Also: NBC 5 makes a new hire while a Baltimore TV reporter gets fired. The second edition of The Field Of Dreams game didn’t have the theatrics of last year’s contest, but still drew a healthy amount of eyeballs. The game featured two teams who were already out of playoff contention this season: The 44-64 Chicago Cubs and the […]
Numerous stations still struggling as of Tuesday; station group facing a host of other problems A ransomware attack on Sinclair’s local stations has crippled the nation’s second-largest broadcast group. The attack has hampered e-mails, phone systems, and computer networks; affected stations’ traffic departments as they were unable to run commercials, costing stations ad revenue; and unable to produce graphics and […]
Lightfoot’s decision to exclude white journalists sets off firestorm. But it’s a conversation long overdue The latest dustup between the Chicago media and minority communities is unusual because the person behind it happens to be the Mayor of Chicago. On Tuesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot – the first Black woman to be elected to the position in the city’s history, decided […]
Also: Tribune Publishing’s union employees petition Alden Group; Sinclair backs away from political commentary; Steve Harvey resumes his talk show via Facebook (Updated December 16 to add more information.) In yet another shocking twist at the end of Wednesday night’s Survivor, controversial contestant Dan Spilo was removed from the game after he was accused again of sexual harassment, this time […]
Also: WCIU to air Black History special; Record ratings for radio stations airing Christmas music; St. Louis anchor suspended for racial slur. In a battle for local TV and comedy justice, The Man Of The People defeated the evil Captain Chesapeake from Baltimore. WGN-TV announced last week the renewal of locally-produced comedy Man Of The People hosted by WGN morning […]
And in a surprising twist, Tribune is suing Sinclair for breach of contract Captain Chesapeake isn’t coming to Chicago after all. Blame overpaying a hand in a regulatory poker game leading to his ship sinking faster than the Exxon Valdez. Approximately fifteen months after it was announced, Chicago-based Tribune Media announced Thursday morning it was walking away from its merger […]
Sinclair selling off WPIX, WGN to win approval? Meet the Shell Answer Man. During the eight years I worked at the Better Business Bureau, yours truly has seen plenty of scams perpetrated onto by the public the organization had to warn about. But even those can’t compare to what Sinclair and the FCC are pulling. In a filing revealed on […]
Mega deal is the biggest in television history: 42 station-group sold to Maryland-based broadcaster Ends local ownership of WGN-TV and WGN Radio after more than 60 years Sinclair’s purchase of Tribune Media will change the landscape of local television as we know it. For one, Tribune – with roots in television going back to 1948 as the WGN Continental Broadcasting […]
News and notes from around the industry – WSRB, a Crawford-owned urban adult contemporary station previously known as Soul 106.3, is trying its luck with an other former WGCI alum – Tony Sculfield, who’ll soon take over the evening slot vacated by Ramonski Luv, who was out after less than six months on the air. Recently, Sculfield was part of […]
Format change takes place this Monday Merlin Media announced today it was taking over operations of low-power frequency WLFM (87.7 FM) and is flipping the Smooth Jazz format to Alternative Rock on Monday. WLFM’s owner (Venture Technologies, LLC), will continue to own the station and the station’s license. Merlin already owns classic rock WLUP-FM and all-news WIQI-FM, which replaced former […]
Continuing our look at local May sweeps numbers: Denver: NBC affiliate KUSA-TV swept local news (except 9 p.m. on KTVD) in all time periods. At 10 p.m., KUSA was up a share point from May 2007. Buffalo: CBS affiliate WIVB-TV won at 11 p.m., but the big story here was NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV’s 11 p.m. news show improving from its […]
While Fox has become very competitive with American Idol, Fox affiliates’ prime-time newscasts – which usually trail the big three network stations in any given market – now often beats them on nights when Idol is on, particularly in adults 18-49. WBFF is an example of this – the Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate in Baltimore beats market leaders NBC affiliate WBAL-TV […]