MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago.
RADIO/PODCASTS
*Chicago Radio Ratings
=The February ratings are out, and here are the top ten
stations in Chicago (M-Sun, 6A-Midnight, 6+)
WLIT (6.7)
WDRV (6.6)
WBBM-AM (5.4)
WVAZ (5.1)
WXRT (5.0)
WOJO (4.6)
WUSN (3.8)
WGN (3.5)
WLS-FM (3.5)
WSCR (3.1)
=Huge numbers for The Drive. They had the biggest leap of the
month (+0.8). Ironically, those numbers are pre-changes. Should be interesting
to see if the changes they made to the airstaff impact their numbers next
month. Also, a great month for WGN (+0.4) and US-99 (+0.3).
=Me-TV FM also had their best month in a while. The new Me-TV
FM program director Phil Manicki will be my next feature in Illinois
Entertainer (the upcoming April issue).
=The biggest drop was at WBBM-AM (-0.8).
*Lolla Lineup
=Pretty strong this year. The Killers, SZA, Tyler, The
Creator, and Blink 182 are among the headliners. Full list is here,
courtesy of Billboard.
*John Landecker Tribute on Rewound Radio
*Audacy bankruptcy
=Audacy has filed their bankruptcy and divestiture plan withthe FCC.
*Howard
Stern Returns to Terrestrial Radio
=For one day,
anyway. First time since 2014. He appeared on Jim Kerr’s 50th
anniversary show in New York.
=He’ll hit the
big 9-0 on Easter Sunday.
*Podcast
Corner
=From the
“Everybody has a podcast” department, add the names LeBron James and JJ
Reddick. I hope they don’t go by Ebony & Ivory.
=A Russian spy tells how she plied her trade in this new podcast.
*Ex-Chicago
Radio
=Former WLUPer
Vinny Marino lands a new gig. He is Operations Manager and PD in
Rutland, VT.
=Former US99 night jock Kimmie Caruba has lost her
morning show gig at WUBL in Atlanta.
=Former
WXLC/Waukegan morning co-host Wes McCane has been added to the morning
show at KSTP in Minneapolis. The show is now called The Crisco, Dez, and Wes
Morning Show.
*Music News
=I’m giving
the credit to the 2005 White Sox…
=Eric
Clapton’s Love Letters to Pattie Boyd (while she was married to George
Harrison) are up for auction.
MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
*March 18—Rich King birthday
=Rich King had a nearly 50-year career in Chicago media, including stints at WGN Radio, WBBM Radio, WBBM-TV and WGN-TV. He wrote a best-selling book about his wife called My Maggie, and in 2022 wrote a memoir about his time working with WGN photographer Richard “Ike” Isaac (photo below) called Ike and Me, which was nominated for Book of the Year by the Chicago Writers Association.
*March 18—Len O’Kelly birthday
=Len worked on the air and
off at several radio stations in Chicago, including WJMK-FM. He is now a
professor at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, training the next
generation of broadcasters. I interviewed him about
that for Illinois Entertainer in 2017.
*March 19, 1928—Amos
& Andy debuts on network radio (NBC Blue Network/WMAQ
Chicago)
=When you hear it now, it’s shockingly racist. But when it debuted on NBC
this week in 1928 (live from Chicago), it was one of the most popular shows in
the country. The show began in 1926 as “Sam and Henry” on WGN radio, which
described it as a “colored comedy serial.” Blackface Minstrel shows were the
biggest Vaudeville draws, and this was the radio version of that. When NBC
wanted to air it nationwide, WGN refused to let them take the name Sam &
Henry along with them. The show was renamed Amos & Andy, and
within a year it was a nationwide six-night a week hit, airing at 7PM Eastern
time. It was rebroadcast on the West Coast in the same time slot; the first
show to ever rate that kind of importance. Chicago was suddenly the center of
the American media universe–and became home to dozens of national hit radio
shows. None of them, however, were as popular as the number one show in the
country, Amos & Andy.
*March 19, 1965—Jack
Quinlan dies in car crash.
=Quinlan was the
radio play-by-play man for the Cubs from 1955-1964, the first announcer to say
the names Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Lou Brock and more. (He
shared the booth with Lou Boudreau and Charlie Grimm).
The car accident happened during spring training in 1965. Quinlan was only 38
years old.
*March 19,
1977—Final episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show
=It was the end of
an era. Who could ever forget that last hug?
*March 19, 1989—Steve
Dahl’s on-air vasectomy
=The first-ever
live on-air vasectomy aired on this day in 1989 on AM 1000. Dahl was put under
local anesthesia, and Garry Meier described the procedure on
the radio along with Steve’s doctor, while Steve begged everyone to stop
laughing while performing such a delicate task. Hard to describe how hilarious
it was. It appears on Steve & Garry’s Decade of Service.
