Sinclair realigns newscasts downstate; talent shows to hit syndication; No one is “asking America” – Remember back in October when yours truly asked if new weekly hour-long game show Monopoly Millionaires’ Club would air in Chicago because Illinois was not participating in the related lottery game? Well, here’s your answer: WGN-TV picked up the new Monopoly game hosted by Mike & Molly’s […]
There isn’t really much to talk about in the recently-concluded November sweeps period, since two of Chicago’s most dominant news operations – ABC-owned WLS-TV and Tribune CW affiliate WGN-TV continue to roll along. While sweeps periods are less important to the networks these days – for one, low-rated lame-duck shows (such as Mulaney, Bad Judge, and A to Z) are […]
Tribune adds stations from Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Memphis to its stable About a year or so ago, there was speculation on whether or not Tribune Broadcasting, planning to exit Chapter 11, would stay in the broadcast business. Consider this a definite answer. Chicago-based Tribune announced Monday it was acquiring Newport, Ky.-based Local TV LLC for $2.7 billion. The […]
Grab baggin’: – ABC-owned WLS-TV widened its lead over its competitors during the just-completed May sweeps, according to Nielsen. According to CRM, ABC 7 swept all local news time periods in households (25-54 demos weren’t available at press time), with a decisive victory at 10 p.m., surging 11 percent from May 2012 with a 10.0/18, leaving NBC-owned WMAQ-TV (5.9/11, +4% […]
Here we go again. After weeks of speculation, NBC made it official last week: it was handing the hosting duties of The Tonight Show to Jimmy Fallon, replacing Jay Leno in the role. In addition, NBC is moving production of The Tonight Show to New York City, returning to the Big Apple for the first time in 42 years. Excluding […]
While the Chicago Bears (and Jay Cutler in particular) disappointed in their hugely anticipated matchup against the archrival Green Bay Packers, they certainly didn’t disappoint in the ratings department (and for a change, it was Cutler who was nastier than Simon Cowell was.) Last Thursday night’s game locally drew a 31.3/48 household rating/share according to Nielsen. The game aired over […]
Hey Katie, the old school’s got a message for you: we can draw an audience, too. That was the vibe sent Monday while Katie Couric posted strong numbers of her debut Monday – but returning talkers also posted good numbers for their season premieres, despite pre-emptions from tennis on some CBS stations. Warner Bros.’ Ellen tenth season premiere drew a […]
Move over Frank Woolanski, here’s comes someone who packed a lot of bark in late-night back in the day – and is looking to woof again. CBS Television Distribution and Tribune Broadcasting announced today it will launch a new late-night talk show with Arsenio Hall beginning in September 2013, returning him to the daypart that made him famous and reuniting […]
Howard Shapiro, chairman of Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting, died from pneumonia today at the age of 86. A graduate in electronic engineering from Purdue, Shapiro was a electronics dealer, with a business called C.E.T. (Chicago Engineers of Television) and was one of the first advertisers who bought commercial time on WCIU, which was launched by the Weigel family in 1964, becoming […]
Chicago native Tim Cuprisin, who was best known as media critic of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for fifteen years, passed away Wednesday in his north suburban Milwaukee home from melanoma at the age of 53. A product of Chicago’s City News Bureau in the 1970’s, Curprisin joined the Milwaukee Journal in 1986 as reporter – covering the Jeffrey Dahmer murders, among […]
The much-hyped premiere of ABC’s new airline drama Pan Am took off on Sunday with respected sampling. Now the challenge is not to crash in the ratings and not have their membership in the mile-high club revoked. The drama – about a group of stewardess who work for the now-defunct airline in the 1960’s (which filed for bankruptcy and ceased […]
In just a matter of days, Cheesehead nation has transformed from a state celebrating a Green Bay Packers Super Bowl victory to looking like the new “Beirut On The Lake”. With the Wisconsin legislature producing a new 21st century version of Council Wars, the fracas over unions is drawing viewers to Milwaukee’s local newscasts, according to a article in the […]
The NFL was on fire this season with high ratings and record-breaking performances. And this year’s Super Bowl XLV between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers was expected to set an all-time viewership record – and it did not disappoint (even though most of the commercials and the halftime show did – but that came as no surprise, right?) […]
On the field in the NFC Championship Game, the Chicago Bears was much like The Cape. But in the ratings, they came up like American Idol (and in fact, outdrew it.) Sunday’s game between the Bears and arch rival Green Bay on Fox-owned WFLD drew an astonishing local household rating of 50.6 and a household share of 80, with more […]
In a first for a Midwest Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) affiliate, Hearst’s WISN-TV in Milwaukee is expanding its 10 p.m. newscast from 35 minutes to an hour beginning January 24. The move sends NBC Universal’s Access: Hollywood (the current 10:35 p.m. occupant) to 12:30 a.m., after Jimmy Kimmel Live. Nightline retains the 11:05 p.m. slot, but now gets to […]
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