Publishing Portal--March 17, 2025

The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.

 

St. Patrick's Day

=St Patrick's Day has always been a big day for Eckhartz Press. Our Irish cup runneth over. Joel Daly (The Daly News) covered the parade for Channel 7 for 40 years. John Landecker (Records Truly Is My Middle Name) been has going to the parade since the 1970s (photo below with Bob Sirott) and Brendan Sullivan (The Living Wills) wrote a piece for us about what it means to grow up South Side Irish. It's all here.

=Note: We have another Irish book in the pipeline. A novel called "Celtic Knot" will be coming out in the next few months.

THIS WEEK 

The Flip Side

=Coming this weekend, meet Ken Churilla and Larry Rosenbaum at the Chicagoland Record Show...Details below.

=Another appearance coming soon...

NEXT WEEK

To Nudge The World

=Eckhartz Press author Jim Slusher will be presenting News Media, Truth, and Trust. That timeliest of topics will be presented on Tuesday, March 25, 7 p.m at the Mt. Prospect Public Library (10 S. Emerson Street in Mt Prospect). Explore the evolving news media landscape with someone who knows what he's talking about. Jim is the Daily Herald Opinion Editor and will share insights and tips for discerning reliable sources and navigating biases in modern journalism.

Inside Melania

=When Donald Trump lost in 2020, we assumed the interest would wane in this book written by Lauren LoGuidice. It's about the things she learned touring the country as a Melania impersonator. Well, it turns out Lauren is returning to town for another show...Wednesday, March 26^th 9PM at Lincoln Lodge.

COMING SOON

The Kiss of Night

=You won't want to miss this big day. Coming soon (April 5)...click on photo to enlarge.

EveryCubEver

=Last edition? It's a barn burner.

=Also, don't forget the first day of Spring is this week, or as we call it at EveryCubEver headquarters, the first day of Jack Spring.

Randy Richardson

=Randy has written three books for Eckhartz Press: Cubsessions, Cheeseland, and Lost in the Ivy.

Surviving Sue

=Another wonderful review of Vicki Atkinson's book this week. This time from blogger Lori Pohlman (Lake Arrowhead Lady Writer)...

Vicki is a fellow blogger, one I follow and read with pleasure, always knowing I will find something positive, real, and insightful in her posts. Vicki is generous with her readers, sharing of herself, her humor, her highs and lows with an empathic interest in our perspectives.

This is Vicki’s voice, and it shines on the pages of her book. She is a profoundly kind-spirited woman who grew up learning how to turn the injury and injustice of her mother’s mental illness into something bigger than her own pain. With keen intelligence, her father’s and sister’s love, and later through her own family and probably also due to her dedication to her studies, Vicki survives and thrives, and she does it without ever compromising her own values.

Vicki’s compassion for her mother is more than challenged over the years, but somehow, she stays the course of doing what she believes is best for everyone concerned. For those who don’t know Vicki or haven’t read Surviving Sue, I’d like to stop here to encourage you to read it for yourself. This story is worth your time. It may even affect the ways you view some of your own experiences, past or present. It may soften your heart. It’s a beautiful book, and an engaging read.

I Bear Witness

=This week is former Bears center Jay Hilgenberg's birthday (March 21). He was kind enough to provide us with a blurb for Dan McNeil's book I Bear Witness.

• Dan gets puffy chested about his titanic drives and he does have length. He gets club head speed with that Barney Rubble body and hits it a long way. In every direction. The pride he takes in his radio work gets much better results.

  Jay Hilgenberg, Bears center, '81 - '91, 7-time Pro Bowl selection

Happy Anniversary!

Two Eckhartz Press books had book launch parties this week, Cameo by Beth Jacobellis (2018) and Nose Over Toes by Janet Sutherland (2019). Photos from those book launch parties are below. 

Records Truly Is My Middle Name

=This week in 2013 was a big week for Records Truly Is My Middle Name. You don't really know what you have with a book until the Chicago Tribune's Rick Kogan chimes in. His excellent review in the Tribune came out this week, and Rick also conducted this interview in the Tribune newsroom.

