MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago.
RADIO/PODCASTS
*Audacy’s Post-Bankruptcy
Moves
=When Audacy announced
their bankruptcy, we all wondered about the next steps the company would take. Here are a few of them. Also, look who is gaining a majority
financial stake: George Soros. Let the conspiracy theories begin. In Chicago,
Audacy own WSCR, WXRT, WUSN, WBMX, and WBBM-AM & FM.
*KC Radio Host Killed in Parade
Shooting
=The lone fatality in the Kansas City parade shooting was a DJ. Her name was Lisa Lopez-Galvan,
and she co-hosted a show on KKFI Free Range Radio in Kansas City. Her son and two cousins were also injured. Inside Radio has more information about this tragic story.
=This story broke this morning...
Taylor Swift donates $100,000 to the family of Lisa Lopez-Galvan, who was killed in the mass shooting at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade and rally. https://t.co/Nuhvz6d5FG
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 16, 2024
*Valentines from WSHE
Listeners
=WSHE asked their
listeners to create Valentine’s Cards so they could deliver them to La Rabida
Children’s Hospital, and thousands of them did. It’s the eighth year the
station has teamed up with the hospital for their Valentine’s Day Cards for
Kids program.
*Steve & Johnnie’s
Special Valentine’s Day
=On Valentine’s day in
1985, Steve King and Johnnie Putman were paired together as a team on WGN. It
obviously worked out pretty well for them. They tell that story on their blog Both Sides Now. (Photo credit: Paul Natkin)
*Sports Talk Chicago Expands Regional Syndication
=Jon Zaghloul’s Sports
Talk Chicago added a few more regional outlets this week. The show began on
YouTube but now also airs in Kankakee (WKAN), Wilmington (WYKT),
Bloomington-Normal (WRPW), Hammond IN (WJOB, and JED-TV), Aurora (ACTV), Round
Lake Beach (WRLR), and Peoria (WZPN).
*Crystal Radio Award Finalists
=The NAB announced the finalists last night. There is exactly one Chicago station on the list, WTMX.
*Newsweb Sells WCPT
=The new owner of WCPT and WSBC is Heartland Signal. The price was $1. Of course, Fred Eychaner is
the head of Newsweb AND the founder of Heartland Signal.
*SiriusXM Cutting 3% of
Workforce
=Specific names and/or
titles have not been announced yet, but 160 jobs will be eliminated.
*Rock & Roll HOF
=The
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees for 2024: Mary J. Blige, Mariah
Carey, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Eric B.
& Rakim, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Jane's
Addiction, Kool & the Gang, Lenny Kravitz, Oasis, Sinéad
O'Connor, Ozzy Osbourne, Sade, and A Tribe
Called Quest.
*Podcast Corner
=Megan Markle gets new podcast partner after being dumped by
Spotify.
*Ex-Chicago Radio
=Congrats to former WGN
talker Brian Noonan. He is now entrenched as the evening host at
WTMJ-Milwaukee, from 7-9pm weeknights.
*Rest in Peace
Long-time NPR host,
Morning Edition. He was 76.
*The Loop Files
=This next appearance for The Loop Files keeps getting better and better. Former Looper Dan McNeil will be there posing questions on the mic to Mitch Michaels, John Records Landecker and me. Also, my predecessor as Steve & Garry's producer (and guitarist for Steve Dahl's Teenage Radiation) Roman Sawczak will be there too.
MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
*February 11—Jim Moran birthday
=I interviewed the former WLS man in
2011 for Chicago Radio Spotlight.
*February 11—Rob
Creighton birthday
=Creighton worked at Next
Media in the Chicago suburbs as a programmer and air talent.
*February 12—Wendy
Snyder birthday
=Wendy has seen it all in
Chicago broadcasting at radio stations like the Loop, Q-101, WCKG, WGN, and
WLS. I’ve interviewed her many times over the years, including this one in Illinois Entertainer from 2013 when she and Bill Leff first
re-started their show together on WGN.
*February 12—Allison
Rosati birthday
=Allison has been
with Channel 5 for more than 30 years now. She initially garnered attention doing First
Thing in the Morning with Bob Sirott. Of course, she’s been the main
anchor for the 5, 6, and 10 O’Clock news for many years now.
*February 12—Alison Payne birthday
=The popular WGN-TV news
anchor was only 57 years old when she passed away in 2021.
*February 12, 1953—Channel 2 Changes Call Letters to WBBM-TV
=The TV station call
letters were changed after CBS acquired it. They already owned AM 780 and FM
96.3 (since 1929!), and both of those stations went by the call letters WBBM
(and still do).
*February 13—Jim Foster birthday
=Foster has been a
jack-of-all-trades for WDRV for the past two decades, including morning traffic
reporter. He also has worked for Steve Dahl, produced a morning show at the
Loop, and more.
