Fox 32 re-ups with the Bears to be the “official station” of the team

  NFL team took team’s non-regular season game rights to market, opts to stay with Fox While the Chicago Bears are now expanding their search for a new home to suburbs other than Arlington Heights, at least the team isn’t going anywhere when it comes to official team programming on local TV (and answers one of our ten questions in […]

Fox 32 and My50 GM Dennis Welsh announces retirement

Was in position since January 2013 After nearly a decade at the helm, Fox 32 and My50 General Manager Dennis Walsh has called it a career, announcing his retirement after 26 years at Fox Television Stations with the last nine at the duopoly of WFLD and My Network TV’s WPWR.  Welsh is stepping down at the end of the month […]

The Media Notepad: Chicago native Jason Matheson returns to local airwaves

Also: MLB takes over San Diego Padres local broadcasts; Fox 32’s Mike Flannery calls it a career; Director’s Guild reaches tentative agreement with studios Chicago native Jason Matheson’s talk show is getting another chance in his hometown. Starting today, the Minneapolis-based daytime talk show host returns to the airwaves in Chicago with a two-month run of The Jason Show on […]

CBS to pull CW affiliations in eight markets

Largest network defection since 1994 when it happened to…CBS With Nexstar acquiring three-fourths of The CW, the network who was once partner in the venture is now dropping the low-rated network from its eight big-market stations by September 1 and is being re-christened as independents. The eight are located in Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Detroit, Sacramento, and Pittsburgh. […]

DirecTV, Fox headed toward retrans showdown

Packers-Bears, FIFA World Cup, and more could be affected For Chicago-area DirecTV subscribers, the possibility of losing the Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears game from Soldier Field Sunday probably would be a bigger deal if Justin Fields wasn’t questionable to play and both teams had better records.  But since the FIFA World Cup and the Big Ten Championship Game are on […]

ESPN 1000 to Bear Down

Good Karma is new flagship home of the Chicago Bears – and they may looking for a new TV partner as well While the Chicago Bears are remaking their team for the future by trading away players for future draft picks, the team also made a major move on the radio front and may look to do so on the […]

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 […]

Fox stations add “TMZ Hip-Hop”

  Wait a minute…Fox and Hip-Hop in the same sentence? It’s true!  Hip-Hop has been a mainstay in our culture for over thirty years. There are several magazines dedicated to the genre – Vibe, XXL, The Source, and others, dedicated to covering not only the music but the culture behind the music, including politics, sports, and race.  Rest assured, this […]

“The Real” ends after eight seasons

    Daytime talk show becomes latest casualty in changing syndication business After speculation surfaced on the shows future, the pink slip was finally handed out to Warner Bros.’ The Real after eight seasons. The decision to pull the plug came after the Fox Television Stations group declined to renew the show, and also coming on the same day Warner […]

“Dr. Oz” exits for “The Good Dish”

The Good Dish takes over Oz’s old slots in January As expected, The Dr. Oz Show is ending after the host announced a run for U.S. Senate. On November 30, Memhet Oz announced he was running for the Pennsylvania Senate as a Republican for a seat now occupied by the retiring Pat Toomey, even though he currently lives in New […]

The Media Notepad: WGN-TV’s new “Daytime Chicago” a hit

Also: Paramount Plus adds new streaming channels; Pictionary gets green light for full-time series; Jussie Smollett found guilty Newsflash: There is a new hit on linear TV not named Ghosts or Law & Order: Organized Crime. In fact, it’s not even in primetime – and it’s local.  It’s WGN-TV’s new morning show Daytime Chicago, and it pulled out a ratings […]