Cubsessions

=Two of the contributors to Cubsessions are celebrating birthdays this week, actor Gary Sinese (March 17) and Shawon Dunston (March 21). Dunston himself doesn't appear in the book, but the man who created the Shawon-O-Meter (Dave Cilha) does. That's Dave (on the far right) at one of the Cubsessions book signings.  Others in the photo--author Randy Richardson, former Cubs ball girl Kathy Wolter, and Ronnie Woo Woo.

Scott Simon

 =The NPR host is celebrating a birthday this week (March 16). He appears in the  two Eckhartz Press books mentioned above. His late 1970s report on the John Landecker show was a significant turning point in Records Truly Is My Middle Name, and Simon was also interviewed by Randy Richardson and Becky Sarwate about his love of the Cubs for their 2019 book Cubsessions. 

Back in the DDR

=This week in 2023, Windy City Reviews dropped an incredible review of Rick Kaempfer's novel Back in the DDR...

• “For those reminiscing on or wishing they could have visited Cold War Europe, this reviewer has the next best alternative for you, in the form of Rick Kaempfer’s fascinating new novel Back in the D.D.R. In his highly polished and breezy writing style, Kaempfer takes the reader on a literary adventure of a lifetime, back to Checkpoint Charlie and the whispers of espionage.

  Having an understanding of the geography, when added to Kaempfer’s descriptive and detailed writing, helps to transport the reader to these locations. Indeed, the reader may begin to feel as if they are physically accompanying Rudi and his family as they travel.

  This fantastic story ends on a triumphal note for thirteen-year-old Rudi, who is forced to mature in a short time. Emblematic of this dawning maturity is when Rudi states, “In Chicago I always felt like a German boy pretending to be American, in Germany I discovered that I was not pretending.”

  Charles Kuner, Windy City Reviews

 Monkey in the Middle

=This week in 2016 (March 21), Dobie Maxwell was making the rounds in his native Milwaukee. He had a big appearance at Shank Hall.

The Loop Files

=This week in 1989 (March 18), Steve Dahl got his vasectomy live on the radio, and Garry Meier had to describe it. That story is told in the pages of The Loop Files. 

Close Encounters of a Chicago Kind 

=This week in 1861, Benedictine Sisters of Chicago founded. Eckhartz Press author Vicki Quade is a huge supporter of the organization, and they, in turn, are huge supporters of Vicki...

• “Vicki Quade’s new book reminds me of Martin Buber’s quote which was always a favorite of mine: All real living is meeting. Anyone who loves or wants to know Chicago will enjoy Vicki’s keen humor and vivid memories. They invite us to find new ways to live and laugh, especially during this pandemic isolation. Maybe it will encourage some to write their own memories of human encounters!”

  Sister Patricia Crowley, O.S.B., Benedictine Sisters of Chicago

 

Safe Inside

=This week in 2020, Lee Kingsmill's great book was given a long and heartfelt endorsement by WGN Radio's Steve King and Johnnie Putman. 

 Always a Pleasure

=This week in 2023, in the days before a ridiculously needless trade war began, Chuck Swirsky pitched his memoir Always a Pleasure in Canada. It was a coming home of sorts for Swirsky who was the play-by-play man for the Raptors for many years. 

Chili Dog MVP

=One of the 1972 White Sox is celebrating a birthday this week (March 23). Jim Geddes is featured in the pages of Chili Dog MVP. 

Media Notebook--1-13-23

MEDIA NOTEBOOK

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

RADIO/PODCASTS

 

*New boss at WBBM

=Auducy calls them “Brand Managers” and that’s what Craig Schwalb will become (along with the extra title of News Director) for WBBM NewsRadio. He replaces Ron Gleason, who recently retired. Schwalb certainly has the pedigree, having worked at WABC in New York, and most recently WTOP in Washington, the highest grossing radio station in the country. At WTOP he was the content and operations manager. In the release announcing his hiring, Schwalb said: “The chance to lead WBBM is an incredible opportunity that doesn’t come around often. It brings me back to my home state and to a city that I adore, while working with the team behind one of the nation's elite news radio brands. Thank you to Jeff Sottolano, Rachel Williamson, Greg Solk and Bill Smee for their support in allowing me the honor of leading this great station.”