*March 20--Mitch
Michaels birthday
=Mitch is a
legendary rock jock in Chicago, with stints at virtually every rock station
including WXRT, Q-101, the Loop, WCKG, and the River. In 2017, he wrote a
memoir (with Ken Churilla) about his career
called Doin the Cruise. I interviewed Mitch in 2009 for Chicago
Radio Spotlight, and then interviewed him again in 2015 for Illinois
Entertainer.
*March 21—Randy
Dry birthday
=Randy worked briefly
in Chicago radio as a producer for the Steve & Garry show before going on
to become a record company executive. He contributed to the book The Loop Files.
*March 21,
1970—The Agony of Defeat
=The man who
crashed on the ski jump was named Vinko Bogataj. For the rest of
the 70s, we would call him the “Agony of Defeat” because of his starring role
in the opening sequence of Wild World of Sports.
*March 21,
1980—Who Shot J.R?
=On the season
finale of Dallas, this week in 1980, a mystery character shot J.R.
Ewing. For the entire summer America speculated who it was. It wasn’t revealed
until November. Hard to imagine a show capturing the attention of the entire
nation like that these days.
*March 21,
2006—Twitter is founded
=Twitter is such a
big part of our world it’s hard to remember that it hasn’t been around that
long. As of this week, it’s only 18 years.
*March 22—Bob Costas birthday
=Costas is one of
the most respected names in sports broadcasting, host of 12 Olympics Games and
winner of 28 Emmy Awards. He’s also in the Baseball Hall of Fame (as a Ford
Frick Award winner) and was at the microphone for NBC calling Ryne
Sandberg’s greatest game in 1984. But before all of that great glory,
Costas worked in Chicago as the play-by-play man for the Chicago Bulls on
WGN-TV during the 1979-1980 season. (Photo: WGN-TV)
TV/STREAMING
*Stacey
King Duped by Fake Twitter Announcement
=It happened on a recent Bulls broadcast. Turns out Derrick Rose didn’t retire,
despite the post on X (Twitter) claiming he did.
*Ian Eagle
Takes Over for Jim Nantz
=The new primary announcer for the NCAA tournament is being paired with Bill Rafferty.
*SNL
1975
=Coming soon,
a dramatized version of the beginning of SNL, leading up to the first episode
in 1975. Esquire has some preview info and pics.
*Cable News
Corner
=Steve
Doocey: The Unexpected Voice of Dissent at Fox News
*Trump Sues
ABC for Defamation
=He is suing because George Stephanopoulos said “Judges and two juries have found him
guilty of rape and defaming the victim of that rape.” Trump says it was only sexual assault, not
rape, even though the judge did explicitly rule that describing it as rape was
“still substantially true.” Good luck
winning that one.
*Rest in
Peace
Oscar-winning
writer of The King’s Speech.
The character actor (Blood Simple, Blade Runner) was 88.
PRINT/DIGITAL
*Gannett
and McClatchy are dropping the AP
=This is a
shocking development. We’re talking about 230+ newspapers nationwide. Details are here, via Poynter.
*Prince
Harry’s Lawyers Go After Rupert Murdoch
=This is all
about the phone hacking controversy involving newspapers in Britain. The AP has the latest details. (Take that Gannett & McClatchy)
*Sports
Illustrated Will Continue Operations Under New Publisher
=Someone
grabbed the defibrillator and put it on Sports Illustrated’s chest. Turns out, SI is not dead yet.
=Who is Minute Media, and can they really save SI?
*How American News Lost its Nerve
=The subtitle
says it all: Very few have balls. This is the take of Max Tani from Semafor.
I missed this news a few months ago. The former Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times sports reporter was 76. He had retired to Florida.
SOCIAL MEDIA
*Reddit is
a Content-Moderation Success Story
=At one time
Reddit was the place to find communities peddling revenge porn, violence, and
racial animus. After installing robust content moderation, they have become a
trusted news source, and went public with an IPO. The story of
that journey is told in the New York Times.
=The first day of trading, shares rose 48%.
*Don Lemon’s Elon Musk Interview
=Lemon released it this week. Here area few takeaways from the interview. To me, this moment made the hair stand up on my neck a bit. Sounds like something a mafia don would say…
When
Lemon suggested that the companies’ suspension of their advertising was a form
of free speech, and that Musk might bear responsibility if X fails, he grew
frustrated.
“You said, ‘If they kill the company, it’s them,’ but
doesn’t the buck stop with you?” Lemon asked.
Musk appeared rattled.
“Don, I have to say, choose your questions carefully,” he responded.
