Media Notebook--5-31-24

MEDIA NOTEBOOK

A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago.

RADIO/PODCASTS

 

*Format Change for Alpha Media

=As I speculated last week, Alpha Media is changing the format of two of their stations. WCCQ-Joliet (98.3FM) and WXLC-Waukegan (102.3FM) are now known as Free Country 98.3 and 102.3.

=Drew Walker, who stepped down from US-99 recently, is joining the team as the Asst. Brand Manager and afternoon drive host. Hannah B, who co-hosts afternoons on two of the other stations in the cluster (WSSR and WZSR with Eddie Volkman) will add midday host duties at Free Country. The rest of the lineup looks like they are going with nationally syndicated hosts. Bobby Bones in the morning slot. B-Dub Radio in the evening slot.

 

 

*DeNiro Award Rescinded

=Robert DeNiro made the news this week when he appeared outside of the NY courtroom where Donald Trump was being tried to make several political (anti-Trump) statements. DeNiro had been scheduled to receive a special award from the National Association of Broadcasters on June 4^th. After his speech in New York, they rescinded the award. More details are here.

 *Wolfman Jack show coming to WGN

=Yes, he’s been gone for many years now, but the Wolfman recorded a ton of great radio shows in his day. According to an on-air announcement on the John Landecker show this week, the Wolfman show is coming to WGN soon. It will air from 2-5am on Sunday mornings.

*Media Jobs Report

=A new service for people looking for jobs in the media, including radio. Here’s the link for the radio openings.

 

*Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame

=The induction ceremony will take place in September of this year. One of the inductees is WMAQ-AM veteran Scott Herman, who is now the chairman of the Broadcasters Foundation of America. Full list of inductees is here.

*Worst Decade of Radio Ever?

=According to this recently released poll, we’re currently living in it. The same poll says that the 1990s were the best. See the results here.

MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES

 

*May 26—Brent Musburger birthday

=Brent has had one of the most successful sports television careers of all-time, and it all began right here in Chicago. Brent turns 85 years old this week.

 

*May 26—Candace Jordan birthday

=The former Playboy model writes the weekly “Candid Candace” column in the Chicago Tribune.

 

*May 27—Misty Callahan birthday

=Misty is a radio producer in Chicago (Salem Media) and is married to fellow radio producer (and Eckhartz Press author) Keith Conrad.

 

*May 27—George Castle birthday

=For decades George covered the Chicago Cubs for the Northwest Indiana Times. He has also written quite a few Cubs books, and in 2022 contributed to the Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year finalist “Chili Dog MVP” (about Dick Allen)

 

*May 27—Pat Hughes birthday

=The baseball Hall of Famer is the reason I still listen to the Cubs on the radio whenever I can. I got a chance to interview him for Chicago Radio Spotlight back in 2010. 

 

*May 28--Lisa Fielding birthday

=Afternoon news anchor/reporter/host at NewsRadio 780.

*May 29—Felicia Middlebrooks birthday

=The former morning co-anchor at WBBM NewsRadio is also an author and an award-winning filmmaker 

 

*May 30—Dave Eanet birthday

=Dave is the sports director at WGN and can heard daily on Bob Sirott’s morning show. He has also been the radio play-by-play man for Northwestern University football and basketball for decades. (Photo: Dave on WGN-TV for Cubs World Series postgame. Far left)

*May 31—Jerry Agar birthday

=Jerry had stints at both WLS and WGN in Chicago. I got a chance to interview him during that time. He’s currently working north of the border in his native Canada.

 

*May 31, 2005—Watergate source Deep Throat revealed

=Did you watch The Plumbers on HBO? Mark Felt, the deputy director the FBI, is one of the characters. A minor one in the series. A major one in real life. He was 91 when he revealed the news to Vanity Fair.

 

*June 1, 1974—WCFL Chart

=50 years ago this week. The Watergate scandal dominated the news. Larry Lujack was the star DJ on the station. And this is the list of songs WCFL was playing (courtesy of Chicago Radio Timeline)

*June 1, 1980—CNN Debuts as First All-News Network

=This was Ted Turner’s brainchild, and it was widely mocked at the time. (Who is going to want news 24 hours a day?). The husband/wife team of Dave Walker and Lois Hart were the first anchors. The headquarters was in Atlanta, but the network also had bureaus in Washington, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.

 

TV/STREAMING

 

*Premier League Scores Record Ratings at NBC

=For years I felt like the only soccer fan in America. The ratings for this past season’s Premier League broadcasts show that I’m not alone. The numbers are here.

*MeTV Toons

=The network starts on June 25^th, but the schedule was released this week. All times are Eastern.