*WBBM says goodbye to the Bears after 22 years

=It was the end of an era on Sunday when WBBM radio broadcast their final Bears game. Next fall the games will be airing on ESPN, AM 1000.  It’s obviously not the first time the Bears have changed radio stations. They came to WBBM from WMAQ back in 2000. Remember Gary Bender? He was the play-by-play man before Jeff Joniak. (Hub Arkush and Tom Thayer worked at WMAQ before Bears came to WBBM).

=Joniak, by the way, was named the co-winner of Illinois Sportscaster of the Year award. Details further down in this column.

=It was also the end of the line for the Bears pre- and post-game crew at WBBM. Former Bears center Jay Hilgenberg and former Bears linebacker Jim Schwantz and Ron Gleason said their goodbyes on Sunday. Schwantz posted this before the final broadcast.

 *Bernie Kosar fired for placing bet

=The Bears weren’t the only team to change up the radio broadcast team or station. The Browns did it too, but for very different reasons. Bernie Kosar was fired from his pre-game radio job because he bet on the NFL. It’s a bit of a murky case, if you ask me. Sports betting has just become legal in Ohio, and Kosar had pledged publicly to donate any winnings to charity, but this bet was against NFL rules. The Browns said: “We understand what Bernie means to this community and our history. But as team contracted personnel hired to provide content on our media platforms his bet was a violation of NFL rules and we must adhere to all NFL policy.”

*Kathy & Ray

=If you haven't heard the news, Kathy Hart (formerly of Eric & Kathy) & Ray Stevens (most famously part of the US-99 morning show for years) are doing a show together on the internet these days. Kind of fun to watch and listen to old pros back in front of the microphone. Watch/Listen here.

=Kathy also did a podcast with Radio Girl (Margaret Larkin). Listen to it here.

*Podcast Corner

=The Signal Awards, a new award celebrating the world’s best podcasts, announced their inaugural winners. Among them: Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Masters of Scale, Stacey Abrams: How To Harness Risk, Making Gay History, and The Official Hacks Podcast.

= Heather Cherone of WTTW’s Chicago Tonight is leaving the Mincing Rascals podcast. She will be a fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, and will continue at Chicago Tonight, but the Mincing Rascals said farewell to her this week. 

*Former Chicago Radio Alert

=Jay Styles was with WSHE in Chicago for five years but left in 2021 to go to KQMV in Seattle. That stint ended for him at the end of the year. It was by his own choice, according to his LinkedIn Post: "Before the holidays I resigned from my role as APD/MD/afternoons at KQMV (MOViN 92.5)/Seattle and relocated to Sarasota, FL to be with my kids, because raising kids via FaceTime is no way to live! Radio programmers, I am available to voice track for multiple formats please think of me if you are going that path!"

 

*The Loop Files

=This week’s dip into the Loop Files features my interview with the legendary Bob Stroud. Check it out here if you missed it.

*Meet Chuck Swirsky

=The Bulls radio play-by-play man is making an appearance at the Windy City Bulls game tomorrow. Details below. (Full disclosure: My publishing company published Chuck's book)

MEDIA MILESTONES/BIRTHDAYS

 

*January 8—Jim Turano birthday

=He was known as Elton Jim when he was a part of the Garry Meier show on WGN Radio (because of the hundreds of times he has seen Elton John in concert). Jim now hosts the podcast Elton Jim’s Captain Podcastic on WGN Plus. 

 

*January 8—Jacky Runice birthday

=She’s currently a columnist for USA Today, but Jacky was once a radio personality in Chicago at WLS, WLUP, and WGN.

