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, […]
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 […]
The Drive wins overall; WLS-FM finishes first in 18-34s At the start of the year, no one would ever guess Hubbard’s The Drive (WDRV-FM) would top the ratings, let alone dominate them. And as it turns out, the classic rocker is performing a clinic on how to dominate. In September, The Drive’s ratings topped all Chicago radio stations, speeding up […]
Also: remembering Dick Kay; Broadcast networks makes moves Longtime Chicago radio personality Greg Brown is calling it a career this week after five decades on the city’s airwaves, as first reported Friday by Radio Insight. The current WLS-FM personality started his Chicago radio career in 1970. His longest tenures were thirteen years at WKQX-FM (during its CHR/Hot AC era); eleven […]
Also: WLS-FM achieves historic feat; Nick Cannon to get new daytime show; MST3K canceled again Univision (branded locally as Univision Chicago) and the non-profit Chicago Reporter are teaming up to cover more of the area’s Hispanic community. As first reported by Broadcasting and Cable, the duo is forming a multi-platform news service named Latintext, and plans to cover important issues […]
Also: Fox32/My50 goes up Schitt’s Creek; stunning fall from the top for The Mix; ABC closes Grand Hotel As expected, Dish has pulled the plug on NBC Sports Chicago October 1 as the satellite carrier continues to make life miserable for content providers – and subscribers. With the Cubs leaving the partnership effective October 1 for new upstart Marquee, new […]
Also: Extra doubles up on name and gets a new host; New York’s WPLJ ends run May 31; and more In a bizarre incident captured on live TV Tuesday night during a Miami Marlins-Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field, a fan displayed what is known as a “white supremacist hand sign” during a live shot. It occurred while Doug Glanville […]
Year marked by scandals, futility, and other things 2018 wasn’t exactly a repeat of the last two horrendous years in the media world, but scandals and deceit still ruled the roost. Though not topping 2017’s Disney-Fox deal, 2018 had some mega transactions – though the second-biggest merger of 2017 went bust as Sinclair Broadcasting’s $4 billion deal to buy Tribune […]
Longtime Chicago radio host steps down as station changes direction In a move that comes as no surprise, WLS-AM afternoon host Steve Dahl has decided to leave the Cumulus-owned station after four years amid low ratings. As first reported by Robert Feder Tuesday, WLS is looking to revamp its talk schedule, targeting sometime in January for the changes. While the […]
Break out the leg warmers and Rubik’s Cubes : WDRV, WLS-FM score record ratings There must be gold in retro music – because it is paying dividends for several Chicago radio stations. And it is for two stations in particular: Hubbard’s Classic Rock WDRV-FM (The Drive) and Cumulus’ Classic Hits WLS-FM both scored their highest rankings ever and their highest […]
Radio legend calls it a career – or more likely, someone called it a career for him In what looks like the end of the line for one of Chicago’ most iconic radio personalities, Cumulus-owned WLS-FM has released Dick Biondi from his contract. As first reported by Robert Feder, the 85-year old broadcasting legend was off the air for a […]
Chapter 11 forces company to dump pricey agreements. At last, I can sum up the sorry state of Chicago sports AND Chicago radio all in one post. In news breaking Friday and first reported by Robert Feder, Cumulus announced it was seeking to get out of money-losing contracts of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox in a filing with […]
Also: WYCC and Chiller sign-off; Cumulus files for Chapter 11 The Lite is back: on Friday, iHeartMedia-owned WLIT-FM returned to its “Lite” branding, effective immediately, effectively ending the “My” branding it has used for the last few years. iHeartMedia rebranded several of its Adult Contemporary stations “My FM”, including KBIG-FM in Los Angeles (My 104.3), which unlike WLIT, is a […]
Move comes as Entercom takes over CBS Radio In a surprise major shift rocking the Chicago radio landscape, WJMK-FM flipped to Classic Hip-Hop on Friday as 104.3 Jams, replacing the Classic Hits format known as “K-Hits”. The format change happened as Entercom closed on its purchase of CBS Radio, who officially took over the company Friday. As a result, the […]
Pour one on the curb for Merlin Media. As first reported by Radio Insight, Cumulus Media announced Tuesday they have exercised their option to purchase Merlin Media’s classic rock WLUP-FM and alternative WKQX-FM. The duo had been run by Cumulus in a local marketing agreement since January 2014, regulating Merlin to strictly ownership status. Cumulus already owns and operates all talk […]