Also: WBBM-AM nears deal to land Cubs telecasts Back in 1978, WGN-TV in Chicago joined WTBS in Atlanta and WOR-TV in New York (now WWOR) and uplinked their signal to a satellite to deliver their signal throughout the country as a “superstation”. In 2014, the “superstation” era is nearing the end. In a report surfacing on Crain’s Chicago Business website Friday, […]
Plus: LA’s KTTV news director “resigns” after only two years Fox’s WFLD fortified its news anchor lineup late Tuesday, detailing changes being made to its Good Day Chicago morning show and its 9 p.m. newscast. Former WMAQ sports anchor Jon Kelley is being paired with former KDVR/Denver reporter-anchor Melody Mendez for GDC and Natalie Bomke, who joined the show last […]
– Tech difficulties or something else behind the scenes? Mike McConnell’s new online venture at WGN Radio doesn’t seem to be going well. McConnell’s online show and subsequent podcast has been offline for a week due to “tech issues”. But it looks like McConnell may be headed back to Cincinnati: it appears a tentative agreement has been reached on the […]
Simpsons to run on My50; Modern Family penciled in for 6:30 p.m. and 10 Arsenio, Bethenny score on the first day; The Test flunks The 2013-14 syndication season started Monday, as viewers welcomed back Arsenio Hall and sampled Bethenny Frankel’s new show, but snubbed Kirk Fox’s paternity test show. In addition, the final pieces of Chicago’s local fall schedules finally […]
– In a rather unusual move, WGN-AM announced Wednesday it was shifting Mike McConnell (left) from its main terrestrial station to a secondary, online stream usually reserved for spillover programming. In addition, McConnell’s show is being available via podcast. Since being hired away from WLW/Cincinnati by then-PD Kevin Metheny in August 2009, McConnell has not been able to find an […]
Newscast replaced by new New Jersey-based news magazine show Been a while since yours truly has written about local media outside of Chicago, but this is worth noting: Fox Television Stations announced Wednesday (on the day before the 4th of July holiday) the cancellation of WWOR-TV’s 10 p.m. newscast, effective immediately. The newscast has been a fixture on the New […]
Reach out and touch someone…. No, not there. Or there. The Grab Bag: – CBS AT&T . CBS Corp. and AT & T have signed a brand new retransmission consent deal, covering all CBS-owned stations (which includes CBS, CW, and independent stations), Showtime, The Smithsonian Channel, and CBS Sports Network. Locally, the deal covers CBS-owned WBBM-TV over all AT&T U-Verse […]
The CBS-Weigel collation has struck again. CBS Television Distribution cleared TV Land’s off-cable Hot In Cleveland in 65 percent of the country for fall 2014, including WCIU in Chicago and several CBS-owned stations in the nation’s largest markets. This is the same collation that acquired Warner Bros.’ Mike & Molly and 2 Broke Girls for off-network syndication in 2014 and […]
Looks like Uncle Rupert’s company will have to do the Banana Split. But at least he won’t have to deal with costumed animals running around all over the place. News Corporation announced on Thursday it was splitting up into two publicly traded companies, one which has publishing assets, the other with entertainment properties. News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch will be […]
In a sale that could alter the power structure among which station groups purchase off-net sitcoms – and other programming in the future, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution has sold CBS Monday night comedies Mike & Molly and 2 Broke Girls to Weigel broadcasting’s WCIU in Chicago and to thirteen non-CBS affiliated stations owned by CBS Corporation for fall 2014 […]
Move over Frank Woolanski, here’s comes someone who packed a lot of bark in late-night back in the day – and is looking to woof again. CBS Television Distribution and Tribune Broadcasting announced today it will launch a new late-night talk show with Arsenio Hall beginning in September 2013, returning him to the daypart that made him famous and reuniting […]
A packed post full of items in this edition of The Grab Bag: – Say au revoir to Swift Justice: CBS Television Distribution’s first-run courtroom strip is over and out after two years, as reported by Broadcasting & Cable last week. The series was originally presided over by Nancy Grace, but she left the show after one season and was […]
The television, music, and radio industries lost a legend today with the passing of Dick Clark. Clark suffered a massive heartattack a day after after an outpaitent procedure in a Los Angeles hospital. He was 82. Born in 1929 in Mount Vernon, N.Y., Clark got his first job at his family-owned radio station in Utica, where he started in the […]
NBC to launch Non-Stop Network; Bounce expands to N.Y. and L.A. Significant developments regarding digital subchannels on Thursday: – Don’t you wish it would stop? NBC announced it was overhauling its strategy for its nine-station Non-Stop digital subchannels, which is on the .2 (Channel 4.2, Channel 5.2, etc.) of all-NBC-owned stations except the Hartford/New Haven market, where […]
The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers signed a new superstar Monday to a 20 year deal – and it’s not an athlete. The “star” is Time Warner Cable, who announced Monday it has signed a 20-year deal with the Lakers to broadcast all non-national televised games on not one, but two regional sports networks it is planning for 2012. The first […]
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