 

*January 9--Mark Grote birthday

=Mark has been the sideline reporter during Bears games for WBBM News radio the past few years. He also works as a sports-talk host at WSCR. When I interviewed him for Illinois Entertainer in 2015, he was part of the Chicago Cubs broadcast booth.

*January 9—Brendan Greeley birthday

=Brendan is part of Steve Dahl’s crew on the Dahlcast. He was also part of Dahl’s show on WCKG and WLS-AM. Brendan published a novel on Amazon last year called The Genius of 1990s Girls. 

 

*January 9--Megan Reed birthday

=Megan had a great run in Chicago radio (WLIT, Rewind 100) before passing away at the way too young age of 52 in 2016. I interviewed her in 2011 when she was working at Rewind. 

 

*January 10—Kristyn Hartman birthday

=Kristyn had a long stint at Channel 2 as a reporter, before moving on to a similar role in Cincinnati. In May, she left the station in Cincy, to return to her hometown of Chicago to pursue options outside of television news. Her current facebook page describes herself as an aspiring author. (I know a publisher, Kristyn!)

=I first met Kristyn in 2008 when she came to my house during the 2008 baseball playoffs. In this clip, I’m the idiotic Cubs fanatic. 

 

January 11—Bill Wyman birthday

=The former NPR mainstay and Chicago Reader staff writer is now living in Phoenix.

 

January 11—Bill Kissinger birthday

=Kissinger is a WGN-TV news writer. Perhaps you’ve seen his list of newswriting cliches. Kissinger is married to Channel 2’s Dana Kozlov.

 

*January 11, 2020--Ron Smith passes away

=Smith was a long-time Chicago radio programmer who wrote some great books about it. We talked about his books in this 2011 interview. 

 

*January 12—Rabbi Doug birthday

=His real name is Doug Zelden, but you may remember him as Rabbi Doug, a regular contributor to the Steve & Garry show back in the day. (He also contributed to Brandmeier’s show and John Landecker’s show on WJMK). Doug has been doing a cable access interview show Taped with Rabbi Doug for many years now. Tons of Chicago media figures have appeared on the show. Even me. Three times. Here’s the one from 2004 when The Radio Producer’s Handbook came out. 

 

*January 13--Diana Steele birthday

=Diana was a jock on WBMX for a few years, and I featured her in Illinois Entertainer in 2018.

*January 13, 2013--Jake Hartford passes away.

=Hard to believe he’s been gone now for ten years. I talked to the former WCPT/WLS talk show host back in 2009 for Chicago Radio Spotlight.

*January 14—Jenny Milkowski birthday

=Jenny worked at CBS-2 and WGN-TV as a producer, and Fox-32 as a traffic reporter for a few years before moving on to greener pastures and better weather in San Diego. The University of Illinois alum now runs her own media company out there.

 

*January 14—Joe McArdle birthday

=Joe has been a radio production guru (ESPN, Tribune, WXRT) in Chicago for more than 30 years.

 

*January 14—Mike Krauser birthday

=Mike has been an anchor, reporter, producer, writer, managing editor and a news director in Chicago since 1988. His reports can be heard every day on NewsRadio WBBM.

 

TV/STREAMING

 

*Network TV Ratings

=Take a look at the numbers on this chart. (Click on picture below to enlarge). These are not big numbers at all. Only one network (NBC) has over a million nightly viewers in the 18-49 age bracket. Younger viewers are simply not watching television as much. If you have a younger person in your home (I have three in their 20s), this isn’t surprising news. Most younger viewers are either watching a streaming service (like Netflix) or they are watching YouTube or TikTok or some other programming on their phones or iPads. These are the kind of numbers that keep network executives up at night.

 

 

*Golden Globes

=After taking a year off, the Golden Globes returned this week and handed out a bunch of awards. Among the winners, Kevin Costner, White Lotus, Abbott Elementary, Steve Spielberg, Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell, Jeremy Allen White from The Bear, and Austin Butler as Elvis.

=The full list is here.