 *Jimmy Kimmel’s Son Undergoes Open-Heart Surgery

=It’s the 7-year-old boy’s third open heart surgery. ABC-7 has the story.

 

*Cable News Corner

=Smartmatic accuses NewsMax of destroying evidence in lawsuit. NBC reports

=Former Tucker Carlson producer fired by Fox News hired by NewsNation. Find out more in the Daily Beast.

 

*Rest In Peace

We lost quite a few notable entertainment legends this week…

=Bill Walton

Basketball legend. Long-time broadcaster. Dead head. He was 71. Former WMAQ-AM broadcaster Dave Pasch worked with Walton the past dozen years on Pac-12 games. He remembers his broadcasting partner.

=Albert Ruddy

The Oscar-winning producer of “The Godfather” and the subject of the TV series The Offer

=Richard Sherman

One-half of the Disney songwriting team who wrote the songs for “Mary Poppins”, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and more. He was 95.

=Johnny Wactor

General Hospital Star. Shot while trying to defend his catalytic converter. He was 37.

=Morgan Spurlock

The documentary director of “Supersize Me”. He was 53.

 PRINT/DIGITAL

 

*Farewell Freedom Center

=This tweet says it all…

The last group shot of those available to gather for the goodbye picture at the Chicago Tribune's Freedom Center, which will be knocked down for a land-based casino--if Bally's can pull it off. The wall of Pulitzers the paper won over the years is in the background pic.twitter.com/t1ztgVPX8H

— Ray Long (@RayLong) May 29, 2024

 *New York Sets Aside Money to Help Journalism

=The state of New York passed a bill to give tax credits to struggling local news outlets to help keep them afloat. The Chicago Tribune has the story.

 *AI Companies Bypassing Partisan Media

=Semafor has the story of the AI agreements made recently, and how they are not including partisan outlets like Breitbart and the Daily Caller.

=But they did sign deals this week with The Atlantic and Vox Media. That story is here.

*Ramaswamy Making Waves at Buzzfeed

=To say his suggestions to hire people like Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, and Aaron Rogers didn’t go over well would be an understatement. New York Magazine reports.

*Did the British Tabloid News of the World Pay Women to Sleep with Celebrities?

=That’s the charge made by James Blunt. The Guardian has the scoop on this one. 

As always, if you have any media story you’d like to share or think that I might be interested in sharing, drop me a line at rick@eckhartzpress.com or amishrick@yahoo.com. If you're in Chicago media and wondering why I didn't mention your birthday, it's probably because I don't know it. Drop me a line and let me know and I'll put you on my calendar.

Media Notebook--3-24-23

MEDIA NOTEBOOK

A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago

(By Rick Kaempfer)

RADIO/PODCASTS

 

*Chicago Radio Ratings

=The February radio ratings are out and WLIT continues to dominate. They now have a five-month streak at the top of the ratings. There are a few other interesting notes here. Kiss-FM (103.5) took the biggest one month drop (from 4.3 to 2.7) and fell out of the top ten. The biggest one-month gain went to WSHE (1.6 to 2.1). In the sports-radio wars, the Score outpaced ESPN Radio (1.7 to 1.0). Here are the top ten overall…

WLIT (8.0)

WDRV (5.7)

WXRT (5.1)

WBBM-AM/WCFS-FM (4.8)

WVAZ (4.2)

WOJO (4.0)

WBEZ (3.7)

WTMX (3.7)

WUSN (3.5)

WGN (3.2)

*iHeartMedia Cost Cutting

=It seems to be happening everywhere in the media, including iHeartMedia. Although to be fair, at least they aren’t cutting employees yet. It reminds me of my days at CBS radio when we had to get special approval from the bosses to use the nice stationery. This is the money shot from the staff e-mail from CEO Bob Pittman and COO Rich Bressler: “Our goal is to do everything we can to get through this difficult economic time while protecting our employee base as much as possible. Therefore, we'll be implementing the following necessary cost savings:

• Temporarily suspending the 401(k) match starting in your next pay period and for future months until the advertising marketplace improves. Please note that any contributions made so far in this year will not be affected.

• We will only be backfilling mission critical roles.

• Stopping or reducing all discretionary spending, including non-essential T&E, overtime, outside vendor spend, temporary contractors, etc."

