Sinclair sells Illinois, Milwaukee TV stations

  Sale includes Sinclair’s SSA agreements in Springfield and Decatur  [Editor’s note: This story was updated March 14 and again on March 15.] In a surprise, Sinclair, Inc., the nation’s second-largest station group, announced Tuesday that it is selling five stations, including three in Illinois as first reported by The Desk.  The five are being sold to Rincon Broadcasting, a […]

The Media Notepad: Q101 launches podcast series

Also: Ten Milwaukee Bucks games head to WMLW; Canadian PM stemmed about Bell cuts Hoping to capitalize on the ever-growing audio-on-demand category, Cumulus’ Alternative Rock Q101 (WKQX-FM) launched a podcast platform last week with four new shows. “Q101 is a Chicago icon and adding an offering of new podcasts allows us to extend the reach of our brand even deeper […]

Bill O’Reilly headed to Sinclair?

Could be a liability for some local stations Bottom Line With Bill may be coming to a station near you. Reports are surfacing once again regarding Bill O’Reilly heading to Sinclair Broadcasting. According to NBC news’s Claire Atkinson, Sinclair is in talks with the former Fox News host as he could anchor a two-hour block on their stations – including those […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Landecker heads to the Radio Hall Of Fame

St. Louis, Milwaukee stations may be spun off by Sinclair sale while John Oliver takes on the company Philadelphia radio station takes a shot a Taylor Swift; changes formats Chicago radio legend John “Records” Landecker is getting a tremendous honor: an induction into the National Radio Hall Of Fame – on the first ballot. Landecker is being inducted into the […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: WCIU to replace “This” with “Bounce”

Time to see what’s in this week edition of the Grab bag: – With This TV leaving for WGN-TV  November 1, Weigel Broadcasting is replacing it with Bounce, moving from its 23.2 subchannel position to the much stronger 26.5 position, according to an item on WCIU’s website. Bounce is an African-American-targeted subchannel targeted to adults 25-54. The move comes as […]

Time to take “The Test”

Kirk Fox is trading in the peace, tranquility, and the small-town values of Pawnee, Ind. for baby mama drama in the big city. The Parks & Recreation star and stand-up comic has taken a rather unusual job – being a mediator in a new fall 2013 show called The Test, a conflict-resolution talk show where DNA evidence and lie-detector resolves […]

“Katie” clears 60% of U.S. for Fall ’12 launch

Disney-ABC Domestic Television Distribution’s new fall 2012 talk show strip featuring Katie Couric has now been cleared in 60 percent of the country. Titled Katie, the series has now cleared though several broadcast groups including Allbritton, Belo, Cox, Hearst, Gannett, and Scripps, in addition to the entire ABC-owned-and-operated station group (including WLS-TV here in Chicago.) To no one’s surprise, most […]

Two and a Half Times the second cycle

Want more Two and a Half Men in syndication? You got it. But if  you want more crazy Charlie Sheen going ape in a hotel room moments, you’ll have to wait – those come at random. In a story Broadcasting & Cable broke Wednesday, Tribune Broadcasting and Sinclair Broadcasting announced they has renewed Two and a Half Men for a […]

WPWR picks up "Bones" for 2nd syndication cycle

Fox’s WPWR-TV and stations owned by Tribune, Sinclair, and Local TV have picked up the second syndicated cycle of Bones from Twentieth Television. The procedural drama has been a  solid ratings performer during its weekend runs in syndication and continues to perform solidly on Fox’s Thursday night schedule, beating FlashForward and NBC’s combo of Community and Parks and Recreation.  Bones […]

Judge Jeanne Pirro sold to Fox O&Os

Warner Bros’ move of Judge Jeanne Pirro from The CW to syndication is now complete, with a group deal with the Fox Television Group. The all-barter deal, which includes Fox’s duopoly of WFLD and WPWR, gives Pirro a clearance rate of 75 percent of the United States. Pirro may have benefited from the cancellation of Cristina’s Court on Friday, which […]

WISN dominates Milwaukee’s ratings

… except at 10 p.m., where NBC affiliate WTMJ (despite lousy network lead-ins) won. But WISN, Milwaukee’s ABC affiliate owned by Hearst-Argyle, dominated everything else. WISN won at 5 and 6 p.m. and in prime-time and total-day numbers, but finished behind WTMJ at 10 p.m. by a hair. WTMJ actually increased its rating at 10, while WISN dropped two share […]

WTMJ wins 10 p.m. newscast in February

Thanks to harsh weather in Wisconsin all month long, Journal Broadcasting’s WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee won at 10 p.m. in February, beating Hearst-Argyle-owned ABC affiliate WISN-TV. The NBC affiliate benefited from a resurgent network line-up (albeit filled with second-hand fare), while WISN suffered without popular ABC shows out of episodes due to the writer’s strike and alt shows like Dancing With […]

WDJT launches 9 p.m. newscast

Milwaukee CBS affiliate WDJT-TV, owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting (owner of WCIU and WWME), is launching a 9 p.m. newscast on its independent sister sation, WMLW-TV beginning Jan.1. The newscast is to compete with Fox-owned WITI’s newscast, which airs at the same time. Sinclair’s CW affiliate WVTV had a 9 p.m. newscast from 1989-94 and again from 2003-06, but low […]