 

*National Sports Media Hall of Fame

=ESPN College GameDay host Lee Corso, and legendary hockey announcer (the late) Dan Kelly were named to the National Sports Media Hall of Fame this week. CBS Sports announcer Ian Eagle was named 2022 National Sportscaster of the Year.

=Bill Plaschke (Los Angeles Times sports columnist) and essayist (the late) Roger Angell also were named to the Hall of Fame.

=Chicagoans honored included Jeff Joniak and Leila Rahimi (co-winners of Illinois sportscaster of the year) and Steve Greenberg (Sun Times) and Mark Lazerus (The Athletic) as co-winners of Illinois Sportswriter of the Year.

 

*Elizabeth Vargas Coming to NewsNation

=Before becoming a big network news star at ABC, Elizabeth worked in Chicago at WBBM-TV, Channel 2. This week it was announced she is joining NewsNation. She’ll be anchoring an hour-long news program from New York. Vargas’s show debuts April 3. 

*NY Times Editor Takes Top Job at NBC News

=Rebecca Blumenstein was the deputy managing editor of the New York Times before being named the president of editorial at NBC News this week. Blumenstein will oversee shows like Meet the Press and Dateline. This should be interesting. Rebecca doesn’t have a lot of television experience. Maybe this move portends a new approach at NBC?

*NBC Sports Chicago Layoffs

=For a few years NBC Sports Chicago was really going after the digital viewers. Unfortunately, the staff bringing that digital news just got a little smaller with the layoffs of Bulls writer Rob Schaefer and Cubs writer Tim Stebbins. The Chicago Sun Times has more info.

*Cable News Corner

=CNN has announced they are revamping their daytime lineup. Oliver Darcy spells out the particulars at CNN.com. 

*Phil Rogers Interview

=Channel 5’s Phil Rogers retired at the end of last year. He will be a big loss to Chicago’s NBC affiliate. Margaret Larkin interviewed him for the Illinois News Broadcasters Association podcast.

*RIP Bernard Kalb

=Kalb was a legend in the business. He was an anchorman for CBS Morning News, covered the State Department beat for CBS (five secretaries of state) and was the founding host of CNN’s show about the media, Reliable Sources. May we all live the kind of life Kalb did. He was 100 years old when he passed.

*C-SPAN fights for more camera angles

=After a spellbinding job covering the cluster of the House of Representatives electing a speaker, you can see the despair between the words in this tweet.

NOTE: C-SPAN cameras are no longer in the House chamber. We have resumed using the feed from House/government-operated cameras.

— CSPAN (@cspan) January 9, 2023

=C-SPAN has formally asked to regain the kind of access they had during the speaker debate. At least a few politicians seem to agree, but let’s see what happens. It could be one of those “be careful what you ask for” situations, encouraging the most camera-hungry representatives to be even more outrageious.

 

*What really happens after Shark Tank?

=We don’t often get a follow up report about the winners and losers of investment opportunities in Shark Tank. Forbes has a great example this week why we should get them more often.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA

 

*Twitter Considering Selling User Names

=The New York Times reports that Elon Musk is considering selling user names (the words that follow the @ sign) to the highest bidder. Musk and his staff are trying to figure out ways to generate more revenue for the struggling media giant. Not a lot of details here. It sounds like this was leaked as a trial balloon to see how people react.

PRINT/DIGITAL MEDIA

 

*Tribune Veteran Named Managing Editor of Newsday

=Pro Publica’s Tom Jones reports that Rochell Bishop Sleets is taking over the #2 job at Newsday after 16 years with the Chicago Tribune.

*NYTimes still in search of a media columnist

=And they have been for almost a full year now, ever since Ben Smith left to form Semafor. Vanity Fair looks into why they still don’t have a new one.

*Jake Sherman and Kevin McCarthy

=This is an interesting development. One digital news organization is calling out another for being a little too chummy with one of their sources. Semafor and Punchbowl are the combatants. Jake Sherman of Punchbowl is the target.

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.