Also: The Drive reclaims the top spot in Chicago radio ratings; Young Sheldon redeems himself [Editor’s Note: The second item of this piece was updated on May 21.] Wrapping up the upfronts: ABC released its fall schedule last week as part of a Disney upfront presentation that hardly mentioned the network. And little wonder – there isn’t much to talk […]
Also: Judge Judy and Hot Bench renewed through 2026; Bulls’ regular-season ratings fall; WLS-AM host falls for phishing scam Digital subchannel Bounce could soon have a new owner, according to CNBC. Cincinnati-based Scripps has hired a financial firm to evaluate potential offers. Bounce was founded by Katz Communications and launched in 2011, offering various dramas, sitcoms, and sporting events targeted […]
Also: Alyssa Donovan promoted to full-time to WGN-TV’s Weather Team; WBEZ continues its ratings freefall; Indianapolis station to air Fever games As hinted by Politico’s Shia Kapos last week, it was made official Tuesday: Paris Schutz is headed to Fox-owned WFLD (Fox 32) where he’ll be the chief political reporter and anchor his own half-hour weekly political show, essentially replacing […]
Also: The Talk to end after 15 years; NCAA Women’s Championship draws record high; NHL team headed to Utah With the future of Paramount Global all the chatter, there could be some radio merger and acquisition action, too. A report in Radio Insight suggests Audacy – soon to be controlled by Soros Fund Management after coming out of bankruptcy – […]
Mirrors station’s success as a Classic Hits outlet Back some time ago, format changes at WLS-FM were similar to Chicago’s weather – quite frequent and varied. The 94.7 frequency went through more format changes than a singer’s wardrobe on stage through disco, rock, contemporary hit radio, talk, oldies, alternative, and even country over the years. But a decade ago, WLS-FM […]
it’s Elon Musk, 2023 had No Chance In Hell to be a quiet year. (LA Times) A year dominated by labor strife, awful Chicago sports teams, and – oh yeah, Elon If you watched the WWE, you remember Vince McMahon playing himself as an arrogant CEO and billionaire, ruling over anything and everything – the ultimate heel. It’s a real-life […]
Also: The latest Chicago radio ratings; Arizona Coyotes to move all games to broadcast TV Cumulus Media’s conservative talker WLS-AM recently announced they were adding two new afternoon shows to replace the departed Big John Howell Show. First from 3-4 p.m. weekdays is Closing Bell. Not related to the similarly-titled CNBC business news show airing at the same time, Bell […]
Move takes place the same day ratings were released With all the attention lately focusing on the decline of linear TV hastened by labor disputes and retrans blackouts, let’s not forget terrestrial radio – especially on the AM side of the band – is also in the fight of its life. The latest evidence of this came Wednesday as Cumulus […]
Legendary radio personality worked at several Chicago stations in a career that spanned 67 years Known as “the Wild I-Tralian”, Richard Orlando Biondi – known locally on-air as Dick Biondi, died peacefully in his home on June 26 at the age of 90, according to his family who shared the news on WLS-AM’s Facebook page. Born in 1932 in Endicott, […]
AM radio still matters in Chicago as local media rallies around medium A lot of electronic ink has been written in recent years about the demise of linear TV, but there’s a communications medium in even more dire straits whose fate isn’t being helped by the auto industry. Numerous carmakers – especially those who produce electric vehicles, are looking to […]
Also: “The Fred Show” to be syndicated; WGN has its own vault “discovery”; Fox TV stations delivers for Amazon In good news for Chicago Fire fans, all Chicago Fire soccer games are being broadcast over Cumulus Media’s news/talk WLS-AM beginning this weekend, according to a report Tuesday in the Chicago Sun-Times. The deal was officially announced Wednesday morning on the […]
Also: Ali Matta departs Q101 A touch of Christmas has led iHeartMedia’s 93.9 The Lite (WLIT-FM) to tie Hubbard’s The Drive (WDRV-FM) for first place in the overall ratings for the second time this year. The last time the two tied for first in the overall ratings was in September. Both stations came up with even 6 shares in the […]
Also: NASCAR Chicago race lines up radio, TV outlets; Chicago’s Thanksgiving Parade returns to TV It was not a great election night if you were a former television personality. Republican challenger Dr. Memhet Oz, who quit his daytime talk show to run for the U.S. Senate last year, lost to Pennsylvania Democratic challenger John Fetterman in a race where four […]
WDRV-FM opens up a nearly two-point share lead on WBBM-AM/WCFS-FM In the May survey, Hubbard’s Classic Rock station The Drive (WDRV-FM) scored their first-ever ratings victory in their 21-year history, dislodging Adult R&B V103 (WVAZ-FM) as Chicago’s top-rated music station. Not only they repeated the feat again in June, they expanded their lead over their competitors. The Drive topped the […]
WLS-AM, WXRT name new morning hosts; WDRV’s Bob Stroud calls it a career (somewhat) It was a busy Tuesday morning in Chicago radio with tons of personnel moves. To start, Audacy-owned WXRT-FM announced the promotion of Marty Lennartz to mornings beginning on June 13 to replace the departing Richard Milne, who is exiting Friday to take care of his ailing […]