Tightest margin of victory ever as election night coverage was OK, but WGN-TV bricks hard In one of the closest mayoral races in the modern media era, Cook County Board member Brandon Johnson pulled off a shocking upset by beating former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas to become Chicago’s 57th mayor with a margin of around 12,000 votes (not […]
Station’s rich history celebrated. But what about the next 75 years? It was on April 5, 1948 when Col. Robert McCormick fired up the transmitter to join the herd in taking advantage of a then-brand new medium to reach the masses – television. People stood outside of Tribune Tower in Chicago to see what the hubbub was about. It was […]
Nexstar strikes deal to bring local channels to vMVPD In a move that fills a gap, Nexstar struck a deal with the Google-owned YouTube TV, bringing powerhouse independent WGN-TV to Chicago subscribers. It’s part of a larger deal made by the Texas-based broadcaster, the biggest in the nation. The agreement either brings or expands existing station contracts with 59 outlets […]
Ray shifts focus to new venture Updated May 23, 2023. On September 18, 2006, The T Dog Media Blog was launched – coincidentally on the same day The Rachael Ray Show did. Now after seventeen seasons, it’s Rachael who’s calling it a career – at least in daytime television. “In my more than 20 plus years in television I have had […]
Not all CW affils carrying controversial golf league funded by Saudi interests In a bit of a surprise, LIV Golf’s first tournament on The CW won’t air on its local affiliate here. Instead it’s airing on its former affiliate. As first reported on T Dog Media’s Twitter and Instagram accounts, the controversial golf league is airing on WGN-TV this season […]
Nexstar’s The CW officially announced a deal with the controversial LIV Golf, putting them in the sports business for the very first time. LIV Golf is a Saudi Arabia-funded rival to the PGA Tour, who has broadcast deals with CBS, NBC, and others. What makes this controversial is Saudi Arabia is accused of covering up a murder of a […]
Cites loyalty to cable and satellite providers (Editor’s Note: It appears this order does not affect WGN-TV and a few big-market Nexstar stations. The last paragraph of this story – relating to the city delaying scanner information a half-hour – was deleted as it is no longer relevant to this story. Updated as of August 3. – T.H.) In an unusual […]
Saturday evening, Nexstar and Comcast came to terms on an agreement to keep their stations and cable news network NewsNation on their systems nationwide. Nexstar owns WGN-TV in Chicago while Comcast is the metro area’s largest subscription TV provider. A blackout could have hurt WGN’s ratings, as it regularly tops the weekday morning news race in the adult 25-54 demo […]
Nation’s largest station group is up against the nation’s largest cable operator in retrans battle Just a week after local DirecTV subscribers dodged a bullet when the satellite TV provider made a last-minute deal with Fox to keep the network and its related channels on the service in midst of the FIFA World Cup and a Packers-Bears game, Chicago viewers […]
Trailblazer at WMAQ and WGN radio dies at 92 One of the first African-Americans to break the color barrier at a mainstream Chicago radio station has died. Floyd Brown, who was known to be one of the few Black radio personalities to appear on WGN Radio, passed away Friday at 92. Born in Dallas, Brown arrived in Chicago enrolling in […]
Nexstar financial chief says money from sale of printing press property helped purchase The CW [Editor’s Note: This story was updated November 19.] It turns out there is a Chicago connection to the recent purchase of The CW network by Irving, Tex.-based Nexstar Media Group – and it involves a future casino in our town. As reported by Hollywood trade […]
Good Karma is new flagship home of the Chicago Bears – and they may looking for a new TV partner as well While the Chicago Bears are remaking their team for the future by trading away players for future draft picks, the team also made a major move on the radio front and may look to do so on the […]
Pritzker, Bailey showdown tops time slot in viewers, demos Chicago viewers obviously love their politics: according to Nielsen in a press release from Nexstar’s WGN-TV, the first of two Illinois gubernatorial debates between incumbent Democrat J.B. Pritzker and Republican Darren Bailey was a big local ratings hit on October 6, winning the 7-8 p.m. time period with an exact total […]
Drastically different schedules begins today (Editor’s Note: This post was updated on September 17.) There are a ton of changes in television outside of prime-time with the new season beginning today. For one, there is no more Ellen DeGeneres as she danced off the stage last spring while Maury Povich and his paternity tests retired to Florida, leaving us with […]
Move as a result of waning interest in linear TV In what could be potentially the biggest shake-up in prime-time since the implantation of the PrimeTime Access Rule in 1971, NBC is mulling a plan to give the 10 p.m. ET/ 9 p.m. CT slot to affiliates – likely for them to program local news. “While NBC is the […]