ABC 7 promotes Elgas, Baichwal to prime news slots

Market leader fills spots vacated by retiring Alan Krashesky Posted at 12:41 a.m. Top-rated ABC 7 (WLS-TV) announced Thursday the promotion of veteran anchors Rob Elgas and Ravi Baichwal to prime weekday slots, filling the void left by the retirement of Alan Krashesky last November.  Rob Elgas will begin anchoring the 10 p.m. newscast and the 7 p.m. livestream with […]

Ryan Seacrest to exit “Live”; Mark Consuelos to replace him

Ripa’s husband to take over co-host chair For those who complain about Ryan Seacrest holding too many jobs in this economy, there is now an opening – but it was quickly filled. Seacrest announced Thursday morning he was departing Disney Media Distribution’s New York-based top-rated daytime talker Live With Kelly And Ryan after six years and is moving back to […]

The Media Notepad: “Family Feud” renewed through 2026

Also: Sling adds ABC 7 to its lineup – at a cost; MLB possibly looking at reclaiming local rights as RSNs creater; Chicago media comings and goings  Joining a trend of veteran series handing out multi-year renewals, the latest came this week when Debmar-Mercury announced it has re-upped Family Feud through 2026, taking the show to its 27th consecutive season […]

ABC 7’s Alan Krashesky to retire after 40 years

Announcement made on the same day he joined the station in 1982 [Editor’s Note: Swapped YouTube video with the Christmas Night edition of WLS-TV’s newscast.] If anything, the year 2022 is shaping up to be The Great Retirement in local media.  The latest person to call it a career is Alan Krashesky, who announced his decision to retire from ABC […]

Disney channels return to Dish, Sling

Channels return after weekend standoff After Dish and Sling customers woke up Saturday morning to find Disney channels missing, they returned late Sunday night as the parties came to a tentative agreement. The move to pull the channels came after the contract between the two parties expired on September 30 and neither negotiated an extension to keep the channels on […]

Disney channels pulled off Dish, Sling

Surprise move came with no warning In a move that has Dish and Sling customers fuming, cable and broadcast channels owned by The Walt Disney Company were pulled off of their systems at 2 a.m. Central Time Saturday morning in a retransmission dispute.  The decision to yank the channels surprised everyone as usually, customers are given a heads-up on if […]

The Media Notepad: Chicago Reader publisher steps down

Also: ABC 7 hires new person for its creative services programming team; Fox’s Chicago duopoly to air new game show; Devil in White City to be adapted for the small screen  After leading the paper through a difficult transition as a non-profit, Chicago Reader publisher Tracy Baim is stepping down after four years at the paper and three months as […]

Chicago stations cover Highland Park shooting tragedy

Local stations pre-empt programming on holiday For a city used to the horrors of gun violence, even this was too much to take. On a sparkly clear day, a Fourth Of July parade in the north suburban community of Highland Park was interrupted by a gunman who opened fire from a roof of a commercial building, hitting spectators below. As […]

The Media Notepad: Winter Olympics’ lackluster ratings performance drags down NBC 5’s news ratings

Also: All CHGO launches; two network TV shows canceled; restaurant with a sitcom connection burns down Much has been made about the lackluster Winter Olympics ratings, but one angle wasn’t talked about much – their effect on NBC affiliates – or lack thereof. And no one experienced a bigger disappointment than Chicago’s NBC 5 (WMAQ.) As reported by Robert Feder […]

ABC 7, other ABC-owned stations launch new 24/7 streaming channels

Similar to NBC-owned stations’ recent move; ABC 7 returns to prime-time news Joining fellow large-market owned-and-operated counterparts CBS and NBC, ABC-owned stations have now launched 24/7 local streaming channels of their own, including ABC 7 here (WLS-TV). According to the press release, the eight new channels “24/7 local news coverage, breaking news, weather forecasts, feel-good stories from ABC’s award-winning Localish, and […]

Remembering Bill Jackson

Jackson’s puppeteer work spanned two decades and five local TV stations   Even though his profile was a bit lower than other Chicago TV children show hosts, Bill Jackson made an impact nonetheless.  Jackson died in his Paso Robles, California home Monday at the age of 86. Jackson appeared on local television during the 1960s and 1970s, fondly remembered by […]

Welcome to the New Year’s Eve Battle Royale

Local stations, broadcast and cable networks battle it out to ring in the new year I think the question we should be asking is who isn’t doing a New Year’s Eve show this year?  The major networks and local stations are throwing their hats in the New Years’ Eve ring as they look to capture their share of an audience […]

Comcast, Disney renew carriage deal

ACC Network part of pact While retrans disputes are becoming more and more common, at least there are some companies who can come to a deal without any problem. The latest example came a few days ago when The Walt Disney Co. renewed their carriage pact with Comcast to continue carrying their channels uninterrupted on their Xfinity platform.  “We’re very […]

The Media Notepad: ABC 7 holds on to late-night news ratings lead

Plus…DeDe McGuire returns to Chicago airwaves via syndication; Konkol returns; Judge Steve Harvey? Despite the well-publicized departure of Mark Giangreco earlier this year, viewers are still tuning in to ABC 7’s (WLS-TV) newscasts and is handily beating their competition.  Even though 25-54 numbers haven’t been released yet and the following only measures total viewers, ABC 7 easily won the 10 […]