What’s WMAQ-TV reporter Amy Jacobson doing at Craig Stebic’s house? Wearing that? It’s been a weird time in media lately (both locally and nationally), with firings, resignations, fake “deaths” and real deaths, and not-so-pleasant surprises. (It’s been enough to keep this blog busy, even though this weekend.) And it’s now getting weirder…. Amy Jacobson, a reporter for NBC-owned WMAQ-TV was […]
One thing Barely Today didn’t want to do is barely get viewers. As a result, NBC-owned WMAQ-TV has dropped the show and will expand its morning newscast to 4:30 a.m. starting Monday, where Barely Today previously aired. The program was hosted by Bruce Wolf, who will now be reassigned to sports anchoring and reporting duties during the morning newscast.
No, we’re not talking about former NFL coach Jim Mora talking about not going to the playoffs. But if WBBM’s newscasts were a sports team, it wouldn’t make the playoffs. And as a result, changes must be made. And so, Antonio Mora is out and Rob Johnson is in after a shakeup at CBS-owned WBBM-TV’s perennially low-rated 10 p.m. newscast. […]
WFLD-TV’s new 10 p.m. newscast called The Ten is clearly struggling in the ratings – but the program is skewing younger, and is exposing problems at crosstown rival WBBM-TV with their 10 p.m. newscast. According to an article in the Sun-Times today, The Fox-owned station’s newscast has surprisingly beat the CBS-owned station’s late newscast in the household ratings on some […]
NBC-owned WMAQ-TV and PBS station WTTW have teamed up to present a documentary on Italian-Americans that will premiere during the Memorial Day weekend. And They Came To Chicago: The Italian-American Legacy, a special tracing Italian-American history in Chicago, is being narrated by native son Joe Mantegna and will air on WMAQ Sunday Night at 11:05 p.m. and again on Memorial […]
Gather around my children, and let me tell you a story about when journalism jumped the shark…. A month ago, radio personality Don Imus was fired for racially insensitive comments about the mostly black Rutgers’ womens’ basketball team, and it opened a debate on race as well as an examination of the radio industry. But it was ten years ago […]
iVillage live, the fledging daily first-run strip that airs on the NBC O&O’s, is coming to Chicago to stay. NBC Universal announced today that the show is moving its production facilities from Universal Studios in Orlando to the NBC Tower here in Chicago. The interactive show will join Jerry Springer, Judge Mathis, the new Steve Wilkos show, and possibly Let’s […]
Robert Feder’s column in the Sun-Times today: – WCIU-TV is taking advantage of WFLD-TV’s move of The Simpsons to 10:35 p.m. by taking out billboards proclaiming that “Now Bart can watch The King of Queens at 10 p.m.” Somehow, I envisioned Bart watching Futurama on Adult Swim instead… – Meet WKQX-FM’s (or Q101) spokesman: retiring Price is Right host Bob […]
The NBC Tower (home to WMAQ-TV here in Chicago) appears to be a leading candidate to land the production facilities for the new game show from Merv Griffin and syndicator Program Partners, Let’s Play Crosswords, which made a deal on Tuesday with five NBC O&O’s, including WMAQ here. Robert Feder in today’s Sun-Times has a little more on the deal, […]
Bruce Wolf, who joined WMAQ-TV morning’s team after being unceremoniously dumped at WFLD-TV earlier this year, will shine (make that rise and shine) in an new early-morning offbeat news show called Barely Today, that will begin Jan. 15. The program will air at 4:30am (yes 4:30am), which pushes Early Today to 4am. The program launches on Dr. Martin Luther King […]
A little late with this, but it does bear mentioning: Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday that WMAQ-TV’s 11a.m. newscast and its checkerboard rotation of 11:30am syndicated shows are being axed for iVillage Live, a new interactive program that will air live from 11a.m. to noon (CT) on Channel 5 and nine other NBC O&O’s, and simultaneously on […]
I’m back…. Syndication Watch: In what qualifies to be the kiss of death of any new show, NBC Universal’s new Megan Mulually talk show has been downgraded at NBC-owned KNBC-TV in Los Angeles yesterday. The program, which features the former Will & Grace star, lost its key 4pm time slot and has been moved to noon. A local newscast which […]
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