 

*Alpha Media Consolidates

=A few weeks ago I reported that Alpha Media (owner of several suburban stations) made a series of staff cuts. It wasn’t revealed until this week exactly how that would shake out. They are now rebranding as a Star Superstation. WXLC becomes Star 102.3. WSSR is Star 96.7. WZSR is Star 105.5. All three will have the same morning show (Joe Cicero and Tina Bree), the same afternoon show (Eddie Volkman and Hannah B), and the same evening and overnight shows (Erik Zachary & John Tesh). The only timeslot they will differ is middays. All three stations are going after the same audience. This is the way Regional VP Brian Foster said it in a press release: “everything is geared towards a busy suburban mom and getting her through her day.”

(I previously interviewed Joe Cicero in 2017 and Eddie Volkman in 2009)

=Also announced this week, Leah Anderson, who will be one of the midday personalities (at Star 102.3) will also return to co-host mornings with Tom Kief at WIIL in Union Grove Wisconsin. She replaces Stino Cirigliano, who was one of the staff cuts announced a few weeks ago.

*John Williams Op-Ed in Tribune

=The headline gives away the content: Telling Jokes on WGN Radio was a chance to share laughter during the pandemic. The piece is essentially a history of the speed jokes segment he does every morning at 10:38am. It puts me in a good mood every time I hear it. (By the way, Williams has now told over 4500 jokes, according to this piece)

*Texas Rep Ronny Jackson Introduces Act to Defund NPR

=He calls it the No Partisan Radio and Partisan Broadcasting Services (or NPR and PBS, get it?) Act. Inside Radio has the story. It has no chance of passing both houses. 

*Stan Lawrence Retires

=Stan has been a part of the Chicago media landscape for decades, as a contributor to Steve & Garry’s show (at various different stations), as a co-host with the late Terry Armour at WCKG, as a contributor to Chicago Tonight on Channel 11, and as a co-host of the AM 1000 show Ebony & Ivory (with me). But throughout that time, he was also working as an engineer. This week, after 44 years, he officially retired. In true Stan Lawrence fashion, this is his new permanent out-of-office message on Outlook.

*Les Grobstein’s Recorder and Lee Elia Tape Up for Auction

=I kid you not. This is the actual tape recorder and microphone Les used to record the infamous Lee Elia tape, and the original cassette tape too. Real live history, especially for Cub fans. Opening bid is $500. 

*AI Voiceover

=Not thrilled by this development. From Radio Ink: Web-based traffic platform Radio Workflow is the latest to put artificial intelligence to work for radio sales and production with their new AI voiceover program, Voice My Ad. Within Voice My Ad’s first month more than one million words were voiced.

*The Loop Files

=This week’s trip to the Loop Files featured sportscaster Chuck Swirsky. It’s here, in case you missed it. Remember, I post a new one every Tuesday.

=On a totally unrelated-to-the-Loop note, Chuck Swirsky was also interviewed this week by the Canadian Broadcasting Company about his time in Toronto. 

*Podcast Corner

=From the everybody-has-a-podcast file, be sure to add Rosie O’Donnell. 

=WBEZ's Curious City podcast this week is called When Disco ruled Chicago's dance scene.

=The Destination Eat Drink podcast last week was all about Ireland and featured yours truly live from Galway, Ireland doing a few Irish limericks. Before you ask, yes I was totally sober.

=Just discovered this brand new podcast from local Chicago media mavens DJ Gil Golden (Kirk Fox) and DJ BK (Bill Kissinger). It's called "Best Song I Ever Wrote" and they ask artists to tell the story about their best songs. Their first guest is Bill G from Bishops Daredevil Stuntclub.  The first episode is here.

 

*WJOL Mini-Reunion

=WJOL in Joliet has given a start to many Chicago radio careers. A few of them gathered this week to reminisce.

 

MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES

 

*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. My publishing company Eckhartz Press also published Mitch’s book.

 

*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 17 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)

*March 24—Julie Unruh birthday

=Julie was a reporter/anchor at WGN-TV for twenty years. She signed off in 2021 to spend more time with her family.

*March 25—Didi Foley birthday

=You may have heard her on the air at the Mix and WSHE over the years, but for the past 15 years she has also been the Campus Services Manager for Waubonsee Community College in Aurora.

*March 25, 1954—Color TV

=Color TV is 69 years old this week. RCA unveiled the very first one in 1954. It had a 12-inch screen and cost $1000.

 

TV/STREAMING

  

*Marquee to air unseen Cubs footage

=Jeff Agrest has the details in the Sun Times. Films of the Cubs and Wrigley Field dating from the 1920s to the late 50s will be revealed by Peabody Award winning producer George Roy (from HBO's "When it was a Game") in a series called "Cubs Flicks". Local voices will help narrate what we see, including former Cubs beat writers Bruce Miles and Fred Mitchell, and various other authors and writers. I'm one of them (as the author of "EveryCubEver"). Can't wait to see the finished product.

