AM (The Score) veteran Laurence Holmes is getting his own midday slot weekdays from noon to 2 p.m., beginning March 28 – coinciding with the start of the baseball season. […]
The latest edition of T Dog’s Media Notepad: – Only in Chicago: if you stream any kind of entertainment and have a paid subscription, you – the consumer- are now going to be subjected to a 9 percent sales tax. This includes any paid subscription to Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Amazon Prime, etc. The so-called “cloud tax” also applies to businesses […]
The term Chiraq is here to stay. Thank the media. For those who don’t like the word “Chiraq”, let me lay it on thick for you…. it’s here to stay. The term, used to describe the number of shootings and murder in the Chicago area, continues to be a hot topic of debate in the media as Spike Lee films […]
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 […]
Chicago Public Media needs a new chief. Tribune to sell a few stations. Fox launches new Saturday night animation block. – As first reported by Robert Feder on Friday, Torey Malatia resigned from his post as Chicago Public Media CEO and from the Board of Director after approximately twenty years. During Malatia’s watch, WBEZ created successful radio programs such as […]
Yeah, it’s a great time to be in Chicago… Sunday, we complained about the Bears and their inept management after their loss to the hated Green Bay Packers. On Monday, we complained about the latest moves made by the inept management at WGN Radio. And this is one of them: after 39 years, Milt Rosenberg and his late-night Extension 720 […]
Oh, its on. And it its due to Chicago Public Media turning Tavis Smiley off. The PBS late-night talk show host slammed Chicago Public Media and its President-CEO in a letter to him and made publicly available after WBEZ-FM dropped Smiley & West from its Sunday afternoon lineup on September 30 after two seasons on the air. Distributed by Public […]
Many tributes are being planned this weekend and in the coming week in light of Don Cornelius’ death on Wednesday: – WCIU and new diginet Bounce are both simultaneously airing a seven-hour Soul Train marathon this Saturday night starting with the first syndicated episode from October 2, 1971, which featured musical guest Gladys Knight & The Pips and his final […]