*February 13—Jerry
Springer birthday
=Jerry passed away last
year. He will always be remembered for his time in Chicago when his Jerry
Springer Show became a national sensation. On the other hand, his
stint as a commentator on the Channel 5 News eventually led to the departure of
both Carol Marin and Ron Magers, the star anchors
at the time.
*February 14—Pat O’Brien birthday
=Not many people remember
that the former CBS Sports and Access Hollywood host got his
big television break here in Chicago at Channel 5. He has since covered six
Olympic Games, the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals and the Final
Four. Unfortunately for Pat, he will probably always be remembered for a series
of embarrassing voicemails that became public in 2005. His career has
never really recovered.
*February 14—Rick O’Dell birthday
=For years he was the
pre-eminent host on WNUA Radio, during their jazz days. He retired last year as
the programmer for Me-TV FM. I interviewed him about that in 2021 for Illinois Entertainer.
*February 14—Janet
Sutherland birthday
=Sutherland is a former Chicago radio
reporter where she was heard covering Supreme Court cases, Illinois
legislation, health news and prison stories on WMAQ, WLS, WGN, KMOX, UPI Radio
and 75-plus radio stations on the Illinois and Wisconsin Radio Network. In
2004, she suffered a brain aneurysm. Her long and painful recovery is
chronicled in the book Nose Over Toes.
*February 16—Joy Masada birthday
=Joy is probably best
remembered for her days as part of the Danny Bonaduce show (on
the Loop) and her stint as the producer of the Murphy in the Morning show
on Q-101. She also had a five-year run at WCKG.
*February 17—Cheryl Raye Stout birthday
=Cheryl has been a sports
reporter at WBEZ for more than 25 years now. She previously worked for WMAQ
(producer of Chet Coppock’s original sports talk show) and
WMVP. I interviewed Cheryl for Chicago Radio Spotlight in 2012.
*February 17—John Roach birthday
=John Roach was the genius
creator of The Sportswriters on TV (with Rick
Telander, Bill Jauss, Bill Gleason, and Ben Bentley),
which ran in Chicago from 1985-2000. He also wrote a film called The
Straight Story which was nominated for an Academy Award. He lives in
Madison Wisconsin these days.
TV/STREAMING
*I Can't Imagine Life Without Tom Skilling
=WGN colleagues (Bob Jordan, Dan Roan, Mark Suppelsa, Steve Sanders, Jackie Bange, Muriel Claire, Bill Snyder, Dina Bair, Pat Grimes) pay tribute.
=I interviewed Tom too, and he will be featured in my next IE column, and also an upcoming podcast.
*Most
Watched Television Show Ever
=The numbers for Super Bowl 58 are mind-boggling. 200 million watched part of it. 120+ million watched on CBS.
=So naturally,
this was announced two days later…
The news comes just days after its CBS network saw record-breaking advertising sales and the highest-rated telecast for the Super Bowl. https://t.co/JYYlGuJd58
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) February 13, 2024
=Have you seen the full version of the Affleck Dunkin commercial?
Dunkin dropped the full version of the Super Bowl commercial with Ben Affleck and it’s absolute cinema đŸ¤£ pic.twitter.com/ccBJ4Ap7LL
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) February 13, 2024
*ESPN
Segment on McMichael Makes Studio Hosts Emotional
=I think I had something in my eye, as well.
*Jon
Stewart’s Return to Daily Show
=I thought he did a great job in his first show back, Energetic and cutting. The New York Times agrees.
*Colin Jost
to host White House Correspondent’s Dinner
=One of the toughest rooms a comedian can play.
*Fred Weintraub Honored
=Fred is the producer of WCIU-TV's high school sports coverage...
*ABC Announces Renewals
*Vern’s
Last Masters
=He’s done 40 of them.
Yes Sir!
— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) February 14, 2024
As Verne Lundquist gets set to call his 40th Masters on CBS in April, he has announced that it will be his final Masters for the Network. pic.twitter.com/y9VxlliQKJ
*The DGA
Awards
=Usually an influential award to Academy Award voters.
*Cable News
Corner
=Buckle Up,
CNN.
CNN C.E.O. Mark Thompson foreshadowed some big shifts coming at CNN at an all-bureau meeting in London today.
— Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) February 13, 2024
Thompson: "Immense change is coming, and I don’t use that lightly."
=Look who is
back!
DIGITAL/PRINT
*Rest in
Peace
The Pulitzer
Prize winning Sun-Times cartoonist was 69.
Former Chicago
Tribune political columnist. He was 83.
28-year
Chicago Tribune editor and writer. Covered the Pope’s visit to Chicago as
religion writer.
SOCIAL MEDIA
*How Do You
Know Your Interview Was a Failure?
=Moscow movie theaters will be showing Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin.