*Out of the Loop

=Chicago is, and always has been, a hotbed of comedy. Looking forward to this streaming special. (h/t to Rick Gieser, an associate producer of the project). It begins streaming on April 11 on Apple-TV and other streaming services.

*Doug Levy Out at Univision

=This was unexpected news. Levy announced the news himself this week on his Facebook and LinkedIn pages this week…

*Denver Reporter Stops Her Report from School Shooting Story to Hug Her Son

=She was reporting on the story, not knowing what had happened to her own son. He walked by while she was on the air, and...

Denver-based Fox News reporter @aacuna1 sees and embraces her son as he leaves East High school after today’s shooting. pic.twitter.com/jPt60YhhO6

— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) March 22, 2023

Adam Sandler gets the Mark Twain Prize

=The Mark Twain Prize is a prestigious award given to humorists and comedians. This year the recipient is Adam Sandler. The event already occurred, but CNN will air it this Sunday night. 

 

*Star Studded Week at the White House

=On Monday, the cast of the show Ted Lasso spoke in the White House press room about mental illness. On Tuesday, the National Medal of the Arts & National Humanities medals were handed out by President Biden to the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Mindy Kaling, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Gladys Knight, Amy Tan, and more.

*Massive cuts to ESPN are being finalized

=It may not happen for a few more weeks, but ESPN has put out the word it definitely will happen, and can include anyone on the staff, except probably the MNF team (Jack Buck and Troy Aikman), Scott Van Pelt, or Stephen A Smith. More info here. 

=One who is already gone is Executive VP Rob King. That news was reported by the New York Post. 

 

*Cable News Corner

=This Fox News/Dominion lawsuit story is living up to the hype as the biggest media scandal of all-time. The New York Times did a deep dive this week. So did The Guardian, and The Washington Post. It also sounds like the judge isn’t buying Fox News arguments, and now that a former Maria Bartiromo and Tucker Carlson producer has also sued Fox News for using her as a patsy, this story could get even more explosive. On the other hand, the New York Post reports that Rupert Murdoch got engaged again this week, so it’s good to see this scandal isn’t hurting his love life. Maybe his new wife can help him get to the courthouse, because a judge is leaning toward compelling him to testify in court.

=The dispute between Newsmax and DirecTV is over. 

*Vice Media’s Shane Smith in hot water

=Just so Fox News doesn’t feel alone, Vice Media has its own scandal. Shane Smith is in the midst of it, now that it has been reported that he made more $100 million from the financially shaky media company. Semafor has more on this one. 

 

 

SOCIAL/DIGITAL MEDIA

 

*Trump Returns to Facebook & YouTube

=He was invited to return weeks ago, but finally did it this week.

*Congress Wants Digital Ads to Follow Same Disclaimer Rules as Radio

=It doesn’t seem fair that radio, television, and print advertisements are forced by law to provide legal disclaimers in their ads, but that digital ads are not required to do so. This loophole has been particularly dangerous in the political world, where dark money and misinformation flourish. Senator Amy Klobuchar is the chairman of the Senate committee for Rules and Administration and is proposing new rules.  “By ensuring online political advertisements meet the same disclaimer requirements as television, radio, and print advertisements, this legislation would bring much-needed transparency to our campaign finance system and help prevent foreign interference in our elections.”

*Tik Tok’s plan to stave off government intervention

=It’s simple, really. Flood DC with Influencers. It might be better than their CEO's testimony to Congress yesterday.

TikTok CEO is asked whether parent company ByteDance has spied on Americans at the direction of the Chinese Communist Party.

“I don’t think ‘spying’ is the right way to describe it,” Shou Chew responds.

Incredible.

— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) March 23, 2023

As always, if you have any media story you’d like to share or think that I might be interested in sharing, drop me a line at rick@eckhartzpress.com or amishrick@yahoo.com. If you're in Chicago media and wondering why I didn't mention your birthday, it's probably because I don't know it. Drop me a line and let me know and I'll put you on my calendar.

If you're interested in some of my other projects from this week...

Minutia Men:  Rick and Dave Confess

Minutia Men Celebrity Interview: Jazz Singer Kurt Elling

Minutia Men Celebrity Interview Classic: Carmen Fanzone

Free Kicks with Adam & Rick: Free Kicks Goes To England

Meet the Eckhartz Press Author: Donald G. Evans

From the Eckhartz Book Shelf: City U by Bob Boone

EveryCubEver:  Mike Kelly

My latest novel: Back in the D.D.R

Windy City Reviews Back in the D.D.R.

Podcast Interview about Back in the D.D.R: Military Family Museum Podcast