Every weekday in 2014, I'll be keeping an eye on what's happening in the media. My focus will be on some of my favorite subjects...the moguls, the pundits, the broadcast news biz, show business, and the publishing business. (Read "$everance" if you want a crystallization of my positions on those subjects.) And, of course, I'll also keep tabs on Chicago's media.
Chicago Media
~Roy Leonard Remembers Mickey Rooney
He remembers him the same way I do...a scary interview.
~WGCI & WVAZ Make Some Nighttime Changes
From the RAMP Newsletter...
Clear Channel Chicago just announced some significant evening personality alterations on both Urban WGCI and Urban AC WVAZ (V103) -- longtime WGCI Whispers In The Dark host Chris Michaels (top) will cross the hall to do nights on sister WVAZ, while DJ Moon Dawg has been upgraded from weekends to nights on WGCI, effective immediately. V103's Quiet Storm with Chris Michaels will now air Sunday-Thursday from 10pm-2am, followed by the syndicated Keith Sweat Hotel.
~This American Life Considers Self-Distribution
Not technically a Chicago story, but we do claim them, don't we? The New York Times has the details.
~Tony Fitzpatrick Is Leaving Chicago
According to this piece in Chicago magazine, the artist and former radio host is moving to New Orleans next winter.
The Pundits
~Al Sharpton was an FBI Informant?
According to today's New York Daily News (who got it from Smoking Gun), he tape-recorded conversations that helped bring down the Genovese family. Who knew?
~Barbara Walters Leaving on May 16
Good for the 84-year-old Walters. You'll be seeing a lot of her that week. ABC is planning an all-out farewell. Details at the link.
~Ezra Klein's New Venture Vox.com Goes Live
The other co-founders are Matt Yglesias and Melissa Bell. I like the concept of trying to "explain the news". It used to be called journalism.
The Radio Biz
~Breitbart.com Rips Cumulus
The firebombing right-wing website Breitbart.com has turned its guns on Cumulus broadcasting, blaming them for destroying talk radio in this country. Even if I agree with the general conclusion, I don't agree with this reasoning for why it is happening...
"Conservatives say the Dickeys exacerbated Cumulus’ woes when they decided to add Mike Huckabee to the Cumulus lineup in an effort to soften the conservative message by bringing, as Huckabee put it, “more conversation, less confrontation.”Yes, that's it. Too nice. That's the reason talk radio is dying. Not because of the actual good points made in the article up until that point. Read the article. It's actually good up until that moment.
